A Tale of Two Cities Read online

  Once she got close enough to do so, she threw herself into his arms and gushed, “There’s my fine ass husband-to-be.”

  Derek immediately wrapped her in a tight hug, burying his face into her neck and finding greedy handfuls of her ass when he groaned, “And there’s my fine ass Wifey. Look at you, girl. Mmm. Can’t wait to make you mine in a few weeks.”

  Jennifer giggled, and I was reminded that I wasn’t the only witness once I heard Jasmine say, “I can’t remember the last time Rich grabbed my ass so lovingly like that.”

  Ariel was quick to point out, “It was earlier today at the door when I picked you up to go to the airport. In fact, his exact words were, “This ass is mine the second you get back in town, Miss. Jasmine”.”

  Jasmine only rolled her eyes when she replied, “That’s how we got two and a possible now.” And while Ariel shot her a look over the “possible” part, Jasmine continued on like it was no big deal as she turned my way to say, “Hey Lincoln.”

  With a nod, I acknowledged, “Jasmine. Ariel. It’s good to see y’all again.”

  “And you as well, though I’m a little annoyed you haven’t offered us a drink yet,” Ariel replied, serving me a mean side eye that I was sure she used to whip the employees at her promotions company right into shape - her man included.

  Holding my hands up with a smile, I made my way to the bar as I replied, “My bad, my bad. I was just… aren’t y’all missing somebody?”

  It could’ve very well been Rod’s mistake to have included a third person in his list of Jennifer’s friends who were joining us. And I assumed that was the case until Jasmine tossed a hand towards the door and explained, “Savannah is out there on Facetime with her daughter. Something about needing new knee pads for her volleyball tournament or something boring like that. I don’t know. All I know is, I’m kid-free for the weekend so I should not be completely sober right now. What kind of dry ass bachelorette party is this, Jen?”

  The question fell on deaf ears since Jennifer was nowhere to be found - and neither was Derek.

  It only took a few seconds of complete silence amongst the four of us to figure out exactly what they were up to in one of the nearby bedrooms. And while I made the quick decision to mind my own business by pouring Ariel and Jasmine a drink, Rod couldn’t help himself when he shouted, “Damnnnn! They ain’t waste a second, did they?! I feel my nigga!”

  Jasmine immediately punched him in the arm for being so loud, his pained face making Ariel and I laugh as Ariel added, “Jennifer better quit playin’ before she ends up needing to alter her wedding dress to hide a baby bump underneath.”

  Before any of us could respond, there was a knock at the suite door. And while it was a lot more traditional than the one from earlier, the fact that we were waiting on one more made it easy for Jasmine to answer the door without even looking through the peephole.

  “Damn, she looks even better in person,” I thought as Jasmine announced, “There’s Mommy Dearest. You definitely look like you could use a drink now, Vanny Van.”

  “Please,” Savannah begged, letting out a heavy sigh as she followed Jasmine over to the bar. And that’s when she noticed me. Or rather, we noticed each other. Cause for a second, I swear it was only us two in the suite’s living room as she held my gaze and started to smile.

  Matching her smile, I extended my hand. “How you doin’, Savannah? I’m Lincoln, Derek’s cousin.”

  “It is… very nice to meet you, Lincoln,” she replied, biting into her lip after I brought her hand to my mouth for a little kiss.

  Real G shit.

  Our audience was forgotten until I heard Jasmine tease, “Ooh. Is that a love connection I detect, Ariel?”

  “Definitely looks like a love connection to me, Jaz,” Ariel replied, the both of them sipping from the drinks I had thrown together as Rod watched on with a frown.

  Clearly he wasn’t as convinced of what they were saying - and what I already felt from just looking at Savannah - since he was quick to insist, “Y’all two are always tryna start some shit. All they did was introduce themselves to each other.”

  “Stay in a child’s place, Rod,” Jasmine scolded, making us all laugh again as I finally dropped Savannah’s hand.

  I gestured towards the liquor to ask without words if she was serious about needing that drink, and her enthusiastic nod encouraged me to make a third glass for her and a fourth for myself as Rod said, “Girl, what you mean? I ain’t no damn kid. Shit, I got a kid.”

  Jasmine and Ariel’s eyes flashed to each other before they simultaneously groaned, “...tragic.” Then they broke into a fit of giggles that had Rod real salty as he started to defend himself.

  Since Savannah seemed just as disinterested in their bickering as I was, I handed her a glass as I kicked up a conversation between the two of us. “So, Savannah. You must not be from the same place as us if I’ve never met you before.”

  After a quick sip, she piped out, “Guilty. I actually met Jen during her stint with Teach for America. I was a track coach at the same high school she was placed in and we became fast friends when she decided to volunteer with the team after school.”

  Jennifer being interested in track was news to me. But with a second look at Savannah’s frame, her being affiliated with the sport made a lot of sense.

  I mean, between the lean muscle tone in her arms and her legs, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she would’ve told me she was actively competing in the sport as a professional. Still, learning about her interest made it easy for me to continue our conversation by asking, “Track coach, huh? Is that what you do now?”

  Shaking her head, she sighed. “I wish I still had the time. But owning a hair salon and raising a teenager doesn’t exactly leave much of that to spare.”

  While I was impressed to learn she owned her own business, I still couldn’t help teasing, “A hair salon and a teenager? Yeah, you’re hella booked up, shorty.”

  Chuckling, she nodded to agree, taking another sip of her drink before she admitted, “Like I told my child’s father, this trip was right on time. I’m in desperate need of a break.”

  In conjunction with the information from Rod earlier, I could pretty much assume that her referring to him as her, “child’s father” meant they weren’t together. But I also knew how tricky those types of situations could be to navigate, keeping me at a respectable distance when I replied, “Well I’m glad you’re joining us. We’re gonna have a lot of fun this weekend.”

  With her glass near her lips, she served me a sexy little grin that made my mental distancing feel silly as she purred, “I’m looking forward to it, Lincoln.” And while I knew it was probably in my best interest not to engage any further, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to help myself as the night went on.

  Savannah

  The plan for our first night in Las Vegas was to grab a drink, walk the strip, and find one of the hotel clubs to hang out at. But somehow that got turned into grabbing multiple drinks and skipping the club to pile into two separate Ubers - one for the girls, and one for the guys - that were taking us off the strip to a haunted house.

  I hated when plans were changed at the last minute, and I especially hated haunted houses. I mean, I just never understood the concept of giving someone my hard-earned money to be scared shitless. But leave it to the Halloween Queen to have our tipsy asses going to one of the top-ranked scare experiences in the area as a part of her bachelorette party celebration.

  “This is gonna be so funnn,” Jennifer sang as we pulled onto the property that was home to not one, but three different haunted houses.

  “I know she doesn’t think we’re going to do all of these, does she?’ Jasmine whispered near my ear, my eyes too fixated on our surroundings as I stared at a man holding a chainsaw who boldly stepped right in front of the car to stop it with his hand up. Then he walked over to the side of the car and instructed our driver to roll down his window.

  “Get out here,” he demanded, the lul
l of the chainsaw’s motor telling me everything I needed to know about what we were getting ourselves into.

  This was some bullshit.

  Of course, Jennifer hopped her happy ass right out of the front seat, leaning back into the door frame to say, “Y’all heard the man. Let’s go!”

  The three of us with right minds looked between each other before finally obliging, our steps slow and steady since the whole environment was spooky as hell. I mean, the area was littered with devils, and zombies, and corpse brides, and…

  “Is that man really over there breathing fire?” Ariel asked.

  We followed her line of sight and sure enough, there was an angry clown breathing fire into the air that earned an enthusiastic cheer from the other fools who were waiting in line.

  Jen’s type of people.

  Before I could excuse myself to the bathroom and not come out until they were done, I heard the chainsaw rev up right behind me, scaring me enough to take off sprinting. But of course, my fear only encouraged him to continue after me, the sound alone making my heart pound as I whined, “Leave me alone!”

  The chainsaw man gave an evil laugh in response as he chased me back to my friends who had finally been joined by the guys, all of them laughing too as Rod teased, “Damn, Savannah. If I ain’t know any better, I would’ve thought you were Flo-Jo reincarnated as a part of the haunted experience.”

  “Shut up, Rod,” I groaned, jumping again when I heard the rev of the chainsaw scare someone else a few groups down. And while this whole thing was already turning out to be my personal hell, it was clear Jennifer was in heaven as she looked between the three options.

  “Okay, which one should we do? If it were up to me, we’d do all three. But I don’t wanna be selfish.”

  While I could appreciate her at least trying to be considerate, that concept pretty much got erased when Derek encouraged, “Be selfish, baby. It’s your world.”

  “Our world, Derek,” she corrected, planting a quick kiss to his lips that would’ve been adorable if my livelihood wasn’t on the line with this whole haunted house thing.

  I waited with bated breath to learn my fate as Jasmine suggested, “Well, how about y’all take y’all’s asses to that R-rated one and we’ll keep our asses out here with the food trucks? Since y’all have y’all own world and what not.”

  “Jasmine…”

  “What, Ariel? I’m just sayin’. This shit already has me shook and we haven’t even gone inside yet. Savannah’s ass is about to fuck around and need an oxygen tank in a minute. Rod’s ol’ childish ass is probably gonna get in there and pee on himself. And Lincoln…”

  He excitedly cut her off. “I’m ready. Let’s do this shit.”

  The deep baritone in his voice only reminded me of the thick, muscular frame he had to match it - and how fine he was - prompting me to turn his way and suddenly feeling a little safer about it all as Jennifer said, “See. I’m in, Derek is in, Lincoln is in, and Ariel is… mostly in. So y’all are outnumbered. Now stop being scary.”

  “Isn’t that the point?” Jasmine asked, earning herself a stiff side eye from Jen before we headed towards the information board to learn more about the different selections.

  While Jennifer was immediately sold on whatever was deemed the scariest, the fact that my adrenaline was already pumping had me eager to bargain, “Can we at least do an intermediate one? It says here that they can touch you in that R-rated one and I can’t guarantee I won’t try to fight back.”

  Wrapping a protective arm around my shoulder, Lincoln insisted, “Don’t worry, Savannah. I got your back. This shit will be a breeze.”

  He claimed it would be a breeze, but his touch alone had me feeling warm all over. I mean, Derek was handsome, sure. But his cousin Lincoln was fine in the worst way with his dark umber eyes and syrup brown skin coating a body built for strong hugs... and stronger strokes.

  Though his stroke game was none of my business, I couldn’t help imagining just how powerful it surely was as Jennifer finally agreed, “Fine. We’ll do the intermediate one since somebody is being a fraidy cat.”

  Jasmine wasn’t fazed by the jab, shrugging when she replied, “I’ll take that if it means staying alive. I have a law practice, a husband, and two kids to go home to.”

  “And a possible,” Ariel chimed in, Jennifer gasping in surprise since it was clearly news to her - news to all of us.

  Jasmine was quick to squash any rumors, rolling her eyes as she said, “That was just a joke, Ariel. I’m not really pregnant.”

  Considering Jasmine had already had a few drinks tonight, I could assume she was telling the truth. Though Ariel wasn’t as quick to jump onboard when she countered, “You thought the same thing with your first child and we all saw what happened with that.”

  Jasmine rolled her eyes again, tossing a hand Ariel’s way as she rattled, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Write a book* about it, why dontcha?”

  Watching them go back and forth served as the perfect distraction to keep us from having to go into any of the haunted houses. But really, it was only delaying the inevitable which was why Jennifer interrupted, “Enough, you two. If we’re picking this kinda-scary one, we need to go get in line.” Then she led the way as we followed behind her like her pitiful little soldiers, passing by the fire-breathing clown on our way to doom.

  While the desert heat had cooled some with the night, I knew my chattering teeth had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with my nerves since even an intermediate level haunted house was out of my comfort zone. But I held it together, falling into place in line behind Ariel and in front of Lincoln since I damn sure wasn’t going to be last.

  That was too vulnerable of a position.

  Still, my “safer” spot in line did nothing to keep the paid-terrorizers from picking on me the second we coughed up the admission fee and made it inside since it was obvious I was the most afraid. But just when I thought about chickening out and turning around while I still had the chance, I felt Lincoln’s hands against my waist as he leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Relax, Savannah. I told you I got your back.”

  Even though I was already scared shitless, something about his words - his touch - helped to calm me just enough to at least keep my feet moving. But when the first monster jumped out at me, I wished I wouldn’t have been so easily trusting since…

  “Oh, shit!” I squealed, a hand to my chest as whatever the hell it was started growling at me.

  Lincoln laughed right into my ear. “Come on, Savannah. You had to see that coming.”

  “How?! He didn’t even look real,” I defended, though I suppose I should’ve been prepared for it all to be real.

  As if he had read my mind, Lincoln advised, “Stay ready so you ain’t gotta get ready, shorty. Now keep moving.”

  Since I really didn’t have much of a choice other than to do just that if I wanted to make it out of here any time soon, I continued behind Ariel who was handling things like a boss. Meanwhile, my ass was jumping at the smallest of things, on high alert for anything that made a sudden movement.

  Making our way into the second room, I immediately recognized the corpse bride from outside who was now standing at the altar with her skeleton husband; making her a little less intimidating, especially once Rod teased, “Aye, y’all. There goes Jen and Derek in a few weeks!”

  We all started to laugh - Lincoln’s still against my ear which made me tingle - as Jennifer shouted from the very front of our line, “Shut up, Rod!” Then she led us into the next room that was pitch black, coming to a sudden halt once we were all inside.

  “Does anyone have their phone out? I can’t find the door,” Jennifer whined as my skin started to crawl because I already knew some shit was about to go down. And sure enough, before anyone could respond to Jen’s request with their phone’s flashlight, the room went crazy with loud rock music, and walls of fires, and live demons, and…

  “Is this floor moving?!” Ariel shouted, grabbing onto Rod wh
o was positioned in front of her for support. And now Lincoln was the one groaning, “Oh, shit,” laughing as he wrapped himself around me to keep us both still as the fire-filled LCD flooring continued to vibrate and the demons started chanting.

  “Grandma might’ve been right about this being the devil’s holiday,” I thought, holding onto Lincoln’s arms as one of the tinier demons got right in my face and growled a warm welcome to hell on earth. And with that, I couldn’t but laugh myself since under that costume and all that makeup, I had a strong feeling he was probably just a child.

  In fact, they were all just people; having fun scaring the shit out of others and getting a check for it.

  I could survive this.

  Now that I had psyched myself out of being utterly terrified, it was a little easier going from room to room of fright and gore; though I still couldn’t help myself in jumping at everything that moved my way. But with my new mental approach and Lincoln’s comforting support from behind, the whole thing became a lot more fun… until that damn chainsaw man showed up again.

  Just the sound of the motor had me trying to turn back around, bumping right into Lincoln’s chest since he was so close behind me. But instead of letting me completely chicken out, he urged, “I got you,” wrapping me in a hug that allowed me to bury my face into his chest as he slowly guided us into the next section of the haunted house.

  I didn’t open my eyes again until I couldn’t hear the chainsaw any more, Lincoln pulling away just slightly with a smile to ask, “You good, shorty?”

  Our new location was dim, but the heat in his eyes was still potent as hell even in the darkness when I gazed into them and nodded yes. In fact, I started to wonder if we were back in the hell on earth room since I suddenly felt warm all over, Lincoln brushing a gentle hand against my cheek as he said, “Come on. I think we’re close to the end.”

  Somehow, staying in the haunted house a little while longer didn’t sound so bad. But once I heard that chainsaw rev up for the group that was coming behind us, I hauled ass out of there, catching up to the rest of our group who were already waiting outside.