...
Kevin left and headed to his car. I did the same and headed towards the parking garage.
The closer I got to my car I could see a tall figure sitting on the trunk of it. I squinted my eyes to see if I could identify the person. "Who is that," I mumbled to myself. I rolled my eyes when their face came into view. "Ugh. It's Oliver. Of course it is," I mumbled underneath my breath. "What the hell are you doing here Lee?"
He grinned at me. "I came to ask you for a ride?"
"No. Where's your car?
"I told Amber she could borrow it for the night and that I would take a lyft home." He flashed that infectious smile of his.
My mouth crept into a grin. "I ain't no damn lyft negro!" I said, playfully jabbing him in his stomach.
He flinched trying to protect himself from me and we laughed. "I know girl," he said grabbing ahold of my arms and pulling me in. "Just help a brotha out." I playfully rolled my eyes. "Get in." Oliver hopped off the back of my car and hugged me from behind. "Thanks Lyssaaa," he said holding me tight. I grinned. "Okay. Okay. That's enough," I said pulling him off of me.
I unlocked my car and got in. Oliver slid in the passenger seat. I put my seatbelt on and put the keys in the ignition. "So. Where am I taking you," I asked as I pulled out of the parking lot. "6211 Lighthouse Drive." Oliver looked at me. "You know it?" I shook my head. "MmMm. It doesn't sound familiar. Put it in my GPS," I said handing him my phone.
I exited the parking garage and got on to the main road. "You got games in your phone?" He joked. Me and him looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"When was this," he asked showing me a picture of myself at a museum.
I looked at it briefly. "Um. That was back in September. Janelle's boyfriend had an art show debut that night."
Oliver continued to scroll through my phone. "Where the freaky pictures at," he teased, "like the ones you used to send me."
"Boy get out of my phone," I said reaching out to grab it from him. "Uh uh. Eyes on the road," he said snatching his hands away from me. "Lee stop it," I whined. "I know you got some crazy pictures in your phone."
"That's none of your damn business, nosey. Why do you even care?"
"Because I miss it," he smiled. He continued to scroll through my pictures. "Uh oh. I think I found a private folder."
"Ollie you betta not," I said looking over at him. He grinned. "Stop playing with me." He chuckled. "Lee listen. If you click that folder you gon' have to square the fuck up. You hear me!"
"Too late," he teased. "It's happening."
"What! How the hell did you figure out the password?"
"You forget how much I know you," he winked.
"I hate you," I groaned. Oliver laughed. "You could neva hate me."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever."
"Alyssa you nasty," he joked.
I sucked my teeth. "Oh come on. My pictures ain't een poppin like that."
"Like hell it ain't," he grinned.
I put my head on the steering wheel when we got to a stop light. Oliver leaned over to me and showed me a picture of myself. "How drunk were you to have taken this," he teased. I sat up and snatched my phone back from him. "That's enough," I said placing my phone in between my legs. "Your phone privileges have been revoked." Oliver raised his eyebrow at me. "Now you know I never had a problem putting my hands in between your legs before. Today wouldn't be any different." I looked at him with wide eyes. "Lee that was so out of pocket," I started.
"And so is---"
I held my hand up and cut Oliver off. "Quit while you're ahead. Don't even say it."
He laughed. "I was gonna say this," he said pointing to a beautiful house. "We're here."
I looked out of the passengers window. "Wow. It's gorgeous."
"Yeah. I thought so."
"So you live here?"
"No."
My brows furrowed. "So why are we here?"
"I wanted you to see it before it gets sold."
"I don't understand. Why?"
"Before you ended the engagement I had one last payment to make on this house," he said pointing to it. "This was gonna be my wedding gift to you." I looked at Oliver and put my hands over my mouth. "Oh my God. Really?"
He nodded his head. "Yep."
I didn't know what to say other than, "Ollie. I'm sorry."
"Me too."
I looked down at my hands. I started to feel really bad about how things ended with us.
"Do you wanna see the inside?"
"What? Can we do that?"
"We better be able to. It's my house."
"But you said that you didn't live here."
"I don't, but I do own it, however."
"What? How does an average twenty-six year old own a house?"
"Ah. How quickly you forget that nothing about me is average," he winked. "Come on." We got out of the car and walked over to Oliver's house. When we stepped inside the first thing I noticed was the huge painting by Jacob Lawrence. I gasped. Oliver looked at me and smiled. "You like it?"
"I love it."
"I figured you would."
He grabbed my hand. "Come on. Let me show you the rest of the house." He whisked me away to the living room first, followed by the dining room, and then the kitchen. "Wow this kitchen is---immaculate," I said as I wondered around it. "I had it made with you in mind. I knew how much you loved to cook."
"Wow. That was very thoughtful of you."
He just smiled at me. "Okay. let me show you upstairs." I followed behind him and up the steps. When we got up there he showed me several of the guest bedrooms and the bathrooms. Everything was so beautiful.
"I thought that having a lot of rooms would be good for when we had our families over for the holidays. I guess a got a little ambitious. No one's ever been in here." He walked me over to another room. "I always thought that this room would be perfect for a nursery if we had a child together. Their crib was gonna go right here and I thought it would have been nice to have the dresser somewhere over here and---"
I zoned out. Standing in the middle of the room filled me with much grief. I tried hard to fight back tears. My phone buzzed in my hand. It was Kevin. I cleared my throat. "Hold on real quick," I said to Oliver, "I have to take this." I left out of the room and walked into another. I shut the door behind me.
"Hello?"
"Hey baby. Where you at? I've been waiting for you for over an hour."
"Shit. I meant to text you, but it slipped my mind. I had to take a detour. I'll be home shortly."
"Okay baby. If you not back within the next thirty minutes I'm going to bed without you," Kevin teased.
I laughed. "Okay."
"I love you," he replied.
"I love you too baby. See ya later."
I hung up the phone and tried to gather myself to face what was soon to come.
"So I'm just a detour?"
I jumped and turned around. Oliver was standing in the doorway. "Damn. Were you standing there the whole time?"
"Maybe," he grinned. He walked further into the room. "I see you found your way into the master bedroom." He turned around the room and looked at me. "This would have been where all the magic happens."
"It's beautiful."
"So are you," Oliver said standing behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. I placed my hands over his. "Lee. What are you doing?" He leaned forward and placed a soft and gentle kiss on my neck. "Trynna win you back from the other man you fell for." His teeth gently grazed my ear. "Lee. We can't," I said moving his arms from around me. Before I could take two steps away from him he pulled me back into the safety net of his embrace, a place I always felt safe; a place that could be dangerous if I wasn't careful.
He crooned in my ear. "If I remember correctly you liked it when I kissed you here," he said lightly kissing the back of my neck, "and you liked it when I touched you here," he said as his hands slid down my stomach and slowly up my dress. I jumped when his hands caressed me in ways that only he could. It was then that I remembered just how quickly one match can ignite a flame and burn the whole city to the ground. In that moment I knew that I was the flame and that if I stayed any longer I damn sure would be the city. "Lee," I whispered. "Lee," I quivered. "This is wr---" I couldn't finish a damn sentence. He pushed me onto the bed and pulled down my dress. He placed my leg on his shoulder; his lips delving hungrily into me. I could not utter a word because I couldn't think of any. He had always been a generous lover and tonight he reminded me of that.
..