“Trey, man, I wasn’t trying to…”
“No need for any discussion, Jeb. I did my research on you two after she started giving off vibes that she was feeling you. I know what she did to you, and I also know that you’ve been turning down her advances. I think it takes a real businessman to put up with someone as dirty as Rochelle to see their dream through. We’ll talk soon about closing this deal. Let’s get to this money.” Trey dapped me up and turned to leave out.
I let out a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding then made it to the front of the club and was relieved to lock eyes with Tameka. She was questioning me with her eyes, wanting to know why Rochelle had been walking around Club Elite looking for me. I went to Tameka, took her by the hand, and led her to the dance floor. At that moment, I wanted to be close to her, to feel her body next to mine to remove the foul feeling of Rochelle touching me.
Alise had made it back to the stage, and she was singing “Make It Last Forever?
?? by Keith Sweat. I began to sway to the music with Tameka while talking into her ear, “She’s been trying to come on to me, but I wouldn’t dare accept her advances.”
“I figured that much,” Tameka replied. “But what is she doing here? I thought you told her not to come back without Trey.”
“I did. She came into my office to tell me that he’s on the way, but he caught her trying to come on to me and told her to leave,” I said.
“Good for him! She’d better be glad I didn’t catch her raunchy tail,” Tameka said with tension in her voice.
“She won’t be a problem anymore, but I’m not concerned about her. I wanted to come tell you what happened, so you’ll know that I’m not hiding anything from you. I’ll always have an open and honest relationship with you,” I said as I massaged her back.
“Jeb,” she said, pulling back to look into my eyes. “I trust you completely. Even without you telling me what happened, I know you would never cross that line.”
I wrapped my hand around her neck lightly and pulled her to me for a kiss. Our tongues made love in a preview for what was to come later. We danced for hours until finally it was time to shut down for the night.
“This has been a long night!” Tameka said as we walked out at the end of the night.
“It sure has, but it’s going to be even longer once I get you home. Baby, I’m going to do things—” I quickly turned my attention to the sound of a man and woman arguing.
“I don’t need you standing over me like I’m a child!” the woman yelled.
“You don’t know what you need. If you keep behaving the way you do, something bad will happen to you! You need to stop acting like you’re a man, because you’re not!” a familiar voice yelled back.
“Just leave me alone. You’re acting worse than a stalker!”
“You wish I was stalking you…”
“Is that Alise and Bruiser?” I asked Tameka.
“Yeah, that’s them,” she replied, and we started walking in their direction.
“Bruise, man what’s going on now?” I yelled out.
“First of all, this man thinks he’s my daddy or something. I left my phone case at the table we were sitting at, so I drove back over here to get it, and he started hollering at me like a mad man,” Alise said as her chest heaved up and down showing her distress.
“That’s because you shouldn’t be out here in the dark by yourself. Anything could happen to you, and all of your snappy attitude, kicking and screaming wouldn’t be enough to save you,” Bruiser said, and he was inches away from her face as he argued his point.
“He does have a point, Alise, especially after that guy tried to attack you tonight,” I said, thinking about how many weirdos we’ve had to deal with lately. It was a full-time job keeping them away from Club Elite because everybody and their mother traveled here from all over the state to party.
“I don’t need saving!” Alise argued. “By anyone!” she fussed at Bruiser.
“Sis, he does have a point,” Tameka said. “It’s better to be on the safe side.”
“Not you too!” Alise said to Tameka.
“Thank you,” Bruiser said, calming a little. “I watched you and your friend to the car earlier and thought you were gone. Then, you show back up alone without anyone to look out for you. What if the guy had been lurking around and watched you leave and come back? You have to be more careful than that.”
“I’ll be fine! Just leave me alone,” Alise pouted.
Tameka nudged her, and they looked as if they were speaking in code to each other with their eyes. “Do you have a card you could give Alise so that she can hire you when she does gigs at other clubs?” Tameka asked.
Alise glared at Tameka, and her eyes were screaming, “No!”