Insanity (10 page)

Dr. Blake looked back and caught Marianne’s quick smile. It was territorial indeed.

“You’re gonna get something to eat?” she asked him quickly.

Queen waited there to hear his response.

“Yes, of course,” he answered. And there was no shame to his game. They were all grown folks in the room.

Queen smiled at him and turned to walk out.

“I’ll see you next class,” he said to her back.

She gave him no response, but her message was clear in her strut as she departed. She walked out of the room
furious
. Even though she had gone out of her way to gain Blake’s attention with her business style of dress, the Iranian-Pakistani had won his favor . . . for the
moment
.

“Yeah, he just fucked up his chance with me,” Queen grumbled under her breath. “Gon’ try to act like he don’t
know
the woman. Then gonna say
yes
to dinner right in my damn
face
.

“Yeah, I see how
he
plays,” she fumed.

She was so incensed by the slight that she called Bryant back to cool off.

“Oh, shit, you called me back.”

Oh, just shut the fuck up!
she wanted to tell him. But she forced herself to pause and keep silent before she exploded with her raw emotions. She took a deep breath instead, exhaled it, and calmly asked him, “Are you ready?”

“No, the question is, are
you
ready?” he asked her back.

His every word was now irritating her. He sounded like such a damn
loser
. Queen even held the phone away from her ear with an outstretched arm to keep herself from sounding the bitch alarm on him. She could feel it coming.

“Yeah, just come meet me at the Olive Garden off of six-ninety-five,” she told him. “I’m getting in my car now.”

“Okay, good choice. They got great bread and salad.”

Finally, he said something that she could smile about. “Yeah, they do.”

But as soon as she climbed into her car, Dr. Antigua and Ms. Middle Eastern walked across campus in plain view. They were smiling and laughing and doing everything short of holding hands.

“Shit!” Queen cursed them through her windshield. “Why do I even
care
?” she asked herself. “She can have that nigga’s gray balls. Fuck him! Mr.
Diversity
. He don’t even know what he is.”

And she drove out of parking, fuming again.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

By the time she arrived at Olive Garden, Queen had moved on from her jealous rage. She felt ridiculous about the whole fiasco.

“That was just my natural competition coming out. That was all it was,” she convinced herself. “It was just Baltimore instincts.”

She flipped down the vanity mirror and checked her face, fixing her lip gloss, blush and hair while waiting for Bryant to arrive.

When he pulled up and hopped out of his car wearing shorts, she found hers smile again.

“Nice legs,” she mentioned, climbing out of her car to join him. His legs were firm and muscled with only a touch of hair. She figured a younger man was much better than an old guy anyway.

“You haven’t even bothered to see ’em for awhile,” Bryant teased her. He then eyed her business suit. “But look at you. What, you had interview earlier today?”

“No, I just woke up this morning and felt like looking professional,” she told him. She took his hand in hers and led him toward the restaurant entrance.

Bryant took note of it and commented immediately.

“Okay, now you wanna get all cuddly after you iced me for a couple of months.”

He refused to let her off the hook for her disappearing acts.

“I told you, I had to get myself readjusted for school.”

“Bullshit, you wasn’t even in school yet. That’s the part I can’t understand. You make a brother feel all good and then you start playing dodge ball with him.”

She continued to avoid his insinuations. But he kept her smile in place as they walked into the dimly lit, stone and garden decorated restaurant. Once they were seated in a cozy booth next to the window, Queen prepared herself for confessions.

Eying Bryant across the table, she was pleased that the man still looked good,
very
good.

Maybe this can work out after all,
she mused.
Why do I always have to fall the hard way? Just let things be sweet for a change.

She reached her hands across the table for his. Bryant took her hands with a slight hesitation and frowned.

“What’s all this about?” After so many weeks of cold, busy shoulders, he was confused by her sudden showing of over-the-top affection.

Taking a deep breath, Queen prepared to clear the air with him.

“I wanna apologize for treating you like that, but I didn’t know how you were gonna act after that night at the movies.”

Bryant stared at her. “You thought I was gonna dog you out, didn’t you? I
knew
you were thinking that. I just didn’t bring it up to you.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because I kept hoping that it was something else.”

“So, you let this go on for this long because you didn’t wanna say anything about it?”

“No,
you
let it go on for this long. You could have said that to me a long time ago.”

“I was
embarrassed
. I didn’t plan to do that so early.”

“Well, you were
talking
it. You shouldn’t have been talking about it then.”

“Yeah, but you were acting like you were gonna
die
if you didn’t get none that night.”

“No I wasn’t. But
you
started talking about
‘good pussy’
over and over again. And
I
just wanted to go to the damn
movies
.”

The waitress walked up as Bryant ranted, but Queen liked his tone. The man was showing her some balls of his own, and
young
ones.

“Ahhh, are you guys ready to order?” the short, brown-haired waitress asked them carefully.

“Yeah, we’re ready,” Queen told her with a grin.

They placed their orders and returned to their heated conversation once she had left.

“So, you thought I was gonna act like an
asshole
because you gave me some, right?”

She looked at him all innocently. “Well . . . ?”

“Well, I’m still
here
, ain’t I? If I wanted to dog you out, I would have stopped calling you after
two weeks
.”

“Oh, is that your time limit?”

“Shorter than that if I’m not feeling you.”

Queen was enjoying every second of their discourse.
Wow, he does have some backbone,
she thought. But had more tests to pass.

She asked him, “How do I know you weren’t seeing someone else on the side?”

He shocked the hell out of her when he answered, “Could you blame me? I mean, we’re talking about a couple of
months
.”

She was reluctant to follow up with the obvious question, but she pressed on with it.

“So,
did you
?”

He smiled. “Naw. And don’t tell nobody this, but-” He leaned across the table, close enough to whisper. “I thought about you and used my hands a lot.” Then he leaned back into his seat and chuckled. “But I washed them to eat though.”

Queen broke out laughing, hiding her face in her opened palms to cover her embarrassment. She didn’t really believe him, but he had caught her off guard with it. Maybe he had screwed his hands a few times, but she doubted he had gone a few
months
without poking another woman. The man looked too
good
to believe that, and she realized that he had been spoiled. Nevertheless, his answer was clever enough to gain her respect and tighten her rib cage.

“Whatever,” she told him.

“But we need to have a part
two
tonight,” he declared forcefully. “These hands have had enough.”

The man had her open good. Queen kept smiling, feeling bubbly inside. She couldn’t even tease him back without grinning.

“See, you waited all this time just to get at me again.”

She attempted to look serious and disappointed with him, but the rise of her cheeks and the curl of her lips gave her amusement away.

Bryant answered, “Yup. Like you said, you got that good pussy. And I don’t mean to be rude over the table, but these are
your
words.”

The time spent away from her made him a lot bolder in approach. Hell, he slightly still angry about the whole thing.

Queen grinned her ass off, thinking,
Who is this new man? Oh, he’s gonna get some pussy tonight for this. But he’s gonna have to eat it too. I’m gonna put a damn leg lock around his neck and run my fingers through his hair while he goes to work. Then we’ll see if he makes jokes about that.

She couldn’t even concentrate on the food she had ordered. She only toyed with it before asking for a box to go and ordering a tasty Key Lime pie for dessert.

 “You’re not hungry?” Bryant asked her. He was devouring his plate of food as usual. She watched him in awe, thinking about how much cooking she would have to do as his wife.

He must have a fat-ass mother, the way he eats,
she imagined.
And I guess we need to meet each other’s families now.

She ignored his question, still contemplating their second roll in the hay. All she could think about was getting the pretty man home to her bedroom and fucking his face.

This is crazy!
she thought.
I spend all this time avoiding him to get him where I want him, and as soon as we go out to eat again, he gets me all wet under the table.

Shit!
she cursed.
It’s too late to stop it now. He already has me hot.

“What are you thinking about over there?” Bryant asked her. “You’re not as talkative tonight. And don’t tell me you got more school work on your mind.”

“No . . . it’s not that.”

He wiped lasagna sauce from his mouth and grinned at her.

“You thinking about
us
?”

“What about?”

He eyed her across the table deviously. “You know what about. Don’t play games with me. I haven’t been with you in
months
. And now I’m
mad
.”

She had to compose herself to stop from giving up the whole game, but she was delighted she’d decided to call him back.

And just think, I owe it all to Dr. Blake and his missy for pissing me off like that after class.

The truth was, even though she considered Bryant marriage material, his lack of confidence, swagger and bedroom energy had turned her off. And the fact that he called her several times a week to talk made her less curious about him. But if he had played his cards right, with more important things to do and other women to see, Queen’s ice treatment may have lasted no longer than a
week
. Nevertheless, the ice had thawed now, and it was time to get back down to business.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

“I don’t really do that,” Bryant told Queen, shaking his head inside of her bedroom.

“Well, you’re gonna have to
learn
,” she told him.

They were butt naked on her bed with only candles providing subdued light. Bryant glanced aimlessly at the various framed prints of African-American artwork that covered her walls around the room, stalling. He and Queen had already done enough foreplay for whatever was to come next, and she was adamant that he learn what he needed to do please her.

“Or what?” he asked her.

Okay, enough with his tough talk,
she told herself.
I can play that way too.

“Or it’ll be another couple of months before you touch me again.”

He heard that and started chuckling. “I don’t see you doing
me
.”

“You didn’t
ask
for it either.”

“Well, I’m asking
now
, if
you’re
gonna ask.”

“I have to show you how to do it first.”

Bryant stared at her. “What, you’re gonna give me a private lesson on it?”

Too much damn talking,
she thought
. He’s busting my groove
.

Queen stretched out on her back and said, “Okay . . . I’m just gonna act like you’re devouring me like you devour your
food
. . .”

She elevated her knees, spread her legs, and began to squirm and moan as if Bryant was already pleasing her.

“Mmm hmmm, right there. That’s how you do it, baby . . .”

Bryant watched her and shook his head, chuckling. “That’s crazy.”

Queen ignored him and kept going with it. She even jerked forward as if an imaginary tongue had stroked her weak spot.

“
Unnnhh
, ooohh, bay-bee!”

Outside of the room, Jackie walked in with one of her girlfriends and couldn’t help overhearing Queen’s performance through the thin apartment walls.

Jackie shook her head. “That’s so
embarrassing
to walk into the house and hear that. What if you were my
mother
? I am just
so
ready to get my own
place
.”

Her girlfriend laughed, tall and bodacious.

“Aww, girl don’t even hate like that. Appreciate and participate,” she joked. “Sounds like home girl is gettin’
served
.”

Jackie continued to shake her head and paced toward her room. At least her room was on the other side on the apartment. But her friend stood still to hear more of Queen’s moaning.

“What are you
doing
?” Jackie whispered to her tersely.

Her friend shrugged innocently. “Nothing.”

“Mmmpt hmm, come on. I’m ready to leave then,” Jackie complained. She was already walking back to the front door with her keys out.

“Aww, girl, stop being a party-pooper,” her girlfriend commented as she walked away.

Back inside of Queen’s room, she began to finger the hard nipples of her breasts and lick around the edges of her glossed lips with her tongue. Her acts of seductive were beginning to turn Bryant on as he watched her, leaning up on his elbow.