Follow You Down Page 5
“At work.”
“It’s almost midnight.”
“They don’t pay me the big bucks just because I’m pretty. I actually have to put in long hours sometimes.”
“Next thing you’ll be telling me it’s hard work and dedication that’s gotten you where you are today.”
“Nah, it’s mostly my slick charm. And maybe my height.”
“Definitely the height.”
He chuckled. “And what made you decide to go into the glamorous world of accounting?”
“I’ve always been good with numbers; it just seemed like a practical option.”
“No liberal arts education for you.”
“I worked my ass off for years after high school to afford college. Don’t have the luxury of getting a degree that’s not practical, you know?”
“Your parents didn’t pitch in to help?”
Brief pause ensued before she spoke again. “I never knew my dad. My mom said once he found out she was knocked up he dumped her and went back to India to get married. His parents weren’t keen on a black daughter-in-law.”
“So it was just you and your mom?”
“For a while. She wasn’t crazy about being tied down with a kid. I was about eight when social services took me from her and put me in a foster home. I was in and out of those for years.”
“Wow. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.” There was a lull between them again, giving her time to process her thoughts. Her past wasn’t something she usually discussed; however, with Tristan the words spilled from her mouth readily. “It’s late. I should let you get back to work.”
“It’s fine.”
She tried for a different approach. “I need to be up early tomorrow.”
“Looking for an excuse to run?”
“Whatever,” she snapped, irritated. “I have a class in the morning.”
“Be honest, Vesper. You’re spooked because you opened up to me.”
“Tristan, you promised you weren’t going to do this.”
“No, I promised I wasn’t going to flirt with you. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to call you on your bullshit. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Why do you have to be such a jerk?”
“Because that’s just who I am, sweetheart.”
There was that arrogant jackass routine of his. “You know what, forget it. Good night.”
She hung up on him.
*****
Tristan stared down at his phone, contemplating whether to call her back or not. Every time he thought he had put some distance between them, Vesper managed to pull him back in. Although a part of him resented her for it, he couldn’t deny how excited he’d been to hear from her – especially because she had to go out of her way to get his number.
In the end, he decided to call her tomorrow. Smiling, he saved her contact info on his phone.
Chapter Eight
A few days later Vesper felt her phone vibrate in the middle of class. Anticipating a call from Akil, an old friend from out of town who was coming for a visit, she rushed out of the room to answer it. Except it wasn’t Akil contacting her to give an ETA on his location, it was Tristan. A surprise, considering their last conversation had ended rather abruptly. “Hello?”
“Still mad at me?” he asked, his voice a seductive drawl.
“Maybe. Possibly.”
“Not really?”
“Don’t push it.”
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
His offer caught her by surprise. “I thought we agreed to keep things platonic.”
“Friends do eat together, believe it or not. Dinner doesn’t have to entail sex.”
She wanted to say yes despite every instinct reminding her that it was a bad idea, but then she remembered Akil was staying with her for the weekend and she couldn’t abandon him to go hang out with Tristan.
“You’re very quiet. Can I take that to mean you’re screaming inside with joy?”
“I can’t,” she replied.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Tristan –”
“Listen, it’s just dinner. I’m not expecting you to put out after.”
“That’s not why.”
“Oh, so you don’t mind the putting out part?”
She could instantly visualise the smirk on his face. “What did I tell you about flirting with me?”
“Do it more?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She chuckled. “I’m in the middle of class.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “So dinner, how about Denny’s?”
“You want to take me to Denny’s? Seriously?”
“Yeah. I heard it’s a great place for platonic friends to hang out at.”
“I don’t know about that. Denny’s has always been a date night restaurant for me.”
“It is fine dining at its best.”
“Shut up,” she giggled. “Like I was saying, I can’t. My friend is on his way to my place right now. He’s staying with me this weekend. I can’t leave Akil alone to go have dinner with you.”
“A friend?”
There was an edginess in his voice that wasn’t there before. “Yes, a friend. Akil.”
“Friends, huh? Like you and me?”
“Don’t do this.”
He exhaled a deep breath. “Sorry.”
“Akil is more family than friend. We went to high school together.”
“Oh.”
He sounded relieved; she didn’t want to consider the implications of that.
“He can come to Denny’s too,” Tristan offered. “I’ll get him wasted. Maybe that’ll encourage him to spill all your deep, dark secrets. “
“Gee, that sounds like it would be such a blast for me,” she muttered sarcastically. “But we’re staying in tonight. I’m going to try and cook dinner, if he lets me.”
“You need his permission to do that?”
“He doesn’t like my cooking. He thinks I suck.”
“Do you?”
“You’ll never know. I don’t ever plan to cook you dinner.”
“Doesn’t sound like I’m missing out on anything.”
“Shut up.”
He chuckled. “You sure I can’t change your mind?”
“No, but you can come over if you want,” Vesper blurted out, surprising herself. She bit her lip, wondering why the hell she did something so stupid. Akil was outrageously flamboyant, and his sexuality had a tendency to make most straight men uncomfortable. Homophobes who didn’t run in the other direction usually reacted with outright hostility and anger, eager to display their heterosexuality by resorting to violence. While she had no idea how Tristan would react, she couldn’t bear it if he disrespected her friend in any way. It would break her heart and would mean an absolute end to their friendship.
“Really?” Tristan asked, bringing her out of her reverie. “You mean that?”
She really, really didn’t. “Promise you won’t be a jerk to him.”
“Do you think I’d do that?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know you that well.”
He expelled a heavy sigh. “I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
“I hope so.”
“Can I bring anything?”
“Whatever you want to drink,” she replied. “I have to go.”
“Alright, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye.” Hanging up, she walked back into the lecture hall and took her seat; however, she wasn’t able to focus on the lecture at all, instead preoccupied with all the things that could possibly go wrong tonight.
*****
Later that night Tristan knocked on Vesper’s apartment door, unexpe
ctedly nervous. While he usually didn’t worry about making a good impression, this friend was obviously important to Vesper and Tristan wanted the guy to like him.
The door swung open and there stood a tall, black dude, few inches shorter than himself, good-looking, hair styled in a short Mohawk, dressed in a snug shirt and tight jeans.
“Well, hello there sunshine,” Vesper’s friend greeted, looking at him up and down with an appreciative gaze. “I don’t remember ordering an Adonis.”
“You didn’t. I’m Tristan, and you must be Akil.”
“Sugar, I’ll be anything you want me to be.”
A soft chuckle escaped Tristan’s lips, marvelling at how blatantly Akil was checking him out. “Can I come in?”
Akil stepped aside, bowing gracefully to let him in. Tristan entered Vesper’s apartment, handing Akil the bottle of Courvoisier he brought.
“And you come bearing gifts.” Akil whistled. “My girl didn’t say anything about you joining us tonight.”
“She probably hoped I wouldn’t show up. Your girl thinks I’m Satan.”
“I bet she ain’t wrong,” Akil called out, heading to the kitchen. He promptly returned with two glasses and handed one to Tristan.
“And where is Vesper?” Tristan asked, clinking his glass against Akil’s.
“Gone to pick up some food. Sit your fine booty down, doll, and tell me all about you. And start with if it hurt your gorgeous ass when you fell from heaven.”
“That line ever really work on anyone?”
“You’re still here, aren’t you?”
Tristan chuckled, heading to the couch.
*****
Even before she reached the door Vesper heard laughter coming from her apartment. It was a definite surprise to find her best friend and Tristan laughing and drinking together in the den, with one sprawled on the couch and the other on the floor. An empty bottle of Crown Royal lay nearby, and they were already on their way to finishing another bottle of tequila. “Having fun?”
They both turned to look at her, beaming smiles on display.
“Ves, what took you so long?” Akil asked.
“Yeah, Ves. I thought you said you were making dinner,” Tristan added, his words slurred.
No doubt about it. They were both hammered.
“Nope. You don’t want her cooking. Trust me on that. She’s horrible,” Akil replied before giggling like a little boy.
“Hey! I’m not that bad.”
“No, you’re much worse than bad.”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, Ves. Why don’t you come over here?” Tristan patted his lap. “Sit with me.”
“You,” she replied, pointing to him. “Are not allowed to call me that.”
“Why?” Tristan pouted.
“Because I don’t like it.”
“She doesn’t like it when I call her that either but not like I’m gonna stop,” Akil declared smugly.
“You bring us something to eat, Ves?”
“Yeah. Need to nuke it first.”
“Then come on, girl. Get on with it.” Akil winked at her. “And don’t take your sweet time either. Or I’ll have to fuck this beautiful boy of yours out of boredom.”
“Akil!” Vesper chastised, stealing a quick glance at Tristan.
He was smirking. “It’s alright. I get that a lot.”
Relief surged through her. Tristan seemed completely unfazed by the attention Akil was giving him which finally loosened that tight knot in her stomach. She hadn’t realised how tense she’d been at the thought of Tristan mistreating her friend until this moment.
“Chop, chop, sweetheart. We ain’t got all day,” Akil yelled, bringing her out of her reverie.
“Yeah. Yeah. But I’m not cleaning up, you two are doing that.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
She left them behind in the den to prepare the food.
*****
A few hours later Akil was sprawled on the floor, snoring softly, while Tristan was on the couch, close enough that the fabric of his jeans was grazing her own. There was nothing sexual about the contact yet the close proximity was wreaking havoc with her mind.
Tonight had been a strange, perplexing night. Not in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that Tristan would get along so well with Akil or they’d even meet for that matter – but they had, and while a part of her was happy about it, it was also confusing. Introducing Tristan to Akil – the closest thing she had to family – gave their friendship (or whatever they shared) more gravitas than she was comfortable with. Mixing parts of her old and new life wasn’t something she did at all but tonight that changed and she didn’t want to ponder what that meant about her feelings for Tristan.
“This was fun.”
Tristan’s soft murmur brought her rushing back to reality. She shifted a little to give him a smile but quickly looked away when his gaze intensified. “Good.”
“Akil’s interesting. I like him.”
“Yeah, I bet. He was drooling all over you.”
“He gives a good ego stroke.”
“Oh, it wasn’t your ego he was interested in stroking.”
“Can you blame him?”
Vesper chuckled, leaning back on a cushion, but tensed immediately when he turned towards her. His arms draped along the back of the couch, behind her, while his other hand played with the long strands of her hair close to her chest. Throat dry, heart pounding, she sat there, wanting to move away but too transfixed to do so.
“I’m too wasted to drive,” Tristan said softly.
“I know.”
It amazed her they were able to carry on a conversation considering every nerve in her body was tingling in response to his languid touch.
“I guess I’ll call a cab,” he remarked.
“Stop fishing for an invitation. You can crash here.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“You can take my bed, you obviously won’t be comfortable on this couch. I’ll sleep out here with Akil.”
“I don’t want to put you out.”
“You’re not.”
“Here’s a thought. Let Akil have the couch, and you can sleep with me.” His hand encircled her elbow, the heat of his touch penetrating through her top to sear her skin. “In a strictly platonic, just-friends kind of way of course. I don’t want you taking advantage of me.”
An amused laugh escaped her lips, and she was grateful for the slight ease in tension between them. “It’s okay. I’ll stay out here; I don’t want to be tempted to attack your virtue.”
“My virtue appreciates it,” he said dryly.
“Good.” Finally finding the resolve she needed to break away from his gaze, Vesper stood up.
“I’ll be back.”
She returned a few minutes later with extra pillows and a blanket and set them on the sofa. With Tristan following her every move, she started picking up the dirty dishes.
“Leave the stuff in the sink. I’ll wash them tomorrow morning,” he offered.
“Damn right you are.”
“Do you have a dishwasher?”
“Yeah. You.” She chuckled, heading to the kitchen.
“You and Akil are really close, huh?” Tristan asked, following behind her.
“I told you. He’s family.”
“You trust him?”
“Completely.”
He stuck his hands in his pocket, leaning against the doorframe. “I wish I had someone like that in my life.”
She cast a quick glance in his direction and found him staring down at the floor, uncharacteristically pensive. Unsure of how to respond to the sincerity in his tone, she tried for levity. “Don’t get all sentimental on me. Not sure if I’m sober e
nough to handle that.”
He smiled, looking up at her again. “I should go to bed.”
“Yeah. You should.”
He gave her a polite smile and turned around, leaving the kitchen.
After giving him a few minutes to get settled in, she made her way towards her room to retrieve her pyjamas. Unfortunately Tristan wasn’t under the covers, he was standing next to her bed, holding a picture of her and Latoya.
Clad in a pair of jeans, his shirt thrown aside on a nearby chair, he was the most beautiful person she had ever laid eyes on. Tanned, broad-shouldered, toned and muscular, in a more natural way rather than some gym rat, his chest was peppered with golden hair that made her want to reach out and caress him. His torso was long and lean, the contours of his abs defined enough to form a V-shape that disappeared into his jeans. Shit. She wanted him, she couldn’t deny it any longer. Her feelings for him weren’t platonic and no amount of pretending was going to make that true.
He looked up, their eyes connected. A tremor ran through her body, settling between her legs, the kind of sexual spark she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Fuck. She was in trouble.
Chapter Nine
Tristan picked up the picture sitting on the nightstand table, studying it closely. It was a photo of a young Vesper with another girl, possibly Latoya, the one Akil had mentioned briefly before changing the subject in a hurry. From the looks of it, the picture was probably taken at a birthday party; both girls were wearing happy smiles and bright yellow party hats. Inadvertently Tristan flashed back to his own twelfth birthday which was, without a doubt, the worst day of his life. That day haunted him and would keep doing so as long as his father continued to live, thrive, and not face any consequences for the selfish choices he made. Overwhelmed with rage and bitterness – his usual response to anything related to his father – Tristan looked up to find Vesper standing by the door, watching him intently. His anger dissolved right away, replaced with something that was a whole lot more disturbing: an unusual sense of calm.
Frozen in place, their eyes locked, he returned her stare, each observing the other with equal fervor and nervousness. Silence filled the air between them, thick, seeped in volatile emotions.
It was all too much for him, and he suspected she felt the same. As much as he enjoyed getting under her skin, he really hated it when she turned the tables on him. She had a knack for getting him to reveal private thoughts that unnerved him.