Diluted Desire (6 page)

Larkin rolled her eyes before taking a sip of wine; she tucked her feet underneath her.  “I wish.  I need the money.  She’s already given me six thousand dollars.  That’s my seduction fund.”

“But you’re not going to use that are you?”

“Hell no!  I’m not taking him to Key West or anything like that.  I’m keeping my expenses low…very low.”

Mariah inhaled on her joint and held it out to Larkin, she waved it off.  Seconds later Mariah exhaled, then asked, “How are you gonna do that?” 

“I don’t need the money for an apartment like I told her.  Thanks to you for letting me stay with you.  Now I can use your house, that is if you don’t mind,” Larkin said hurriedly and Mariah agreed that it was indeed okay.  After Marcel had kicked her out, Mariah had invited her stay with her, which was perfect, Mariah was a flight attendant and she felt better knowing that her house was occupied while she was traveling.  The best part was that she was hardly home.  All Larkin had to pay was four hundred dollars a month and she had full use of the house.  “And I don’t have to buy any new clothes or lingerie; I can use everything that Marcel got me.”

“Isn’t she going to want to see receipts?”

“I don’t think that Violet is the type of lady who likes to leave evidence, so I doubt she’d want any type of paper trail.  But just to cover my ass, I plan on buying a lot of things that I obliviously won’t need, show her the receipts, then return everything the next day.”

“Sounds like a plan.  Is he cute?  At least cuter than Marcel?”  Mariah took another puff of her joint then rolled it across the edge of an ashtray to put it out.

“Oh hell yeah!” Larkin grinned.  “I’m really going to love seducing him.  He’s gorgeous.  He’s got sexy hazel eyes, curly black hair and a body made for riding, it’s better than Marcel’s.  His biceps are bigger than grapefruits.  And he was so nice,” she gushed.

“It helps a lot if the guy is gorgeous, I’m sure.  So when are you going to see him again?”

“I’m not sure.  His wife told me the name of his favorite soul food restaurant and that he also likes to go to sports bars.  So I’ll call Violet tomorrow to find out his schedule for the week or she might call me, she says one thing but does something else, so I’m never sure.” 

“And you got to take pictures of him?”

“Yeah, they got to be incriminating.”

“She sounds like a bitch!”

“She is.  She’s attractive, but I think that she would be a lot prettier if she wasn’t so tense.”

“So how long do you think it’ll take you to get him into bed?”

Larkin grinned.  “Really, only a couple of weeks, which I will do, she had mentioned something about a bonus if I can do it before the holidays.  But I have until the end of the year, if I don’t succeed she said that she wants her money back.”

“That’s smart.  May I ask you something, totally off topic, though?”

“Sure.”

“Do you think we’ll ever find love?”

Larkin sat back; she wasn’t prepared for that question.  “I think we will,” she said confidently.

“Do you?  Do you really believe that?”

“I do!  How come you don’t?”

“Bruce finally left his wife,” she whispered.

“Oh wow, why didn’t you tell me?  It’s about freakin’ time, so when are you two getting married?” she asked excitedly.

Tears welled up in Mariah’s eyes.  “We’re not,” she revealed then started sobbing.

Larkin rubbed her back.  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?  Why did you let me go on about my job?”

Mariah sniffled.  “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“You’re never bothering me.  Now tell me what happened.”

“Give me a minute, let me clean up and bring us some more wine.”

“Sure.” Larkin debated whether to turn on some music, but she decided against it, she didn’t want any extraneous noise. She ran to the bathroom.  When she got back, Mariah was sitting on the couch and a bottle of wine and two wine glasses were on the table, she had gotten Larkin a clean one.  Larkin patiently waited while Mariah poured their drinks.

“After five years of listening to how his wife didn’t understand him, and how bad she was in bed and how mean she was to him, he dumps me and is engaged to marry someone else.”

“Wow!  Did he tell you why?”

Mariah’s hands were shaking when she brought the glass up to her mouth.  “He said that he loved her, that she made him feel young.”

Larkin arched an eyebrow at that little tidbit. “How old is she?”

“I don’t know, twenty-three or something like that.”

“What? He’s almost fifty; she’s going to leave him in five years.  Men are so stupid.”

Mariah hung her head.  “I feel so stupid,” she said sadly.

“Don’t be.  Just be thankful that asshole is out of your life.  I know you don’t see it now, but you will, trust me you will.”

Hours later, Mariah was out and sleeping like a baby.  Larkin got a comforter and pillow for her friend and made her comfortable on the couch. 

“Let me text Violet to find out where her husband is going to be.”

Chapter 9

Summer stepped out of the shower and grinned.  It had been a couple of weeks since Trey had moved out and for the first time in years she felt free.  She didn’t realize how much resentment had built up over the years, it was always there, weighing her down, but she didn’t realize what it was until he was gone.  She had mourned a little, not for him, but for the loss of her time, she had wasted so many years with him. 

Summer strolled to her bedroom and twirled around, like a five-year-old.  She pulled off her shower cap, then went through the motions of moisturizing, deodorizing and dressing. 

With Trey gone she had started to pay attention to her appearance again.  Summer ran her fingers through her naturally curly hair and fluffed it up; the soft tendrils breezed over her shoulders.  After her hair kept thinning and shedding nonstop she decided to grow out her relaxer and go natural, it took her several years to do it, but she was glad she did, she loved the results.  Her hair was thicker and healthier than ever.

Instead of her usual baggy sweatpants and oversize T-shirt, she pulled on a pair of bright pink yoga pants and a skimpy camisole.  Her ensemble would be partially hidden underneath her smock, but it made her feel sexy.  For a finishing touch Summer swiped on some red lipstick, put on a pair of earrings and a touch of eye shadow.

An hour later she was in Sugah Cakes standing alongside Lance decorating cupcakes.  Linda was in the front cleaning out the cases, replenishing the sugar and creamer containers and wiping down the tables.  After taking Clint’s advice she had talked to her, it was hard, but Linda had apologized for her behavior, and she had been a better employee ever since.  Everybody had commented on her improvement.

A couple other people were in the other side of the room, each making fresh batter for the cupcakes, muffins and cakes.  A Miguel song blared through the air and most of them bopped to the music. 

An oven alarm went off signaling that the banana nut muffins were done.  Summer left her cupcakes to take out the trays of muffins and put in the trays of poppy seed muffins.  They had a couple of hours to go before the morning rush showed up and the small team moved as one. 

Summer peeked down the table at Clint; he was decorating a Red Velvet Cake, a southern favorite.  She knew that it’ll be gone by noon.

“That cake sure is looking good, huh?” Lance joked.

Summer’s head snapped up.  “What?”

Lance grinned.  “The Red Velvet Cake, you can’t stop looking at it.”

Summer blushed.  “Oh, yeah, it does look good,” she muttered and refocused her attention on her cupcake.

Lance chuckled knowingly.  “Yep, it’s a good looking cake.”

“How’s school?” Summer abruptly asked.

“It’s cool man,” he gushed.  “I don’t think that I can ever repay Mr. M.”

“Sure you can,” Summer replied and Lance shot her a questioning look.  “Just don’t fuck up,” she quipped.

Lance chortled.  “That is so not gonna happen.  I’m straight now.  I got my shit tight and it will stay that way.”

“Bet!” Summer grinned at him.

“I heard about Trey.”

Summer finished decorating her last cupcake.  She picked up the tray and carried it out to the case.  She returned to her spot and picked up another tray of naked cupcakes, read the label and began decorating appropriately, all the while, Lance was watching her.  “Yeah it was time,” she finally said.  Everybody at the shop knew Trey, he had come to some of the functions the bakery had, and he used to stop by the shop.  She had told a few of the gossipers about her breakup, knowing that they would pass it along to everybody.  She was right.

“Cool.  You know if you ever wanna hang out, let me know.”

Lance was attractive, but he wasn’t her type.  “Thanks.  But I don’t date people that I work with, causes too much trouble.”

Lance leaned in close, then whispered meanly in her ear.  “But you’d fuck Mr. M if he asks you too, won’t you?”

Startled, Summer almost dropped her cupcake.  “What the—”

Lance gave her a disarming smile and held up his hands.  “Hey, just joking.”

“Yeah right!”  she said, but inched away from him and decorated her cupcakes in peace.  She made sure not to look at Clint.  Am I that obvious? she wondered.  Even Lance could see how I feel about Clint, I need to be careful, she decided to herself.

At eight o’clock she went out to the counter to help Linda with the morning rush.  She was on the floor during a lull cleaning the tables when her favorite customer strolled in, Klyde, a professor at Morehouse. 

After greeting her he ordered a muffin and coffee then sat down, he invited her to join him and she did.  She knew that Clint wouldn’t mind, especially since it was slow. 

“How’s everything?”

Klyde smiled and Summer liked how his eyes brightened.  “Busy.  We have mid-terms this week and everybody’s going crazy.”

“But you’re used to it right?”

Klyde chuckled self-consciously.  “I am, but I feel like I should be on edge like everyone else, but I’m not.”

“Because you’re an optimist, you see the light at the end of the tunnel, while most people are stuck in the dark.”

“Well said,” he complimented her.  They were silent while he took a sip of his wine. “I want to say something, but I don’t want you to think I’m being fresh.”

“I would never think that about you!”

“You really should wear lipstick more often it looks really nice on you,” he said shyly.

Summer blushed, glad that she had started paying extra attention to her appearance.  She usually smeared Vaseline on her lips instead of lipstick.  “Thanks.”

“So are you still seeing Trey?” he asked casually.

Summer almost gasped with surprise, she made herself cough instead.  She looked at the man sitting across from her; he was a huge departure from Trey.  From his cardigan, tie, button down and shiny shoes, his job, hell he had a career.  This was a man not a boy.  “We’re no longer seeing each other,” she whispered, suddenly shy. 

“Oh, that’s good,” Klyde said.  “I’ve been wanting to ask you out for a long time, but you always had Trey.”

“Unfortunately, it was time for us to break up, we were heading in different directions,” she said diplomatically.

“Yep, and you’re heading right into mine,” Klyde drawled.

Summer frowned, something in his voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but she shook it away.  “That’s sweet.”

“Hey, Bill Cosby is visiting Morehouse on Friday and will be giving a speech.  Would you like to come with me?  We can have dinner before or after.”

“Cool, that sounds like fun.  I’ve never heard him speak.”

Summer noticed that the crowd was picking up again; she hurriedly gave Klyde her cell phone number.  She stood up.  “Okay, call me,” she said before racing away.

Klyde watched her, his eyes narrowed.  “Oh, I will, bet on it.”

Chapter 10

Clint and Trevor sat at their table with a huge platter of hot wings in the middle along with two pitchers of beer.  Their eyes were glued to the Falcons’ game on the big screen TV. 

After his impromptu romantic night with Violet had turned into a debacle that he’d soon like to forget, his desire to go home had plummeted even further.  Spending an evening at a bar surrounded by drunks was more appealing than home.

Clint sipped on his second beer.  He would have preferred to get wasted, but since he had to drive home, he had to forgo that treat.  He pulled his gaze away from the game and stared into his beer, he mulled over his current predicament.  His wife was mad at him and he didn’t know why.  Maybe I should just leave her, she acts like that’s what she wants me to do.  Another one bites the dust, he thought sadly.
 

Just as he was about to swallow his beer, Larkin strolled by their table, paused then backtracked.  She squealed then pointed to Clint.  “Hey, I know you.”

Clint almost choked on his beer, but he managed to swallow it without causing a scene.  Wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a red sweater that molded her breasts and a pair of five-inch stilettoes, she looked hot and she knew it.  “Larkin right?” Clint asked, feigning a case of amnesia.

Larkin beamed at him.  “Oh, you remember, that’s sweet.  I was supposed to be meeting a friend here but she changed her mind, I was just about to leave when I saw you.  Mind if I join you? I still want to watch the game but I didn’t want to sit by myself.”