Page 17 of Mr. On Your Knees
Her gaze fell to his lips and his dick jumped.
“I can’t,” she replied. “I…uh…tonight’s girls’ night.”
“Oh,” was all he could manage to say. Desi and her girls—Lauren, Fran and Kita—used to have meet ups every week. Sometimes they’d go to dinner, or if they were all busy, they’d squeeze in a happy hour somewhere, but most times they headed to Mahogany Lounge.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Rain check?”
He smiled, hope blossoming again after that quick jolt of rejection. “Definitely.”
The next few moments were filled with an awkward silence. Well, he wouldn’t exactly call it awkward. A better word might be knowing. They both knew what was happening here but neither of them were quite ready to just say it. Jared was certain he was closer to being ready to articulate his desire to be with her again while Desi was still on the fence. Still trying to decide if she wanted to trust him again or if she wanted to maintain that distance she’d created and continue her life without him.
He wasn’t going to give her too long to nurse that thought. “So, I’ll call you later and we can set up a time,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Good,” he said.
“Great,” she replied.
And then because it really was getting awkward at that point, he left. But not before tossing Aaron another hard look that had the guy waving nervously as Jared walked out.
Chapter8
The Lounge
JARED
“Desdune,” he answered the call on the third ring.
It was a little after seven in the evening and he’d been home for an hour. He’d showered and brought the hot roast beef sandwich he’d picked up from the deli on his way home, into his game room.
“What’s up, bigtime hotel manager!” the man’s voice on the other end said.
Jared’s lips quickly spread into a wide grin as he replied, “Slayton Turner. It’s about time your pretty ass called me back. Put me on the back burner like you didn’t used to drag my underage ass into the strip clubs with you when you came to town. And swore me to secrecy because your moms was scared to death you’d get some stripper pregnant and she’d come after your NFL check.”
Both he and Slay laughed at that.
Jared had met his mentor Charles Langston at the community center in Jacksonville where he and his brothers would sometimes go after school. Mr. Charles was Slay’s uncle and for at least a week during the football off season, Slay would come to town to visit him. Mr. Charles was the one who’d helped Jared with his college applications and then found him his first internship after he’d graduated. By that time, Mr. Charles had moved to Miami and joined the Mr. Black Organization. Mr. Charles was the one who’d gotten Jared into the organization and was elated when Jared had taken the title for his three-year term. Slay was eleven years older than Jared and had gone straight from college into the NFL, so he’d never had time to formally join the group, but he did make sizable annual donations.
“There you go bringing up those ancient stories,” Slay said still chuckling. “It’s not a crime to like seeing some tits and ass up close.”
“And you of all people would know that,” Jared replied.
Now retired from football, Slay was the manager of The Corporation, an exclusive sex club over in the UK where he’d moved some years ago. There were clubs all over the world, why Slay had to go so far to manage one had always been a mystery to Jared, but he loved whenever his old friend came to the States for a visit. Except for that one time, when Slay’s visit had precipitated his breakup with Desi.
“Hey man, don’t knock my hustle,” Slay replied.
“Never that, dude. You’re good peeps and I’m proud of you. First the NFL star, now you’re running a branch of one of the most elite sex clubs in the nation. You. Are. The. Man!” Jared told him and he meant it.
During those years it hadn’t only been Mr. Charles who was his mentor, Slay had kept in contact with Jared even during the football season, so they had a brotherly bond as well.
“It’s not just me doing big things, you finally clinched that manager title at The Carrington. I told Jason he was slacking for taking so long to give you the position,” Slay said.
The world could sometimes seem like a very small place. What were the odds that Slay also knew the owner of the hotel where Jared had come to work? It had been a coincidence they’d discovered right after Jared had started the job.
“Yeah, well, I’m doing my best over here,” he said. “So, I take it you got my message.”
“I did,” Slay said. “And you know you should’ve just contacted her agent.”
