Love Delayed (22 page)

She handed me a Pathmark plastic bag filled with Tupperware. Every time my mother cooked, she would include enough for me. Although she constantly threw my
butt out of the house, ordering me back to campus, she would never fail to feed me while away. I was grateful because in all honesty, I couldn’t afford to feed myself.

“Thanks, Momma.” I wrapped my arms around her voluptuous frame and squeezed all the fortitude from her that I could. I could stay in this woman’s arms forever. No one could ever make me feel so secure and loved. The closest to it was…Stenton.

I was almost out of the kitchen when I remembered another reason for my impromptu visit.

“Oh, here. This is for you. Don’t tell Dad.” I pull
ed out the same wad of cash Stenton magically planted on my person just hours before.

It was all but $200. Some of that went to gas to get me to my parents’ that night, and the rest was for food and a study book I desperately needed, but couldn’t afford to get.
I shouldn’t have said I never lie to my mother, because that night I did.

My mother gasped. “Girl, where did this money come from?”

“Shhhhhhhhhhh!” I jumped up and grabbed her at the shoulders. The last thing I needed was Ruth coming in there finding out about Stenton.   

“You know I tutor. I mattress all of my savings. I wanted to let it accumulate to have something generous to offer.”

“You’re always
offering
your tutoring money. I‘on’t recall ever seeing anything like this, Elizabeth!” At least she kept her volume low on that one.

“I know, but I’ve been getting lots of referrals. My momma breastfed me and gave me a big brain,” I charmed.

“Zo, didn’t you say your laptop crashed? Don’t you want to use this to get that fixed or your car?”

“I’ve been spending a bunch of time in the library tutoring, so I use the computers there
. Don’t worry about me. I’ve been petitioning God, too.” I winked before leaving my mother with an aghast expression.

When I
went into the living room, I saw my dad and Ruth glued to the television. It was an odd sight, seeing the two, who were always in conflict, doing something together.

“
Zo, ain’t this the one you and Angie volunteered with this summer?” Ruth asked.

I shift
ed towards the television and sure enough, there was Stenton being interviewed my Stephan A. Smith. I couldn’t stand Stephan A. He was more emotional of a debater than I preferred in a man. And his tone and accent irritated me to no end, but my dad was a fan, forcing my attention to his on-air persona.

“Yeah. His friend
’s the one Angie tried to say her baby was by. Foolish little girl if you ask me,” my dad murmured somewhat under his breath. The family was just getting over that dud of a scandal.

“You two are both foolish if you ask me. There’s no way that summer would have ended with me still being poor. Y’all
ain’t play your cards right. Dude is fine
and
paid? Yup! Fools.” Ruth’s tone was resolute.

My
dad’s head shot back to her.
And there goes the peace
. While my dad gave a rebellious Ruth a piece of his mind, I turned my attention back to the screen where I watched a series of basketball-related questions Stephan threw at Stenton, who was skilled at answering them. Stenton used knowledge and charm as he articulated his answers and responses. The only thing alluring about that segment of the interview was ogling Stenton’s heart-shaped lips. They were plumped and even a dim shade of cerise as the top was wider than the bottom, creating sensual perfection. Involuntarily, my sex clenched.

“So, let’s talk about something you hate to
discuss: your personal life.” Stephan provided a disclaimer to prepare Stenton. “You know man, back in the day the media couldn’t get enough of airing your dirty laundry. What has changed? You are an extremely, extremely private man now. Speak on that.” 

Stenton smiled,
squinting his eyes to the point of closing them—something I loved. “I started giving my laundry to the cleaners instead.” Stephan belted out a hard laugh, Stenton followed. “Really. I grew up with cameras and microphones in my face. Eventually, I grew rebellious and didn’t care what others said or reported.”

“And now?” Stephan asked, almost cutting Stenton off.
Indicative of why he irked me!

“And now, I know the best things in life are things that can’t be shared.
I now have the advantage of letting people get to know me without the assistance of Google. And I’ve been enjoying it.”

Was that an insider for me?
No. It couldn’t have been.
Stenton knows I don’t follow his career.
But he told me he’d put away his wild and reckless behavior at least two years before meeting me, so why use an insider only I’d appreciate?

“So, here’s the question every female I work with,” Steph
an gestured behind him, “…and am friends with will never speak to me again if I don’t ask. Are you dating anyone?” Stephan’s eyes grew larger than they usually are.

He annoys me!

Stenton’s face wrinkled to express contemplation. “Uhhhh-mmm… Dating? Not exactly.”

“Well, what the hell else is there, Sten
tRo?” And there’s that name again. Usually only his teammates referred to him as that. That could have only meant they shared some level of friendship, comradery. “I mean, you have to date every woman you have that type of connection to,” Stephan goaded.

“
This is true, but sometimes these things take on different paths. I’m on a different path right now.”

“All right. I know Stenton Rogers and that was a shut
-down answer, which means that’s all we’re getting. Crack the code for yourself and confer with your girlfriends, ladies. That’s all the time I have…” Stephan went on to end the interview.

“
Hmmmm…you know who he’s screwing, Zo? It sho’ nuff ain’t you. You spent the whole summer with him and probably didn’t get him to even look at you,” Ruth taunted.

“That’s it, young lady!” My dad jumped from his chair. “Upstairs. You go to your room if you
wanna encourage behaving like a harlot. Not in my house!”

That was my cue. I kissed my dad on the cheek while he was still fuming at Ruth. I sent a teasing wave her way before I left the house. I had too many things to think about. So much had happened that evening. My mom didn’t help much but accept
ed that I’d been with one of the most respected basketball players in the world. But that didn’t help provide resolve with what I was feeling for him. I didn’t know how to reconcile that.

Two days after seeing Stenton in the library, a fully loaded
MacPro
was delivered to my parents’ home. I couldn’t believe he went through the trouble…and expense. It took me a few hours to rebound from the shock his gift hurled me into.

Stent
on, however, never waited for me to call him; he made sure to text me every day from that day out.

Stenton:
What are you up to?

Me:
At the Laundromat.

Stenton:
Doing what?

Me:
Laundry. Duuuuh!

Stenton:
Like washing or drying?

Me:
Both. My parents’ washer ‘n’ dryer are on the fritz.

Stenton:
Sounds fun.

Me:
Not when I’m spending an extra 20 cents on the additional ten minutes of a thirty minute cycle that my clothes need to be completely dry. These machines are rigged to make more money!

Stenton:
Interesting.

Me:
What? My calculations and theory?

Stenton:
No. The vision of you in my house folding my clothes wearing a tee and heels.

Me:
You’re a perv.

Stenton:
Sticks & stones...

Two days later, I g
ot a text from Stenton while out with a few of my cousins and friends after Wednesday night prayer service at church.

Stenton:
What are you up to?

Me:
Being grossed out. How was the game?

Stenton:
We got our asses handed to us. Wait, grossed out by what?

Where are you?

Me:
I’m at Red Lobster. I’m sorry about the game. That sucks. I was really rooting for you in that last quarter.

Stenton:
Really? Did you catch the other team’s name?

Me:
Yup. The Eagles.

Stenton:
LMMFAO! What’s going on at Red Lobster that's grossing you out?

Me:
Hang on. I’m going to the bathroom so I can chat.

I
excused myself from the table and ambled over to the restroom to continue my conversation.

Me:
Hey… Well the guy Bernard…our choir director just told me he’s attracted to me.

Stenton:
The McDonald’s dickhead?

I’d mentioned Bernard to Stenton, in passing,
a few days ago. I wondered why he automatically went on the defensive about him. Bernard was simply a family friend who directed the choir at my church. He was an aspiring gospel artist and traveled with his band members doing regional performances. I’d hoped he’d hit it big. He was a true talent.

Me:
Stenton! You’re more the McDonald’s poster child than he is. Don’t you endorse them?

Stenton:
Yup. They pay me for my affiliation. He just wanna be down. Fuckin lame-ass choir boy.

Me:
LMBO! Stenton that’s soooo not cool!

Stenton:
And neither is he. Have you told him you’re not interested and to fuckin scram?

Me:
In a far more polite manner, yes.

Stenton:
My Nina.

Last thing. How was your stats &
prob quiz today?

Me:
I didn’t nail it. Got 8 outta 10. My life sucks.

Stenton:
Get over yourself Zo. Gotta go. Call me 2nite when you turn in.

Me:
Roger that StentRo.

Stenton:
Cut that shit out Zo!

Then

February 200
7
                                                                                   

~
Stenton
~

“
Forbes College is this way, StentRo,” Rob called out over his shoulder while we jogged the campus at close to midnight.

That fucking
Zoey
. Of course that was why my six foot seven inch ass was running through Princeton like a S.W.A.T. on a mission. We had to avoid encountering folks who would recognize me, so I’d only brought two security guards and hoped we didn’t look all that conspicuous. Rarely did I travel without armor. I learned that lesson early on in my career. I’d damn near gotten robbed at the first
Summer Jam
I attended after getting signed. Barry and Rob were my main two guys when I traveled. Two guys who likely thought I was crazy for infiltrating the damn Princeton campus, all because Zo said she was struggling with her Probability and Statistics course. I was rusty as hell, but could try to recall what I knew. I was also tired…until we parked the truck. Now, every minute that passed, my adrenaline spiked a notch at the anticipation of seeing this girl.

W
hen we pulled up on campus, I sent her a text asking how would I recognize her. She said she’d be waiting around the lobby for me. While trekking to her dorm building, I got a text of a picture of her with a big ass afro.

Zoey
:
You can’t miss all this hair.

I chuckled as we approached the building. Barry led us
in while Rob stayed behind me.

“Big ass afro,” I call
ed out so they’d know who to look for.

The lobby wasn’t busy. Just a few stragglers, chatting, reading or on their laptops.

“Ten o’clock, chief,” Rob announced.

That’s when I saw her.
Zoey’s big ass afro bounced as she neared me. I’d never seen her hair like that before, but it was cute. She was so fucking cute, even with the bags underneath her eyes.

When she approached me, her arms went directly to my waist and wrapped around me. That’s when I was afforded a waft her hair. Vanilla.
Mmmmm
. My left arm instinctively went around her shoulder.

“You know you look crazy suspect as tall as you are with that hood on,” she joked.

“I just came from work. What the hell do you expect me to wear? A damn suit? I know this is Princeton and all, but you didn’t give me enough notification,” I complained.

Truth was
, she did coax me into coming. The only thing is what Zoey did likely wouldn’t classify as coaxing. She simply asked or suggested and I came running. That’s how I felt about her since losing her for those few weeks. Whatever she wanted I would give. She honestly didn’t ask for much at all.

“Come on!”
she teased with animated eyes. “Let’s go before my colleagues mob you.”

I always found it funny how
Zoey provided a caricature of my already heightened career. She was that clever, and I enjoyed it.

Once off the elevators, we walked past a lounge area.

“You guys can park it here,” I called over to Rob and
Barry. “I’ll only be a minute.”

The guys stepped into the room as
Zoey and I continued down a hall and finally to her door. As she faced it, she pulled me in to her, wrapping my arms around her tiny waist.

She whispered, “Ready?”

Thinking it was weird, I nodded. Zoey unlocked the door and pulled me in behind her. My long strides were sloppy as I tried to avoid running her little body over in the dark. Once inside, she closed the door and walked me to what I’d soon learn was her bed. She turned around and pushed me until the back of my legs hit the side of the small mattress. When she nudged me back, I fell cautiously onto the bed, hearing the small squeak. Zo sat next to me, snuggling underneath my arm, her big hair tickling my chin.

“I’ve missed you.”

It was natural for me to respond, “Same here.” And that was because I did.

Zoey
and I spoke daily. I made sure of that. I regularly called at night, around this same time, after a game to hear her voice. My schedule was a bitch and not conducive to a relationship, but I found myself needing to hear her voice. Feeling her near me was much better, though. I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand why the damn lights were off if we were supposed to be studying.

“Did you guys win?”

I nodded, forgetting she couldn’t see me. “Yeah. Funny thing about prayer. I guess it actually works sometimes.”

“All the time,”
Zoey corrected. “Prayers and requests are mutually exclusive. We may not always get what we request, but we’re always heard and covered,” she whispered.

“I see.” There was a bit of a pause and then I couldn’t take it anymore. “
Zo?”

“Hmmm?”
she replied, rubbing her face in my side, almost sniffing me.

Is she
inhaling me?

“
How can we study in the dark?”

I could feel
Zoey’s head pop up from underneath me. I felt like a pussy for posing that question.
But really, what is a man of my age and profession doing on a college campus at this hour?
And then with the intent of tutoring? That sounded suspect, even to me—and that was my honest to God intent! I’d even Googled a few statistical formulas to start jogging my memory on the way here.

This fucking frustrating girl!
She made me do crazy shit.

“
Oh, that,” she whispered. “I was able to figure it out. All done and ready for my exam tomorrow.”

Her soft hand reached for my cheek and she pulled herself up as she urged my neck down to meet her.
Zoey smelled good. Freshly showered.

“
I got that out of the way so that we can spend some time doing this.”

Her lips inadvertently met my chin instead of my lips, but on her second try she was
bull’s-eye. When our mouths met, all memoirs of Alpine returned in spades; her scent, her touch and taste. In no time, our tongues twisted with fury. Zo packed a lot into that kiss and I tried to swallow her whole. She unzipped and gently pulled off my sweat jacket.

My dick
lifted in my sweats and it was almost as if Zoey instinctively sensed it. Her hands went into my lap and she rubbed my wood through the cotton material. When she moaned my eyes flew open in the dark. I didn’t want to alert her roommate. I was treading on dangerous territory, on a college campus, fucking making out with a student. A smart one. A sexy one. And apparently an ablaze one.

Before I knew it,
Zoey had her little warm hand beneath the elastic of my sweats and reaching for my cock. I felt her pull on me. My abs lurched at her grip. Evidence of the trance this girl was capable of putting me in, the next thing I felt was her maneuvering her little body between my legs. Now, in my defense, her lips smacking against mine robbed my attention from all other happenings for a while. That was until I felt her withdraw from my mouth and a warm, wet, incredibly soft sensation coaxed the crown of my cock.

I exhaled
forcefully, slowly and hardly processing that my sweet Niña was sucking me off.
Or attempting to
. She had no particular rhythm and her grip wasn’t strong or fluid, but she was getting busy. Her efforts, though not seasoned, were pleasurable because she was mine. Her every sexual experience belonged to me. And so did her every pleasure. I reveled in her efforts as I tried to relax into it. Zoey picked up the pace and her suctioning staccato snapped my ass back to reality.

Once again, fucking with
Zoey, I put myself at risk of scandal. I had to remember, one shot of my genitals being bared to a coed could have my ass in deep water and back in the headlines again.

“
Zoey!” I whispered, taking her at the jaw.

“
What?” This was the first time she didn’t whisper. I could sense not only her slight annoyance, but her embarrassment as well.

“
Your roommate!” I whisper again.

Zoey
quickly tucked me in and shuffled beneath me. Next, I heard a clicking, and the next thing I saw was the room illuminating. My sensitive pupils darted over to Zoey grimacing. She jumped to her feet and went over to the bed across from me. It was neatly made…and empty.

She sauntered over to me with a glower in tow
, her arms crossed angrily in front of her. “Do you honestly think I would even you over here if Rebecca was here, considering your issues with the public, much less have you exposed?” Her tone and poise expressed incredulity. “Stenton, I told you she left for New Zealand with her class two days ago!”

All of a sudden, I felt like shit. But then I thought again.

“Then why in the hell were you whispering since we walked in? And why keep the lights off?”

“
Because I didn’t exactly want to do that,” she pointed to my rock hard cock, “with the lights on!”

“Did you… Did you plan this?”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Again, Zoey?”

Zoey
didn’t answer for a while. She stood there, tapping her foot, stubbornly, and chewing the inside of her lip.

I shook my head, fighting the state of
frustration against my arousal. “Look, Zoey, I get you’re a headstrong woman. And I so love that you know what you want and it’s me…” I tugged her toward me. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.” Her eyes slammed into mine and immediately, I saw shame. I didn’t mean for it to go there, but Zoey needed to let me lead. “If you wanted to fuck, you should have just told me and I would’ve made it happen.”

Her eyes grew large. “How?”

“The way that you tell me how you sort your laundry, or get free detergents by writing detailed letters to corporate, or how much you’ve saved using coupons. The same way you tell me about things that affect you every day when we kick it. Just tell me.”

Zoey
was still glaring down on me as I sat on her bed. She was fucking perturbed…and cute. But I didn’t give a fuck. She needed to learn. I’d put so much on the line for her just being there. Although she didn’t know it, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. So we needed to get this shit straight right away.

I deepened my stare at her.

“I don’t know how to,” she spoke through a tight mouth.

“It’s easy: Stenton, I want to fuck.”

She gasped and right away, I chuckled. “I couldn’t say that!”

“I know. But you can figure out a way to convey
your needs,” I couldn’t help my laughter. She was so damn cute. I eventually sobered. “Now, what do you want, Elizabeth?”

She narrowed her eyes, cautioning me.
“I want to do what I was doing before I was rudely interrupted.”

“Have you done that before?”

Another glare.

“Have you?”
I asked again and rather impatiently.

“No!”
she snarled. “You know this.”

I nodded my head as I mumbled, “I do.”

She gasped again. “How do you know?”

“I can show you better than I can tell you
,” I thought I whispered underneath my breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Zo, we can’t do shit anyway. I don’t have rubbers. Didn’t exactly come prepared for this.” My tone was dry. Between my rod being painfully stiff and learning of Zoey’s ulterior motives, I was in a bad way.

Zoey
turned back to the nightstand, opened a drawer, and pulled out a box of condoms.

“It isn’t
solely your responsibility to carry these. I’m an equal party in this, too.” Zoey poked her lips out petulantly.

“You’re acting like a sex
fiend.”

“And you’re acting like
an oversized—pun intended...”—she paid a glance to my bulging erection—“…prude. You may be experienced and can even get it in every city, but I—”

I leaped up and threw my tongue in the back of her throat, silencing her ridiculousness. My tongue weaved around hers and lashed every which way, attempting to taste every in
ch of her cavity. I needed her to know I enjoyed her, but was afraid to reveal my obsession of her.

I pulled back, “I only want it and get it from you, Niña. Nobody else,” I whispered directly into her
mouth.

Zoey
whispered back, her tone less forceful, almost providing supplication, “Well, I want you here and now. I want to taste you, Stenton.” Her eyes raked up to mine, much softer and needier than previously.

She asked
. And I was totally inclined to meet her request. Slowly, I nodded my head, knowing deep down inside we wouldn’t be leaving this room without me being buried deep inside her.

“I’m going to turn off the lights first. I’m not ready for that yet,” her voice was still reduced, but her aggressive and determined persona was in full effect.