A Designed Affair (10 page)

Loren and Malcolm’s dinner had just arrived when Jason came over to the table to greet them.

“Loren, always good to see you,” he said.

“Hey Jase.”

Loren stood to give him a hug.

“Good to see you too.”

She introduced him to her dinner date.

“Jason, this is Malcolm Waters. Malcolm this is Jason. He owns this supper club and is one of my brother’s friends.”

Jason and Malcolm shook hands.

“Feel free to call me Jase.”

“Nice to meet you Jase,” Malcolm said.

“I see business is jumping tonight. This place is packed and the band is awesome.”

“Thanks Loren. Business has been booming. I’m actually looking into purchasing the building next door and expanding. With the crowds we’ve been seeing lately, it’s definitely time. How’s the family?”

“Everybody’s great,” Loren answered.

“That’s good. Tell everyone hello. I’m going to let you get back to your dinner. Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Loren said as she retook her seat across from Malcolm.

When Jase walked back towards the kitchen, Loren turned her attention back to Malcolm.

“I didn’t realize this place was black owned. Nice,” Malcolm said. Loren could see he was impressed.

“Yes and he’s doing really well. Your friend’s band was great. Which one was he?”

“He was the drummer. We went to school together. They travel around a lot and I try to catch them whenever they come this way.”

They continued to eat and enjoy idle chit chat. She was actually enjoying herself. He turned out to be the distraction she needed to take her mind off of work and off of Mike as well.

“I’m glad you agreed to finally go out with me Loren.”

“I’m sorry for not getting back to you. I’ve been caught up with work and I’ve been traveling, so when Denise mentioned you to me and gave you my number, it’s been hard trying to find time to return phone calls. I’m glad you stopped by my office and didn’t give up on me. I’m not generally like that, but my business has really been picking up,” Loren explained.

While they talked she’d learned a lot about him and was impressed with his line of work. He owned several fast food chains in the Atlanta area and was looking to expand to surrounding counties.

She lost her focus on what he was saying when she looked up and caught a glimpse of Mike at the bar. She wasn’t sure it was him at first, until some people cleared out of the way and she was able to see him better. She nervously began nipping on her lip wondering what the odds were that he would show up on the night that she was here on a date. She didn’t really want Mike to see her out, especially out with someone after she gave him her little speech about serial dating and here she was out with someone, not long after the night they were together.

Trying to conceal the view from him, she slid over a little bit so that Malcolm was blocking Mike’s view of her. Maybe he wouldn’t see her. She didn’t know why she was reacting this way. She and Mike weren’t dating. They were friends and she didn’t need to hide when she was out on a date. Still she stayed out of his line of sight, hoping he was on a date as well. That thought made her feel a little down. She didn’t really want to see him out with anyone.

For years it never bothered her to run into him with one woman or another out on a date. Now, the thought of it had her feeling sad, sick and jealous. It didn’t occur to her how she would react, now that they had been intimate, to seeing him with someone else. She kept one ear on what Malcolm was saying and just smiled as he talked so that he couldn’t see her distraction. She looked in Mike’s direction again and to her it didn’t appear that he was with anyone. There were several other gentlemen at the bar, but no women alone. That didn’t mean he wasn’t waiting on someone. She needed to stop torturing herself and focus on her date.

Mike looked up from his spot at the bar and noticed Jase was coming his way.

“Hey man,” Jase said as he reached Mike.

“What’s up bro?”

“Nothing but business twenty-four, seven. You waiting on a table? If you’d let me know you were coming I would have reserved one for you.”

“No, I’m just going to grab some take-out.”

Though Mike was talking to Jase, he continued looking around, trying to spot Loren.

Jase picked up on Mike’s perusal of the crowd immediately and knew who he was looking for.

“Take-out, huh? Looking for someone in particular?”

Mike didn’t answer. He just continued to look around.

“She’s at the table in the far right corner Mike.”

He tried to play it like he had no clue who Jase was talking about.

“Who? I’m not looking for anyone. I told you I’m just here to grab some take-out.”

He knew Jase wasn’t buying it.

Jason shook his head in disbelief that Mike was still playing the denial game.

“Mike, I told you this was not a good idea and to walk away. Obviously you didn’t listen, so maybe you’d like to tell me what’s going on here besides your obvious lie about showing up to get take-out?”

Mike looked in the direction of where Loren sat across from a man and anger started to rise up like he had never felt before. Not sure where the anger was coming from, he looked away and turned his attention back to Jase.

“Who is the guy Loren is with Jase? Do you know him? Have you seen him here before?”

“No, she did introduce us a while ago. All I know is his name is Malcolm. I only talked to her briefly. Why is something wrong?”

“Other than the fact that she’s out with him? Not that I know of,” Mike answered with disgust in his voice.

“Duron didn’t know who she was going out with tonight and he was a little concerned. You know the incident with the last serious relationship Loren had that almost landed Duron in jail. He’s just protective I guess. He mentioned she would be here and I thought I would check this guy out for him.”

“Sure you did. Your being here is all about looking out for Loren on behalf of her brother who wants to protect her from the big bad wolves of the world. It has nothing to do with the fact that you have a thing for her yourself? Come on Mike, it’s me.”

He hesitated then decided to come clean.

“Okay, so yeah I have a thing for her. It’s an unexpected thing. It’s hitting me over and over like a ton of bricks.”

Mike turned his attention back to Loren. When he did, he noticed that she was looking right at him. He continued to stare at her no matter how hard she tried to not look at him and focus on her date. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her. He sat back on his stool, ordered a beer and just waited, never taking his eyes off of her.

Jase could see that his friend was not happy seeing Loren out on a date and it had nothing to do with looking out for her for Duron. He was looking out for her for him.

“Don’t do it Mike. I told you before, walk away man. I’m looking at the two of you looking at each other and it’s a good thing I have a sprinkler system because you two could start a fire up in here.”

Mike knew he was right, but he was past walking away. It was already too late for him.

“Jase, I hear you. Too late buddy.”

“Mike, tell me you didn’t?”

Mike turned and looked at him clueless.

“Didn’t what?”

“Tell me you did not sleep with Loren.”

There was no avoiding the obvious with his friend so he avoided answering and turned back to look at Loren and her date.

“Mike?”

He knew his friend wasn’t going to let up.

“No can do bruh. I did and now she’s out on a date with some other guy. It’s taking every ounce of energy I have to keep from going over there and knocking his ass out.”

“Mike, man why don’t you go up in my office and cool off. This is not a good look for you.”

“No I’m good. I won’t make a scene. I just wanted to see for myself if she was really out with someone tonight and I got my answer. I’m going to order some food and head home. Can you get me my usual?” Mike asked.

“Yeah I will, but Mike, listen to me. Don’t go over there. Nothing good will come out of that. Don’t move from this stool. The guy has no idea you slept with Loren and he has no clue who you are so don’t make a scene. Just sit tight and I’ll get your order placed.”

“Jase, man I’m not trying to start any trouble up in your spot. I’m cool right here.”

Loren could feel the penetrating stare Mike was giving her. He had seen her and her date and if Loren was correct, he was angry about it. His expression never changed. He stared at her giving her a look as if he were asking her what the hell she was doing out with this guy. As much as Loren wanted to ignore Mike’s presence, she knew it wasn’t going to happen. She decided to go over and say hello. She excused herself from the table. There was no need to continue the staring match when clearly there were words that needed to be said.

Mike saw her get up from the table and head in his direction and he was prepared. He had a few questions to ask her. When she approached, he let her speak first.

“Hi, Mike. What are you doing here? Are you here with someone?” she asked.

Mike tampered down his anger at her being out on a date with someone only days after being in bed with him.

“I’m here grabbing take-out and no I’m not here with anyone. I see you can’t say the same thing,” he said, not trying to hide his displeasure.

Loren didn’t immediately respond as she looked from Mike, over to the table where her date still sat waiting for her and then back to Mike again. All she could think about was how good Mike looked. Even in a simple button down shirt and jeans he looked scrumptious. She was so busy gawking at him, she didn’t realize he was waiting for some type of reply from her. She didn’t hear what he may have said so she didn’t know what she should be responding to.

Mike could feel his temper rising and knew he needed to control it. He and Loren had sex. They were not involved so he had no right to be as angry as he was. He softened the conversation.

“You look nice Loren,” he said, breaking into the silent moment.

Loren checked back into the conversation.

“Thank you. You look nice yourself.”

“I hope you’re having a nice time on your date,” he sneered.

She could hear the distain in his statement. She played along, but ignored what appeared to be a little tension between them, definitely a result of her being out on a date.

“I am thank you. He’s a nice guy.”

“Who is he?”

“I met him through one of my sorority sisters weeks ago. She thought we would hit it off.”

Loren wanted to be sure to stress that she did not just meet Malcolm.

“We have been trying to connect since then and our schedules didn’t seem to match up until recently.”

Mike didn’t say anything immediately. He didn’t want to talk about his guy with her.

“Loren, I don’t care about this dude or when you met him. What I do care about is you and why you’re out with him.”

“I told you, he asked me out. He has a friend that played in the band and he asked if I would have dinner and check the band out and I said yes.”

Mike was looking at her as if he could see right through her.

“So this is it Loren? I think we have a lot to talk about, but apparently you don’t think so. Is this your answer to our situation? Is this your way of letting me know that I need to be satisfied with the one night we spent together and not think about taking things further? After all you did give me the speech about you wanting a monogamous relationship so I’m assuming this guy is the start of your search for that? No consideration of being with me at all? Was I your version of your stint with casual sex and now you can find someone else to get serious with?”

She could see that this was not the time or place to have this conversation with him.

“Mike, can we talk about this another time, please?”

“When Loren? Should I save this for talk on the plane out to California? What, you’ll call me in the morning after your date tonight?” he snorted out.

Loren wasn’t pleased with how he stressed the word after. He sounded like he was implying something would be happening between her and Malcolm.

Loren chose her words carefully.

“I need to get back to my date. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

They were staring at each other, neither making a move. When he didn’t give any type of response, she turned to walk back to her table. Before she could get away, Mike grabbed her hand and pulled her back so that her ear was close to his lips.

“So I’m not supposed to want you again after the night we spent together? Should I just forget about it like you obviously have?”

He was hurt and Loren didn’t want that. She also needed him to know that the night with him was everything to her.

“Is that what you think? That I’ve forgotten about the best night of my life spent with you? It’s all I’ve been able to think about. What am I supposed to do here? I can’t just walk around in a state of constant heat all of the time, every single time we see each other. Neither one of us would survive. I’m ashamed at the thoughts I’m having right now because I know it’s wrong. I am out on a date with someone and at this moment I’m remembering what you tasted like.”

When Loren said those words she looked him right in the eye.

“I know we agreed to stay away from each other, but that hasn’t kept me from thinking about it.”

“Loren, you made the decision that we should stay away from each other. That wasn’t a mutual decision, nor did I agree, if you remember.”

“So what, are you telling me, you haven’t been seeing anyone? You haven’t been with anyone? Magic Stick Mike is giving up casual women?” she scoffed.

Mike looked at her in total shock that she used the name he’d heard some of the women he’d had sex with used to describe him. He was too shocked to even respond. He used to think the term was funny when he heard other women say it, but coming from Loren it sounded demeaning and he hated it.

“What? You think I didn’t know what the women call you? I swear, I don’t know why you and my brother think I don’t know about all the women you have made your way through. Don’t be shocked because I’m out on a date tonight. I can’t just sit at home and wonder who you are bedding and wallow in self-pity knowing that I would love for it to be me.”