Learning the Hard Way (2 page)

When they got in bed, Ava allowed Richard to take over. Even his thin lips made her body hum, the way he kissed her all over, down between her breasts, over her stomach and at the apex of her thighs. Of course there, at her pulsating clitoris, she had to monitor his oral actions. He could kiss her nether lips but no tongue inside of her. He could blow his warm breath over her, but he could not insert his finger.

Richard seemed to like the limits, mainly because he enjoyed pushing them. After kissing her down below, she felt the tip of his tongue swiping over her hardened nub. She remembered how she twitched and moaned. 

“No, no,” she would tell him.

Then he would massage her thighs, inching then up higher and higher until, again, he arrived at her sex. He would let his thumb drag up and down between her slit until he stopped at her opening.

“No, no.” She would have to close her legs to prevent him from exploring any further.

Once they had sex, she could no longer deny him. Proportionally speaking, his erect penis fit inside of her like she had designed it herself. At its length with the slight curve to it, he would always hit her G-spot.

She would coil her legs around his. She held his shoulders. Her comparatively darker skin to his much lighter shade always made him comment on the contrast.

“Look at how beautiful our different skin tones look together,” he had said.

Ava never noticed. It didn’t matter to her that he was white and she was black. The feeling of his hard body on top of her soft one proved enough of a distraction to keep focused on the sexual act. His rhythmic thrusting and the way he cupped her breast always prompted her climax. Tricky Dick, as the other women had so nicknamed him, never turned down an opportunity to go again.

After a night of sex, he would always shower and go home before the sun came up. During their relationship, Ava had assumed Richard wanted to preserve her reputation with her neighbors by not letting them see a man leaving her home at an ungodly hour. Now she just figured he had another woman to see, someone to have breakfast with when she’d awakened.

“I don’t want to think or talk about him anymore.” Although Richard hadn’t broken Ava’s heart, he’d put a huge dent in her trust armor.

“Too bad every decision we make, especially about who we date next, will be based on our experiences with Richard.” Vonda shook her head. “I’m trying so hard to chalk all this up as a learning lesson.”

“Yeah, hopefully the next time, we’ll know better.” Dina nodded.

With this embarrassing incident behind her, Ava had made up her mind. Casual dating like she had done with Richard could no longer be a part of her repertoire. Ava also crossed off dating her students. 

At their initial meeting, Richard had presented himself as man pursuing knowledge with the hopes of bettering his life. The package appealed to Ava. What woman wouldn’t want a man who presented himself as a work-in-progress in a very good way?

Too bad the smoke-and-mirror ruse just so that he could get close to her caused her to feel like a fool, like a stupid, naïve fool.

 “No, what you need to do is to shake your routine up a bit.” Like an idea hit her at that very moment, Dina’s eyes widened as she moved her wrought-iron chair closer to Ava. “This is what you should do. Go back to your office right now. It’s a Saturday; school hasn’t officially started yet for the summer semester so there’s not a whole lot of people on campus, right?”

Ava nodded, too intrigued by what this savvy detective had in store for her.

Dina continued. “Go to your office, blast some Beyoncé. Sexy but empowering.” She pulled at Ava’s sweater. “Take off this damn Mr. Rogers sweater and dance around your office while you start packing up your shit.”

That last bit of advice sent Ava into a blinking fit again. “You want me to quit my job? I can’t afford to do that. I have tenure and—”

Dina smacked the back of Ava’s hand. “For a really smart chick, you sure are a little green. No, I want you to start packing your nonessential items because I want you to show the other people in your department that you’re looking at the ultimate prize. I’m sure a department head wouldn’t keep the same office he or she has now. You should move to a bigger space, right?”

Ava slowed down her blinking. “Right. I’ve seen it. It’s a nice corner office that overlooks the park. It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, and it could be yours if you show them that it’s what you really want. Show the other professors and the deciding fat cats that you know the department head job is yours for the taking. Show them that you’re so confident you’re already packing your shit in anticipation of the move, got it?” Dina winked at her.

Ava pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yes, I understand everything except for one thing.”

“What’s that?” Vonda asked.

“What’s a Beyoncé?”

Dina rolled her eyes and stood from the table. “There’s a whole big world out there, Doc. You need to start being a part of it.” She grabbed Ava’s arm to bring her to her feet. “Come on. I have one of her CDs in my car.”

“Oh, she’s a singer.” Ava nodded.

They said goodbye to Vonda. Dina pulled Ava out of the coffee shop. The summer sun baked Ava until she longed to remove her sweater. Since she didn’t want to show anymore of her flesh than needed, she suffered through her psychological road block.

“I feel a bit hip now.” Ava tried to add a strut to her walk, but it came out like a stumble.

“You’re getting there.”

Although Ava appreciated the advice, she wasn’t sure how pretending to be something she wasn’t would help boost her career. It certainly couldn’t help her in her dating life. Wasn’t what Richard did a lot like what Dina wanted her to do, play a part, hide her true self?

Thinking about that plan, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. She could immerse herself in a role to get what she wanted finally.

Wait. No, she couldn’t. Ethically, it wasn’t right. Just like it wasn’t proper for her to goad her sexy male student into dropping out of her class so that she could date him.

Date? More like have expensive, lavish dinners followed by hot, frantic sex, always at her place, for several months.

At Dina’s car, her friend opened her trunk and pulled out a couple of items. She handed Ava a jewel case that had a picture of a gorgeous African-American woman on the cover. Then she gave her a white tank top and a pair of shorts, Dina’s normal workout gear.

“It’s clean. I packed them in my car this morning.” Dina slammed her trunk closed.

“And why would I need these? I’m dressed.” She scanned down at her professional attire, a black skirt, a white shirt, and a sweater.

“You’re overdressed. Strip down. Get funky. Get loose.” Dina mussed Ava’s short hair by shaking her fingers through it. “Stop being so uptight. Although we all sort of look alike, the three of us are completely different.”

“I’m starting to see that.” Ava held up the three things. “So if I play this disc—”

“Preferably at an obscenely high volume.”

“And I wear these clothes—”

“Without a bra.” Dina nodded.

Ava’s eyes widened and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she also gasped at the same time.

“Come on. Let ‘the girls’ out and free for once. I’m telling you. You’ll feel so incredible.” Dina poked Ava with her elbow. “To bastardize a phrase from that Kevin Costner flick, if you strip it down, they will come.”

“Who or what are they?” Now Ava started to feel ambushed. Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since walking out to Dina’s car.

“Job offers, men, new experiences, and what life has to offer. It’s all waiting for you.” Dina beamed.

Ava wasn’t sure about that, but at this stage she would try anything, especially if it got her to stop thinking about past mistakes.

* * * *

“No, no, no.” Troy Whitten didn’t have to look up from his books to see his friend Gross doing his dance to ask for something he knew Troy wouldn’t like.

His friend had gotten his nickname by chopping up his last name, but then the moniker became a reality in more ways than one.

“Come on, man. You haven’t even heard what I had to say.” Gross plopped down on the couch in Troy’s home office. “Has Eli Grossburger ever steered you wrong?”

Troy dropped his book on his desk. “You tried getting me to sneak onto Wrigley Field one night. I let you do that one alone. And what happened?”

“That was one thing.” Gross scratched the back of his head. “I did my time, and my record is clean now.” Thank goodness summertime hit and he had shaved off his blond dreadlocks. A white guy with locks never looked good.

Troy shook his head. “Then there was the harvesting honey from bee hives idea. Again, you did that alone. Training to win hot dog eating contests. Not sure why you tried doing that. And let’s not forget the date with the twins, the one time I did actually listen to you.”

Gross had shown Troy pictures of the buxom blondes. As a Dominant, he rarely played with women who had augmented breasts. He feared during some rough breast play that he would accidently rupture an implant or the women wouldn’t have sensation in their nipples to know when something really hurt them beyond pleasure.

“What? They were nice.” Gross shrugged his shoulders.

“They were men. You sure do know how to pick them, don’t you?” Troy stood and retrieved one of his books from the couch Gross had occupied.

Of course, his friend sat right on top of it, oblivious that he had a fairly expensive college book nestled under his cheek.

“But you know what? In that last case, I got you out of it.” He smiled and nodded his head.

Troy brought his attention back to his buddy. “You did. So now I’m going to do you a favor. I’m not going to do whatever it is you want me to do so you don’t have to worry yourself about saving me again.”

Gross let the prospect bounce around in his head before a wide smile spread across his face. “You’re good, man. But listen here. I do have a huge favor to ask.”

Tired of bickering with Gross on this, and actually curious to hear the favor, Troy placed his book on his desk and leaned back in his swivel chair. “Shoot.”

Gross blinked and rubbed his hands over his thighs. “Really? Usually I have to fight you a lot longer on this.”

Troy cocked his head. “My patience is wearing thin. So go on before I change my mind.”

“Okay, you know I do the escort thing part-time, right?”

Troy kept quiet. He didn’t even nod or shake his head to show any admission of Gross’s crooked dealings.

“Anyway, I have a prime opportunity to go out of town with a lady I hit it off with on one of my dates. She wants to take me to Jamaica. Can you believe that, man? Jamaica.” He pumped his fist in the air like he had won the lottery.

Troy sighed, already tired of this conversation. “Fine. Sounds great. You need me to water your plants while you’re gone?”

Gross blinked again. “Who told you about the grow house?”

“Jesus H., Gross, whatever you have planned, leave me out of it.” Troy started packing his books in his bag.

“No, wait.” Gross bolted from the couch. “Look, the company I work for has me committed for the week she wants to go.”

“At least someone has committed you. That should have been done a long time ago.” Troy snickered but stopped when he noticed that Gross hadn’t said anything.

Again, his friend got that far away look in his eyes before the joke sunk in. He nodded. “Good one. Moving on. If I don’t cover my potential dates, I could get canned.”

“Now in the escort business, what does canning really mean? Will your pimp slap you around, turn you out into the streets, cut up your beautiful face?” Troy dragged his finger down the side of his own face.

As though a knife had actually sliced his flesh, Gross put his hand to his cheek. “Not funny, man. No, they won’t do any of that, and I’m not a prostitute.”

“You’re kidding, right?” This time Troy zipped his bag. At this rate, he wasn’t able to study anyway. “You’re paid to take lonely women out and at the end of the date—”

“I take them home and that’s it. Sometimes I kiss them on their cheek before I leave.” Gross shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked like an overgrown kid.

Troy regarded his friend for a second before he said, “Bullshit.”

Like a Boy Scout, Gross held up the first and middle fingers on his left hand. “God’s honest truth.”

“If that’s the case, then why are you the lucky recipient of a trip to Jamaica?” Troy had to hear this excuse.

“Because, well, she enjoyed my company.” Gross picked at something on his fingernail.

At this point in their friendship, Troy knew his buddy had lied about something in his story. Gross could never look Troy in the eyes when he lied.

“I bet she did.” Troy snickered.

Gross waved his hands in the air. “Forget all of that. What I need is for someone to be my backup. You can have the tips.”

Troy put his hand to his chest and bowed his head. “That’s so gracious of you.”

“I know, right?”

At his age, Gross should have been a lot sharper. Maybe while Gross enjoyed his trip, Troy would do him a favor and get rid of the illegal substances growing in his closet or shed.

“Like I said before, no.” Troy stared at his friend so that he understood he meant business.

“Why? It’s not like I’m asking you to do something major.” A whine started creeping through his friend’s voice.

Troy laughed. “No, prostitution is never a big deal. Just ask the cops.”

“I’m not a trick. We have ads in the Yellow Pages. All we do is provide companionship to women who need it. Almost all of the time, the women are old, crusty hags who probably would need to be submerged in the Atlantic Ocean to get wet again.” He completed the statement with a shiver.

“You are such a charmer. How is it that you’ve not gotten married yet?” He gave him a playful hit on his shoulder.

Gross shrugged. “Lucky, I guess.”

Troy shook his head. “God looks after babies and idiots.”

Gross smiled. “Yeah, He does, doesn’t He?”

Troy couldn’t take this conversation any longer. “Again, no. I’m not going to be your relief ho.”