Committed to You (15 page)

All four of us sat around our circular table, chatting away and forgetting all of the craziness that had occurred in the last couple of days. We’d awoken that afternoon with sore backs and necks from passing out on the floor. Our phones stopped ringing, although all of our voice mail boxes reached full capacity.

I’ll have to call Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow morning before they buy tickets and come looking for me.

Pipe announced that he needed a break from Cynthia’s small town and would be funding a road trip to Miami. We all agreed and arrived in the exotic city hours later. With no ecstatic treats, Pipe and Evie managed to behave themselves. We washed up and changed at his place which ended up being a hotel suite that his dad rented monthly in the Bema Hotel.

“In an hour the flamenco dancers are going to come out. I just love them.” Pipe lathered a small, triangular slice of toast with some brown stuff that he’d kept referring to as God’s butter. Pipe was wearing a full tuxedo with polka dot sneakers and a wide glass cane that had little gold fish swimming up and down its length. He tipped the brim of his silver hat and winked. “Come on, Jay. Try this.”

“What is it?”

“God’s butter.” He placed it a few inches from my lips. “Come on, sexy. Do it for daddy.”

I smirked and let him pop it into my mouth. Savory goodness drowned my tongue. It reminded me of the softest texture of a succulent meat. “What the hell was that?”

“You love it?”

“Hell yes.”

“It’s roasted and blended pig skin.”

“I hate you.”

“Why?” Pipe frowned.

“You just made me fall in love with something that is not only disgusting sounding, but in no way can be good for my body.” I snatched up a knife, picked up some of the brown stuff on the tip, and painted my own toast with it. “Damn you to hell, Pipe.”

Cyn gaped at the view around us. “All the times I’ve been to Miami, I’ve never had the opportunity to see the city from this point.”

After Evie and I made love, finished our shower, and left her room, Cyn had already woken up and dressed. When we all met up later in Pipe’s room, Cyn gazed at both of us, not with a hurt expression, but with odd curiosity. Still, a little guilt hit my core. It had not been a struggle to walk away from Cyn once she broke up with me.
It should have been.
Cyn was a good woman, but the fact remained that my feelings for Evie were too strong and dominated too much of my mind.

It always comes back to Evie.

I risked a glance at her as she lounged on Pipe’s other side. She could’ve sat next to me, but she politely refused.
All day she’s been giving us space.
Her need for personal space between us unsettled me. When she was mine and we were alone, I touched her like I yearned to. There was no need to ask. Her body, heart, and mind belonged to me.

Not anymore.

Even now, she swung those lush brown legs as she held Pipe’s hand under the table, not mine.

“And look at how amazing the beach looks from here.” Cyn pointed off in the distance. Everybody turned her way, but me. I continued to watch Evie.

Once we all got dressed to party, Pipe had declared that Evie was Foxy Brown fine tonight. Cyn asked who the hell Foxy Brown was and it triggered Pipe to do a short history of black exploitation movies and one of the sexiest female characters to come from that genre. Like Foxy Brown, Evie wore her hair in this beautiful afro that had lazy curls outlining her face and tickling her shoulders. Candy apple red covered her lips. A tiny dash of silver glittered at her eyes. An elaborate pattern of silver tear drops wrapped around her breasts, but left her arms, back, and waist out for my eyes to see. Dark jeans snugly hugged those thick hips, legs, and thighs. Once she stomped out in those high heeled sandals that showed off her perfectly painted toes, I was done for the evening. I didn’t need to see any other women. If there’d been a contest, she’d have won.

Damn, Evie. Do you know how much you’ve got me sprung on you?

As if she heard me, she looked my way, blushed, and bit her lip. A dark groan left me. The only reason Pipe and Cyn didn’t hear it was because they chattered on loudly about the evening’s plans, but Evie knew. She parted her lips and stirred uncomfortably in her seat.

You better be uneasy, because you’re killing me over here. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t get you back.

Now I understood the mind of a predator as they gazed upon their prey. It must’ve been this tunnel vision of the future. All I saw in front of me was Evie. Everything to our sides and behind us darkened. Everything. Fuck my future NFL career, college, the fame, all of it. None of it mattered if I didn’t celebrate and enjoy it with her. None of it would feel right.

Dating? She’s lost her mind if she thinks I’m going to sit back and watch her date more jackasses.

I gritted my teeth at the thought of another man stroking his fingers along the curve of her neck or bringing my sweet love to climax.
Damn, I messed up.
I formed my fingers into fists and promised to never fuck up again, once I got her back.

“Seriously?” Pipe kicked my leg.

I looked away from her and directed my attention to him. “What?”

He leaned in and whispered, “Don’t tell me we’re back to you longingly monitoring Evie’s every movement again.”

“Shut up.”

“You keep looking at her like that, and she’ll get a restraining order. In fact, I’ll help her.”

I plastered a fake smile on my face, leaned in, and whispered, “Fuck you,”

“You couldn’t handle it, if we did, Heisman Pimp. And with the way Evie has you pussy whipped, you better stay far away from me. I’m a much better lover.” He laughed and tapped her shoulder. “Evie, isn’t that right?”

“Huh?” She quirked her eyebrows. “Isn’t what right?”

“If I hooked up with Jay, he would be whipped.”

With a straight face, she nodded. “Oh definitely! You’re huge and absolutely too freaky for him.”

“Do you think I’m a better lover than you?” he asked her.

“All freaking day.” She kissed his cheek. “It’s making me hot just thinking of how good you are in bed.”

I flipped them both off.

“So what are we going to do tonight?” Cyn asked.

Pipe clapped and danced in his seat. “We’re going to all of the hot gay strip clubs.”

“Absolutely not.” I waved his hands from side to side. “I draw the line at gay strip clubs. You two have gotten me to do some crazy shit in my life, but I stop at naked men slinging their dicks in my face.”

Evie touched my chest. “I’ve never gotten you to do anything crazy. It’s all on Pipe.”

“I’m not sure, Evie.” Cynthia grinned. “Jay told me you were the one who made him dress up for that charity.”

“Okay. I might’ve done that.” She grabbed her one toast and put God’s butter on it.

“What I need to know is when we are going to meet Simon,” I said.

“Simon won’t return until next week.” Pipe rolled his eyes. “You’ll meet him another time. Stop bothering me about him, please.”

“Bothering you? I’m just saying you’ve been dating this guy for how long?” I checked with Evie.

“Three months.” She sipped her lemonade.

“Three months?” I raised my hands in the air. “That’s a long time for you, man.”

“It’s reasonable.”

“No. For you three months is madly in love. I have to meet this guy.”

“Fine.” Pipe stirred in his seat. Pipe never stirred unless he was doing something really bad. “You’ll meet him.”

What’s going on?

Evie looked away and started a conversation with Cyn.

Interesting. Something is going on.

I decided to stir up the pot and see what came up. “I’m not leaving Miami until I meet this guy. I can stay until next week.”

“I don’t know if he’ll be back next week,” Pipe said.

“Then I’ll stay after that.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“I want to meet him.”

“Yes, Father. I swear you’ll meet him. Will you be wielding a huge shotgun in his face, too, and demanding that he bring your daughter home on time?”

“Not this time, maybe the next. Although I will demand that your virginity remains intact.”

“You don’t ever have to worry about my virginity, baby.” Pipe hit me with a funny grin. “I’m saving it all for marriage.”

We all laughed after that, but something struck me as odd. Evie kept looking away the whole time we discussed Simon as if she was avoiding my eyes.

Something is definitely up with this Simon guy.

Pipe and Evie hid things that didn’t sit well with me. Pipe’s bad-for-him boyfriends tended to rank high on that list. Due to that, Pipe kept the creeps away from me, recognizing that I had no anger control when it came to the people I loved and would pound the shit out of anybody who broke any of their hearts. I’d actually beat up a few of his ex-boyfriends, if I could even call them that. Most of the guys back in our high school days dragged Pipe along and hid him from their families and girlfriends. Others demoralized him in private. I caught one calling him a faggot and ordering Pipe to suck him off. I might have pounded his face a bit much that day. Needless to say, Pipe and Evie kept me away from the bad ones.

“Anyway, new topic.” Pipe raised his water glass, tapped it with his spoon, and rose from his seat. “I need to make a toast.”

“No, I really don’t think you do.” I wagged my finger at him.

“Oh be quiet.”

He cleared his throat. “Tonight, I sit in my adopted city with three people that I really love. The first time I spotted Jay I was eight and knew that we would marry. That never happened, but instead he introduced me to two of the most captivating women in the world. I feel lucky to know all three of you. May we tear this city apart and not go to jail in the process.”

We clinked our glasses together.

The few lights on the roof-top shut off. The stage before us lit up.

“Oh, here’re the flamenco dancers.” Pipe sat down in his seat and clapped.

Four lovely women entered the stage. They looked exotic and regal with their slim gowns and the way they stomped the stage in rhythm to the man pounding his hands on the drum.

In my pocket, my phone vibrated. I pulled it out, checked the screen, and sighed, knowing I would have to get it over with. It was Evie’s mom, a woman who not only helped raise me, but someone who just loved the hell out of me for absolutely no reason. It was time to listen to her, time to make everything up to her and Evie, one cursing out at a time.

“I’ll be right back, everybody,” I said.

No one cared. The dancers had captured all of their attention. The hypnotizing music rose high in the air. I hurried to the rooftop exit and stepped into the stairwell. “Hello, Mrs. Elaine.”

“Are you dating my daughter and that other girl at the same time?”

I tilted my body toward the wall and leaned my forehead against the surface. “I was, ma’am.”

“Don’t you say something like that and then say ma’am to me.”

I’m so dead.

Her words held that tone that only Mrs. Elaine could do well, the voice level that made me grab my dick to protect it even though I knew she was an older woman thousands upon thousands of miles away from me.

“You’re going to need to explain yourself to me,” she said. “You’re going to need to help me understand why I let my little girl go off to another coast with the promise that you would look out for her like a brother and friend and then how she ended up being in some sort of harem with you and publicized as a whore all over the internet!”

“Well I—”

“And then, you’re going to break it down on how you’ll make this all right. My daughter isn’t a whore.”

“No. She’s not.”

“And she’s nobody’s second or third wife either, not while I’m walking around this planet!”

“I would never—”

“Lost your mind. All of you must have lost your damn minds, and then going on national television with that foolishness!”

“I-I wasn’t thinking clearly about that and—”

“I had a whole viewing party in my living room. Everybody from church came to watch little Jay get his trophy and instead they got to see an orgy.”

“Umm.”

“Sister wives and my daughter and then the audacity to call me ma’m. Oh no! Don’t be a gentleman now.”

I kept my mouth closed as Mrs. Elaine continued with no break or resting period to breathe. She tore into me with her words and then guilted me with all the meanings. I’d thought I felt like crap when Evie broke up with me, I had no idea what Mrs. Elaine could do. She was the last person I wanted to disappoint.

The stairwell door opened. Evie stuck her head in. “Is everything okay? You’ve been gone for a long time.”

Covering the phone, I gestured to it. “Your mom is on the phone. Do you want to—”

Evie disappeared like magic.

Really? You’re just going to leave me to your mom all by myself?

“Explain to me how you’re going to fix this. People are calling my daughter names. Vile things,” Mrs. Elaine said.

“I’m—”

“And what are you doing with this other poor girl?”

“We broke up,” I blurted out when she took a breath between yelling.

“And what? You think it’s just you and my daughter galloping off into the sunset after you allowed people to ridiculer her?”

“She won’t be with me either,” I admitted.

“Well then amen. You should have said that before you said hello. Thank you, Jesus. Now she decides to use her head, after an incident on national television?”

“Umm.”

“Do you think you’re done with my daughter?”

“I … I love her.”

“Ten years,” Mrs. Elaine said.

“Uh, what?”

“Ten years I’ve managed to not utter one curse word. A few seconds of footage happen and the most vile words escape my mouth. You think your break-up is enough to appease me? No. You and I are not in the clear. I need you to stay away from her.”

I closed my eyes. “But I love her.”

“You didn’t love her enough.”

A thick silence coated the phone line. I just slumped in my position as the world spun around me. I’d lost it all. Last week I had the love of two amazing women. This week they’re both gone and not even Mrs. Elaine will deal with me.