Cougars (22 page)

“That sounds like a damn good drug. When is it going to hit the market?” Alex asked.

“Probably years from now. It takes a very long time for a product to get approved. I have a love-hate relationship with the process. I know that it's necessary, but on the other hand, I want the world to experience what the product can do.”

“I'm just totally curious now, but when will you be ready to do a clinical study involving testing of human subjects?” Millie asked.

“Oh, it will be a long time before we reach that point,” Jasmine chimed in.

“When you're ready to try it out, call me. I'll be your test subject.” Tiffany raised her hand high. Everyone had a hearty laugh at her willingness to be a test subject.

Jasmine and the ladies remained in the dining room while Alex and Travis went into the family room to talk and catch up.

“Travis,” Alex called, then leaned in close to his friend so that his voice wouldn't carry. “Do you think you could get me a sample of that stuff?”

“No. The side effects can kill you. The side effects are disorientation, nausea, dehydration, cardiac arrest, and kidney failure, just to name few,” Travis answered.

“But it works, right?” Alex asked.

“Preliminary studies on the lab animals seem to suggest that.”

“So let me have some. I don't care about the consequences. Frankly, you can get all types of approved prescription medicines with deadly side effects. I just want to try a little of it. I'm thinking your little experiment may be able to help me straighten out my business with Hatcher McKean.”

“You're my friend and I love you, but I can't give you something so impure,” Travis said.

“Whatever, man!” Alex said with disgust.

“Don't be like that. Right now, let's just be buddies enjoying a drink together and celebrating the New Year.”

“If I don't clear my debt with Hatcher, I may not be here with you next year,” Alex whispered.

“What did you say?” Travis asked.

“Nothing, man. I'm just feeling a little tipsy, that's all,” Alex lied as he took another sip of wine.

Spring had arrived and Jasmine had started a new fitness program to lose some of the weight she'd picked up over the long and bitterly cold Chicago winter. She loathed the winter months because weather conditions made it practically impossible to keep a lean and fit body. Her grandmother used to say with absolute conviction that in order to survive winters in Chicago, she needed to eat food that stuck to her stomach. Jasmine was glad to see spring arrive. She'd grown tired of listening to Travis whine about how cold it was. Whenever the temperature dropped below zero, he'd call to complain about having to travel to work under such brutal conditions.

It was now Monday evening and Jasmine had just arrived at the health club. She decided to start leaving work earlier so that she could get back into shape. She hadn't been to the club in a long time and was looking forward to a really great workout. When she walked in, she presented her gym I.D. to the attendant and then walked back to the locker room to change clothes. After exiting the locker room, she walked back to the main area of the gym and began power walking around the indoor track. As she moved along the back stretch, she peeped through the glass window of the dance studio and saw Harrison teaching his yoga class. He still looked good, but their season was short-lived, and she had no intentions of ever being intimate with him again.

As her body began to heat up, Jasmine quickened her pace and focused on getting her heart rate up. She knew that a solid workout would help manage the stress she was under as well as blow off some steam. Over the past few weeks, she'd been very frustrated with Travis and his fixation on developing a better formula for the aphrodisiac. She had to remind him on a number of occasions that they had other research that required his attention and that he shouldn't focus solely on one project. It had become increasingly clear through the failures of their experiments that the female sexual enhancement project was going to be shelved until further notice. The project was turning out to be a waste of time and resources, and Jasmine strongly felt that it was time to move on.

I'll recommend to Helen that we divert our resources to other drugs which have more promise, potential and a better clinical track record
, Jasmine thought as she walked along at a brisk pace.
I'll share with her the results so far, but leave the final decision up to her
.

When Jasmine finished her power walk, she headed over to the free weights area, picked up a set of twelve-pound dumb-bells and sat on one of the benches. Just as she was about to do some lateral shoulder raises, Harrison came over and interrupted.

“Hello, Jasmine,” he greeted her politely.

“Hello, Harrison.” She tried to sound pleasant when in fact, she'd hoped he wouldn't approach her at all. Jasmine began her reps.

“I haven't seen you here in a long time,” he said, watching her every move.

“Yeah, I've been very busy lately and haven't had much time to get in here.”

“I can tell,” Harrison foolishly said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Jasmine was all set to fire off several rounds of insults if she discovered that he was poking fun at her because of the extra pounds she'd gained.

“It just means that I see that you haven't been in here in a long time,” Harrison quickly clarified what he meant.

“Well, you'll probably see me in here more often. I'm determined to get back into better shape.”

“You should come back to my yoga class and work on your flexibility. I wouldn't mind having you back.”

“I'll think about it, Harrison,” Jasmine said as she sat her weights down.

“I'll be looking for you,” Harrison said just as a woman came up to him and looped her arm around his waist.

“Are you ready to go, baby?” she asked as she smiled at Harrison and then Jasmine. The woman was a Cougar, just like Jasmine. Her complexion was much lighter and her eyes looked like they belonged on a goldfish. It was clear that the woman was being pretentious, as if Jasmine was after Harrison. Jasmine wanted to say something really catty, but decided that it wasn't even worth wasting her breath. Harrison's season with her had come and gone, and she was happy that he'd gotten over her and moved on.

“I'll catch you later, Jasmine,” he said as he curled his fingers into a fist and aimed it at her for a fist bump. Jasmine obliged him so that he and his new Cougar could go someplace and play. When Jasmine finished her workout, she was exhausted. She grabbed her belongings from the locker room and headed home.

When she arrived back at her house, she immediately went upstairs into her bathroom and ran a hot bath. When the water was just perfect, she slipped into the water, positioned a comfortable bath towel at the base of her neck, closed her eyes and relaxed. An hour later, she got out of the tub, toweled off, moistened her skin with her favorite scented lotion and resided to her bed. She picked up the new book she'd purchased at a book fair from her nightstand. The novel was
Dangerous Consequences
. The title caught
her eye because it spoke to the truth about some of the things going on in her professional life. Just as she was about to start reading, her phone rang. She thought it was Travis calling her, but it was Millie.

“Hey girl,” Jasmine answered with a big smile on her face.

“Hey Jasmine, I didn't call you too late, did I?” Millie asked.

“No, I'm just sitting here about to read a book called
Dangerous Consequences
.”

“Ooo, that title sounds interesting. Hell, in fact it sounds like that crazy shit I went through with my husband and lover fist-fighting a while back.” Millie laughed nervously about the ugliness of that particular incident.

“Girl, the title really speaks to a lot of shit going on in my life right now,” Jasmine admitted as she placed the book back on the nightstand.

“Sounds like you and I are in the same boat, although my ride on the Titanic is just about over. I signed my divorce papers today. I'm just waiting for Bruce to sign and then it'll all be official. I'll be a single woman once again,” Millie said happily.

“Wow, congratulations. What are you going to do with your newfound freedom?”

“Well, the first thing that's going to happen is my young lover and I are taking a much needed vacation to the Virgin Islands. Then after that, who knows.”

“Are you going to marry your lover?” Jasmine asked.

“No. I'm not in any particular hurry to get married again. I just want to take it easy, have a little fun, and just take each day as it comes. My boyfriend, Roy, wants me to make a commitment to him, but I'm just not ready for all of that yet.”

“Well, good for you. You sound like you're much happier now,” Jasmine said.

“Girl, ‘happy' isn't a strong enough word. I'm fucking
ecstatic
!” Millie laughed.

“So, how is everything going with the investigation and the allegations of corruption?” Jasmine asked.

“Let's not even talk about that one right now. There is so much shit going on with that investigation that just talking about it makes me dizzy. But I will tell you this. Two other judges that I know are also being scrutinized.”

“Oh wow,” Jasmine said.

“What about you? How's everything going with you and Travis?”

Jasmine exhaled a long sigh.

“Oh boy,” Millie said, sensing that there was something afoot.

“Let me get your opinion on this.” Jasmine paused, gathered her thoughts and then began. “There are going to be dangerous consequences if I allow myself to fall in love with Travis.”

“Wow! What's that about, Jasmine?” Millie asked very surprised that Jasmine was thinking along those lines.

“Because…if he ever wants children, I'm so past childbearing years.”

“Why are you thinking about children now? I thought you were cool with the fact you didn't have any,” Millie asked.

“Trust me, I don't want to have kids at my age. Hell, I really don't think my body would like me very much if I got pregnant, but I'm pretty confident that he wants to have his own biological children.”

“Have you had that conversation with him?” Millie asked.

“No. This is just stuff going on in my mind that I've been thinking about. Travis hasn't said anything one way or the other.”

“Okay, so what are you worried about?”

“A bunch of things are on my mind. As much as I hate to admit this, I'm in a very funny place. I am competing for Travis's time
and attention with our job. Now, doesn't that sound crazy as hell?” Jasmine admitted.

“Yeah, it does. But how exactly is his job your rival. I mean both of you guys work for the same company.”

“Travis has a Jekyll and Hyde split personality and one of them needs to be calibrated so that the best parts of him can rule a majority of the time. Millie, I sit at home at night waiting for him to call me just so that I can hear his voice. In fact, when you called I thought you were him. Most nights he doesn't call me at all. At first that didn't bother me because I knew he was at work. But now, I feel like he's working way too much. He's so determined to find the right combination of properties for the aphrodisiac. He works on that more than any of his other research projects. I need Travis to have an internal cutoff switch.”

“Okay, but why?” Millie asked still confused as to what Jasmine was driving at.

“Here's what I think: I know that Travis has stronger feelings for me, but he won't express it because he's so absorbed in the work. I think if he had someone like me that he could come home to at a certain time, he'd shut down and come home to me. We've been seeing each other for almost a year so our relationship has grown.”

“Does he spend any time with you outside of the bedroom?” Millie asked.

“Of course he does. We go out to dinner, concerts, and plays. But I want more. I don't want to play second fiddle to his work.”

“Well, Jasmine, you can't change who he is.” Millie pointed out the obvious.

“I don't want to change who he is; I just want to regulate it a little. My biggest competition for his time right now is the sex pill project which is going absolutely nowhere. The project needs to be scrapped and our time and resources need to be redirected to other projects. I think that shelving the project will help.”

“Don't you think that's going to upset him?” Millie asked.

“Projects get jettisoned all of the time. There is nothing strange about that.”

“So why do you sound worried about bringing the project to a conclusion?”

“Because I don't want him to know that I spearheaded the effort. I really want to have a meaningful relationship with Travis. That's the bottom line and if the only thing keeping us apart is some experiment, then I want it removed from our lives.”

“Wow, Jasmine. That could lead to—”

“Some dangerous consequences if it backfires,” Jasmine interrupted Millie and finished her sentence.

“Do you think it will come back to haunt you? I mean, what if another project comes up and he gets equally obsessed with that?”

“I'll cross that bridge when I get to it,” Jasmine said.

“Okay, so answer this question for me. I'm just putting something on the table for discussion.”

“Bring it on,” Jasmine said ready to tackle the dilemma Millie was about to present.

“Why doesn't he date women his own age?”

“He says that he finds them to be immature. He likes being with older women,” Jasmine answered.

“Okay. Another question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“What went wrong in his last serious relationship?” Millie asked the killer question.