I sneaked up behind her and kissed the side of her neck, making her smile. She set everything on the table but didn’t really say much while we ate. The food was far too good for me to worry about conversation, but I knew something was up as soon as she finally did speak.
“Um…Liam?”
“Yeah?” I polished off the last of the Cajun rice and beans and leaned back in my chair.
“You still have that money, right? The money from my last check?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I was going to put it toward rent. Since the smackdown night was a bust on Tuesday, we’re a little short.”
“Could we, um…could we spare fifty dollars?”
I eyed her, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Other than for grocery shopping and once for books, Tria never asked for money for anything, and fifty was a lot more than we could really spare. Besides, I had just said we were short.
“Not really,” I said. “I mean, I have it now, and I could probably make rent without it, but something else would have to give. Do I want to know why?”
Tria turned the same color as a tomato, and I had to press a bit more to get her to tell me. She shoved her hand down inside Pooh’s Honey Pouch and fumbled around for a day and a half while images of the purse over her head with honey dripping around her face popped into my brain. Eventually she found and pulled out a piece of paper.
“I went to the, um…the health center on campus,” she said, still pink and not meeting my eyes. “I thought it would be…you know…a good idea.”
“A good idea for what?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “Are you sick?”
“I feel fine,” she said quickly. “It’s just…I was talking to Nikki about us, you know?”
“Okay…” I let my voice trail off, wondering just what the fuck she was talking about and why she was being so obtuse. I knew she and Nikki had talked on the phone a couple of times, but I didn’t know about what. I figured it had been more about Nikki and Brandon’s constant fucking. “So?”
“So…” She paused and took a deep breath. She turned her head so she was looking out the window. “I figure it’s only a matter of time…and I did a little cost comparison…”
She continued to look out the window and fiddle with her fingers until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Tria, what the hell are you talking about?”
She glanced back at me and then looked down at the ground.
“Birth control,” she said quietly. “The exam is thirty dollars, and it’s five dollars a month for the pills. That would last me the rest of the semester, which is a lot cheaper than condoms.”
I was never one to shock easily, but I was pretty sure my jaw hit the coffee table.
Chapter 9—Embrace the Patience
“You…um…you…”
I couldn’t get a coherent sentence out. It just wasn’t going to happen.
“Well,” Tria said shyly, “I figured it was inevitable, and it was probably a good idea to go ahead and get, um, protected beforehand, right?”
“Um…yeah. Sure. Right.” I could only babble.
The only word I heard was inevitable.
How many minutes in an inevitable?
I handed her my wallet.
*****
The distinctive click of the little round plastic case had become a morning staple over the last few weeks. I couldn’t help but know exactly how many days Tria had been taking The Pill. I also knew she was already past the safe zone and that the time was near. Every time I heard that sound, my dick enlarged to the point where it might not have fit inside King Kong’s Caddy.
I felt like the Count from Sesame Street—“Four! Four days before you can have sex! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Though we hadn’t come right out and said it, we both knew Saturday was the night—the night we would have our first actual date. Thankfully “Challenge Night” at Feet First had been full of drunken frat boys, and I brought home a decent amount of extra cash so I could take her someplace nice.
“So where are you going on your date?” Yolanda asked.
“Aladdin’s,” I informed her as I pulled myself up and looked over the bar before lowering slowly back down again.
I fucking hated pull ups.
“One hand,” Yolanda dictated. I groaned and dropped my left hand to my side before pulling myself up with the right only. “What’s Aladdin’s?”
“It’s a little Mediterranean place over on the east side,” I told her. “My family used to go there sometimes. It’s good food, classy atmosphere, but not too pricey, ya know?”
“You got the cash for it?”
“Yeah, I’ve saved a bit,” I told her as I switched arms with a grunt.
“How you gonna get there?”
“Bus to Twentieth,” I said, “then the subway over to the East Side mall. It’s not too far from there—just a few blocks.”
“You know how to show a lady a good time.” Yolanda snorted.
“Nice.” I glared at her as I dropped from the bar and landed on the mat. “It’s the best I can do.”
“Nah,” she said. “You can do a little better. Take my car.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not?” She shrugged. “I mean, you know if anything happens to it, I’m going to kick your ass. I figure it’s pretty safe. You can just drive me home after the fight Friday. I don’t have anything going on for the weekend, so you can bring it back Sunday. How’s that work?”
“Fucking awesome,” I replied. “Thanks!”
The rest of the week went by as slowly as a high school senior’s last day of school. Friday night, I could hardly contain myself with thoughts of our first real date and what would hopefully transpire afterwards. I whooped in triumph before I had even entered the cage, climbed halfway up to scream at the crowd, and then dropped down in the face of my opponent. His bright blue eyes went wide as Yolanda snapped my trunks while leaving the cage, laughing loudly.
I reach down, adjusted my trunks while grinning maniacally, and then jumped forward to pounce on my adversary. I wrapped my arms around his head and pulled him down to the bare floor. My knee struck his ribs three times before I let him go, jumped back, and spun around to kick his face before he could stand again.
My heart beat wildly, and I could feel the slender trickle of sweat rolling down my back as I went for him again. He slammed his fist into the side of my face, then the top of my shoulder as he rushed me and crushed my back into the chain links. The crowd screamed, but I couldn’t tell if they were screaming for or against me.
It didn’t matter.
A punch to his throat sent him reeling back—rookie move, to leave his neck unprotected. He fell to his back, and I was on top of him, alternating fists into his face even after he tapped out.
I was still laughing as Yolanda pulled me off him and out of the cage.
“Fucking brutal!” Gary laughed as he slapped my back with his palm.
I was just glad the idiot still bleeding on the floor of the cage hadn’t touched my lips. I needed them in good working order tomorrow.
Dordy was insistent about me hanging around until closing, and by the time I got out of there, took Yolanda home, and then parked the car in the lot next to the apartment, it was really late. Tria was half asleep on the couch, but I still hauled her out to see our ride.
I kept her going for about five minutes, trying to convince her I had actually bought a car, but then she saw a shopping bag in the back that happened to contain women’s underwear and cosmetics, so I had to admit it was Yolanda’s. She didn’t believe me at first, and I had to show her the damn registration with Yolanda’s name on it.
Still, the whole thing made her smile, which was all I really cared about.
I made sure the car was unlocked and that Yolanda’s package was stowed inside the apartment. If someone were going to break in, it was best they didn’t have to bust a window to do it. With nothing obvious inside, they’d just move on to the next car, anyway.
I could hardly sleep that night. By the time I was done getting the car situated in the apartment parking lot, Tria was dozing in front of the television again, so I didn’t try to convince her to stay up for a little action on the couch. With a smile on my face, we just went to bed where I held her and welcomed nervous anxiety in my chest.
One! One day until I can have sex! Ha! Ha! Ha!
*****
The vision that came out of the bedroom sucked the air from my lungs.
I wasn’t sure if it was a sweater or a dress, but the way her outfit clung to her from top to bottom, completely hiding everything but her long legs, was about the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life. When she spun around in a circle, I could see the lower neckline in the back, which made it all the more enticing. The dress was dark blue and trimmed with silver around the high front neckline and Tria’s wrists.
I was pretty sure I could get it all off in one motion, too.
Her hair was partially pinned up, but she had left large, swirly rings hanging around her face, and she had on a lot more makeup than she usually wore, which accentuated her deep brown eyes and perfect, pouting mouth.
Elissa came out from behind Tria, smiling and blushing at me as she watched my reaction to her handiwork. The chick still couldn’t look me in the eye, but I didn’t feel much like teasing her at the moment.
“Well?” Tria said softly when I still hadn’t managed to utter a word. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re fucking gorgeous,” I replied instantly. “The clothes are nice, too.”
She giggled and blushed, and I reached out to take her hand in mine. I kissed the back of her knuckles.
“Your chariot awaits!” I informed her, which earned me more giggling.
“I’ll just get myself the hell out of here,” Elissa said. She smiled broadly toward Tria, gave her a little wave, and then disappeared out the door.
The giggling ought to have annoyed me, but it didn’t. Tria’s whole face lit up when she smiled and laughed, and I’d do almost anything to put that look on her face.
It had been so damn long since I actually drove a car, I had a pretty difficult time parallel parking. The car was still partially sticking out—one tire a good two feet from the curb while the other one was about a quarter inch away—when I gave up and just left it as it was.
Tria held in her giggles, but her eyes still shone bright. I tried to glare at her, but it didn’t work.
“I think I’m a little out of practice,” I said.
“How long has it been since you were behind the wheel of a car?” Tria asked.
“Um…quite a while.” In fact, the last car I drove was my Lexus, which I had sold for thirty grand in cash over nine years ago. I blew through the money in about four months, mostly on dope.
“I’ve never eaten Mediterranean food,” Tria admitted as we walked through the doors.
Aladdin’s was a small place in a strip mall, had about twenty tables in it, and was hardly ever crowded. I was never quite sure how they managed to keep the doors open, but they had been in the same spot forever. Though I hadn’t been there since high school, the place hadn’t changed much. The décor was dark red and gold and there were candles and little vases filled with plastic roses in the middle of each table. There was a huge case right when you walked in full of incredible looking cakes.
“You’ll want to save room for dessert,” I informed Tria as she eyed the chocolate. “They have the best cake in the world here.”
We were shown to a table near the back where it was quiet and cozy. I helped Tria figure out the items on the menu, and we ended up sharing a plate of falafel, pitas, stuffed grape leaves, and baba ghanoush. Tria didn’t like the grape leaves, claiming they had too much vinegar or something, so I ended up with all of them. She loved the falafel, though, and thought she might even have a recipe for it in one of the books she had checked out from the library.
“Is this what you ordered when you came here with your family?” Tria asked.
“Not usually,” I replied. “I liked stuff with lamb in it.”
“You weren’t a vegetarian then?”
“No, not until later.”
“So when did you become a vegetarian?” she asked. “And why?”
I glanced up at her darkly. The last thing I wanted to do this evening was hash up any crap.
“Why did you nearly go through with marrying that douchebag in Beals?”
Tria’s eyes cooled a bit.
“So, no serious talk tonight?” she finally said with a wry smile as she caught on.
“I think that would be good,” I responded. “Besides, it’s time to order dessert. You don’t want anything to interfere with that!”
The server brought over the list of the day’s desserts, and we settled on one giant piece of cappuccino cake with chocolate and caramel drizzled all over it, along with two forks. Tria moaned when she bit into it, and the sound circled around my dick and gave the moody little bastard a tug.
Unable to help myself, I carved a bit off with my own fork and then held it out to Tria. Her eyes stayed locked with mine, peering up at me through her lashes, as she slowly took the bite into her mouth and hummed again.
“This is incredible,” she said.
I couldn’t have agreed more, and I hadn’t even tasted it. Tria was determined to rectify that fact and fed me a bite from her own fork. The chocolate was creamy, and the deep taste of coffee and caramel just made the whole experience nothing short of decadent.
As she leaned toward me, I could see through the outline of Tria’s form-fitting dress that there weren’t any bra lines.
Yeah…decadent.
Or is that depraved?
We continued on, feeding each other bites and ignoring everyone around us. We didn’t speak, just tasted—the silence only broken when Tria groaned at the taste of every bite. As the cake disappeared, Tria ended up with a bit of it on the side of her face, which I had reached out and wiped from the side of her mouth. As I did, she turned toward my hand and licked the chocolate off my finger.
“Holy shit,” a deep voice called out. “Liam? Is that you?”
The familiar voice made me sit up straight, and a whole stampede of emotions went through me, the first and foremost being annoyance. I should have realized running into someone I knew was a possibility, and maybe I had in the back of my head and didn’t want to admit it.
“Hey, Ryan,” I replied as my cousin walked up to our table. He had his arm around the waist of a voluptuous blonde in a silver dress and ridiculously high strappy heels. She tossed her hair over her shoulder as she looked down at me.
“Liam,” she said simply.
“Amanda,” I replied with about the same tone.
“Damn, bro,” Ryan said. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Ryan snorted.
“Michael said he saw you,” Ryan said. “He said something about…ah…”
He moved his hand around in little circles for no discernible reason. His gaze bounced around, going from me to Tria, back to me, over to Amanda, back to Tria…
I sighed. I wasn’t sure if Ryan was trying to be subtle or if he was just wondering if this was the same girl Michael had mentioned or what, but his dancing around the fact that Tria was sitting at the same table got old fast.
“Tria, this is my cousin Ryan,” I told her, “and his fiancée Amanda.”
“Hi,” Tria said as she looked up with big eyes at my cousin. The dude made me look small.
“Ryan and Amanda, meet my girlfriend Tria.”
“We’ve already met,” Amanda said matter-of-factly.
I glanced at Tria as she squinted at Mandi to get a better look. Her head tilted to one side while Amanda just watched and waited.
“I don’t recall…” her voice trailed off as her eyes got wide.
Amanda smirked, and Tria simply looked astounded.
“I do remember y
ou,” Tria said.
Mandi just nodded as she turned to Ryan.
“Tria and I were in the same group home together,” she announced. “Right before I was adopted by the Madisons.”
“No shit?” I said. I focused on Tria for a moment as I tried to understand her expression.
“Damn small world, huh?” Ryan remarked.
Neither one of them seemed to care to elaborate. I thought about some of the stuff Tria had said about her time there and wondered if she had mentioned Amanda before, but she hadn’t talked too much about the other kids there. Tria had only mentioned the one girl who had been adopted before her.
When the stretch of silence became uncomfortable, Ryan piped up again.
“So…you’re coming, right?”
“To what?” I asked. As if I didn’t know.
Ryan tilted his head and raised one of his bushy brows at me.
“The wedding, asshole.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Told you,” Amanda said. “I bet he threw the invitation away.”
I had, but I wasn’t about to tell her she was right. I was half tempted to change my mind just because they obviously had a bet going, and I didn’t want her to win. I could be spiteful that way.
“Come on, Lee,” Ryan said. “It’s a good opportunity.”
I wasn’t going to ask him what kind of opportunity. There were dozens of answers, and I wouldn’t like any of them.
“I don’t have a tux.”
“I have your tux.” Ryan tossed his words at me.
“Won’t fit,” I said. “I’m a lot bigger than I was then.”
“He’s too stubborn,” Amanda said. “He’s going to continue to be an ass and a brat, and not—”
I was about to start calling my cousin’s girl a variety of names, but someone else beat me to the punch, so to speak.
“Don’t you talk to him that way!” Tria snapped as she stood up and tilted her head up to look at Amanda. She was easily six inches shorter than Mandi and wasn’t wearing three-inch heels either, but that wasn’t about to stop her. Her face darkened, and her eyes flared. “I will not put up with that!”