Chapter Three
Zay was alone, sitting inside of his office space at his high rise condo. The only thing that occupied him was his thoughts as he gazed unproductively at his computer screen. At the moment, he was supposed to be doing some numbers on a few clients that were in the NFL. He was a sports agent in Atlanta, thirty-one years old, intelligent and single. However, being single was starting to feel like he’d found the one, but the one was already married to another. He couldn’t even focus on his work, because all he could envision was Olivia’s dark, naked body standing in front of him. He couldn’t get her out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.
Zay was a ladies man and had several women that he’d lay up with, but that had recently stopped. The only time he could ever remember that happening was years back when he was in college. The woman’s name was Angel and Zay had fallen quickly in love with her beauty and her comedic personality. She was down to earth and seemed to love herself some him. He was smitten with just having her around and had cut ties with all the other women that he’d toyed with.
A year after dating, Angel had him thinking about proposing. Unfortunately, one night while enjoying a private dinner by himself at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta, GA; he spotted his girlfriend entering the crowded restaurant with another man on her arm. When he walked over to confront her, she grabbed the man’s hand tighter and without hesitation, formally introduced him to her fiancé. She played it off like she’d been his assistant and Zay felt so foolish and caught up that he simply walked out of the restaurant and never looked back. He never thought that a woman would cheat on him, but one did and was cool about it once she’d been caught up, making him realize that he was the side nigga. He was indeed broken-hearted and said that he’d never get his heart involved again unless he was certain that the woman was all his. But, now he was knowingly with another… a fully married woman.
Olivia appeared in his photographic memory again. “Damn,” he whispered, thinking that he had to get it together. He drummed his fingers against the wooden desktop, and then stood up. He looked down at his comfortable attire. He was dressed in a pair of Nike nylon gym shorts. Nike ankle socks covered his feet and a gray wife beater covered his washboard abs, that he made sure was tight from daily work outs at the gym on the first floor of the building. He walked out of his office and straight into his immaculate adjoining bedroom, passing an expensive piece hanging on the wall by Andy Warhol.
Upon entering the large master bathroom, he stepped over in front of the mirror, and then turned on the faucet water. Kneeling down closer to the sink, he splashed a bit of the cold water on his face.
“What am I thinking?” he questioned himself with thoughts of needing to see Olivia. He then stripped naked and opened the glass doors to the shower. He got inside it and turned on the hot water as it beat down his back. His thoughts began to cover what he’d wear once he was out. He’d made up his mind that he was leaving Atlanta for the night. I-20 was going to take him straight to Augusta, GA where his lover was. He had to see her.
****
Nearly four hours later, Zay had made it to Augusta, GA and was driving down Washington Road. He was in a fairly new, maroon colored Bentley Mulsanne. He was hoping to blend in with The Master’s traffic. People traveled from across the country just to see if Tiger Woods could make a comeback. He rode through the city limits as he scoped out the busy scene behind the dark tinted windows. His mixed CD played loudly in his ears, as a smile crept across his face. He and Olivia’s favorite song started to play, causing his heart to drop.
“Damn, I need to see her,” he thought. He pulled his car into the nearest shopping plaza, noticing a Japanese restaurant called Miyako, sitting off in the cut. The restaurant was located next to a package shop and on the end opposite end was a Kroger Grocery store.
I’m gonna have to try their food out one day when I have time
. He thought since he loved dining in on Japanese food. He parked in an empty parking space to gather his thoughts.
“Shit, what’s stopping me from eating here now and having a drink until I meet up with my girl?” He said then stepped out of his car. He was fresh and clean, wearing a dark pair of Gucci Jeans, a Gucci jersey t-shirt, along with a pair of Gucci lace up, dark leather shoes. No matter what he wore, it had to be matching in brands or he wasn’t going to wear it. He sported an expensive pair of Gucci shades, blocking out the beaming sun as he made his way inside the restaurant. He immediately walked over to the bar and ordered his first drink.
While sitting there, he pulled up his twitter account on his wide screen Galaxy S4 smart phone. He had to scroll Olivia’s newsfeed to see if she’d made a recent tweet. He smiled upon seeing her tweet something about thirty minutes prior. It read…
Good day twitter world. I’m just hanging out with my staff members at the Official Beauty Shop today
.
Attached to her tweet was a photo and Zay wasted no time clicking on it to view it. Olivia was standing inside her hair salon with four jazzy females, each with their hair looking good, and all of them were nicely shaped as they rocked their cute attire.
Zay felt giddy just watching this gorgeous woman that he was falling for. He was impressed by her ambition and hustle, not to mention her beauty. He turned up the Remy Martin that was in his glass as an upbeat, really pretty Japanese woman walked over to take his order.
“Will you be dining in at one of our tables or will you be ordering your food to eat here?” She asked with a cute smile spread across her face.
“Nah, I won’t be eating anything, but thanks,” he told her while leaving her a ten dollar tip, and then he got up to leave. He exited the restaurant and got back inside of his Bentley. The engine started smoothly. The car’s system immediately came on playing his and Olivia’s theme song.
Cigars on ice… Cigars on ice…
Beyonce sang. The song seemed to be sinking in his pores and into his soul.
“Damn, why’d that song have to be playing our first time together?” He questioned himself. He hesitantly shook his head as he thought back at how Olivia sucked then fucked him senseless the first time they were together. And ironically, Drunk In Love was playing on repeat in the background the whole time. No wonder the song did something to him; it moved him in ways that had him not thinking straight. One of those ways moved him out into the busy traffic on Washington Road, trying to make his way to Olivia’s hair salon. As he drove, he could see women passing by honking their horns at his expensive ride. People were staring at his car like he was from another planet. He felt like a celebrity scrolling down Washington Road.
No more than fifteen minutes later, he was pulling up in a different plaza, a more congested parking lot that was U-shaped. There were small businesses and restaurants inside the plaza on both sides of Olivia’s hair salon. Her upscale salon sat right in the middle. He crept pass the building slowly, looking at the reflection of his Bentley, but mainly trying to get a look inside the shop. Olivia’s car was parked on the curb in front of her shop. He knew her car and definitely knew that she was inside the building handling business. Just the thought of knowing that she was nearby, caused his heartbeat to speed up. He found an empty parking spot next to a Chrysler 300 with dark tinted windows. He swerved in beside it as his car faced the front of Olivia’s salon. He switched the engine off, and then stepped out of it.
Zay didn’t have anything, but his phone and keys in his hand. As he crossed over the parking lot, he put his phone up to his ear, pretending to talk to someone. He knew that it was a desperate move, but he didn’t care. It was a secret between him and God. He nodded his head and moved his lips with a slight grin, playing his role to a T. Once he got to the door, he removed the phone from his ear and stepped inside the beauty salon. A small digital beep sounded off alerting everyone that someone had entered the building.
The first thing Zay spotted was a small receptionist desk directly to his right and a cute female was standing behind it with a short blond hair do, arched eyebrows and earth tone colored lipstick.
“Good afternoon. My name is Patrice. How may I help you?” she asked with a pleasant expression on her face.
Damn, I love when it’s Master’s week
, she thought, admiring his sexy frame, handsome face, and nice expensive ride she’d peeped him get out of.
“Hi Patrice, I need a line-up for my goatee and hair.” He responded with a light smile as he scanned the place, looking for his girl.
Patrice looked him over, from head to toe. She peeped out his long dreads, and then said. “Do you also want your tips touched up on your dreads?”
Zay smiled at her. “I think I’ll be alright on that.” He responded then glanced down at his Gucci watch. It was twenty minutes till two. He then looked back at the receptionist who was definitely checking out his good looks and smooth swag. “How long is the wait?” “Five minutes,” she answered, and then pointed in the direction behind him. “You can have a seat over there in the waiting area or you can stand here and talk to me.
Zay smiled, but didn’t want to get caught up talking to another woman while he was there to see his boo. He didn’t respond, but he did shoot her a killer smile, and then he headed toward the waiting area.
“Five minutes is not too long,” he said just above a whisper. He found himself watching Patrice as he sat down. She had a sexy stance, caramel complexion, and a donkey butt that fit perfectly with her small waist. Not to mention that she was really cute and had a luring smile.
These Augusta women
, he thought while shaking his head.
“Hey,” Patrice called out as she winked at him. “Hey handsome, you can go to station three and have a seat. She’ll take you next.” She pointed towards station three as Zay walked across the apricot colored tiled floors. He’d looked around the shop on his way over trying to see if he’d spot Olivia, but he didn’t see her. Her car was parked out front so she had to be there, but that was the only sign of her. Once he’d made it to the empty booth seat, he immediately sat down, noticing a tall, long legged female standing there in a barber jacket zipped midway her breasts.
“Hey, how are you?” The boyish looking lady spoke, dropping the barber apron around his neck, covering the full front part of his body.
“I’m doing well and yourself?” He questioned back. Zay was a college graduate and he knew how to speak to people in a professional manner. He took another quick glance around the shop for Olivia and before the woman could continue, he stopped her. He’d thought of something just out the blue. “Can you hold on for one second?” He asked, looking down at his cell phone. He quickly sent a text message and then patiently waited for a response.
“Okay, I’m ready now.” He said as the lady grabbed her clippers.
Chapter Four
Mark was behind the wheel of his 760 long body BMW and Olivia was riding on the passenger side. They were on the way back to the hair salon that they owned. Mark had taken it upon himself to take the day off so he could spend some quality time with his beautiful wife. He wanted to take her out for a nice lunch date. He’d taken her out to Olive Garden and had also brought everyone that worked at the salon take out plates. Mark had the smooth sounds of Sade bumping in the car’s surround system and she sounded damn good.
Olivia was looking at herself in the visor mirror when her phone vibrated an incoming text message. She glanced down at her Michael Kors bag sitting on the floor between her legs, but she didn’t budge to reach for her cell phone. She had a gut feeling that it was Zay and she didn’t want to disrespect her husband like that to his face.
Out of the blue, he looked over at her. “Your phone is buzzing,” he said, then stared straight ahead, coming to a four-way traffic stop. Olivia turned to face him for a split second, and then turned her face back to the mirror, acting like it wasn’t anything major or anyone important. To make it official, she then reached down inside her purse and pulled her cell phone out. Immediately, she spotted the message envelope icon blinking at the top of her screen. She pulled the curtain down on the envelope as the message displayed that it was from Kandi. Her heart fluttered as she opened and read it.
Thought I was gonna see you today
.
She didn’t know what to think or what he meant by that but she definitely responded right back.
I’m with the hubby at the moment. Well, I’m actually on my way back to the shop. O’
Mark looked over at her, trying to be nosey. Out the corner of his eye, he’d noticed the light turn green, but that was about it. The car in front of him had a delayed takeoff, and because he was so caught up with what Olivia had going on; he tapped the car in front of him, causing a fender bender. Both of their necks snapped forward, but luckily they were wearing their seatbelts.
Olivia’s phone flew out of her hand and landed somewhere on the floor. The bump had startled her, because Mark had never been in an accident before. She knew that it was nothing major since the airbags hadn’t come out.
Mark, realizing what he’d done instantly looked over at his wife. “Are you alright, babe?”
“Uh, yeah,” she hesitantly responded. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he told her, and then reached for the handle of the door to open it and get out. “Let me see if the driver ahead of us is alright.” He stepped out of the car, looking at the other cars slowly riding by in an opposite lane. They were being nosey in hopes that everybody was okay. The car he’d hit was a Crown Victoria with clear windows. As he made it up to the driver window, he could see the woman sitting behind the wheel holding her neck. He shook his head.
Here we go with the bullshit
, he immediately thought. Mark opened her car door to check on the woman. She appeared to be in her mid-fifties with slightly aging skin and wrinkles around her eyes.