“Me too, Captain.”
Tunk:Yo, if you’re still coming, she has about fifteen minutes left before this session ends.
Me: I’m here already. Come open the door.
It hadn’t even been a full eight hours since Olive left me and I was already popping up on her. After last night, all I wanted to do was be with my woman. So, here I was, bringing her lunch.
As soon as Tunk swung the door open, he started going in.
“Damn, fool, didn’t y’all just part ways two hours ago? You might want to go missing for a minute or two so she can miss you.”
I pushed past him as I made my way into the apartment. I still wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of Olive being a professional cuddler and the setting being in a whole ass apartment didn’t help the thought of it all.
“Man, shut up and be useful and put these in water for her and set them on the island. I want them to be the first thing she sees when she comes out of her session.” I put the bouquet of yellow and pink tulips in his hand while I placed the food bag and drinks from Total Greens on the counter and began to take out the containers.
“Go into the office. I’ll finish setting up everything for you.”
“Thanks, man.” I took the small walk to the office and took a seat in front of the monitor. I busied myself with the two new seashells I picked today before I made my way to her. I looked around for a permanent marker when my eyes landed on the screen. I knew I shouldn’t have been paying attention too much since Olive was with a client, but the position she was in with him had my nostrils flaring and my jaw clenching tightly.
Lando, be cool. She’s just working.
But she’s holding him how she held me.
“Yeah, hell no, that’s not going to make it too long with me.”
I watched Olive closely as I ran my tongue over my top teeth, trying to calm down because I was two seconds from busting in there and breaking this shit the fuck up. I didn’t like the idea of Olive holding another man or him being this close and personal with her. I didn’t give a fuck about no waiver or whatever rules she supposedly put in place.
When they switched positions and now Olive was the little spoon, I was up and moving toward the door but Tunk coming in blocked my way.
“Yo, where you going, fool? She’s still in her session.”
“To end whatever the fuck is going on in that gotdamn room. They’re practically on that muthafucking bed dry humping and shit. Ain’t nobody said the shit was like this.” Tunk chuckled as he looked past me at the monitor, then kissed his teeth.
“Man, chill. Liv ain’t dry humping shit. She’s doing her cuddle therapy thing. What did you think cuddle meant in her line of work?”
I shrugged. “Shit, I don’t know. But not this.”
Tunk chuckled but wasn’t shit funny to me at this moment. Not when my Olive, the woman I just made love to last night and left all of myself inside, was laid up with another man.
“It ain’t that deep, Lando.”
“It is that deep when my woman is playing little spoon to this muthafucka. Or when she’s holding his ass…Yeah, naw. Ain’t no fucking way this shit gon’ make it with me. And yo’ ass wouldn’t be cool if that was your woman in there.” I pointed to the screen that seemed to double in size as I looked on and watched Olive smile as she talked to her client. The longer I stared, the more my anger rose.
Tunk let out a humorless snicker. “Naw, you right. All I’m saying is if you want to address the situation, wait until she’s done. Because regardless of everything, this is Liv’s livelihood that supports not just her but her son.”
I released a heavy sigh, grabbing the back of my neck.
“Fuck!” I knew my brother was right so I sat there and waited for what felt like forever until she walked him out. Olive barely had a chance to close the door before I was moving. She had her back to me as she was taking in the lunch set up with the bouquet of flowers. Olive called to Tunk.
“Tunk, did your—” She stopped and turned to me, smile wide, eyes bright, and bare faced with her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.
My God, she’s beautiful.
“Captain! What is all this?” She tossed her arms around my neck, covering me with a mixture of her scent and another that wasn’t mine. I closed my eyes and bit down on my back teeth as I gently removed her arms.
“I wanted to surprise you for lunch. C’mon, let me feed you before your next client gets here.”
“Okay, but we don’t have to rush. I only had one client today. So I’m all yours, Captain.” I offered her a dry smirk as I walked her over to the table, pulling out the chair for her then kissing the back of her hand while I went to get the food.
