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Authors: Eric Pete

Reality Check

BOOK: Reality Check
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Reality Check
 
 
 
 
Eric Pete
 
 
 
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
To Marsha,
 
The person who pushed me off that ledge nine years ago because she believed a man could fly. For I am not me without you. To come full circle with this one is a joy. To be able to share it with the world is a blessing. Eight novels later, I thank you.
Can’t stop. Won’t stop. Believe that.
 
—Eric
1
 
Glover
 
Beeeeep!Beeeeeep!Beeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeep!
Its red lights taunted me from out of the fading darkness.
Shit. Why does my alarm always go off right when I’m about to get my freak on? I guess my mystery lover would have to catch me on the next dream go-round. One day I would catch a glimpse of his face.
Lawd, I hate Mondays. Everybody does. Well, except for beauticians because it’s their day off. Of course, I never felt like going to work. It was simply something I did while trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. Damn trust fund babies and celebrities in this town. They’ll ruin a sister’s good work ethic in a heartbeat.
Lionel mentioned it again last night. Always the seductive proposition coming from those sexy lips of his. That was just before I made him go home. Some women out here would jump at the chance to have someone like Lionel take care of them, but, hey ... I guess I’m one of the independent ones. Did I forget to tell you that I’m also vivacious, witty, intelligent, and can work it
like no other
?
Lionel is my boyfriend. I say that because we aren’t officially engaged. We met by chance more than two years ago, when I was going through a rough dry spell. I was at Mariana’s having a chicken caesar salad after work while he was downtown meeting with a client. I sat there feeding my face and saw this rather debonair brother at a nearby table.
Tall and dark-skinned, he wore a suit that reeked of the finest quality. Almost as impressive as his build and his perfect teeth. He was having a business meeting with a middle-aged white man, who appeared to be interested in more than “bid’ness,” as was evident by the way he eyed the subject of my imagination. I hoped to myself,
Please don’t be gay
, realizing I was craving the well-built bit of chocolate too.
Their business was concluded with several quick signatures to paperwork. The client left first and passed right by my table. I resumed eating as if I hadn’t been eavesdropping. Lionel was passing next when he slowed and mumbled under his breath.
“Thought that was funny, huh?” He didn’t even break his smile.
“Excuse me?” I answered, almost choking on a crouton. I quickly grabbed a napkin and covered my mouth.
“I saw you watching my predicament with Mr. Brewster. Did that amuse you?”
“Huh? Oh. That. Well, I wasn’t ...” I fumbled in vain.
“And the answer is no. I’m straight.”
Whew.
He sat down and officially introduced himself to me. A few months after Mariana’s, the beginnings of what you would call this relationship of ours, we were dating exclusively.
Lionel is a securities broker and financial planner for Barnes & Greenwood, with more than his share of success through both good times and bad. I’d be lying if I said that success didn’t sometimes go to his head, but he was so charming that I ignored it. He’d asked me countless times to move in with him, but I had my reservations, in spite of the occasional sleepover. Call me stubborn or just plain old fashioned, but I had an issue without having a wedding date selected and all. I was pretty sure I loved him, but wanted to be certain the weekend jaunts to Las Vegas or New York weren’t swaying me instead. I was young at the time, but remembered talk of how a silver tongue had driven a wedge between my mom and her family back in Virginia so many years ago.
Our long talk was coming soon, but first I needed to get my ass out of bed before Mona arrived. Heaven knows she was gonna get me evicted with her loud honking.
BOOK: Reality Check
3.43Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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