No Ordinary Love (24 page)

“Sometimes your ass does. You look good, damn good. A couple of these niggas might be on your top. I don’t want you to be confused. Now give me a real kiss before you leave.”

Protest was already on the tip of her tongue as he went in for a deep kiss that made her weak. There was that slow fluttering in her heart as he continued to build the depth of his kiss. As Shawn took the kiss deeper, Catrina held on to him as she fought to keep a clear head.

“I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you too,” she told him, unsure if this time he was saying that he was in love with her.
Niggas— we exclusive until he wants to do him
.
I’m ‘bout to party my ass like a rock star.

The Party

“I cannot believe y’all got a limo,” Catrina squealed in delight as she cautiously stepped from the car onto the street.

“I’m getting drunk and am not even considering driving,” Briannah laughed, joining Catrina on the sidewalk in front of The Bleu Martini.

“Hey, keep it classy,” Casey ordered as she all but tripped out of the car.

Catrina bit her cheek to keep from laughing. “I’m with Bri. I wanna get drunk, which brings on my next question… why are we getting drunk here?”

“Shut up and come on. They make the best mixed drinks with top shelf liquor. Then we can go wherever you want,” Briannah said.

Catrina peered through the window. “It looks empty. What time they open? Ain’t this shit supposed to be lit up blue?” she questioned, leery of going inside.

Catrina was looking forward to heavy partying with lots of dancing and drinks. Then she thought about it. She never showed up at a club before twelve. It seems that though times had changed, lateness was something people still made a practice of.

“It’s not empty. Come on,” Briannah told her, tugging her arm.

“Ladies,” the bouncer spoke. “Y’all look good tonight. IDs please,” he requested with masculine authority.

Briannah went first without a word.

“It’s my 30
^th
birthday and I’m still getting carded. Woo, hoo.” Catrina laughed as she retrieved her driver’s license from her wallet and handed it to the bouncer.

“Happy birthday,” he said to her and proceeded to check Casey’s. “Have a good time, ladies,” he told them opening the entrance door. The bouncer watched as three of the finest ladies he’d seen in one group entered the bar. Damn, wish I was partying. Ms. 30 is bad, and I’m sure I could get that. Must be special to somebody, he mused shaking his head. They’d bought the whole bar out for the evening, and this party was “by invitation only.” He’d spotted a couple sport players and their wives in the crowd. Yes, she is someone special.

The passing of a familiar face in the crowd brought Catrina to a halt. She stood where she was and scanned the room for a second. By the bar stood her assistant and her boyfriend, and her sister Charine smiling in some guy’s face. Chantel and Chris were tucked in each other’s arms. Then there were her parents offering waves as she reached them. They were seated three seats away from where her baby sister was getting a number. Catrina’s eyes narrowed as she turned to her friends who stood behind her grinning.

“I know that y’all ain’t—”

“Our birthday girl has finally arrived!” a voice enhance by a microphone said, even as she recognized that it belonged to Briannah’s husband Tyree.

“Surprise,” he said, walking toward her with a wide smile.

“So everybody was in on this?” she questioned.

There was apparent surprise in her eyes. “I can’t believe you guys did this,” she said honestly. She’d specifically instructed them not to make a big deal out of her birthday. And here they were throwing a surprise party for her.

Terrance stood up and took his oldest daughter into his arms. “Happy birthday, baby,” he said to her, kissing her forehead.

Stevie Wonder’s version of
Happy Birthday
began to pump out the speakers. Party goers all turned their attention to Catrina and began singing to her. She shrugged and smiled.

“Yes, Hap-py Birth-day to me. Happy Birth-day,” She began dancing and clapping to the beat.

Two hours into the party Catrina found herself alone in a corner nursing her bruised and possibly sprained ankle. She’d lost her footing while doing the Cuban Shuffle. Her foot went one way, and the platform shoe that contained it went another.

Shawn, who was suddenly there at the end of the Birthday Song, all but carried her to the corner where he made sure she elevated her foot.

Now he think he a doctor instead of a lawyer
, Catrina mused as he went off to find her an ice pack.

“So did you plan on hiding over here for the rest of the night?” the voice was deeper than it had been in his youth. More velvety than it had seemed that very same morning.

The silent speech she gave herself before she lifted her face to David served as a voice calmer.

Damn, he looks so good.

Catrina flashed him the same smile that she had as a teen. Her voice was the only thing that would remain steady. Her heart was already pounding. So heavy, she assumed he could hear it.

“And somehow, I always thought that wishes came true on the person’s birthday,” Catrina said, sarcastically.

What is he doing here?

“I guess they do,” he spoke as he took in the sight of her.

She was as she’d always been to him— breathtakingly beautiful. Her hair, which he knew still fell below her shoulders, was bundled under a black cropped bob weave cap. Her face was fresh looking and almost unpainted, except for the lilac eye shadow which highlighted her hazel eyes and her gloss-painted lips. The short black dress cupped her breast and was nipped at the waist and tied with a lilac belt looped into huge bow. The dress clung to the hips that she finally grew in to. Success hadn’t tamed her wild sense of fashion, he mused.

Everything about her was attention getting. It was a wonder that the thought of her still held his. David assumed that he was prepared to see her again. He felt he was still recuperating from the last time. The realization that there wasn’t any amount of preparation he could have gone through to prepare his heart for her hit him. Over the past years, he’d seen her in the company of their mutual friends, enjoyed group vacations, contacted her just to hear her voice, and had indulged in her company privately.

“You look good.”

“I didn’t know you were coming,” she said, the distraction of her ankle was enough to keep her eyes off him.

“Didn’t know if you would’ve wanted me here had it not been a surprise and all,” he tested, stepping closer to her.

For a minute David could all but envision himself settling in beside her and taking her foot into his hands to message the pain away.

Catrina looked up at him. “But you still showed up, anyway,” she replied quickly.

David shrugged and inched closer yet again. “I needed to see you. You’re always so extra polite when you see me and almost whispering when we talk on the phone. You even type polite emails. You’re anything but polite.”

Catrina shook her head and laughed. “That’s probably because I don’t want to talk to you.”

David leaned over to capture her hands and just held them in his for a minute. He’d never forgotten how they felt, the delicate weight of them in his own larger hands. “Now we both know that’s not true,” he reminded her.

Irritated by his arrogance, Catrina snatched her hands away. “You continue to overstep. How is Mi-Chelle doing?” She looked past him and caught sight of Briannah. The look she gave must have echoed
get your ass over here,
because Briannah pinched Casey and they started making their way to their friend.

“Don’t get all stank on me. Maybe we could go to lunch or dinner. I have some things we need to discuss.” he told her.

“Here’s your ice, babe,” Shawn said, approaching Catrina and David. Though he was talking to Catrina, his eyes were on David. Shawn had no clue who the stranger was, but from Catrina’s expression, he was sure that he’d over stayed his welcome. With the tension between Catrina and the man apparent, Shawn addressed the stranger, “What’s going on my man?”

Catrina’s mouth could have dropped to the floor as she turned her attention to Shawn. The ice pack he placed in her hand damn near fell to the floor. “Thanks, babe.” Catrina made the introductions. “This is Dave, Dave this is Shawn.”

“Her boyfriend Shawn,” Shawn added. The stare he was giving almost seemed challenging to David.

David dismissed Shawn quickly. He’d seen the guy hovering over Catrina for most of the night. David had thought nothing special of him until he saw Catrina gyrate her ass on him during the clean version of “
Occhie Wally
” by Nas.

Noticing that Catrina was the focus of David’s attention, Tyree had informed his friend that Catrina’s dance partner was her boyfriend, and that by all accounts, they seemed to be happy. Still, David didn’t take that to heart. No one would stand in his way of what he wanted. “Nice to meet you, Shawn. I’ll let you get back to your party, Trina, and see you later,” he said just as Briannah and Casey reached them.

“Hey y’all,” he spoke to them as he walked away.

“Who the fuck was he?” Shawn demanded.

“Ummm, Trina, I think it’s time to cut the cake,” Casey offered.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Some Things Never Change

So What Y’all Think?

“So let me get this straight?” David said to his two best friends. “Y’all invited this nigga to come out with us?” David was surprised to hear that Daemon’s Atlantic City trip also included Catrina’s boyfriend Shawn as a partying member.

In the time since his move eight years ago, David had made several trips back to Philly. He had maintained his close personal relationship with his two best friends who were as much as brothers to him as Chris. These men, were the same brothers that he had played in school yards with, ran blocks with, stacked money with, built businesses with, and were both now fathers and for the most part, husbands.

The fact that their lives had taken that direction made him pause to define his own. At thirty-three years of age, he had what most boys from the hood dreamed of. Yet, there was the dull ache that he was missing something. Though he already knew what that something was.

David condemned himself on a regular basis that his yearnings for her were simple and weak. How could any sensible man spend years out of his life, no, his entire life wanting a complicated woman who didn’t want him back, or didn’t love him enough to try? He knew that she casually pretended that she did not maintain a personal relationship with him beyond their mutual friendship. It annoyed him, and along with the annoyance, there was a mild ache of hurt.

Tyree toyed with his keys and sat them down to pick up his glass of water. “Why does it matter? Tyree questioned his friend even though he already knew the answer. “He’s cool with us. Been hanging out with us for the last year.”

Daemon laughed. “Please stop fucking with him,” he said to Tyree, and turned his attention to David. “I don’t know why you think that everything is about you. We cool with the man, and I didn’t know that I needed to check with you about inviting him. You act just like a fuckin’ girl sometimes.”

Neither of them mentioned that Catrina was in a serious relationship until Tyree had done so after seeing the pair on the dance floor.

“So neither one of you thought I would have a problem with him when he fucking my girl.”
Yes, my girl
.
My future wife
. The possessiveness in him allowed him to make the claim proudly.

“Some things never change for you. That girl ain’t worried about you. It took her a long time, but I think she happy. I think dude make her happy, and because I love her, I’m happy for her. I love you and I just think you should get over it,” Daemon said to him. He wasn’t about to have David’s problems with the Catrina situation disrupt his fun, or thoughts on his upcoming marriage.

Shit, he was getting married in fourteen days to the woman who had taught him about true love. He thought back on the years that had passed since he’d finally let his guard down. There had been the separation over Tamika weeks after they’d found out that Karea was his child. Casey had shouted about him letting Tamika twist her way into their relationship, playing the “
we have a child together”
ticket. He’d loved her more, because she saw through all of it and at first was patient, then irritated that he hadn’t.

There was the brief moment when he’d paid more attention to his studio, salons, and properties than he had to her.

Casey was the woman who had become the mother to his child, when she’d lost hers. She was, he summed up, his everything. And in less than a month, Daemon would be pledging his heart to her, to cherish and keep her, and love her through any and every thing that would come along. More reason to love her, he carefully thought.

All the wrongs between them had somehow added to all the things right for them. Daemon had almost died when Casey suggested that they have a two year engagement so that they would be able to pay for their wedding without any loans or other financial assistance. The outside wedding extravaganza was going to cost them over fifty thousand dollars. Now that it was all put together, he couldn’t believe that the time had actually passed by so quickly. The fact that they were able to save the money and not touch it had been another wonder.

“What about Mi-Chelle? Are you just going through some type of crisis because we’re both gonna be married and you’re not?” Tyree interrogated.

There had to be something to his best friend’s constant need for his teenage sweetheart. Tyree could have sworn he was past those obsessive feelings. He must have been wrong, and by all accounts, it seemed that Catrina had finally moved on.

“I’m moving back up here; Mi-Chelle is not, at my request. I love her, but not like I love Catrina. I’ve never been in love with another woman. Never given that part of myself to another woman, because deep down in my heart, it’s her… it has to be her. I’m going to marry her,” David let on as he pushed away from the table, too comfortable with his friends to act ashamed of his feelings. He continued. “I kept the ring. Mi-Chelle found it and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, she was damn near forcing me to ask her to marry me. I was taken off guard and had no idea why she thought I wanted to get married, and then she confesses that she found the ring.”