Cutting Loose (23 page)

“Yes, I do,” guy wearing a black suit
and blue tie said once Sabrina saw his head pop up. “Is there someone else who
we should consult with about this?”

“Why? Is there a problem?” Sabrina
asked, trying to maintain her cool. She knew exactly where this was going.

The man said, “No, there’s no problem. I
just think that maybe there is someone else with a more knowledge on the matter
that can give us more details.”

Before Sabrina said anything else, Sean
stood up and walked to the front of the table near Sabrina and said, “Mr.
Moore, Sabrina is the co-editor-in-chief at our magazine and I assure you that
there is no else who can offer as much information as she can.”

“I see,” he said slowly, looking elsewhere
but at Sabrina and Sean before rising to his feet. “Well, then, I’m going to
have to decline your offer and take my business elsewhere to someone who fits
the image of a fashion editor.”

One by one the men began filing out of
the room and left Sabrina feeling as if she did something wrong. But she knew
what it was, even though she tried to put it out of her mind.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sean said as he
gave her a pat on the shoulder. “They’ll be back—they always do.”

Shem smiled on the outside, but on the
inside she was burning up to the core with anger, frustration and something
else that made her blood boil. This was not the first time she dealt with
racism first hand. And she was sure it was not going to be the last.

Chapter Nineteen:

Tennis Hell

Twenty minutes past midnight, Sabrina
found herself at her desk making sure all her work was error free and as close
to perfection as she was going to get. She would have been home hours ago if
only she wouldn’t have let her mind go crazy and feed into what she had heard
earlier about her not looking like a fashion editor should. True, it was just a
miserable, middle-aged man’s opinion that was irrelevant to her, it still
pissed her off and made her wonder if what he said was the same thing other
people like him were thinking as soon as she walked into a room.

That whole ordeal enraged her so much
she couldn’t concentrate on anything and she couldn’t let it go. She didn’t
feel like talking about it to anyone because more than likely they wouldn’t
understand what she was going through or they would just say, “Suck it up.”

Once she had it in her mind that she was
done stressing over something so tedious and ridiculous, she grabbed her things
and headed home to end the long day that seemed like it would never end. She
soaked her body in a nice, hot bubble bath and took a sip of wine to aid her in
a good night’s sleep.

A couple of weeks later she thought she
was completely over it until the memory resurfaced when she once again had to
cover for Camille’s ass and go on a solo trip to New York to attend a few
fashion shows and do a review on a bunch of things that Camille should have
handled a while ago. She was once again looked at as an outsider or out of
place compared to the diversity or lack thereof, for people of color such as
herself. Even in the fashion show there were hardly any black models or women
of color in the shows with the exception of a couple of women here and there.

It began to eat her up inside and she
refused to talk about the subject any further more sense she felt like there
wasn’t much she could do about it except to accept the fact that she was in a
world where certain things were not acceptable and if you can’t handle the
heat, stay the hell out of the kitchen.

She thought she was alone. That no one
could come close to how she could be surrounded by a bunch of colleagues who
she worked with daily to achieve goals, and still at the end of the she felt
like she was on her own.

Of all the people she could hide her
true emotions from; she realized that Brett was not one of them. He could see
right through her and whenever she put up a fight, it only made him want to
hold her tighter, as if he never wanted to let her go.

Sabrina hated speaking her mind to
Brett. It was a lot easier to hide it inside and pretend that was okay.
Sometimes she could feel it in her soul how childish it was for her to try to
protect herself from ending up the same way twice and she felt like she was
getting so close to Brett that she had to put up a wall as a defenses mechanism.
It was a way to bounce back if she got her hopes too high, thinking that just
maybe this time she finally found someone who could make her heart melt and
make the whole world disappear when she was with him.

Sabrina had to admit that despite all
her insecurities about men and the way they sometimes treated women, she had to
admit that she loved spending time with Brett and the things they did together.
Every day with him she was always learning something different about him, or
something about herself that she didn’t know until then.

He got her into playing sports and at
first she hated anything that made her sweat or dirty. But that didn’t make
much sense when she ran and hit the gym like crazy practically every day to
stay in top shape. Brett taught her how to play basketball and after a few
games she finally got the hang of it, but she could never keep up.

 “In the mood for some tennis?”

“No,” Sabrina said sternly. “Tennis is
too damn complicated—and I just got my nails done.”

For the last three days in a row Brett
had been imploring for her to play tennis with him, to no avail. Some people
were good at team sports and she weren’t one of them.

Over the last couple of days Brett gave
her one-on-one lessons as he did with basketball and it shocked him when she
almost beat him at his own game. So he felt like challenging her again, just
for the hell of it.

He said, “Forget about your nails, you
can get them re-done. Hell, I’ll even pay for it if I have to. That is an offer
you can’t refuse.”

“Actually, it is and I am refusing it. I
have a ton of work to do. Maybe some other time. Sorry.”

“No worries,” Brett said, sounding a
little defeated.

She felt bad afterwards and felt like
she messed up and she could tell she had struck his ego, just a bit. She made
her mind up to forget about her French manicured nails and called up Larissa
and Cassandra to see if they were interested in playing some tennis and just
like always, Larissa made up excuse after excuse. Cassandra was down with it
and invited Chad to tag along.

Sabrina thought to invite Brett but she
wanted to use this as her advantage and get some practice in before she called
him back and challenged him instead of it being the other way around.

Later on she and Cassandra went to the
mall and bought band-new tennis stuff. With a new tennis racquet, a new pair of
sneakers and even a tennis outfit.

After a couple of practice ruins, it was
known that Sabrina was getting better than she thought.

“I beat you again,” Sabrina gloated
after she won yet another match with Cassandra. “What’s up with that?”

Cassandra frowned. “You cheated.”

“I didn’t cheat. I won that match fair
and square.” She couldn’t believe how much fun it was to feel like she was on
top. Cassandra was good at some things and tennis just wasn’t her thing.

Cassandra said, “Whatever. Let’s see you
do the same in a doubles match with Chad and me against you and Brett. What’s
up?”

Sabrina smiled and said, “Puh-lease.
That’s not a challenge; it’s going to be like stealing candy from a baby.”

Cassandra cackled and called Chad over.
“Do you hear all trash talking coming out of her mouth? She thinks she is all
that ‘cause she won a couple of matches.”

Chad said, “I saw her lips moving but I
didn’t hear anything coming out.”

Cassandra and Chad gave each other
hi-fives like little kids.

Sabrina said, “Oh, I see y’all got
jokes. We’ll see who gets the last laugh. Same time and place tomorrow?”

“Yep. You better bring you’re A-game. I
know I will.”

They played one last match before they
went their separate ways. Sabrina went home and called Brett to see if he was
up for the challenge and he was looking forward to it. For the most part
Sabrina was probably more anxious to see him then he knew since it had been a
while since she last saw him. Between her hectic schedule and his busy
schedule, it felt like they were never going to catch a break.

The morning of the big eve t Sabrina
woke up extra early and did a light workout. She danced around the house in her
one-piece tennis outfit and pictured herself as a pro tennis player like Venus
or Serena Williams.

It was a quarter to three when Sabrina
finished prepping herself for the match as Brett pulled into her driveway. When
she stepped outside the air was warm and cool, it was perfect weather with no
gray clouds in sight. When she climbed into Brett’s car she was happy to see
that he has taken the time to get his haircut and it was shorter than usual. His
copper highlights were gone and his hair was back to the natural auburn he wore
before added highlights to it.

“I see you got freshened up since the
last time I saw you,” Sabrina said a moment or so later on the road. “It makes
you look sophisticated…and kind of sexy.”

Brett smiled and did, “Thanks. I wanted
to look good for you, and try to show off some for the game.”

“You know you always look good, and
you’re like a tennis champ.” She placed her hand on his thigh and coyly looked
to her right, away from Brett’s direction.

“If you move your hand any higher, I
might crash this car.”

Well, you better keep your eye on the
road,” Sabrina said coolly, and at the same time, disregarding what he said.

Brett just shook his head and maintained
his focus as he multitasked as Sabrina’s hand slid into his pants and found his
flesh.

There was no telling how they managed to
make it to the country club in without any incident. Sabrina didn’t know what
had come over her when she boldly decided to go down on Brett on the long
drive. Whatever it was, it sure as hell put Brett in a good mood and, even she
couldn’t stop smiling when she realized what she had done. It wasn’t anything
shameful and it was probably the first time she ever did it.

She could tell Brett was thinking the
same exact thing she was before she even said it.

“Have you ever done that before?” Brett
asked as they grabbed their bags out of the car and walked inside.

“Did it seem like it was my first time?”

He paused and studied her playful
expression. “Uh, actually, no, it didn’t. It was mind-blowing.”

“Yeah, well, I know I’m the bomb. I
don’t want to toot my own horn but, hey, toot, toot!”

Brett laughed. “Wow. You are a total hot
mess.”

She smiled and said, “I’m your total hot
mess.” She kissed him on the cheek at the corner of his lips.

They walked hand in hand until they
reached the outside tennis courts. Cassandra and Chad hadn’t arrived yet so
they took the time to practice. About twenty minutes later Cassandra and Chad
showed up dressed in color-coordinating outfits.

Sabrina had to suppress a laugh as they
approached her and Brett.

She said, “Damn. Whose bright idea was
this hot mess y’all call coordination?”

“It was my idea,” said Cassandra. “Don’t
be hating on us. We look good don’t we, boo?” She turned to Chad and kissed on
the lips.

“Get a room, will ya?” Brett said
momentarily after finishing his stretches. He was probably feeling sick to his
stomach at the sight. “Nobody wants to see you two lovebirds swapping spit.”

That’s all it took to get them to break
up their little heat of the moment.

“So, what are we playing first?” Chad
asked a moment or so later.

“Doubles,” said Brett. “Then we can do
singles.”

“Alight then. Just make sure you watch
where you are swinging those guns around,” Chad said, pointing his tennis
racquet to Brett’s large biceps.

Brett cackled and walked towards the
nets where Sabrina was finishing up her last few minutes of stretching her
calves. He snuck up behind her and gave her a love tap on her bottom.

She jumped up like a spasm had erupted
in her back.

“Hey, thanks for the warning!” Sabrina
snapped at Brett.

He just smiled. “No problem. You ready
to play?”

She straightened out her one-piece
outfit and said, “I was born ready.”

They set up the game rules according to
how they were going to play it, which was as close to a real tennis game as
they were going to get. Some rules were overlooked and others, well they just
didn’t matter. Like when Sabrina messed up the first serve and nearly cost her
and Brett a point when the damn ball hit the net. It was hard to tell who was
going to win the first set after it came so close when Chad and Cassandra got
the hang of things and were throwing fast balls all over the place. Then it
came to a deuce and Sabrina broke the tie when she scored on Cassandra.