Chapter Seven

 

Jermaine

 

When You Find and Lose Love In The Club

I sipped from my tumbler and swept my gaze across the club. It was almost eleven, but the room was packed with women and niggas galore. It was the All-Star effect. It brought out so many people considering it wasn’t even midnight yet. It also didn’t hurt that this was a celebrity spot.

The owner and my teammate, Fred Pierce, made sure that it was well advertised that VR Club & Lounge—short for Velvet Rope because Fred was a Janet stan—was his club and that it would be poppin’ this weekend. He wasn’t lying. Everybody had come out to have a good time and support Fred. It was good to see; he was a good dude and deserved to have his endeavor take off like it did.

The bass thumped through the speakers, and throngs of bodies pulsed on the dance floor below me. VR was designed with the dance floor as the focal point. At the back of the club, deep into the space, was a raised, two-level platform, which served as the VIP area. On each level were three sections of crescent-shaped, leather sectional couches and low sitting, glass-topped tables. Opposite the VIP, smooth on the other side of the club, was the DJ booth. On every wall were large screens that displayed abstract art that moved in time with the beat of whatever song was playing at the moment.

I sat on the highest platform in VIP in the furthest section. Going out wasn’t something I did often. My reputation was almost that of a hermit. If I wasn’t on the court, you rarely saw me. But Fred had invited me to his grand opening personally, and since this was All-Star weekend, I decided to show up and support. It was a compromise because he was only getting three hours out of me tonight, and hour two had just begun.

As I bobbed my head to the music and took another sip of my drink, something, or rather, someone to the right caught my eye. I turned to the set of stairs that separated where I sat from the rest of the club and froze. In fact, everything around me froze. The loud music faded away and at the moment, I couldn’t even tell you who the people around me were.

The first thing I noticed was her cheekbones. They were so pronounced, sticking out high on her round face. Her smile was wide—all teeth—and genuine. How I could tell that from across the twenty-five feet that separated us, I have no idea. I just knew that it was true. She stood a step under and behind another woman, but whoever that other woman was, she might as well have been a ghost because I saw right through her.

Maybe it was the spotlights dotted around the room and the woman who had my attention just so happened to be standing under one, but she had a glow around her, a golden light illuminating her celestial beauty. She was a goddess. When she threw her head back and laughed at something the woman with her said, my stomach tightened. I wanted to know what her laugh sounded like. Shit, I wanted to make her laugh again. She followed the ghost woman up the stairs, and they started heading in my direction. The closer she got, the more enthralled I became.

Her hair was short, like really short, and faded on the sides with about an inch of shiny black curls left on top. There was a severe part cut into the left side of her hair and while I generally preferred long hair on women, the short style was sexy as hell on her. She wore a long-sleeved, form-fitting dress the color of cotton candy that fell past her knees and wrapped around her wide curves that made my heart beat fast and my dick try to stand up inside my slacks.

She was thick and stacked, and I had every intention of becoming acquainted with her. With a silent prayer of thanks to God for blessing me with this vision, I stood, ready to make my mark. The two women came to a stop in front of me; the goddess had her eyes on the ghost whose face was glued to the screen of the cell phone in her hand.

I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a hand clapping me on the shoulder. I turned to see Fred standing next to me with his cell phone in his hand. Shit, I had been so enthralled with thickums, I had forgotten he had come by to check on me. He looked at me and smirked as he caught my eye before turning his attention to the two women in front of me.

“Which one of you beauties is Ashton?”

Both women snapped their heads up, and I held my breath. Please don’t let my goddess be Fred’s next conquest. Ever since his favorite matchmaking service, JustOneNight.com, had debuted their mobile app, Fred had been fucking a different woman at every turn. He was pretty tame when we were out on the road, but after every home game, he was guaranteed to bring a woman home. I had no interest in using the service, but he swore by it, attributing his lack of drama in the bedroom to the company. If it turned out that this yet nameless woman who had captured my attention was also on that damn site, I might give it a shot.

The vision in pink elbowed her friend, and I exhaled a sigh of relief. She glanced at me briefly before looking back at her friend. Then slowly, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes the first time, did a double, then triple take before fixing her gaze back on Fred. I smiled at that but said nothing, choosing instead to observe the interaction between our two friends. Her friend smirked at Fred and tilted her head, causing her long hair to fall over one shoulder in a silky, straight curtain.

“I know you saw my picture on your phone.”

Fred threw his head back and laughed. “Damn, you got me.” He held his hand out. “Come chill with me for a bit before we get out of here.”

She stepped forward and grabbed his hand but was yanked back by her friend’s death grip on her arm. She looked back as if surprised that the woman was still there. Then her gaze roved around the area. Her eyes took in Boobie, who was still sitting on the other end of the long couch with his face illuminated by the screen of his phone, then traveled to me and held for a couple of seconds before finally returning to Fred. She nodded at me.

“Is this your friend? He cool? I don’t want to leave my sister alone.”

Fred was nodding before she even finished her sentence. Without looking at me, he said, “Oh yeah, Hawk is the best dude I know. Plus, he’s celibate, so you don’t even have to worry about him trying anything.”

Ashton frowned; the goddess’s eyes went wide, and my jaw clenched. “What the fuck, bruh?”

Ashton shook her head. “Celibate? No, that won’t work. I promised to find her some wood to grind on.”

My jaw loosened and dropped open.

“Oh shit.”

“Well, damn.”

Both Fred and I were caught off guard with that one. The goddess rolled her eyes and dropped a hand to her hip.

“Keep playing with me, Ashton. Ole boy gon’ be tending to wounds instead of beating that box.”

Ashton sucked her teeth. “Fine! Whatever!” She slipped out of the goddess’ grip, dropped Fred’s hand, and walked over to me. I caught Fred’s eye and he nodded. She was cool. I bent my head my knees slightly, bringing my ear close to her mouth.

Pointing behind her, she said, “That’s Nedra. She has a fat ass, and she’s newly single.” My eyes widened. She stepped back, wiggled her fingers at the goddess, and took off toward the stairs, pulling Fred behind her. He shot me a two-finger salute, a shit-eating grin stretched across his face as he pointed at the goddess with his chin before he disappeared down the stairs and into the crowd.

Well damn. That was interesting.

I gestured to the couches behind me. “Do you want to sit down?” She eyed the area before running her hands down the backs of her thighs and having a seat. As she looked out over the dance floor, I took the opportunity to get a better look at her. Her skin looked as smooth as the dark caramel it resembled. The pale pink of her dress complimented her well. On her feet were matching pink sandals with thin heels and laces that snaked up her thick calves.

I was so focused on checking her out that I hadn’t realized she had turned her attention to me. Only because my eyes were on her plump lips, shiny and brown, did I even know she was speaking to me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

One eyebrow lifted at the incredulous tone in her voice, and my lips split into a grin. “I was simply admiring the work of art before me. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.” I sat back on the couch and watched as her lips fell open into an “o”. Her eyes cut away from me, and she rubbed her thighs back and forth. I tilted my head as her ministrations became clear. She was embarrassed by my attention. Hmm…

She stood abruptly and I followed suit.

“Um…I’m going to the bar.” She glanced at me briefly and turned toward the stairs.

I raised an eyebrow. “Someone can bring you a drink.” I pointed to a server who hovered nearby. There were at least four of them on each platform.

She started to shake her head, it seemed, without even considering the option, but then she stopped herself. “Okay.”

Glad that she wasn’t leaving yet, I signaled one of the servers who was hovering nearby. Immediately, a slim woman in booty shorts appeared at my side. I leaned toward the goddess known as Nedra and spoke directly into her ear. She wasn’t sitting far from me, and I know I didn’t have to get as close to her as I did, but I couldn’t help myself. She smelled good as fuck and I wanted to put my tongue on her neck to see if she tasted the same.

“What are you drinking?” I didn’t recognize my voice. It was low and husky like I was trying to sound sexy. What the fuck?

If my eyes hadn’t been glued to her skin, I would have missed the way she shivered when I spoke into her ear. That shit was sexy as fuck. She turned her head slightly, and my lips brushed her high ass cheekbone. Her skin was as soft as I imagined.

“Jameson sour with extra sour.” Her voice was as smooth as the whiskey she’d asked for. How could I be hard just from hearing this woman order a drink?

I gave her order to the server, who nodded and disappeared quickly. I scooted back against the seat, trying to give Nedra room. It was as much for my benefit as it was for hers. I’d never been so intensely attracted to a woman before. This wasn’t a normal sort of attraction. I wanted to pull her into my lap and run my hands down her thighs, similar to how she had done before she sat down. I wanted to put my face in her neck and listen to her smooth ass voice talk to me.

The server reappeared with Nedra’s drink, and I slipped enough cash for a 100% tip. Nedra offered her thanks as she accepted the glass from me, and I swear when her fingers grazed mine, I felt an electric current shoot through me. I know she felt it too because she shifted her drink to her other hand and shook the now empty one.

“You shocked me.” She’d said it humorously, but I wasn’t laughing. I considered myself an intelligent man. I’d managed to graduate from college the year after I joined the league, and I not only received my bachelor’s degree, but I had earned it. I read as often as my schedule allowed, and I listened to and absorbed the wisdom of my elders.

I knew a sign when I saw one. The way everything had slowed down when I first laid eyes on her, the intensity of my attraction to her, and now, this electric shock. My mama always said good things came in groups of threes and all signs were pointing to Nedra.

I watched her intently as she sipped on her drink and looked around the club rolling her shoulders to the beat of the music. As if magnetized, her gaze kept coming back to me, and I relished that. She was affected by me as well. The fourth time she glanced my way, I stood up and held my hand down to her.

Her head fell back as she looked up at me. She didn’t ask me any questions, just set her glass down on the table and took my hand. I led her to the stairs and to the dance floor. I held her arm up and spun her until she was facing away from me. I scratched my chin and tugged on my goatee. If I thought she was heavenly from the front, she was straight sinful from the back. Those full hips of hers rounded to an ass so fat, I had to clutch my chest. Ashton had warned me, but damn. How in the hell did I miss that thing from the front? Whew, shit!

I stepped up behind her and pulled her back against my chest and wrapped my arms around her. When I bent my neck, my nose fell right behind her ear. Whatever scent she wore was strongest there and when I inhaled, I was instantly hard. Fuck. I wasn’t trying to make her uncomfortable by putting my hard dick on her lower back, but with the slacks I wore, there would be no way she wouldn’t feel all of me. I stepped back and turned her again, but I added an extra twirl to it.

She threw her head back and laughed at my antics, and my chest swelled with pride that I was able to make her face light up like that. We grooved through two songs while dancing face-to-face, not touching except for the one hand that I refused to let go of. That she didn’t seem to mind didn’t go unnoticed by me.

Although I liked to dance and was pretty good at it, I rarely got the chance to because I never went out. I’d been committed to that hermit life. I crossed my feet at my ankles and twisted my body, ducking under her arm as I spun and she laughed again. I’d keep doing silly shit all night if I had to just to keep hearing her laugh.

The music changed and Pop That by French Montana came on. Nedra squeezed my hand and turned and pressed her back against me again. She put my hand on her hip and bent forward slightly and started popping her ass on me. Shit. I wasn’t ready. The song transitioned to Booty Wurk by T-Pain, and Nedra started gyrating like she had been waiting for this song. I gripped her hips with both hands and bent my knees, moving with her. The DJ cycled through about five more hype songs, and Nedra kept her ass on my zipper the whole time.

The music finally started to slow down but it was with some freaky shit that made me wonder if that nigga was tryna get people pregnant tonight. When We by Tank came on, and there was no question about the DJ’s intentions. Nedra straightened up and leaned back against me. My arms wrapped around her waist almost reflexively. She felt so good in my arms, her soft body rubbing against me. I dragged my nose against the soft skin behind her ear.

I looked down at the way her ass was grinding on my pelvis, and I know she had to feel how hard I was. I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to start something but that’s exactly how it felt, and that’s exactly what she was doing. She slowed the motion of her hips, rolling against me slowly while she pushed back on me. An involuntary groan slipped out of my mouth.

She tilted her head and looked back at me. I met her gaze and saw the lust I felt reflected in her eyes. I licked my lips and watched as she tracked the motion. My dick pulsed, and I knew she felt that shit because her chest rose as she sucked in a breath. She opened her mouth to say…something, and whatever it was, I was ready to agree to the shit, but she stopped suddenly and looked down.

The smartwatch on my wrist that was currently wrapped tightly around her waist was lit up and vibrating. I lifted it to my face to see the display and cursed. My alarm was going off, and I had a half of an hour until it was the time I told Boobie to get me so I could leave.

To my dismay, Nedra stepped away from me and started to walk off. I grabbed her hand to keep her from getting too far away.

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“To the bar; I need a drink.”

I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. “Come back up top with me, and we can get your drink there.”

Shook her head. “Nah, it’s all good. These are new shoes; I wanna put ‘em to use.” She pointed to her feet and then turned to leave again. Instead of letting her hand go, I walked with her to the bar. I shook my head at how I’d done a complete 360 in less than an hour. It was as if the instant I laid eyes on her, the old me disappeared and all I wanted to do was be around her, hermit lifestyle be damned.

When we reached the bar, I got the attention of one of the bartenders and they came over instantly. I looked at Nedra expectantly, and her face was surprised as flicked her eyes from me to the bartender but she asked for a bottle of water. The bartender made a circle and handed Nedra the frosty bottle. I handed him a bill, and he left to finish the order of whoever he was working with when we walked up.

Nedra cracked open the bottle and downed half of it immediately. She took a breath, and I stared down at her.

“Where to now?”

She looked at me curiously. “Don’t you have to leave?”

I blinked at her. “How do you know that?” My watch didn’t display any words for my alarm; instead, it was just an animation of a clock vibrating.

She arched an eyebrow. “Maybe because your alarm went off, and it’s All-Star weekend. You probably have another appearance or something to go to.”

My lips curled into a smile. I appreciated that she didn’t try to pretend that she didn’t know who I was. There had been no indication on her face at any point since I had met her, so I hadn’t been sure. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t even introduce myself because I was so used to people knowing who I was as soon as they saw me. It would have been hard to believe that she didn’t at least recognize my face, though. I was the franchise player for the Clutch. My face was on billboards all across the city, and I was in a half dozen commercials that were only played locally.

I shook my head. “This wasn’t an appearance. My boy Fred asked me to come out and support him, and that’s what I did.”

She smiled. “Aww, that was sweet of you.”

I laughed. “I don’t know about all of that. I was just being a friend. Showing up was the least I could do.” She nodded and looked back at the dance floor, twirling the water bottle in her hands.

I was about to ask her what she was going to say when we were dancing, before my watch interrupted her when my fucking watch started vibrating again. I looked at it and saw that Boobie was calling me. Fuck, man! I gave her an apologetic look as I pulled my phone from my pocket, but she just smiled at me.

“It’s fine. I should probably go anyway.” She started to back away but I wasn’t having that.

I reached out and wrapped the fingers that weren’t swiping at my phone around her wrist. I gently pulled her closer to me until there were only a couple of inches between us. I stared at her and watched as she bit one of her luscious lips.

“What’s good?”

“The car’s here, man. Let’s roll.”

I pulled the phone away from my face and turned my watch to my face again. Damn, it was midnight already? Where in the hell did the time go? I put the phone back on my ear.

“Give me five minutes and meet me at the front.” I ended the call and looked at the woman who had unknowingly caused me to change my whole M.O. “What were you going to say back there? Before my watch went off and we were rudely interrupted.”

Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and swiped across her top lip. She shook her head and pulled my hand from around her wrist. “You have to go…and what I was going to say is…not important. Thanks for the drinks and the dances.”

It sounded like she was trying to say goodbye to me, and I wasn’t trying to hear that. “No, don’t try to—”

“Aye, Hawk! What’s up bro?”

A ballplayer from the San Antonio Sunbursts came up to me, clapping me on my shoulder and diverting my attention from Nedra. I could see her in my peripheral, immediately back away and scurry off and I tried to go after her, but dude was holding onto my arm and holding his hand out for a shake.

Shit!

I hurriedly slapped his hand. “What’s good, Mike? Man, listen. That woman that you just stepped in front of? That’s my future, and I need to go find her. I’ll get at you later.” The words just fell out of my mouth and they shocked the shit out of me, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. I needed to find Nedra.

He backed up and raised his hands in the air. “My bad, homie! I fucks with that. Go get your Cinderella; the future Mrs. Hawk! Invite me to the wedding, bruh; I love black love.”

I nodded, already moving away from him. “Sure thing, Mike.”I turned around and tried to figure out which way Nedra might have gone. We had been standing right off of the end of the first bar closest to the DJ’s platform. From here, the only place to go was outside because there was no way she would have been able to go back onto the dance floor without me seeing her. Did she leave? She did say she was going to go. Maybe she meant go home.

I quickly exited the club and looked both ways down the street, eyes sweeping for dark caramel wrapped in cotton candy. The only thing I saw was Boobie leaning up against an SUV that was idling about twenty feet away from the entrance to the club.

I’d lost her.

Nedra had disappeared at midnight, but it wasn’t on some Cinderella shit like Mike had said. She didn’t leave me anything to find her with. I didn’t get her number, her name, or her social media handles. I had nothing, and I was pissed. When I climbed into the car, I slammed the door behind me.

Boobie looked at me from the driver’s seat. “The fuck you slamming doors for, nigga? Something go down in there?”

I ran both hands down my face and leaned back against the seat. How could I explain what my problem was without sounding like a little bitch? I shook my head and buckled my seatbelt. “My bad, bruh. I’m trippin’.”

He pulled away from the curb and maneuvered the one-way streets of downtown until we were on Highway 59, heading south.

“So, this don’t have anything to do with the lil thickness in pink?”

My head snapped up, and I looked at my cousin. His eyes were on the road but I could see the smirk on his face each time we passed under a light.

“Yo…”

He chuckled. “You ain’t gotta say shit, Hawk.”

Boobie had basically been my shadow for so long that I often forgot that he was there. Of course, he saw everything. That was his job. I sighed. “She ran off like she was out after curfew and the street lights came on.”

“Damn.”

“And I didn’t even get her number before she dipped.”

“Damn!”

“That’s what the fuck I’m saying, bruh.”

It was quiet and I slipped into my thoughts. I had to figure out who this woman was and where she was from. I hoped she was a local. If she was from out of town like so many others who came down just for this weekend, then I’d likely never see her again.

And the thought of not seeing her again wasn’t an option.