The Company We Keep. Mary Monroe

the cabinet beneath the sink in your bathroom…about six months ago.”

      Teri glared at Nicole. “Why you nosy heifer,” she snarled. “Now I know why you looked at me with such a bug’s eye and a shark’s grin.” She was used to Nicole’s loose attitude when it came to talking about sex. And it pleased her to know that she was one of the few people that Nicole felt comfortable enough with to talk the way she did. “Anyway, Harrison and I enjoyed each other’s company. We parted on fairly good terms and I’d like to keep it that way. It was a good business move.”

      “A good move in what way? Other than the obvious, what else can he do for you now? Even I can tell that he’s happy to see you up in here tonight. Either that or that big bulge on the side of his thigh is one big-ass gun.” Nicole fanned her face with a napkin and sipped her drink. “And while we are on the subject, I’m beginning to feel a little horny myself around all this testosterone.”

      Teri gave her friend an exasperated look. “Now don’t you even go there. Like I said, remaining somewhat friendly with him was a good business move. And not just for me, but for everybody at Eclectic Records.”

      “Well, that everybody includes me and unless you tell me, I don’t have a damn clue what a good business move it was for you to stay on good terms with Harrison Starr.” Nicole was talking trash, but she was also serious. The solemn expression on her face told Teri that.

      “For your information, he is the lead DJ at one of the few radio stations that will play our music cuts frequently. As a matter of fact, every hour on the hour. They are one of our strongest support systems. That’s a relationship I can’t afford to lose.”

      “Uh-huh. Well, I guess that is as good a reason as any for you to keep him happy.”

      Nicole and Teri blended into the crowd, smiling and air kissing a few people they knew. Another one of the more interesting guests was a wildly popular basketball player named Dwight Davis. Teri had not expected to see him at the party, and when she did, she stumbled. She was glad that Nicole didn’t notice her reaction. She was not in the mood to tell her that she and Dwight also had a “history” and that he was also in her slush pile.

      The fact was that she and Dwight had had a brief but very hot affair before Harrison entered the picture. But unlike her situation with Harrison, a relationship that was only on an extended pause (she’d realized that as soon as she saw him tonight), the intimate part of her association with Dwight was over as far as she was concerned.

      There he stood, just a few feet away from her, gnawing on a chicken wing with his eyes closed. If he didn’t look countrified and ghetto, she didn’t know what did. A large gold hoop earring dangled from his left earlobe. He was the only person present who had on a jean outfit. With his long sexy legs and high firm ass, he couldn’t have looked sexier if he’d been naked.

      Nicole noticed Teri fanning her face with some folded papers she’d removed from her purse. “Are you ok? Don’t you think you should eat something before you finish that drink?” Nicole asked. “I don’t care how expensive that shit is, you shouldn’t drink too much of it on an empty stomach.”

      “I guess I could use some of that quiche,” Teri decided, moving back toward the table. She looked at the document in her hand. “Let me find Rahim so I can give him this damn contract before I forget.” It took Teri several minutes to track Rahim down. And it took her another ten minutes to convince him to take the contract and put it in a safe place for the time being.

      “Girl, stop thinking about work and get loose,” Rahim told her. “Get out there and have some fun.” He handed the contract to a nearby assistant and dismissed Teri with a slap on her ass. She started to walk back to the buffet table, but she stopped when she saw that that was where Dwight was. She pretended to be admiring the artwork on the walls and the other décor until Dwight had moved away.

      Harrison’s presence, and that little chat she’d just had with him, had been enough for her. Despite her “I’m going to make you work to get me back” attitude with Harrison, the longer she remained in the same house with that luscious man, the more she realized she wanted him back sooner rather than later.

      Teri could feel herself beginning to weaken, especially in the knees. There was some hot, tingling, throbbing, moist activity going on between her thighs. The champagne had contributed a lot to her meltdown, but it also helped her feel less inhibited. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Because now that Dwight had been added to the brew, she knew that if something happened between her and Harrison tonight, or between her and Dwight, she wouldn’t be responsible.

      CHAPTER 8

      It was Nicole’s idea to leave the party early, but not with Teri. A drummer from an up-and-coming reggae group, and Nicole’s recent past, had arrived late. As soon as he had spotted Nicole, he was ready to grab her and run. Nicole was feeling hornier than ever. She was ready, and as anxious to run with that drummer as those daredevils who ran with the bulls through the streets in Spain every year. She plowed through the crowd like a backhoe trying to get to the bathroom quickly, with Teri nipping at her heels.

      “Did you know your maintenance man was going to be here? Did you know he’d be coming here solo tonight?” Teri asked, speaking to Nicole in a low, controlled tone of voice, even though they were off by themselves in a corner outside one of the three upstairs bathrooms. Nicole had just emptied her bladder and touched up her makeup.

      Teri had to admit that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had more fun than tonight. She’d danced off and on for the past hour. She had consumed so much more champagne she didn’t give a damn who saw her hovering over the table snatching fried chicken wings with both hands. Before that, she had devoted her attention to the caviar and quiche. Her lips were so greasy, at one point, a snotty black woman who had avoided the black entrees because she didn’t want the non-black guests to think of her as just another Negro rolled her eyes at Teri in disgust. To show that despite her status she was still a “sistah” with obvious ties to the ’hood, and proud of it, Teri gave that blond-weave-wearing bitch the finger. Then she grabbed several more chicken wings and slapped them onto a saucer. She chewed like a squirrel as she spoke to Nicole.

      “You mean Carl?” Nicole asked with a blink and a twitch of her bottom lip. Despite the fact that she had just checked her makeup, there was still some lipstick on her teeth and some grease on the side of her cheek.

      “Whatever the hell his name is,” Teri snapped. She used the same napkin she had just employed to wipe grease from her bottom lip to wipe Nicole’s cheek.

      “No, I didn’t know Carl was going to be here tonight, Mama,” Nicole quipped. “And of course he’s here alone. What do you think I am? Some hoochie who would leave a party with some other woman’s date?”

      “You’re going home with some other woman’s husband. Is there a difference?”

      “Carl and Debbie are separated. They’ve been separated for two years. The only reason they are still married is because wifey is such a bitter bitch that she wants him to suffer, so she refuses to give him a divorce. They lead separate lives.”

      “They still live together, girl. You told me that yourself. And you and I both know how people in our business talk.”

      “I also told you that he was still there because of his son. The boy is fifteen, so in three years, Carl can leave.”

      “And be with you full time? Three years is a long time to wait for somebody’s leftovers.”

      “Unless we are talking about virgins, everybody is somebody’s leftovers,” Nicole snarled.

      “Greg hurt you when he left you for that other woman. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

      “Greg was my husband. He had certain commitments to me that he didn’t fulfill. Being with Carl and the other men I see these days is all about me having a good time. Nothing more. If I don’t get much more than that, it’s still all good because I don’t expect it.”