Business And Pleasure

11

"Oh my goodness, Joera!" Trenton yelled, trying to cover his nudity. "Have you ever heard of knocking?!"

I quickly looked away. "I'm so sorry! There's a man that's trying to kill me and my office is locked and I saw the light on in your office and-"

"Breathe!" he yelled and I turned to look at him, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my cheek. He was now dressed.

I just started crying. "He grabbed me and threw me to the ground and he ripped my shirt and vest-he's still in the building but he's hurt and-you have to call security- "

Trenton suddenly enveloped me in his arms and I just stood there, crying. "Look, we have to clean you up and let me just take you to the hospital. Your wounds look bad."

"Call security! He's still in the building!" I screamed at him. "I'm not going out there until I know that that man is caught!"

"OK. Ok." He dialled the security code in and some time later we were escorted to his car with my attacker having not been found. "I'm gonna take you to your house and we'll clean you up, alright?"

I nodded as we got into his car and as he drove, he suddenly took my hand and held it in his when he realised that I was trembling. It made me feel a little better but I was still scared. What if the man followed me home? Maybe I shouldn't go home. Antoine was having date night and I couldn't ask him  which left me with just one option-the man beside me.

"Look, I know we're not friends or anything but can I please stay at your house for the night? I promise I'm a very clean person and that you won't even feel my presence and-"

Trenton smiled. "It's OK. You don't have to sell yourself to me. I was actually gonna suggest it but I thought that it would come off as me making sexual advances in such a delicate situation and...yeah.  You're welcome to stay at my house until you feel it's safe enough to  go back to your own."

I sighed in relief and leaned back in the chair, still in my tattered clothes and my bloodied face. Feeling tired, I closed my eyes.

Trenton woke me up. "We're here," he said as he shook me awake and stepped out of the car into a brightly lit garage with all the sides lined with containers that contained unused stuff.

I opened the door and got out of the car, careful to watch my step at I made my way behind Trenton. I was surprised that his house interior was not flashy at all, in fact it was...normal. It looked almost like Aurel's apartment and considering that Trenton made close to six figures at the firm, this made it very odd.

"It's not much," he said when he saw me staring around. "This is the house I grew up in. I could not think of throwing anything away so I remodelled over what was already here."

I looked at him. "It's so...normal!" I exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting it to be like this because... I mean...look at the kinds of cars you drive. My mind is blown and weirdly enough, I like your house." I smiled at him.

"A compliment from you? I'll take it for 20 bucks."

"Well then, pay up," I laughed, grimacing because my face hurt. "So where's your bathroom?"

He was already at the fridge, taking out lunch boxes filled with leftovers. "The last door to your left past the stairs. The first aid kit is in there as well. The door opposite that is the guest bedroom and you will find something to wear in there."

"Alright, thanks."

I easily found the bathroom and I washed up, removing my wig to reveal my neat cornrows underneath. When I was done cleaning myself up, I wrapped a towel around me and ventured to the room I believed was the guest bedroom.

It was a beautiful lilac bedroom with a double bed and an old oak wardrobe. I went to the wardrobe and began to search until I found a nice cotton sleeping shirt that had lace edges. It fit me perfectly and I smiled, admiring myself in the mirror before wrapping a scarf around my head and then making my way to the kitchen.

Trenton dropped the porcelain plate in his hand on the floor and it fell with a deafening crash! as I stood in the doorway.

"What the-why do you-who told you-TAKE IT OFF!" he yelled and I involuntarily flinched. He composed himself. "Where did you get it? I thought I told you that the guest bedroom was opposite the bathroom and that's where you would find something to wear," he breathed.

I was shaken by his outburst and I stared at him with a terrified expression. I had never heard him yell like that in the 5 years that I had known him and to say he was terrifying would be an understatement! And I wasn't terrified of many things. That's saying something.

"Please...just take it off," he said calmly when he saw my face.

I didn't think twice before stripping out of the shirt and handing it to him. "I'll just sleep in my underwear," I squeaked, stepping away from him and using the large head scarf to cover myself.

"I'm sorry for yelling-"

"No. It's OK-"

"It's not OK. It's not, Joera. I'm sorry and you didn't know...I didn't mean to yell." He looked at me. "The shirt was my...it was Cher's-my deceased wife- and when I saw you wearing it... I lost it. I'm sorry."

"It's OK. Really. I'm sorry. I found it in the guest bedroom wardrobe and I thought it looked nice and I just...I'm really sorry."

He gave me a small smile. "Where's your hair?" he asked, clearly surprised at the cornrows on my head.

I laughed a little. "It's a wig and I take it off every time I go to bed. I'm surprised you don't know anything about it when you've dated so many black women."

He put the shirt on the counter and grabbed a broom and dust pan which he used to remove the mess on the floor. "Truthfully...I've never dated a black woman before-"

My jaw dropped. "What! Stop lying-"

"For real. It's just been one night stand things and I can assure that none of them took off their hair before or even after sex." He looked up at me and his eyes kind of lingered on my legs for a while before he turned away, back to his work at hand. "You don't look much different without the wig or the makeup. You're still the Joera I know."

I went to the island and sat on a stool, watching him with his back turned to me. He hadn't even changed out of his shirt which was drying on his skin, clinging to his toned back. When did this man even develop these toned biceps and muscles? When did he go to the gym?

"...Joera!" he snapped and I came back to earth, having zoned out. "Are you seriously daydreaming?"

I smiled guiltily an he took off his shirt and gave it to me. "It's dry. You can sleep in it for tonight."

I stared at him-not his face, his body. For goodness sake this lanky had abs! Hard solid abs! Yet he looked so skinny! "Which gym do you go to and at what time do you go?" I unconsciously asked,  my eyes glued to his torso. "Is that a tattoo under your breast?" I inched near to try and read the miniature tattoo writing.

"Joera-"

I scrunched my eyes and began mumbling the writing and it was only when he cleared his voice that I realised that if I stuck my tongue out, I could totally touch him. I quickly drew away, almost falling out of the stool. "Sorry. Sorry." I looked away in embarrassment. "Nice message by the way," I added trying to clear the awkwardness that could be sliced through.

He stared at me for a while, quiet and I gave him a small smile as I put on his shirt and removed the scarf from underneath it. "Thanks. Sorry about-yeah. We good."

He shook his head and grabbed his wife's sleeping shirt and headed off to wherever it was he was going while I went to the guest bedroom and almost fell asleep instantly.