Chapter 3

I told my father about meeting Collins that same night, but I was careful in how I mentioned it.

“Dad, I met someone you went to high school today, and he asked me to tell you hello,” I said as we sat at the table during dinner.

Dad looked up and arched his eyebrows questioningly.

“I ran into my study partner from the ethics class at lunch. He was with his boss, Calvin Collins. Mr. Collins asked if I was related to you and when I said yes, he mentioned you two went to high school together,” I explained.

Dad’s expressive eyebrows knitted in concentration.

“Little wiry guy, with a real deep voice, right?”

When I nodded yes, he continued to talk.

“Took me a few seconds to remember his given name was Calvin,” he said. “Back then everyone knew him as ‘CJ’. We weren’t friends by a long shot, but I learned a valuable lesson from him, that has helped me tremendously in business.”

“What lesson?” I asked.

Dad leaned back in his chair as my mother and I leaned forward in rapt attention.

“Back in high school I knew Collins vaguely as we shared a couple of classes, but we traveled in different circles. Collins was a small and seemingly not very athletic guy while I was one of the stars on the football and basketball teams. He was pretty much a quiet loner while I was a big man on campus.”

Then he got this chagrined look on his face and grinned ruefully.

“Okay I was a conceited ass ... but anyway, during the second half of our senior year we both became interested in this girl named Viola Davis. She was sweet and sexy with a voice like an angel. I took her out twice but when I asked her out the third time she said she already had a date planned with CJ. That didn’t set too well with me and my over-inflated ego so that afternoon I decided I would scare off the competition. I figured that my size and social status would intimidate CJ into backing off.”

Again Dad paused in thought for a few seconds then he shook his head and continued.

“That turned out not to be such a good idea, because Collins wasn’t impressed even a little. He told me to ‘stick it where the sun don’t shine’ and started to walk away. His disrespect pissed me off so I grabbed his arm. That was an even worse idea because he jerked away from me and popped me in the nose a couple of times hard enough to break it. I mean his hands were lightning quick. My eyes immediately started watering and I could barely see out of them. CJ backed up and told me that it was up to Vi who she dated, not me. Then he walked away. That was the last time I ever underestimated an opponent.”

Mom asked the next question before I could.

“So who got the girl?” she asked.

“He did,” dad answered.

“Luckily,” he continued, “no one saw our little meeting and he never mentioned it to anyone. I went out with her one more time and she told me she had feelings for CJ and not me. My ego took a beating worse than my broken nose over that.

“CJ and Vi started going steady and married after graduation. While I was in college that fall I found out that Viola died in the big Hong Kong flu epidemic that happened that year. CJ joined the Marines and won a bunch of medals in Vietnam but I never saw or heard of him again until today.”

Wow! Except when it came to business, my Dad wasn’t one to talk about the past, so his doing it was even more incredible than the story he told us.

I saw Joey as often as I could for the rest of the summer knowing that our little fling would end as soon as I went back for my second year at the university. We had our farewell weekend at Disney World of all places. Of course, we spent ninety percent of our time in our room at the resort instead of touring the parks. Joey was down about me leaving, but he understood that it had to be and he made sure I went back to school with a smile on my face.

I was looking forward to returning to Gainesville because my parents were renting me a two-bedroom apartment for my senior year. Yes, no more dorm life for me! The caveat with the apartment was that I had to share it with my cousin Robert. Robert Carter was my Aunt Yolanda’s youngest and a senior, too. Robert or Rob as most of us called him was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He was a premed student with a passion for medical research.

Rob was the only cousin my age and we got along famously. Rob was a tall, slim, handsome guy with a devastating smile. My girlfriends were always after me to set them up with him and he dated a lot. But I knew Robert was either bisexual or in the closet. I knew that because one evening during the summer after we graduated from high school I saw him hooking up with some guy in the big public park on the other side of town from where we lived.

I’d been jogging at dusk and turned my ankle, so I’d left the jogging trail and cut directly across the park to get to my car. I heard a noise and peeked through the bushes hoping it wasn’t some mugger or worse. As soon as I saw and recognized who it was and what was going on I snuck around the little clearing they were using and limped to my car. Robert didn’t see me and I never mentioned it to him. I was surprised to see him with another man because Rob was a macho guy, but my attitude was pretty much ‘so what’? He was still my favorite cousin.

At first, moving back to Gainesville was just as good as I imagined. Robbie and I had a good time furnishing and decorating the apartment the first week. The second week we were busy with registration, sorting out our schedules and the first days of class. But when that second weekend rolled around and I had some time to my self, I started missing Joey. By Wednesday, I swear my skin tingled for his touch. I was frustrated and that made me crabby. Finally, after I growled at him over some stupid something, Robert had enough.

“Jesus, I’ve never seen you so bitchy. What’s the matter?” he asked.

I gave him a cross look and caught myself before I said something nasty.

“I have an itch,” I sighed, “and the only person who can scratch it is back home.”

Rob chuckled and said, “So call him. I’ll bet Michael would love to come up here and scratch you till you purred.”

I looked at Rob for a few seconds as I debated what to tell him. Rob and I were close and we would be sharing an apartment for the next nine months. I figured living that close it would be nearly impossible to keep many secrets from him. So I told him some of the truth.

“It’s not Michael.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“To hear your mother tell it, you two are headed for the altar. What happened?”

“Mother is getting ahead of herself because Michael and I are just dating. He has his career to tend to, and I’ve got years of school ahead of me. I met the other guy in the ethics class I took over the summer. We don’t have a future together, but he makes me crazy,” I answered.

Rob grinned and pointed to the phone.

“So call him, Cuz, and invite him up for the weekend. I don’t think I can survive another week of you this way.”

So that’s what I did. I could tell Joey was happy I called him, the pleasure apparent in his voice. He had called me twice since I returned to Gainesville to see how I was doing (and my supposed boyfriend hadn’t called once) but this was the first time I called him. He quickly agreed to come up Saturday morning.

Robert offered to get lost for the weekend but I felt bad about doing that to him, so I booked a room at the Radisson out by the Interstate. Thankfully, there was not a home football game that weekend so rooms were available. When the Gators play home games in the Swamp, you cannot find a room within fifty miles of the campus.

I was still frustrated for the rest of the week and the days until Saturday passed with agonizing slowness but I managed to stay civil with Cousin Rob.

I was up and out of the apartment at nine Saturday morning. I made a stop at the mall and dashed into Victoria’s Secret then drove out to the Radisson. I checked in at eleven, took a shower and styled my hair. I wrapped myself in the slinky red chemise Victoria sold me and was all set for Joey by noon. When he knocked on the door at twelve-fifteen, a very ready and willing woman waited on the other side.

I check the peep hole to make sure it was Joey at the door, then flung it open, grabbed his free hand and yanked him inside. Before he could release the small overnight bag he was carrying I leap on him. He dropped the bag with a clunk and wrapped me in his arms as our lips met in an epic kiss. All the longing and need I had for him I poured into that kiss ... and he returned my passion in Spades.

I don’t remember how we ended on the king-sized bed, nor do I remember him disrobing. All I remember is the indescribable joy I felt as we joined. I think I started climaxing before he was all the way inside.

Two hours later I dozed off with my head on his chest; I was a sweaty, satisfied, smiling mess.

We slept for a couple of hours and woke up famished. I was all for ordering room service but Joey insisted we go somewhere to eat. So we took a quick shower, threw on our clothes and headed into town in his small white truck. Chili’s was the first place we saw so that is where we stopped. We sat down at a high-top table in the bar area and grabbed a menu. Joey, normally a quiet guy, was even more taciturn than usual.

“Why so quiet Baby?” I asked.

He sighed and slumped down some in his chair.

“Sorry”, he said, “but I am a getting a little put out that I only get to see you when you need to get laid. You know I want more from you than just sex.”

It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes. Instead I reached across the table and took his hand in mine.

“You knew from the start that we could only be friends with benefits. I’ve explained it to you more than once. Don’t try to complicate things and just enjoy it,” I advised him.

He gave me a weak lopsided smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I know. Having a beautiful woman like you even part time makes me a really lucky guy. Still...”

His voice trailed off and he sighed wistfully as an overly perky server arrived to take our order.

Joey seemed to take my advice and we joked and laughed through our appetizer. That he was witty and made me laugh was a bonus for our sexual relationship. I enjoyed his company more than any of my other friends, male or female. In fact, it startled me when I thought about it because somehow he had become my best friend. And maybe, if he understood that, it would make the situation less stressful for him. Making a spur of the moment decision, I excused myself from the table and called Cousin Rob. As luck would have it, Rob was shopping at a mall not two miles from the restaurant and agreed to come right over.

Rob arrived at our table at the same time as our entrees. I saw him confidently stride in and waved him over to our table. Joey, his back to the door turned around to see to whom I was waving. When Joey turned around, Rob stopped walking and I swear his eyes got as big as a Disney cartoon character’s.

“Jethro?” he croaked.

Stunned, I watched the back of Joey’s head nod up and down as he hopped out of his chair.

“Yep,” Joey answered, “fancy meeting you here, Professor.”

They did the hand-shake-man-hug thing then Joey turned around to face me.

“Andrea, this is Robert, a friend of mine...”

That’s as far as he got because Rob started hooting in laughter. Joey scowled at my laughing hyena cousin and was about to say something when Rob held up his hand and turned to me.

“This is your down low?” he asked incredulously.

My mouth that had been hanging open as if I was some sort of moron, snapped shut. I nodded and then asked the obvious.

“You two know each other?”

“Yeah, Jethro and I did community service together down at the park. We were on trash detail for a week,” Robert answered.

I nodded in understand remembering that Robert had been convicted of reckless driving during spring break. Joey asked Robert to join us and the two regaled me with there exploits spearing litter with pointed sticks. Who knew that when I invited Cousin Robert to meet Joey that they would already have a bromance blooming?

Joey was in a much better frame of mind when we went back to the Radisson so the rest of our weekend was very nice. Joey headed home Sunday afternoon. That morning I took him on a partial tour of the campus. He liked walking and riding around with me as I pointed out the sights and I didn’t have to hide the fact that we were more than just casual acquaintances. He rewarded me back at the Radisson with a marathon session of mind-blowing lovemaking.

I arrived at our apartment just after five in the late afternoon. Rob was sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop, a Papa John’s Supreme pizza and a thick chemistry textbook. I grabbed a Diet Coke from the refrigerator and sat down across from him. Rob shot me a smirk and slid the pizza box over to me.

“Help your self, you probably worked up an appetite since yesterday,” he dead-panned.

I flipped him off then dug into the pizza. I was ravenous.

Despite Cousin Robert’s teasing, he and I managed to have a quasi-serious discussion about Joey and me. His lead in was about what I expected.

“Wow, Cuz, when you go ‘off the reservation,’ you don’t mess around, do you? If your parents find out, they will freak!” he opined.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “that’s why you have to keep quiet until I get him out of my system.”

“No problem, Drea,” he said. “I understand about walking on the wild side; and besides, while Jethro might not be marrying material, he’s still a good guy.”

Then Robert frowned.

“You know that this thing with Joey has all the signs of rebelling against your parents, don’t you? I mean, come on Drea, he is the kind of guy your parents probably have nightmares about.”

I grinned and replied, “Yeah, all I need to do is drag the boy out to my parents next charity function.”

We both had a good laugh over that then hit the books. School was my main priority and I had my near perfect grade point average to protect.

The fall semester skidded by one long week at a time. I was busy trying to cram in seven courses, including one online requirement; so I was either in class, or home doing research, or writing, or studying. Joey broke the monotony in the best possible way when he drove up every other weekend. I did go home a couple of times but the problem with the trips home was splitting my time between my family, Michael and Joey.

The best weekend of that long tedious semester came when I turned twenty-one the weekend before Thanksgiving. My family was going to celebrate my birthday the day after Thanksgiving, so I didn’t go home. Instead, Joey drove up to visit. Robert was spending the weekend in Jacksonville for the Georgia-Florida football game, so Joey was staying at the apartment with me.