Heartbeat (7 page)

I buzzed my receptionist to tell her to bring me a cup of tea and was glad when there was a knock on the door to take me out of my tortuous thoughts.  

“Come in,” I said expecting for Arian to walk in with her late weekly dues. But when the door opened and it was the beautiful dreadlocked stranger, my voice got caught in the middle of my throat.  

He was standing there smiling at me like we shared a juicy secret. In a way, I guess we did.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the troublemaker.” His eyes met mine and I felt like I would fall out of my office chair.  

I jumped up from my desk, grabbed him by his hand and pulled him into my office, hoping no one had the chance to notice him entering.

“What’s that all about?” He said with half of a laugh. His smile was so beautiful, it momentarily paralyzed me but it didn’t take long for me to come back to my senses. I dropped his hand but that didn’t stop the electricity that was already running through my hand from his touch.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. I had no idea why I was whispering, my door was closed and there was no way anyone on the other side of it could hear what we were saying.  

He pointed at the door, “My sister getting her hair done.” The look of confusion on his face made me realize I was hyperventilating. “I didn’t have anything else to do so I stuck around.”

I sat on the edge of my desk and forced my eyes away from his hazel- green eyes. Man, he was gorgeous. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here.” I focused on the picture on the wall across from me to keep from looking at him but everything in the office seemed so mundane, so uninteresting, with a man this fine, this beautiful, standing across from me.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here, either,” he said with a short laugh. And there was that smile again. I subconsciously crossed my legs in reaction to it. “I’m Amir Rover, by the way. I didn’t catch your name the other night, but I’m assuming its Ali. Or is it Mayweather?”

I narrowed my eyes at him but couldn’t stop the smile. “Nice to meet you, Amir. I see you’re a comedian.” I wanted to stick my hand out for him to shake but was afraid of the electricity that would be produced between us if I touched him again. “I’m Charlie.” I was about to say Charlie Johnson, but since that part of my life was just about dead, I gave him my maiden name, “Charlie Smith.” I kept both of my hands in my lap.

“So, you run this place?” He looked around my spacious office then returned his intense eyes back to me.

“Yes.”

He scratched his head and cocked it to the side. I eyed him from his brown dreads to his black Maison Margiela sneakers. Everything about this man was sexy. Every time I tried to keep my eyes off him they always landed right back on him.  He was a pretty boy but the dreads made him look rugged.

He seemed to be nodding his approval when he said, “Businesswoman, huh? I like that.” And with that it was his turn to look me up and down. I so wanted to know if he liked what he saw as much as I liked what I saw when I looked at him.

Desperately wanting to change the subject and the tense atmosphere, I said, “So you brought your sister to the right place. My girl, Taylor, is going to hook her up right.”

He rubbed his scruffy chin and nodded. “Yeah, she said she wanted to go to the hottest salon in Dallas since I was paying,” he laughed, and something funny happened inside my stomach at the beautiful smile the laugh produced. “And look at you! Owning the place.” He laughed again and I couldn’t help but think that his laugh sounded better than my favorite song.

“So, Miss Charlie, what was up with you the other night? You don’t look like the kinda’ chick that would be out in the streets scrapping.”

And there it was. I sighed, stood, and walked to the other side of my desk. I sat in the oversized leather chair and said, “I’m not that kinda’ chick.”

He cocked his head to the side like he was studying me. “So what was all that about? That was your dude or something?”

I tried to keep his eye contact but something about the way he was looking at me caused me to drop my eyes to the hardwood floor. I didn’t look back up at him when I said, “Yeah. That was my husband.”

“Husband!” The shock in his voice made me look back up at him.  

Damn, he was so fine.  

I nodded my head, “Yup.”

“Damn. Your husband was out there fucking with Kia?” He looked at me as if he were waiting on me to say I was joking.  

I shrugged. “It seems that way.”

Amir shook his head, “That nigga a got-damn fool.”

The corners of my mouth rose involuntarily and I knew I was blushing. It felt good to hear someone say what I was thinking since the night I found Rick with his downgrade. When I looked up, he was still shaking his head in disbelief. Even though I really didn’t want to know, I had to ask him, “How often does my husband be in that neighborhood…with her?”

“To be honest, ma, I have no idea. I mean we’ve seen the nigga car every now and then but nobody has ever really seen him outside of it. I couldn’t recognize that nigga if he walked right past me right now. That night you kicked his and Kia’s ass, I didn’t even get the chance to look at him then. All I saw was this fine ass chick wildin’.” He leaned against the wall and stuck his right hand in his pocket. “Plus, I don’t live over there I just be visiting one of my patnas’ so I really can’t say.”

A knock on my office door caused me to jump. I didn’t know why I was so nervous but I knew rumors would spread like wildfire if anyone saw him in my office with the door closed.  

I quickly looked around my office for a place for him to hide but realized how ridiculous I would have sounded if I asked him to do such a thing. Instead, I stood and ran my hands down my fuchsia shift dress, threw my shoulders back, and opened the door. To my loathing, it was Arian. And it didn’t take long before her eyes darted in the direction of Amir and then back to me with a sneaky smile that confirmed that rumors would indeed be all over the salon before we closed for business tonight.

“Here’s my dues,” she said with an underhanded drawl in her voice. She looked Amir up and down, raised her left eyebrow and said, “Hi, I’m Arian. And you are?”

I bit my bottom lip to keep from telling this bitch to mind her business and get the hell out of my office. Amir seemed to sense the tension building inside of my office because he stepped forward, took Arian’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you, Arian. I’m Amir.”

Arian was smiling so hard at Amir. You would have thought he’d just complimented her.

He continued to say, “My sister is getting her hair done here and I was just admiring Charlie’s well designed establishment.” He paused to take a look around my office to emphasize his statement. “I was just trying to solicit my services in case she’s ever in need of remodeling.”

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. I noticed how effortlessly and believably Amir had just lied but nodded my head along to his story.

“Uh huh,” Arian said.  

I was waiting on her to turn around and go back about her business but she just stood there looking back and forth from Amir to me.  

“Matter of a fact, let me show you some of my portfolio,” Amir said heading for the door.

I followed him but was thinking he was doing the most. Arian stepped out of the way and watched us walk toward the front door of the salon. If she didn’t believe Amir’s story by now, I didn’t care.

When we were out of the salon I said, “Thanks, Amir.”

He gave me half of a smile and I felt my knees go weak. “I can tell by the way she was looking at us that she’s a shit starter.”

I nodded, “You don’t know the half of it. She just looking for a reason when it comes to me.” I followed him to a late model dark green Buick.

“I have something for you,” he said.  

“For me?” I pointed at myself as if he could have been talking to someone else.

He opened the backseat of the car and pulled out the cheetah Giuseppe shoe I’d lost during my fight with Kia. I gasped because I thought I’d never see that shoe again.

“You found my shoe!” I jumped up and hugged him. I didn’t realize I was actually hugging this man until he wrapped his arms around my waist. Instinctively, I pulled away and when I did he was smiling at me. It was the second time I noticed that he had one of the most beautiful smiles I’d ever seen and my cheeks flushed from the thought.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again but just in case I did, I kept it,” he said.  

I clutched the shoe and looked from it to him. “Well thanks for keeping it for me. It’s one of my favorite shoes.”

There was an awkward silence with us just staring at each other. He finally spoke, “I really am a contractor. And if you do ever wanna do any remodeling, hit me up.” He reached in his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and handed me a business card.

I could think of a million reasons why I wanted to call him, but remodeling was not one of them. I took the card and looked at the phone number on it.  

“You ain’t ever gonna call a nigga,” he said.

“Not for remodeling,” I said with a smile.

He cocked his head. “Is that right?”  

I turned away and began walking back into my salon making sure I threw my hips a little harder while I walked.

“Say, Charlie!” He called after me.

I stopped and turned around as he jogged to catch up with me.  

“What are you doing tonight?”

My voice got caught in the middle of my throat and I strained to say, “Nothing. Why?” It’d been so long since I’d been asked on a date that I didn’t know how to react. But I knew before he finished his sentence that I’d agree to go to the moon if he asked me to.

He licked his perfect lips and said, “One of my boys is having his birthday party at Club Aqua tonight. You should come through.”

I hadn’t been to a club in forever. I actually couldn’t stand the club scene but it didn’t take me long to agree to come to a dude’s birthday party who I’d never even met before.

“Cool.” He had a smile on his face. “I’ll put you on the guest list.” He licked his lips and I wondered if he meant it to look as sexually explicit as it had.

“I’m gonna bring two of my homegirls, is that ok?”

He nodded his head, “Of course. The more the merrier.”

I took in his face and amazing biceps one last time before I turned to walk back into the salon. I ignored the way a few of the stylists were gawking at me as I made my way back to my office. I immediately texted Kesha and told her not to make plans tonight because we were going out. I forwarded the same text to Lake. Then I scrolled through my contact list for my client, Rochelle, the divorce attorney. When I called her, I was thankful she picked up on the second ring. I hated exposing my dirty little secrets, especially to a client, but when Rochelle assured me that we would get Rick for everything he was worth, I didn’t feel so bad. It wasn’t that I was after Rick’s money, I had plenty of my own, it was just the fact that I held him down for ten years with my love and faithfulness and he gave me lies and deceit in return.

“Don’t let it get you down, sweetie,” Rochelle said, trying her best to keep her voice even toned.  

“Thank you, Rochelle. I’ll be by your office first thing Monday.” I hung up with her and felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, if only momentarily. My marriage was officially over, whether Rick knew it or not. And seeing as though he hadn’t been home or even reached out to me in a week, I doubted he even cared.

Nerves gathered in the pit of my stomach. This was the first time I’d been on a date in years. No, Amir hadn’t asked me on an official date, but I still put just as much effort into my appearance as if he had. It took me four outfit changes because nothing and I mean nothing, seemed to look good enough.

Finally, I found a dress that screamed, “I’m that bitch”. I’d never been into the nightclub scene and hardly ever went out, but there was nothing that was going to keep me from Club Aqua tonight.

I stood in front of the full length mirror inside of my bathroom and admired the way the cobalt blue bandage dress hugged every curve of my perfectly sculpted body. I smiled at my reflection but the smile was short lived once the thought of Rick crept inside of my mind. No matter how sexy I thought I was, it was obvious that I wasn’t sexy enough for Rick to remain faithful. I turned away from the mirror and returned to my vanity, adding the final touches of makeup to my face. I had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t that I wasn’t woman enough to keep my husband faithful but that he wasn’t man enough to remain faithful.

I’d decided to part my hair down the middle and wear it bone straight tonight. Something about the hairstyle coupled with heavy black eyeliner had me looking exotic. I looked at the time on my rose gold watch. It was almost ten and Lake and Kesha were late as usual.

I finished my makeup and slid on my Louboutin Isolde platform heels that looked so dangerously hot. I was sure all eyes would be on me tonight which was good because I needed the self-esteem booster. By the time I finished putting on my shoes, the doorbell was ringing.  

“Look at you, bitch,” I said after opening the door for Kesha who was wearing a neon yellow deep plunge dress that looked great on her. “Looking like you got some hips.” Kesha’s never ending legs were so shiny it looked like she bathed in baby oil.

“Your makeup looks flawless,” I complimented.

“Thank you, girl.” I thought about bringing up her working part time in my salon again. I mean, I knew she made plenty of money being a pharmacist, but the way I saw it, you could never make enough money.

“Now, tell me about this Amir guy.” She sat her oversized clutch on my island and headed to the cabinet for the wine glasses. “I can’t believe you ran into that nigga again. That sounds like some destiny shit.”

I smiled at the thought and tried to describe Amir the best I could but words wouldn’t be enough to illustrate Amir’s perfection.

“Well, look at you! You’re smiling all big. I haven’t seen you smile this big since…”Kesha’s voice trailed off. “And you’re dressed like you trying to get pregnant tonight, too. I mean it ain’t even been a month and you’re all like fuck Rick.” She threw her hand in the air like it was that easy to dismiss Rick from my life.

My smile faded at the mention of Rick’s name. “You know I still haven’t heard from his ass.”

Kesha sucked her teeth and shook her head. She searched my small wine shelf. “Where’s the good shit?”

I pointed to the small wine shelf above one of my cabinets and headed to the front door after the doorbell rang. Lake was on the other side. “You late as usual.”

She rolled her eyes, “Late? How you gonna be late to the club?” She walked past me. “Besides, we ain’t gotta get there before 11 to get in free, right? Aren’t we on the guest list?” She headed to the kitchen as if she knew Kesha was pouring some wine.

Lake’s hair was still looking good and I was grateful for that. Ever since she had Destiny, it was like she let herself go. I know she was under a lot of stress because of Greg’s no good ass, but she could at least still keep herself up. Hell, I was going through a lot too, but I still managed to keep my appearance in check. Tonight, she was wearing a plain black dress that did nothing for her shape. She’d gained a few pounds during her pregnancy but most of it went to all the right places. She now had hips and a little booty, that if I were her, I’d be trying to flaunt. She was wearing the Charlotte Olympia Dolly Island pumps I’d bought her for her birthday. I often bought Lake expensive things because I knew she couldn’t afford them. She was the shampoo girl and braider at the salon. I paid her more than I should, but she still seemed to be just scraping to get by. I knew it had to make her feel some type of way that Kesha and I wore all this expensive shit and she couldn’t, so I always made sure my girl had something designer in her closet.

“Lake, please tell me you ain’t wearing that,” Kesha said.  

Lake looked at herself. “What’s wrong with what I have on?”

“We’re going to a club and you’re dressed like…” Kesha looked at me like I was supposed to help her think of an adjective.

“Like what?” Lake’s voice was rising which meant she was getting offended. That’d been happening a lot with her lately. I thought it was the pregnancy hormones but now I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her.

“You know what, Lake? I bought this dress last weekend that I couldn’t fit. You wanna try it on and see if it fits you?” I said. I gave Kesha a look and she shrugged.

Lake wasn’t stupid, she knew what I was doing but she also wasn’t stupid enough to turn down free clothes. She followed me to my closet where I pulled out a black and gold dress that would go perfect with her shoes. I’d worn the dress once or twice but I wouldn’t miss it. I handed it to Lake and her eyes lit up.

“You can’t fit this?” She looked at the size tag inside of the dress and then looked back up at me. “It’s your size though.”

“Naw, it doesn’t fit, plus I don’t like it that much,” I lied. “Just try it on and see if you like it enough to wear it tonight.”

Lake’s eyes dropped. I hoped I didn’t hurt her feelings. “Thanks, Charlie.” She took the dress and walked into my bathroom.  

But the look in her eyes stuck with me. I hadn’t seen that look since we were seniors in high school. Lake had gotten into a big fight at school over some guy and gotten into serious trouble with her parents because of it. They shipped her ass away and she didn’t return to school until the next year. Rumors surrounded Lake’s missing year at school. Some kids said she was pregnant so her parents sent her away to have the baby. Some kids said she’d beaten the girl’s ass so bad that she pressed charges and Lake had went to jail. No one could verify it because the girl and her family moved out of Texas immediately following the fight and Lake’s parents wouldn’t even let me talk to her.

When she came back to school our senior year, she’d had this look in her eye that made me feel so bad for her. Similar to the look she’d just given me. I’d tried to ask where her parents had sent her, but she said she never wanted to talk about it so I never brought it up again. I never forgot the look in her eyes that day.

I returned to the kitchen where Kesha was still trying to decide which bottle of wine to open.  

“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. “Why did you say anything about her clothes?”

“Why didn’t you?” Kesha shrugged. “I don’t want her going anywhere with me looking like that. Lake needs to pull herself together.”

I shook my head, “She’s going through a hard time and she doesn’t need us coming at her like that right now.”

Kesha nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But I don’t think I can get used to this sensitive ass Lake. When are those damn pregnancy hormones going to wear off?”

We laughed and Lake walked into the living room wearing the dress. It was a little tight around the mid-section, but other than that it looked great on her.  

“Damn, Lake! You just might take somebody home tonight, looking like that,” Kesha said.

I pulled out a bottle of wine I’d been saving for Rick and my 11
^th
anniversary. I handed the bottle to Kesha because now I couldn’t wait to pop the cork without him. Kesha poured three glasses of wine and I blamed my nerves for the reason I took my glass straight to the head.  

Lake gulped her glass down just as fast as I did. Then she pulled a pill bottle out of her clutch and quickly popped a pill. I was used to seeing Lake pop pills, but it never occurred to me that she might actually have a problem. Now that Destiny was here, I’d noticed she was beginning to pop more than usual. I never questioned Lake about the medications she took because I knew she had a problem with anxiety and assumed the pills were all prescribed.

Tonight, I was having my own issue with anxiety so I asked her, “Can I have one?”

She looked at me like I was crazy before she popped the top on the pill bottle and dropped a small pill in my open palm. I looked at the pill for half of a second before I swallowed it and chased it with some wine

Kesha shook her head, “Ya’ll gon be extra fucked up tonight. I guess I’m the designated driver.”

Lake laughed and poured herself another glass of the wine. “Charlie, that was some of my good shit so don’t say I ain’t never gave you nothing.” She downed that glass of wine just as quickly as she’d done the first. “Let’s get out of here. I just called my girl, Denise, and she’s going to meet us there.”

“Who the hell is Denise?” I asked.

“I told ya’ll about Denise, my neighbor,” Lake said as if I was supposed to remember some random chick she may or may not have mentioned before.

“Oh yea, I remember. The one who knows everybody’s business in your apartment complex,” Kesha said.

I was mad that I didn’t remember ever hearing her talk about this Denise chick. And I wasn’t so sure I wanted her tagging along tonight. “When did you and Denise become close enough for you to invite her out with us?”

Lake shrugged, “She’s been helping me a lot with Destiny since Greg has been a no show.”

For some reason, I felt bad. Was I too absorbed in my own issues that I was being a shitty godmother?

I poured myself another glass of wine and headed for the door. I locked up and we all got inside of Kesha’s car and headed downtown. When we pulled up in front of the club, valet took Kesha’s car. We gave our names to the burly bouncer and entered the dark club.

The loud blaring of hip hop music struck me from all sides and the stench of cigarette smoke reminded me why I wasn’t a smoker and would never date one. Kesha led the way to the VIP section of the club as if she was the one invited to the birthday celebration. The way she walked through the crowded club was like she owned the place and was looking for someone to kick out.

Lake and I followed her up the stairs where a bald headed white bouncer checked our wristbands before letting us behind the VIP purple velvet rope. As soon as I stepped my right foot into the VIP section, my eyes locked on Amir. I felt something inside of my heart jump at the eye contact.

Lake leaned in close to my ear and said, “Go ahead and point him out.”

I didn’t have to, because Amir walked straight up to us and introduced himself. When he looked at me everything inside of my body felt as if it were scorching. I couldn’t have paid for the relief I felt when he finally pulled his eyes away from me and looked at Kesha and Lake. “Hello ladies, I’m Amir. Thanks for coming through.”

I’d known Kesha and Lake way too long not to be able to read them and when Lake took his hand to shake it, I could tell she approved. Who wouldn’t approve of Amir? He was perfection.

“I’m Lake. Thanks for inviting us.” She smiled at him and the smile lingered long after he’d shook and dropped her hand.

Kesha gawked at me and then returned her attention to Amir. “I’m Kesha,” she shook his hand and then looked back at me. She gave me a look and I couldn’t help but laugh.

When he turned his attention back to me, my breath got caught in my throat. He stood in front of me with his face only a few inches from mine. Everyone and everything around me disappeared and I could only see him. He stood over me, looking down at me. The scent of his cologne was so intoxicating, I felt as though I’d had several drinks already. I grabbed his chain and twiddled it around my fingers, trying to pretend as though I was intrigued by it. I looked back up at him and felt myself go lightheaded. Although he didn’t say a word to me, his eyes were saying everything to me.

“Ya’ll popping bottles up in here or what?” Lake said breaking my trance.

“Oh, yeah. They doing it big tonight. Let me introduce ya’ll to the birthday boy,” Amir said. When he walked in the direction of a dark skinned guy sitting at a round table, he grabbed my hand. It felt awkward holding his hand but at the same time I liked it.

“Marcus, this is the girl I was telling you about,” he looked back at me with a smile in his eyes, “This is Charlie.”

The girl he was telling him about?
Marcus stood and he had a friendly smile that nearly took up his entire face. Marcus was a tall, heavyset, guy with almond shaped dark eyes under a set of extra thick eyebrows. He took both of my hands in one of his chunky hands and gave them a quick squeeze. There was something warm about this guy’s eyes. Something that let me know he was a good guy. I wondered if his boy was a good guy as well.

“Happy birthday,” I yelled over the loud club music.

“Thank you and it’s nice to meet you, Charlie.” He winked in Amir’s direction and said, “My boy here is gonna take good care of you.”

I wanted to ask what he meant by that but Amir was already introducing him to Kesha and Lake and by the way Marcus’ eyes were salivating at them, he was no longer interested in anything I had to say.

A waitress wearing tiny black shorts over black fishnet stockings walked over to Marcus and took his drink order while another waitress wearing an identical outfit came in holding a tray of various bottles and multi colored sparklers. They were indeed doing it big for Marcus’ birthday.

Amir leaned in so close to me his lips grazed the lobe of my ear and asked, “What do you want to drink?”

“Lemon drop martini,” I said, trying to recover from the chills his simple touch had generated throughout my body.

Amir motioned for one of the waitresses.

Kesha took this opportunity to whisper in my ear, “He is fine as hell. Got- damn!”

“I told you.”

“I see why you came to this club now. If he isn’t the perfect rebound guy I don’t know what is.”