Chapter 57

Hailey paced around the deck wishing Phil was back.

The others had grown increasingly drunk and boisterous. Even the usually reticent Katelyn was talking loudly and growing increasingly coarse. Hailey decided since Phil wasn’t here to babysit them it was her responsibility. She sipped ginger ale while the others imbibed a mixture of cocktails that seemed to have more and more alcohol each time.

She regretted not getting Phil’s keycard before he’d left. She could go down and be waiting for him when he returned. She’d packed a negligee, not that she expected it to be on for long. She still had fond memories of the look on his face when she’d treated them both a few months before. She smiled when she pictured him sitting on the couch agog at her. He always made her feel beautiful, special.

She had called down to the doorman to see if he’d let her in Phil’s apartment. The man offered to call Phil for permission but Hailey told him not to bother. She wasn’t sure Phil would allow it and it would ruin her surprise. So she puttered around, fixing supper for five loud-mouthed broads telling rude stories and off-color stories around the patio table.

The college girls had only a few stories to share but seem to revel in those that Tiffany and Molly shared. They seemed to live vicariously through the others. Hailey had known of Molly’s extensive sexual experience on the continent but this was the first time she’d ever gotten details. Katelyn was the revelation. She had rarely talked about her sex life in high school.

“I’ve never really had a boyfriend,” Katelyn slurred. “Where we live, it’s in a school district without college employees. I mean, no professors or researchers live there. Until my brother was a freshman, I was the only person of color in the school – and that was my junior year. There were no Asians, no Hispanics, no African-Americans. It was me and 350 white kids. It might be a college town around the college but it’s a redneck town everywhere else.

“Sure, it was OK to stick it up a black girl but you couldn’t take her home to meet Ma and Pa. You can’t ask her to prom but you can suck on those big ol’ flapjacks in your pickup truck, Bubba. I met a couple of local guys from other schools – black guys. The thing is ... the thing is ... I like white guys better. I don’t like being treated like a Baby Mama. I like having my door opened and my chair pulled out.

“I don’t want to sit on a stoop and drink malt liquor. I want to sit down with the deputy mayor at Les Lumières. The white guys weren’t interested. I was black and I played sports. Some of them knew I wasn’t a lez but that didn’t stop the jokes or the rumors. I had friends but they treated me like the token Negro – the girl that let them look in the mirror and tell themselves they weren’t racists.

“The problem was ... I like sex. I mean, I really like sex. I like it with girls; I like it with guys; hell, I’d probably like it with a dog if it came down to it. I saw a lot of it in Baltimore. We lived in a decent neighborhood but I still went to a mostly black school. We had kids getting pregnant at 12, losing their Baby Daddy to the gang before the kid was born. My mom didn’t want that life for me but she still expects me to bring home a brother.

“She was upset that there were no ‘traditionally black sororities’ on campus. She told me it was important to protect my heritage. That is such bullshit. My mom isn’t a stupid woman but she had fallen right into the collective mindset Washington wants us to have. ‘I’m black so I have to think this;’ ‘Watch out for Whitey, he wants to keep you down.’”

She gulped down some of her drink.

“The funny part is that this group didn’t care about my race. They wanted me around because my mom is a cop. I was still a token but for other reasons. But I was using them just the same. I got me some dick out of it. I wasn’t as bad as some of these chicks. I didn’t screw some guy on a couch in a basement. But I got some dates out of the deal and I found some guys who could get me off. A couple of them were black but most of them were white. I made sure they were the type of guys who wouldn’t blab and who would come back for more.”

“Damn, girl!” Tiffany muttered. “I wondered. I mean, I’d see you with some geeky dudes. I thought you were getting your homework done.”

“I was getting myself done,” Katelyn said smugly. “Those quiet ones are something else. Phil should tell you that!”

“He did me so good,” Tiffany said softly. “My little pussy purred for a week after he was done.”

That caused Tara and Jackie to sit up and take notice.

“You’ve slept with him?” Jackie asked, glancing back over her shoulder to see how Hailey might react to the news.

“Just once,” Tiffany admitted in a dreamy voice. “Well, I’ve slept in the same bed as him more than that but we only fucked once. That’s not true either. We only spent one night fucking.”

“You’re babbling,” Molly pointed out.

“Did you know?” Tara directed toward Hailey.

“We were apart,” Hailey said, frowning at having the news spread around to people she didn’t really know. “Phil and I split up for a while. I wasn’t pleased at the news but I understood the reason she did it.”

“Me, too,” Tara mused. “He’s yummy!”

“It’s more than that,” Jackie interrupted. “When you talk to him you feel like you’re the only person in the world.”

“Imagine what it’s like for Hailey,” Molly said. “She is the center of his world.”

“I’d like to be,” Hailey said with a frown. “No, I think that’s too much pressure. Maybe that’s why I do some of the things I do.”

“You do the things you do because you don’t think them through,” Katelyn said in a sharp voice. “You’d never faced a consequence so you didn’t think there were any. You’re like the rest of us. Now we know – at least I do.”

Hailey was musing on Katelyn’s words when her phone rang and caused her to jump. An automatic grin spread to her face when she saw the name on the Caller ID.

“Are you home?” she answered anxiously.

Phil fought back a smile.

“I’m going stay with Mom and Dad tonight,” he answered.

“No!” Hailey wailed.

“I’m kidding,” he said. “I’m back downstairs. Are you having fun?”

“No,” Hailey answered.

“Oh,” Phil said, surprised at the reply.

“They’re drunk and annoying,” she said after she was inside the apartment. “I’m on my way down. Is that OK?”

“It’s fine,” Phil said.

“Good, because I’m getting on the elevator,” Hailey said, relieved at the eagerness she heard in Phil’s voice. “See you in a minute.”

It was actually 22 seconds before Hailey walked off the elevator and saw Phil standing at the end of the hallway. She grinned at him and picked up her pace, wrapping him in a hug and pulling him down for a kiss.

“Wow!” Phil said. “I’ll have to leave you to the tender mercies of drunken morons more often.”

“Don’t you dare,” Hailey hissed, dragging him inside the apartment and closing the door behind her. She had barely turned back around before Phil had her pinned against the wall. He put his hands on her butt and lifted her up until she straddled his waist.

He kissed her firmly and deeply, her hands pulling his mouth tighter against hers and her tongue dancing in his mouth.

“Wow!” Hailey repeated Phil’s words back to him when he lowered her feet to the floor. “I’m going to have to send you home to see your parents more often. Did you have a good visit?”

“I did,” Phil said. “I’ll tell you about it. Uh, will they be OK up there?”

“I’m not sure,” Hailey admitted. “I’m worried they might decide to go clubbing or something. They’re pretty loaded. I’ll probably go up and check on them.”

“Or I can shut down the elevator to the top floor,” Phil suggested with a shrug. “Unless they want to parachute off the roof, they’ll be shit out of luck.”

“I like that idea better,” Hailey admitted, wiggling her eyebrows at him suggestively. “I have bigger plans for tonight.”

She put her hand on Phil’s bulge as she said the word “bigger.”

“Elevator it is,” Phil replied, using his height and weight to push Hailey back toward the wall. She bit her lip and looked up at him excitedly when he pressed his body up against her.

“Oh, yeah,” she agreed. “Come on, let’s do it before we forget.”

“I’m not going to forget to ‘do it’ with you,” Phil told her, running the back of his fingers across her cheek.

“I wouldn’t let you forget that,” Hailey said as she tilted her head to increase the pressure against her cheek. “I was talking about the elevator.”

“Oh, yeah,” Phil replied, leaning down to kiss her on the end of her nose.

She followed him down the hall and watched as he pushed the elevator button. He rode it to the bottom floor and retrieved a second keycard from the doorman’s office. He put it in the reader and a keypad appeared on the screen. He punched in a four-digit number and removed the card.

“Remind me tomorrow to turn it back on,” he said, pocketing the card and ushering her back into the car. He waved at the evening doorman and the doors closed.

“Do you want to go out tonight?” Phil asked, already knowing the answer.

“No,” Hailey answered as she cuddled up to him. The doors opened and she dragged him down the hall. He opened the door and she pushed him in.

“Now you take a seat on the couch and give me a minute,” she said, eyes twinkling mischievously. She turned to pick up the bag she had left earlier and found it missing. She turned back to Phil with a questioning look.

“I put your clothes away,” Phil admitted. “What little there was.”

Hailey crossed her arms – which pushed her breasts upward – and frowned.

“That was supposed to be a surprise,” she pouted.

“I was trying to surprise you,” Phil admitted. He took her hand and led her back to the bedroom, noticing that she didn’t resist. He pointed to a row of dressers. “Those are yours if you want to use them.”

Hailey put her arm around his waist and hugged him tightly.

“I like your surprise,” she told him.

“I hoped you would,” Phil told her, squeezing her in return. “I liked yours, too. Come on, I want to talk to you for a few minutes before I have my wicked way with you.”

Hailey sat on Phil’s lap on the couch and kissed him again.

“I like this,” she said.

“That’s sort of what I want to talk you about,” he explained. “Uh, you know Mom and Dad are going to Las Vegas on Monday.”

“Duh!” Hailey replied.

“So, I understand you have free mornings,” Phil continued.

“I do!” Hailey said happily.

“I’m going to spend the week out there,” Phil went on. “I’d like for you to consider spending the week with me. I’m planning to host a small party out there next weekend and it would be great if you’d be there as the hostess.”

“That would be wonderful!” Hailey told him. “You want me to stay there all week?”

“If you want to,” Phil said. “I’ll be coming in on the afternoons. I still have plans in the park. We can ride in together, maybe have dinner before we go back.”