Cutting Loose (21 page)

Maybe it took her two hours to finally
put an outfit together, and then it took her roughly forty-five minutes to do
her hair and make-up. By the time Brett showed up she was down to the wire and
ready to go. The sun was shining nicely, the air was warm, and everything was
almost perfect.

“So, how do I look?” Sabrina asked as
she stepped into the living room and modeled her off-the-shoulder top and jeans
for Brett, just to give him some eye candy.

Brett took her in with his eyes and
said, “You look amazing, baby.” Her stepped closer, smiled and added, “What do
you say we skip the cookout and go straight to your bedroom?”

Sabrina couldn’t help but let the
thought cross her mind, just for a second. Hell, it was more than a second,
more like a fraction of a minute.

She smiled and said, “I say we save the
bedroom for later. I have to see how my friends feel about you.”

“Oh, I see what this is.” He smiled and
stuck his hands inside his pockets. “You want to make sure your friends approve
of me? Make sure that I’m not like that last guy?”

“Yeah, you could say that. But hey,
you’re Brett Deltour and you’re going to be the hottest guy at the cookout.”

He chuckled and said, “True.” He looked
down at his attire and said, “Maybe I should have worn flip-flops—I feel
overdressed.” He tugged on his cotton button-down shirt and jeans.

Sabrina paused for a second and replied,
“Well, I don’t know about flip-flops, but I might be able to help you out.”

“Really? How’s that?”

Sabrina smiled and said, “Hmm, let’s
see.”

His ensemble wasn’t too much, except he
was wearing dark colors and too many layers. So she started from the top and
took off the button-down shirt and under shirt and replaced it with just the
t-shirt to reveal some skin. She liked the way the shirt hugged his biceps and
showed off his pecs. She had to argue with herself out of feeling him up right
then and there.

His Abercrombie and Fitch navy plaid
till shorts and white sneakers were perfect. If anything, a man with an eye for
style and coordination turned Sabrina on like nothing else. And from the way
Brett was looking so spruce, she just couldn’t wait for the evening to be over
with and she already had plans as to how things were going to go down. And she
was definitely not sleeping alone in her bed tonight.

“That should do it,” Sabrina said,
stepping back and feeling proud of her work. “You look so hot.”

Brett grinned. “Thanks. Ready to go?”

She grabbed her purse, her car keys and
said, “I think I’m going to drive with the top down.”

“You have a convertible?”

“Yeah. I rarely drive it though. I
bought it a few months back when I had my long hair, but now that its shorter
and the weather is perfect, I think it’s the perfect time—and I have the
prefect accessory.”

Brett looked confused and asked, “And
what’s that?”

She cackled and replied, “You, of
course.”

Brett just laughed and waved her off.

Once they went to the garage, Sabrina
got behind the wheel of her ruby 335i BMW. She pulled out of the driveway and
let the top down once they were flying down the road. She felt like she was in
a moment of absolute bliss and in complete control of everything. She looked
great, felt great and hell, even smelled great for that matter. She couldn’t
remember the last time she felt so much joy just to go to a cookout. But then
it hit her; it wasn’t just about going to a cookout to show off her new boy
toy, she was a revamped woman.

A few moments later she pulled up to
Cassandra’s house and parked her car along the road with the rest of the many
cars lined along the sidewalk. She didn’t expect to so many cars, considering
the lack of details Cassandra gave over the phone.

Sabrina and Brett emerged from the car
and followed the paved path leading to the backyard gate and immediately saw a
cluster of people walking about. The backyard was spacious with manicured
grass, a nice deck and a pool and hot tub off to the side. There were two large
gas grills set up with food already being prepared, a few coolers were nearby
and some chairs were scattered around.

It wasn’t long before she spotted the
host, Cassandra, as she struggled to drag a hefty bag of ice from inside the
house with much effort.

“Looks like somebody’s been slacking off
at the gym,” teased Sabrina.

Cassandra stood up and saw that it was
Sabrina standing in front of her. She cackled and said, “Hey, Rina! It’s about
time you showed up—I mean, you and your man.”

Sabrina smiled and said, “We were
running late.” She placed her hand on the small of Brett’s back, the other on
his chest and said, “Cassandra, this is the infamous Brett Deltour, the guy
you’ve been hearing about.”

“Nice to meet you, Brett,” Cassandra
said, shaking his hand. “You have some strong hands and a nice grip.”

Brett smiled, blushed even. “Thanks.
It’s nice to meet you, too.” He looked at the bag of ice and said, “Looks like
you’re having some trouble. I’ll get it for you.” He stooped down, picked up
the bag of ice and asked, “Where to?”

“Uh, right over by the coolers will be
fine, thank you.”

“No problem.”

Seeing the way Brett manhandled that bag
of ice the way he did such manliness, was making Sabrina feel like she wanted
to rip his clothes off and have her way with him. And since Cassandra liked
him, to no surprise, was definitely a plus. She knew Cassandra was always in a
good mood but today she was different, in a good way, and Sabrina just couldn’t
wait to see the reason behind it.

“So,” said Sabrina, “Where is your new
boyfriend?”

She beamed and replied, “Oh, he’s on his
way. I just got off of the phone with him about ten minutes ago. Don’t worry
girl, he’s worth the wait.”

“If you say so. Where is Larissa?”

“That heifer is in the bathroom—again.
She keeps denying she’s pregnant and had the nerve to wear a baby doll dress
thinking she could hide her baby bump.”

“Wait, she got a baby bump?”

“Yeah, girl. It’s not that big, but I
got good eyes and I see everything.” She paused, “And speaking of seeing
things, I see you that Brett has brought out the best in you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Rina, I’ve never seen you so with short
hair in all the many years I’ve known you. You are glowing. He must be doing
something right.”

Sabrina chuckled and said, “Girl,
honestly, I have never felt so good about anything more than I do about Brett.
He’s not like any guy I’ve ever dated and we connect on so many levels. It’s
like he’s perfect, almost.”

“Rina, I feel exactly the same way. I
know I’ve only been dating this guy Chad for a few weeks but he may be the one.
I’ve fallen head over heels for him, and trust me when you meet him, you’ll see
why.”

Sabrina laughed. “Okay. So, who are all
these people up in here? I didn’t know you knew so many people.”

“Me either,” laughed Cassandra. “Some of
them are my neighbors and some people from work. Did you invite some people?”

“Yeah, just a couple; my assistant and
she’s bringing somebody along. You know, so they can have something to talk
about around the water cooler at work on Monday.”

Cassandra chuckled. “I know how that goes.
Just as long as Carl’s crazy ass doesn’t show up, everything is going to be
fine.”

Sabrina paused dramatically. “Carl Who?”

“That’s what I’m talking about—forget
that fool. Anyway, I need to bring some food from inside. I’ll be back in a
few.”

“Do you need an extra hand?”

“Sure, why not?”

Sabrina followed Cassandra inside to her
kitchen and helped bring out some hamburger buns, bags of chips and other
stuff. Once she was done she and Cassandra sat down and took a load off.

Larissa came from out of nowhere and
pulled up a chair next to them. “Hey, Rina. You look good, girl. I can’t
believe you brought your boy toy with you.”

Sabrina laughed. “I can’t believe it
either. You don’t look too bad yourself, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d
think you were concealing something.”

Larissa threw her hands up to the sky
and said, “Oh my God. For the last time, I am
not
pregnant. Damn.” She
looked away and added, “And even if I were pregnant, y’all bitches know y’all
would be the first ones to know.”

“Okay, then it’s settled then.”

Silence fell between them.

Followed by more silence.

Then a tall, muscular guy with a brown
sugar complexion, black short cut hair wearing a black V-neck shirt, dark jeans
and sneakers, walked up towards them. As he did, he bent down to Cassandra and
planted a soft kiss on the lips.

When he spoke, his baritone voice fit
his young face perfectly. He said, “Sorry I’m late, baby. Traffic was a bitch
on the highway.”

Cassandra stood up and returned a kiss
and said, “It’s okay, boo. I’m glad you made it.” She turned to Sabrina and
Larissa and said, “Ladies, this is my man, Chad. Say hello.”

“How’s it hanging?” said Larissa.

“Pretty nice, actually,” said Chad,
despite Cassandra’s urge to slap the hell out of Larissa with the look she gave
her.

“Hey, I’m Sabrina. It’s nice to meet
you, Chad. I’ve heard good things about you.”

“Likewise,” Chad said as he extended his
hand and shook Sabrina’s hand with a firm grip. He paused and said, “You look
familiar. I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

“Well, with the way things have been
going lately, I’m not too surprised. But then again, you are a guy, and I don’t
suppose you read tabloids or fashion magazines, do you?”

He shook his head and said, “Not really,
just GQ.”

“That’s a good thing.”

He waited a beat and added, “I read
men’s fashion magazines, and I advertise my fashion line in them.”

“Oh, wait—you’re a fashion designer?”

“Yep, that would be me.” He smiled,
flashing a set of perfect teeth.

Sabrina turned to Cassandra and said,
“Damn, Casey. Looks like you’ve got yourself a winner.” She paused and asked
Chad, “You are straight, right?”

He exploded with laughter. “Of course I
am. See, that’s one of the things I hate about being a fashion designer;
everybody always assume that all male designers are gay, even though some of
them are. I’m just saying for the record that I’m not one of them.”

Sabrina took a closer look at Chad and
instantly recognized him. He was indeed a fashion designer with his own
designer label of women and men’s clothes, with things ranging from cocktail
dresses, handbags and custom suits and it was rumored that he was coming up as
the next big thing. Sabrina remembered an article she did on him a few years
ago and she at first just thought he was just some young guy talking a bunch of
nonsense but it wasn’t too long before she was at the mall buying anything with
his name on it. And now that Cassandra was getting involved with him, she knew
that either he was at a point an time in his career where he was looking to
finally settle down, it was like a dream come true for Cassandra after all the
bullshit men she had to put up with.

Sabrina said, “I know where you might
recognize me from, and that’s the fashion magazine I work for,
Fabulous
.”

He smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s it.
Wow.”

“Yeah, back then I was a staff writer
and you were the new, up and coming fashion designer fresh out of design
school. Now I’m the co-editor-in-chief.”

“Great. Maybe we can get together
sometime and set up something.”

“Okay, sounds great. I can’t believe
this.”

“Well, believe it, Rina. It’s not all
that serious. Jeez,” said Larissa. She turned to Cassandra and asked, “How come
you didn’t tell us about your ‘famous’ fashion designer boyfriend? I’ve never
heard of any of his clothes.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes, irritated. “I
wanted it to be a surprise. And you never heard of him cause your broke ass
can’t afford to buy his clothes—it’s a little out of your price range.”

Larissa snapped. “Bitch, I’m not broke.
I rather not spend three hundred dollars on a pair of jeans...or a purse for
that matter.”

“Whatever,” said Sabrina and Cassandra
in unison.

Just as things were getting heated,
Brett came over with two sodas and handed one off to Sabrina. “Hey, baby. I
figured you might be thirsty so I grabbed you a cold soda.”

“Thank you,” she said as she took the
soda and gave him a peck on the cheek.

It didn’t take but a split second for
Larissa’s bad attitude to kick into gear before she began her interrogation on
Brett.

She said, “So, um, Brett, is it? You
didn’t think to bring anyone else a soda?”

Sabrina was about to say something but
Brett spoke up first and said, “I wasn’t thinking about anyone else. Sorry.”