White Male Page 21

  We arrived at an exclusive, world renowned, Westside LA eatery called Queen; the kind that took months to get a reservation. I opened the door and we met on the curb while he got his ticket from the valet. I knew if it was Jonathan he’d have rushed around to help me out, but this wasn’t Willis’ thing; I couldn’t compare them. They were completely different men in every way imaginable.

  He ushered me ahead of him and it was then that I saw a few paparazzi hanging out right by the entrance, looking for celebrities to shoot. A couple of them took some shots and I quickly looked away and entered the restaurant with Willis right behind me.

  The host was practically falling over himself attending to Willis and we were led to a table in the center of the restaurant. I noticed a couple of celebrities dining amongst us and discreetly mentioned them to Willis.

  “That’s how we roll, bae,” he said laughing at the awed look on my face.

  We ordered our food and he chose the wine; I was surprised he knew which one to order. The Willis I remembered would have preferred a good old beer or gin and juice once in a while when he wasn’t training. At my step-mother’s instigation, I’d been fortunate to attend finishing and grooming classes so I knew a little about wines. I decided to tease him about it.

  “Since when are you into wine?” I asked him.

  He laughed that off. “We got money now and that makes us civilized,” he joked.

  He told me about his team mates, the NFL and all about his tough training schedule. He was still playing as a wide receiver so he was in constant training to maintain his speed and agility.

  After we’d eaten our dinner and dessert and were simply enjoying the excellent red wine he’d ordered, he leaned across the table.

  “Lena, I’m so glad you came out with me tonight. I’ve wanted this for a long, long time. I feel like my success is the fruit of your labor and I really wanted to make it up to you.”

  I shook my head, smiling. “No need. I’m okay and I’m glad to see you doing so well.” My voice was sincere and I could see he was in deep contemplation. The last he’d seen me, I was crying and screaming and had been his doormat. I could tell he saw a change in me he probably didn’t expect.

  We left the restaurant and after the valet brought the car, we took off in the direction of Century City nearby.

  “Where are we headed?” I asked puzzled. “I thought we were going to the club.”

  “I just want to pass through my apartment and change my clothes,” he said, glancing at me. Okay; I hadn’t anticipated that he’d do this.

  “We’ll only be there for a little while,” he said laughing, noticing my anxious reaction.

  “Don’t stress, I’ll be the perfect gentleman. And then we’ll head for the club to see the guys.”

  We arrived at his apartment and he ushered me in ahead of him. I was genuinely impressed to see the sumptuous interiors that’d obviously been professionally done be a decorator.

  “You have an amazing place,” I said, walking towards the center of the apartment. “When do you ever get to use it though?”

  “I’m hardly ever here; this place is for when I’m in town,” he replied, heading for the kitchen.

  “I thought you got your mom a house; don’t you stay with her when you’re visiting?”

  “I don’t sleep over at her place; she’s got a man now, plus too many relatives visiting there all the time. You know I like my space,” he said, coming back with a bottle of champagne and two flutes.

  I was still standing and shook my head at the offer of champagne. “No thank you, I don’t want to drink until we get to the club.”

  He set the bottle and glasses down quickly. “Well let me show you around; you might want to use this place sometime,” he said, taking my arm and leading me through the apartment.

  It was a spacious, two bedroomed place with beautiful views of Century City and had clearly been secured at a premium. He showed me around the whole apartment while I expressed my admiration of his place. Ofcourse having been in Jonathan’s penthouse, this place was elementary, but I was still impressed that he’d done this well from basically nothing.

  “And this is where the magic happens,” he said, opening the door to his master suite, pretending to do an MTV Cribs segment.

  I remained standing in the doorway, eyeing the huge bed adorned with expensive linen, while he entered and lay back on the bed.

  “Aren’t you coming in?” he asked angling his neck up with his arms behind his head.

  “No, I’ll wait for you in the living room,” I replied walking away. I knew he was just trying to push it and I didn’t want to play the game.

  I sat in the living room for a while and he came back dressed in Nike Air Jordan sneakers, jeans, a large white T-shirt and a cap, ready for clubbing. Only athletes and celebrities could get away with casual dressing at exclusive clubs.

  I stood when he came, ready to leave.

  “Wait, Lena,” he said headed for the stereo system. “Before we go I want to play something for you.”

  In a few seconds, the strains of Anita Baker’s music came over the sound system. Ofcourse he knew I loved her music. He skipped several tracks to play “Giving You the Best That I’ve Got”. It used to be our song and the sneaky bastard unfortunately remembered.

  “Remember, bae, when you used to love this song?” he asked coming towards me. “Come,” he said offering me a dance.

  I stepped back. “I don’t think so, Will.”

  “Oh come on, girl,” he insisted. “I won’t hurt you.”

  I reluctantly stepped into his embrace and we swayed to the song while he held me with one arm on my lower back and the other supporting my hand. He smelled really good; his scent was familiar and mingled with his expensive cologne. I couldn’t help noticing the gold Rolex glinting on his wrist as he gently sang the chorus. I could imagine most women would be dying to be in my shoes right now, to have The Willis Green, NFL wide receiver, singing a love song to them in his apartment. I didn’t want to look up at him; I was battling mixed emotions. The monster I’d built in my imagination was nowhere to be found. Holding me instead, was the mature version of the Willis I’d fallen in love with back in college.

  “Do you remember?” he began, pulling back slightly to look down at me. “When you used to say this was going to be our wedding song?”

  I was hoping he couldn’t remember I’d said dumb stuff like that.

  “We were naive, Will. I was such a total idiot,” I replied.

  “Exactly, Lena. So was I and I made some stupid mistakes,” he said quietly, looking at me meaningfully.

  I knew where this was headed. He was blaming his prior bad behavior on his youth and I could tell he wasn’t going to keep it friendly; he was going to make a move.

  Within seconds, he’d taken both my arms and placed them around his neck, then circled powerful his arms around my waist. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing letting him hold me like that for even a moment. Slowly, he slid his hands down to the upper curve of my ass. I just knew I was letting this go further than it should.

  Pull away now, I told myself urgently; but I didn’t. I looked up at him and saw the desire for me in his eyes. He began to lower his lips to mine. Shit. He was going to kiss me. How was I going to put a stop to this?

  Just as he was almost brushing my lips with his, the CD suddenly skipped and awkwardly stuck on a scratchy part, ruining the moment. I turned my face to the side and he paused, then drew himself up. I pulled out of his arms and he went cursing to fix the stereo, while I headed for the front door.

  Just before 11.00pm we arrived at the popular celebrity club owned by a top West coast rapper. The line to enter the club was curving all round the block with women dressed to slay and men smartly attired.

  Willis called someone on his cell phone and told them he’d arrived. The minute we exited the car, a flood of paparazzi came to take shots of us, making it difficult for us to walk past them. The irony wasn’t
lost on me that getting photographed with Jonathan was one of my worst fears; yet I was tolerating it with Willis. Even being seen in public with him wasn’t as stressful as it was with Jonathan. I knew I wouldn’t be judged or labeled and didn’t have to worry what people might think. Was it the race issue or the boss issue? I wasn’t sure; but there was a familiarity about being with Willis that felt natural.

  As we got to the door, club security brought us forward ahead of the line and after we’d been frisked, we were ushered inside, with the queue of waiting patrons protesting our expedited entrance.

  We headed to a VIP area that was cordoned off with ropes and I saw the guys sitting at one of the three sections in the VIP area. Each guy had a gorgeous woman with him, leaving me feeling a little intimidated. I hugged Rashon and Michael who I knew from college and met Rashon’s fiancée and Michael’s wife. Willis introduced me to the other two guys who were Rashon’s team mates in Texas and their partners. Out of all five of them, two of them were already married, with Rashon due to seal the deal the following day.

  We sat down to join them and ordered drinks. I noticed a table not far from us, just outside the VIP area that had a group of attractive young women. I could see a couple of the girls gossiping and eyeing me coldly but they stayed in their corner, one of them smiling at Willis with a come-hither look every time he glanced their way.

  I had a vodka Martini while all the guys indulged in expensive liquor. Brand new bottles of Courvoisier and Hennessy cognac brands were being passed around, whilst their dates were ordering endless shots. It was thrilling knowing that all these five black men were self-made millionaires and were evidently enjoying their success.

  Just before midnight when Rashon had left to drop his fiancée home for the wedding the following day, I excused myself to go to the restroom. As I was touching up my lip gloss, I noticed the young woman who’d been making eyes at Willis from the table outside the VIP area staring at me. When I turned around to look at her she approached, giving me a confrontational once-over. I noticed she was wearing cheap jewelry, eerily similar to the stuff that Willis had claimed back.

  “So you are The Lena,” she said with mean emphasis, her arms crossed.

  I was puzzled. I didn’t know her, so I had to figure out if she intended to be hostile.

  “What do you mean ‘The Lena’?” I asked her.

  “Well, all I’ve ever heard Willis talk about is you. Like you some type of queen and shit.”

  “Oh really? Who are you to him?”

  “I’m his hook up,” she admitted shamelessly. “I want more but all he talk about is you. In fact, he told me you around so he won’t be seeing me tonight. Are you together or what?”

  “We’re just friends. What’s your name?”

  “Kendra.”

  “Do you live here in Cali?”

  “No. I’m from Detroit but I travel wherever he’s playing. We have an arrangement so I’m not going anywhere. I’m always gon’ be there,” she added with a defiant smirk. I could see she was marking her piece of the territory and she wanted me to be aware. I was duly warned.

  “Well, Kendra, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing is going on with between me and Willis. Just old friends from way back.”

  I quickly walked away and headed back to our table.

  “Willis, I want to go home now, please.” I’d had enough. I remembered a couple of years back when I’d have done pretty much anything to get into this club, and now I couldn’t wait to leave. My chat with Kendra had awakened unpleasant memories.

  We arrived home and he parked the car and cut the engine.

  “Thanks, Will. I had a great night tonight. It was so good to see you and clear the air and all that.”

  “Bae, wait,” he pleaded as I opened the door to step out. “When am I going to see you again?”

  I shrugged non-committally. “I don’t know. Whenever, I guess.”

  “Whenever?” he asked skeptically. “Lena, where are you? There was a time when you demanded the day and time I had to show up. Now I’m somebody and I’m rich and all this and you’re acting like you don’t give a fuck?”

  “Willis, I think you’re taking this the wrong way. We’re not together anymore so I can’t stake a claim on you.”

  “No bae. I want you to want me like the way you used to.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t, Will. It’s late.” I spoke calmly with no emotion.

  He snorted as though I was just being difficult and needed more time to be broken down.

  “Are you able to come to the wedding tomorrow? It’s a late afternoon to evening wedding. Can you make it?”

  “No, I already have plans,” I lied. My mind had slipped to the bit when all the single women had to line up to catch the bride’s bouquet, while the DJ played Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”. Vying for a bride’s bouquet was so not my scene these days.

  He thought again for a few seconds.

  “What about Sunday? My mom is having a barbeque at the house. Can you come?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Lena, you know my mom used to love you. She still asks me about you all the time. And I want you to see the house I bought for her. I’m going back to Kansas on Monday. Please, bae?”

  Going to see him for the last time on Sunday as well as see his mom would be okay, I thought.

  “I guess I’ll come then.”

  “Ok; I’ll pick you around noon after church?”

  “See you then.”

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Sunday at noon, I was dressed in a pretty summer dress and strappy heels when Willis pulled up at the house. He was driving a black Escalade that was sparkling as though it had just come off the show room floor.

  “Hey, Lena,” he said leaning to kiss me while I offered him my cheek. I saw him smile knowingly as he merged into traffic, as though I’d become some type of challenge to soon be overcome.

  “You look amazing as always, bae,” he said glancing at me.

  We arrived at the Green residence and found a crowd of the Greens’ family and friends already there. I knew some of the people from when we dated, including Ms. Green his mother, his brother, two sisters and a few cousins. Ms. Green was very happy to see me and hugged me to her as though I were her own long lost child. This contrasted horribly with how I’d been received by Jonathan’s mother when we first met. I forcibly suppressed the awful memory of Mrs. Carter chasing me out of her son’s apartment.

  “Chile, where you been?” she scolded, holding me at arms’ length. “You disappeared on us without saying goodbye.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said politely. “I was in Atlanta visiting my mom.”

  She felt Willis had graduated college because of me since I used to talk about school all the time, so she really liked me. She ushered me to the patio where most people were hanging out chatting, whilst kids swam and splashed around in the crystal clear pool. She introduced me to every man, woman and child as ‘Willis’ special friend’, saying it meaningfully, implying that we were more. I glanced in panic at Willis who just smiled and shrugged it off as though it wasn’t his problem.

  I’ve never felt so welcomed by everybody. We sat around and ate some of the amazing appetizers Ms. Green had laid out while sipping on cocktails adeptly made by an expert mixologist hired for the function.

  His mother had a new man friend who was evidently wary of Willis and kept out of his way and stuck to helping her with the barbecue. Willis’ dad had left when Willis was twelve and had never been back, so Willis was protective of his mother and anyone who came around her.

  As we sat around eating, talking and laughing, I noticed the arrival of three females hopping out of Willis’ Escalade being driven by his cousin. One of them was Kendra. I saw Willis notice her arrival but carry on talking and acting normally to me and others. I saw Ms. Green glancing at the women with an annoyed frown on her face and she didn’t rush over to greet them like she had all the other visitors. Kend
ra and her friends didn’t come to our group, but went to join another group of people with his cousins. Willis had no idea that Kendra and I’d spoken at the club last night and that she’d introduced herself to me.

  After a while, he took my hand and led me to the house to show me around. Nobody was inside with people only going to the kitchen to get what they needed; we were alone in the house. We started the tour downstairs and he showed me his mother’s dream kitchen and all the various living rooms and dining areas. We then headed upstairs and he showed me his mother’s beautiful bedroom and four others. When we got into his brother’s bedroom, he suddenly, without warning pulled me into his arms, holding me around my waist.

  “Lena,” he said frowning. “Enough of this game now. You’re all I’ve thought about since you left. I want you back. I want to settle down with a good woman like you, Lena. I have a huge house back in Kansas like we used to dream about and it needs a good woman like you, bae. I have so much money and for you its first class all the way in everything. I’ll buy you the car you want like I used to promise you all the time. I could take real good care of you. I still love you.”

  I couldn’t believe what he was saying. How long had I wished and hoped he’d want me like this? How many nights did I cry and pray for him to love me back? Sadly, that bitch had long since sailed. Didn’t he ever listen to R. Kelly telling him what happens when a woman’s fed up? If all I wanted was a life of wealth, I could have had it back in Atlanta.

  “So you are saying you want me to move to the Mid West to live with you,” I said easing out of his arms.

  “Yes. I want to settle down with you. Maybe once you live with me and see how I’ve changed, maybe we can… you know; take the next step. I don’t want to rush you into anything but I know what I want, bae. All my teammates have their women with them and they got their shit together. They’re so happy and settled; I want that too.”