We both stood from the table after Richard insisted on taking care of the check.
“Hold on a sec, darlin’.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Son, what’s going on?”
I stood by our table, hearing the urgency in Richard’s voice.
“Okay, okay. I’ll be there.”
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Not really. It seems my damn kid got himself in trouble again. See, this is what I mean by a good woman needing to settle him down.”
“Don’t look at me,” I responded after he gave me an expectant look.
“I’ve gotta go.”
“Go, go ahead. I need to head to the restroom anyway. Take care of your family.”
“Thank you. I’ll have my assistant send you the papers we discussed on Monday.”
I nodded, and Richard hurried off. I gave him one last look before I gazed around the dining restaurant, making sure that a certain pair of coffee brown eyes weren’t anywhere in sight. Satisfied that I didn’t see Xavier, I headed off to the restroom to relieve myself before heading to my car. I wished there was an exit that wouldn’t lead me through the rest of the restaurant where I could run intohim.
****
Xavier
I watched as she strutted away from the table towards the bathroom.
“Aye Brian, take care of things for a little while.” Brian was an assistant manager at another restaurant who’d been helping me atGrant’stonight.
“No problem.”
His response was met with my back as I’d already started toward the women’s restroom. I was propelled by a mix of curiosity, need, and yes, I’m man enough to admit jealousy. Seeing her laughing with another man pissed me the hell off. A man who looked old enough to be her father. As I approached the bathroom door, I talked myself off the ledge just enough to prevent me from barging into the women’s bathroom. I wasn’t in the mood to be accused of sexual harassment by my female customers. Instead, I stood just outside the door, waiting. Creepy? Maybe. But needed in this case.
As soon as she stepped out of the restroom, her back turned to me, my entire body felt it. My instincts told me to reach out and pull her into me, but I held off. I’m not a man led by instincts alone, but with this woman, it was often difficult to let my saner, more logical side do the leading.
I watched as she used her hand to push her hair behind her ear, a move that always got to me for some reason. Her ass was sitting high in the black pants she wore, due to the high-heeled red bottoms on her feet. Up top, she had on a sleeveless, cream ruffled top, which she’d tucked in at the waist. A whiff of her Dior J’doreperfume caught my nose, and that sparked my anger even more. She’d worn the perfume I’d bought for her out to dinner with another man?
“What the—?” her startled reaction cut off when she looked over her shoulder and saw it was me who’d grabbed her by the arm. An odd sense of irony hit me when the live band began playing Alicia Keys’Wreckless Love.
Without a word, I led her from the bathroom, through part of the dining area, ignoring the curious glances of some of the patrons, and into the back office that belonged to the restaurant manager. I flicked on the light, illuminating the room, showcasing the rather plain office space, complete with a large wooden desk in the center, a file cabinet along the wall by the door, and another on the opposite side of the room.
“You know, this is the second time you’ve come up from behind and pulled me into a room. You’re gonna get enough of grabbing me like that!” she seethed as I pulled her into the office and slammed the door behind us. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You. You’re what’s wrong with me.” My voice came out almost too calm. I stood about a couple of feet from her, needing that little bit of space to keep my hands to myself.
“Me?”she shrieked. “I haven’t done shit to you besides leave you alone, as requested.”
“I never asked you to leave me alone,” I responded, dully.
“Really, Xavier? I’m a pretty smart woman. A man telling me he's done and walking out is pretty much the definition ofleave me alone.”
“So leaving me alone is walking up in my damn restaurant with another man?”
Her head snapped back. “I didn’t walk—”
“So you weren’t just out there laughing andkik-ingout there with another man?”
She blew out an over exaggerated breath. “What I do and whom I do it with is none of your goddamn business. How about that?!” She threw her hand on her hip, jutting it out to the side, using her other hand to thrust her finger at my face. Her face was marred by her anger.
