The Other Side of the Pillow

I shook his hand. “Jemistry Daniels. I’m not so convinced this is a fascinating discussion, though.”

“I’m fascinated!”

I smirked and continued drinking. Another brother had taken the stage but I was really drowning him out. He was talking about some kind of impending “race war.” That always amused me when people said things like that, as if we were still in the 1800s. I had always wanted to ask at least one person spouting that foolishness whom they planned to start a race war with, considering that most families were mixed with several different ones.

“So, Jemistry, would you like to take me up on my offer?”

He is not giving up!

I hesitated to respond. He seemed harmless enough, but so do most serial killers. Most are also charming as all get-out.

“Um, tell you what. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings or anything, but I’m not the most trusting person, as you might suspect.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s kind of evident.”

“I prefer to close out my own tab. I ordered the drinks, so I’ll pay for them. It is kind of noisy in here to talk so I can meet you somewhere else.” I held my index finger up in his face. “But I’m not getting in a car with you. Nor are you getting into mine.”

I already had it in my head that the only thing that talking could possibly lead to was fucking. I would make “arrangements” with him as I had with two other men at the time to come over and have some “drive-by sex” when the urge hit me. I was attracted to him. He was tall and had big feet, so I was guessing that he had a big dick.

What the hell!

“Fair enough.” He threw a twenty on the bar for his beers. “Do you have a place in mind?”

“How about Oya over on Ninth and H?”

“Never heard of it, but I’ll meet you there in a few.”

He stood up. Yeah, he was a giant, but a fine one. I could not help but drop my eyes to see his dick imprint in his slacks. I suppressed a smile.

“Would you allow me to walk you to your car, Jemistry?”

“No, no thank you. I’ll be fine. I’m going to pay for my drinks and then head that way.”

He walked off as he said, “I hope you show.”

I watched him leave out and wondered to myself if I would show up. The key to the entire thing would be to make sure I didn’t catch any feelings. That was always the hard part: having a big heart, desiring to be loved, and trying to avoid falling too hard for a man, especially a man like him. People always said that you have to judge each person by their own character, but it was not easy to keep tossing my heart on the line all the time. Most men I could brush off without a second thought, but there was something different about this one.

Heaven help me!

Chapter Two

“One day you’ll meet someone who doesn’t care about your past because they want to be with you in your future.”

—Anonymous

As I valeted at Oya, I was on my cell with Winsome. She was freaking out because I was actually taking a chance.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell him to beat it,” she said through my headset. “Normally, when dudes approach you, you act a fool and dismiss them before they can get two words out.”

I laughed. “I’m not that bad.”

“Jemistry, please. When we’re in the store or whatnot, you throw so much shade toward anyone who even blinks at you, that they’re too intimidated to speak.” She paused and giggled. “I don’t believe it. You’re lying.”

“Well, I’m not lying so believe it. I’m actually meeting up with a man. I wanted to alert you to my whereabouts in case something happens.”

Winsome laughed from the other end. “You are so damn paranoid. You met him in a public place and you’re meeting him in another public place. How do you ever expect to settle down if you think every man is a sociopath?”

“He might be a damn sociopath. Time will tell and it’s not like I’ve never attracted them before. Did you forget about Paul?”