New Title 1 (14 page)

“
Twenty more minutes, J! I’m trying to win back some of this money that I lost on this punk ass fight!” He barked.

“
Aint nobody tell you to bet against Mayweather anyway,” one of the guys gambling dice with Slim had shot back.

Jordin rolled her eyes and headed for the door.

“
I’m going to get some air!” He waved his hand, enthralled in his game and Jordin just sighed, realizing he could care less as she headed for the large front porch.

Contrary to the loud, smoky inside, the outside of the house was tranquil, quiet, and peaceful. She took a deep breath of the suburban night air and began to stroll down the wrap around porch. She always did enjoy the outdoors.

She looked out into the dark night and the bright stars, taking in the beauty. Jordin realized how vast the porch was as she came to the end of one side.

“
Oh my god!” She gasped, when she turned the corner and came face to face with someone.

“
My bad ma, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Jordin noticed that it was the host himself, the man that had owned the most beautiful house that Jordin had ever laid eyes on. She remembered Slim saying that his name was…

“
Julez. I’m Julez…and you are?” He extended his hand. Gentleman.

“
Jordin. Jordin Spears.”
Bad habit,
Jordin thought to herself the minute the words escaped her lips. She always said her name like that, like she was James Bond or somebody. She met his hand with hers and he grabbed it, and caressed it slightly. Sent mini shockwaves directly to her pussy lips.

“
Well, Miss Jordin Spears… you must not have committed any crimes lately. You always throw that full government around like that?” Julez asked with a smile. Jordin laughed uncomfortably.

“
Yeah, bad habit,” she repeated out loud.

“
Or just habit,” he shrugged staring at her. “You’ve got a nice name though, it works for you. You can say shit like that and get away with it.”

They shared a laugh and Jordin broke the stare and smiled bashfully.

“”
You’ve got a…lovely home.”

“
And you’ve got a ….gorgeous smile. Those your real teeth?”

Jordin laughed hard and found herself covering her mouth with her hand. He was funny.

“
You’re crazy!” She shot. He chuckled and she sighed, ceasing her laughter. She noticed that he was still staring at her.

“
So, how’d a girl like you end up in my world? I didn’t think I knew people like you.”

Jordin smiled and looked into his eyes.

“
I came here with someone… and what do you mean people like me?” She didn’t know why she didn’t want to say that she came with her boyfriend, but she just didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to ruin the moment. Julez turned around and rested against the frame of the porch.

“
Someone,” he repeated lowly, but said no more. “And yeah, people like you. You know, nice people…sweet people. Untainted people,” he added. “I don’t come across your type too often.”

Jordin had looked at him seriously.

“
Well, what type do you come across then?”

“
I don’t know,” he started, thinking about it. “I guess, grimy…deceitful… foul people. This party’s filled wit’ ‘em.”

“
Hm,” Jordin started. “Well what type are you?”

Julez shrugged, enjoying her conversation. He was sure there wasn’t one female there that he could actually hold a conversation with… but he was wrong.

“
I guess I’m a little bit of both, maybe one more than the other though,” he chuckled.

“
Which one is that?” She asked, truly curious.

“
Why don’t you let me take you to dinner to find out?”

Jordin blushed, and looked down. From her earlier observations and from meeting him up close and personal, she knew this guy was out of her league. She didn’t realize he felt the same way about her. Jordin couldn’t believe that out of all of the women that she had seen over the course of the night, all breaking their ankles to get close to him, and he wanted her to come to dinner?

“
I…I can’t,” she admitted. But why was she debating it?

“
You scared I’ll get you dirty?” Julez had asked, causing her to smile.

“
Or maybe you’ll find out I’m not as clean and pure as you think I am?” She couldn’t help but flirt. But why hadn’t she told him yet that she had a boyfriend?

“
I don’t believe that,” he had told her with a smirk. “I think you’re just as perfect as I think you are.” After a long pause, he asked. “Can I at least have a phone number? I like talking to you.”

He was being brutally honest, he was captivated by Jordin. Her hair pulled back, her pure face, denim shorts and sandals attire, everything about her told him that she wasn’t trying to catch his attention, yet she had it in full.

Jordin’s heart had begun to race and her palms were sweaty. He was so hypnotizing, and he exuded power. She imagined what being put under a spell would be like, she reasoned close to this feeling.

“
I can’t,” she whispered, slightly disappointed. Julez stared at her, wondering if he could change her mind.

He walked up close to her.

“
Can I ask you something?”

She nodded her response.

“
Can I kiss you?”

Jordin was taken aback as she swallowed hard and blinked her eyes.

“
Kiss me? I don’t even know you!”

He smiled, because he could see that she wanted to as bad as he did. And he didn’t understand why he wanted to taste her lips so badly. Even in his tipsiness, he knew there was a crazy attraction between the two of them.

“
Look,” he said. “You
won’t
give me a date, ma. I can’t even get a number. I can’t at least…get a kiss? So I can say I kissed one of those beautiful, perfect people before?” She chuckled and he found her eyes with his as he proceeded. “…If you don’t like the way I kiss you can go back inside, and never talk to me again.”

He gave her an innocent, puppy dog look and was so close to her, she knew he could hear her heart pounding. She couldn’t believe that she was considering kissing a stranger, while her man was inside, but something about Julez was so different, it made her light headed. She found herself asking softly…

“
Well what if I
do
like the way you kiss?” He smiled a devilish grin and she couldn’t believe that she had said that.

“
Then we take it from there.”

Before she could protest, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers while staring into her eyes, and it was electric. The minute they touched, they were drawn together, as their lips were introduced to each other and their tongues made a guest appearance in the moment. He slipped his hands onto her waist and Jordin melted against him. It lasted for a few seconds, but felt like forever. As it slowed, he held her close and studied her beauty.

“
Yeah, like I said. Just as perfect as I thought…” Jordin closed her eyes.

After that, they talked for a while, joking and laughing, and every time he asked for a way to prolong the night, she had said “I can’t.” By the time Slim had come outside, Julez had known a little about their relationship. He didn’t care though, he was feeling Jordin. He respectively made his way inside through the back door however, before Slim could stumble upon the two of them. By the time Slim found Jordin, she was alone.

“
Yo, you ready?”

Jordin was tongue tied, her mind adrift in another place. All she could think of was if she really was ready… ready to leave.

“
I guess.”

Just then, the front door opened, and Julez coolly appeared as if he had been inside the entire time. A few hanger-on groupies trailing him.

“
Y'all heading out?”

Jordin didn’t answer, she just looked down at the ground, and Slim walked up to him.

“
Yeah we out. But yo, good looking on having us. This shit is tight as hell,” Slim admired the house with his drunken eyes. Then he chuckled. “A nigga still lost about five g’s tonight, tho’.”

Julez nodded, not taking his eyes off of Jordin who was visibly nervous.

“
Yeah, but you still a lucky nigga,” he told him smoothly. Slim was too faded and too tired to pay any attention to what he had meant. As they made their way to the car, and away from the house, Jordin turned and took one last look at Julez, shooting him a half smile. She knew she’d probably never see him again, but still, they had shared a moment. And it was something that was nice…sweet…and untainted…

“
You know I’ve been looking for you right?” Jordin had heard him. But instead of answering, she had just told him that she would go and get Noelle for him, and Julez had just nodded. A part of him still couldn’t believe that Noelle’s friend was the girl from his fight party. He had thought of her heavy. However, she was still taken and seemed uninterested in even holding a conversation with him.

Little did he know, as far as Jordin was concerned, he was Noelle’s now. Not to mention, Slim was locked down relying on Jordin to ride with him. But one thing Jordin did regret was not telling Noelle about the extent of how she had known Julez when they were at the mall that day. At the time she didn’t want anyone to ever know that she had even thought of being unfaithful to Slim, but now it had backfired.

Maybe if I would have told her about that night, and about the kiss, then maybe she wouldn’t have gone and talked to him…

Jordin couldn’t help but think that as Noelle headed out with Julez that night, and all of the nights after that. The memories from their brief yet memorable encounter were buried deep inside of Jordin, buried inside of both of them, but had just resurfaced with a slice of cheesecake…and a really long talk. Damn.

Now she was back to the present, the
present
present; sitting on the couch, fork in hand, looking at Julez and coming back from memory lane.

“
I thought we said we wouldn’t talk about that again…ever,” Jordin reminded him.

Julez dropped his finger from her chin and nodded, snapping back to reality.

“
Yeah…yeah, I feel you.”

Jordin’s tears had dried, and she heard Slim’s shower come to an end. She knew it was time for her to head up to bed before she opened up a can of worms that were long dead and buried.

“
Well, I guess I’m gonna head back up. Thanks Julez, for the talk…and for splitting the cheesecake,” Jordin giggled.

Julez looked up at her as she stood and then he stood up himself, picking up the empty plate and forks.

“
It’s nothing, Jordin. Have a good night, ma.”

She didn’t speak on it, and neither did he. But the tension was there, so thick you could cut it with a knife. All of this time they had gone on like that night had never happened, but all of a sudden an unspoken moment, where no words were needed to relive the experience, had brought about a feeling that was never there. Or was it always there? But Jordin wasn’t that type of person, and definitely not that type of friend. It would cease.

“
Where’s Noelle?” She would bring everything back to normal by re-adding her friend, and his wife, into the equation.

“
She’s um, at her mom’s. She took McKenzie to see her mom and her abuela.” Julez was used to saying the Spanish word for grandma when describing Noelle’s grandmother now.

“
Oh, okay,” Jordin answered, making her way gradually up the stairs. She stopped when Julez called after her. Her heart stopped too. She turned around slowly.

“
Huh?”

Julez stared at her for a while, and then he finally spoke words that didn’t quite match what his gaze was saying.

“
Remember what I said, I don’t think Slim meant it. I think he just had a wrong choice of words. Everybody…” He paused and licked his lips before continuing. “Everybody, makes the wrong choice at one time or another… don’t you agree?”