A Love Like This (Book 1) (22 page)

“
You
’
re going to get me killed,
”
 
Riley says.
 
Biggie Smalls
 
‘
I Love it when you call Me Big Papa,
’
 
is blaring through the speakers.
 
 
“
You know he likes you right?
”
 
Riley says into my ear while we dance.
 

“
He
’
s still in love with that horse face baseball bat with boobs.
 
He
’
s only with me because he
’
s got jungle fever,
”
 
I say with a slur throwing my hands in the air and swinging my hips to the beat.

“
First of all you
’
re not the first black girl he
’
s dated. Secondly, he didn
’
t even want me to touch your hand and I
’
m pretty much assured a punch in the gut for watching your ass the whole time we
’
ve been dancing.
 
He
’
s dated a lot of girls: tall ones, short ones, thin ones, thick ones, black, white, Asian
’
s and Hispanic
’
s.
 
Once he
 
dated twins.
 
At the same time, the guys my fucking hero,
”
 
Riley shouts excitedly.

I
’
m starting to see that being a blabber mouth runs in the family, Riley talks as much as Sarah.
 
 
“
I got it.
 
There were a lot of girls.
”
 

“
My point is he was never like this with any of them, especially not Amy.
”

“
Let
’
s just dance,
”
 
I say spinning around and running right into
 
Pookie.
 
“
Hey uncle,
”
 
I yell louder than necessary before throwing my arms around his neck. Riley creeps away and joins Sarah and
Nickie
 
at the bar.
 
 
Pookie
 
hands me my purse then takes me by the hand and leads me onto the patio.

“
What did you do to that man? He looks miserable,
”
 
Pookie
 
says as soon as we find a seat.
 

I shake my head to clear the cobwebs.
 
 
“
I didn
’
t do anything to him.
 
We were supposed to be hanging out together and he
’
s spent the whole day arguing with Amy the good bitch.
”
 

“
You
’
re a little drunk so focus.
”
 
 
I stare at his mouth while he talks concentrating on his words.
 
 
“
They were together for a long time.
 
She was crying and he didn
’
t want to hurt her more than he already has.
 
He
’
s a good guy so go easy on him.
”
 

“
Ok ok I got this,
”
 
I say standing to leave.
 
 
Pookie
 
catches me by the arm.
 
He takes out a little pouch from his pocket and dabs at my nose with an oil blotter then fishes the lip gloss out of my big red purse and applies a fresh coat.

“
One last thing,
”
 
He says squeezing my cheeks and squirting breath spray into my mouth.

“
I love you,
”
 
I say hugging him.
 
 
“
I hate living up here without you.
”
 

“
I know baby girl,
”
 
He says rubbing my head and smoothing my ponytail into place.

I find Tucker sitting at a table alone with is long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle.
 
There
’
s a group of girls watching him from the bar.
 
I smile at them before walking over and sitting on his lap.
 
I rest my head on his chest and I can hear his heart beat accelerate.
 

Tucker holds me tight and kisses the top of my head.
 
 
“
Are you mad at me?
”

“
No,
”
 
I think you
’
re great,
”
 
I say.
 
One of the girls from the bar comes over and stands just inches away from us.
 
 
“
Oh God not another one,
”
 
I say.

“
Sorry to bother you, but weren
’
t you dating a woman named Samantha a few months ago.
 
I only ask because she
’
s a friend of mine and I thought you looked familiar.
”
 

Tucker never takes his eyes off me.
 
He holds my face in his hands and kisses me for a long time.
 
When I finally manage to pull away the girl has disappeared and my panties are moist.
 
I put my hands on his shoulders.
 
 
“
So you ready to go dance with some gay dudes?
 
 
Pookie
 
wants us to go with him to the Castro District tonight.
”
 

Tucker shakes his head,
 
“
I must really love you,
”
 
he says tha
n inhales sharply as if he
’
s trying to suck the words back into his mouth.
 

My eyes widened.
 
I touch his cheek with the tips of my fingers feeling dizzy from the rum and dizzy from his words.
 
“
I know we were having a moment so you might not mean what you just said but someday you will.
”
 
Tucker brings my hand to his mouth and kisses the palm.
 

Chapter 10

 
 
 
 
 
I wake up in a bedroom
 
with a vaulted ceiling dark wood floors and a huge bay window that leads out to a wooden deck. The things I could do to this room I think to myself before realizing I
’
m in a strange bed.
 
I
’
m wearing a long red t-shirt with the word red printed across the chest and a large tan arm draped around my waist.
 
Tucker is asleep next to me his giant arm cutting off my circulation.
 
The day before is a blur.
 
I remember dancing and drinking more than I ever have before.
 
I hope that we didn
’
t have drunk sex.
 
I want to remember the first time we
’
re together outside of my
dreams.
 
I look down the front of the top.
 
I
’
m wearing underwear so that
’
s a good sign.
 
I lift the thick Egyptian cotton sheets and see that Tucker is wearing boxer briefs.
 

I wriggle from under his arm a
nd pad out of the bedroom past
the kitchen which has empty glass cabinets and a small island with a marble counter top. The living room is bigger than my whole house back in LA.
 
The windows stretch from the shiny hard wood floor to the vaulted ceiling.
 
Whoever the house belongs to must have a house keeper because there isn
’
t a spot of dust anywhere.
 
It
’
s sparsely furnished with only an overstuffed leather couch and a giant TV the kind that appeal to men and sports bar owners. I hear a stir in the corner of the room.
 
I look closer and see Sarah asleep on top of blond dreads. A few feet away
 
Nickie
 
is on top of a sleeping bag spooning with Riley.
 
The living room looks like a scene from Caligula with clothes, bras and underwear thrown around.
 
 
“
Good lord, what the hell happened here?
”
 

I tiptoe down the hall and up a flight of stairs. There are three empty bedrooms, each one larger than the next.
 
I open double doors and walk into the bathroom that I could happily spend the rest of my life in.
 
It has his and her sinks, marble counters and heated stone floors.
 
There is a claw foot tub next to a steam shower with a detachable shower head.
 
It has a huge walk in linen closet and enough space for a chaise lounge.
 
I walk in further and open double doors leading to one of the most magnificent views I
’
ve ever seen.
 
From this bathroom I can see the entire UC Berkeley campus and all of the Berkeley Hills.
 
I tear myself away from the view spin around on my heels and head back down the stairs and towards the bedroom. As I pass the living room I try to figure out why
 
Nickie
 
and Sarah are both down stairs when there are so many empty rooms upstairs.
 
I sit on the bed next to Tucker and nudge his arm.
 
He stirs opens one
eye
 
then reaches over and pulls me next to him.
 
 
“
Tucker where am I?
 
Where is my uncle and why does it look like a porno took place in the living room.
 
He laughs and pulls me on top of him.
 
I brush his hair away from his eyes and rub his stubbly chin.
 
I rest my head on his chest and listen to his heart beat.
 
 
“
Seriously, whose house is this?
”
 

“
You
’
re at my house in the Berkeley hills.
 
Well our house,
”
 
he says kissing my head.
 

“
This is a big house.
 
How can you afford it and what do you mean our house? Did we buy a house last night?
”

“
People usually live together when they get married.
 
I don
’
t think they
’
ll let me move into the dorm.
”

“
Haha
 
very funny, what do you mean we got married?
”
 
 
I roll off his stomach.

He sits up.
 
“
You seriously don
’
t remember?
”
 

I shake my head slowly.
 
I don
’
t think he
’
s kidding.

“
We left the cave and drove to the Abby Lane bar in the Castro District.
 
You had two or three more rum and cokes and spent most of the night dancing with a drag queen named Jazz-MAN.
”
 
He pauses,
 
“
You honestly don
’
t remember any of this?
”
 
I shake my head again.
 
He flops down onto a pillow and laces his fingers behind his head.
 
 
“
Pookie
 
met a guy within ten minutes of entering the club and disappeared for most of the night.
 
Steve showed up at some point.
”