The Truth Behind The Lies Read online

  “Thank you Willie Mae.” Bash politely grinned and he sounded proud of his lip lock.

  “No. “She sighed. “Thank you baby.” Willie Mae gushed at Bash before turning to me. She grabbed my forearm as Bash was leading me away. “Gal you better not let him kiss nobody else.”

  A smile lit up my face. “I wont.” I followed Bash as he led me through the crowd. We ended up at the concession stand.

  We both ordered the same thing, Pepperoni pizza and two cups of beer. Since neither of us brought a blanket we sat on the grass and ate. Thank god for hand sanitizer.

  We listened to music and we stayed quiet most of the time. I sat in-between his legs on the grass and I even fell asleep for ten or fifteen minutes. I couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep outside, downtown Chicago, with a man I had only known for two days. I don’t think he even noticed I was out but it did kind of scare me. I was getting to comfortable with Mr. Dimples.

  It was so crowded in Grant Park, people for days. We just blended in with all the other folks that had come out to hear the blues. There were a few bikers on one side of us. They had to remove their leather vests. It was too hot for that. There were two older black couples on the other side and some older black women in front of us. Some people had chairs but most were lounging on blankets.

  It was so peaceful up here by Lake Michigan. Was it always this peaceful around Bash? He seemed so calm and so cool at all times. I hoped this was his normal way. I had my fair share of drama with men and I was so tired of it. I wanted to just be blissful. I definitely didn’t want to worry all the time. I had my fair share of that also. Quiet is good. Quiet is serene. Quiet is what’s up.

  This is the best date I had ever been on and it wasn’t anything grandiose. The Blues Fest is free. It is nice that Bash didn’t try to wow me with money. He obviously has it. He pays for things, which is good. I remember going on a date with this jerk named Carlos that wanted me to pay half for parking. I hope I never have to experience anything like that ever again. I’m too old for that type of bullshit.

  Bash and I had spent the whole day downtown. I had to pee again so I was so glad when Bash was ready to go. There was no way I would ever step foot in one of these portable-potties.

  When he pulled into my condo complex I started to have mixed feelings. I had so much fun. I wanted to invite him in but it was just too soon. Sure we had gone too far initially. I had to prove to him I wasn’t easy sleazy. I really didn’t know what he truly thought. Yeah he said he didn’t judge but that was a crock of bullshit. People judge people. People lie to people. People cheat on people. I’m going to try really hard not to judge him by my past experiences.

  He put the car in park. “I wanted to ask you earlier but I decided to hold off.”

  “Ask me?” What?

  “I want to see you tomorrow.”

  I wasn’t expecting that. “You do?”

  “Yes, I know we moved pretty fast originally but I had a great time today. I want to come pick you up tomorrow at whatever time you suggest and take you somewhere else.”

  “You do?” Girl stop saying you do.

  He smiled and unveiled his dimples. “Why do you sound so surprised? I had a great time.”

  I had to smile. He had that effect on me. “I’m not surprised.”

  “Are you tired of me already?” He was really looking for a response. He didn’t seen so sure. Did he think I would blow him off?

  “Bash I don’t think I could ever get tired of you.” It was a little over-the-top. But how I really felt. This man didn’t have any flaws that I could detect. He was honest but didn’t reveal too much too soon. He was fun but not childish. He was calm but not boring. He was good-looking but not prettier than me. Well he was fine but still he wasn’t groomed better than me. Basically he wouldn’t make a good-looking woman. So I was prettier.

  “So are we on for tomorrow?” He looked like he might have been worried I would say no. And that’s just stupid. I could swear I saw a pinch of pain in his eyes. No. I’m just being extra.

  “Yes we are on.” And popping. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.” The self-doubt was gone with his swift smile. “Dress like you did today. It will be outdoors and there’s walking involved.”

  “Walking usually is involved.” I smarted. Don’t know why I said that.

  “You still look so pretty after being out the entire day.” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.

  “Thank you. You look pretty nice yourself.”

  “Your perspiration even smells delicious.”

  Oh my. What do I say now? “Oh.” I’m getting fed up with him making my stomach tingle and my panties wet. No I’m not. I laughed inside.

  “So what time should I pick you up?”

  “Noon, is that okay?” I should have said two or four. I sound too damn eager, too damn thirsty.

  “Are you going to church in the morning?”

  “No I don’t go to church. Well I have gone before.” I faltered with a response “Like I believe in God I just don’t go often.” I stumbled around the question. Now I wondered why religion had never come up. We talked about a lot of things. Does he even believe in God?

  “I don’t go often either. I go sometimes with my mother.” Bash paused briefly. “I will be here at noon.”

  “Okay I will be ready.”

  “Come here.” He ordered me closer and it was too damn sexy. He wanted me to come to him. He wasn’t even going to meet me halfway. Huh! He don’t know me but he better ask somebody.

  I twisted my lips. I couldn’t help it. I was stubborn and I was use to pushing back. “No.” I cocked my head to the side. “You come here.”

  Bash smirked with only one side of his mouth. He reached over and touched my chin. He traced it out to my jaw. I held back a deep sigh. I couldn’t break my gaze. His pull was too damn alluring. He had planted his hand on the back of my neck and he traced his fingers into my hair. He pushed me forward until I was in his face.

  He slowly pressed me into his lips and split my mouth open with his tongue. He played with my tongue until I could no longer breathe. When he pulled his lips away from mine I felt abandoned. I almost cried and that’s not cool.

  “When I say come here. You come here.” He was scorching me with his glare. Intense was an understatement. My chest was heaving up and down and I couldn’t hide it. My breasts had become so full in my bra I was afraid I was going to break the damn snaps.

  “Ah, ah, okay.” I could barely get any syllables out.

  “I’m serious.”

  Oh! That was scary, sexy scary, very sexy but scary.

  Oh my.

  CHAPTER 8

  NINA

  ★SUNDAY★

  I held in my squeal of delight. I had another date with Bash. I wanted to dance about it. This was completely out of character for me. Men made me cautious and they certainly didn’t make me squeal.

  I was so happy Bash didn’t try to come up to my place last night. It would have been too hard to turn him down. He is in a class of his own. He had already led me to do things I wouldn’t normally do.

  I wasn’t ready to be intimate with him. I’m sure he could have made me ready but I liked him and I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression about me. He seemed to let that hot finger session not taint his image of me. I appreciated that more than he will ever know.

  Men are assholes. You have to play stupid chaste games with them to prove to them you’re not a whore or a slut or whatever disparaging words they use on woman that want to have sex. The truth is their mother opened her legs and that’s how they were born.

  It was clear Bash was still interested but he had pumped the brakes and I was grateful. The Virgin Mary couldn’t resist Bash. That’s what I know.

  I want him so bad. I’m afraid I won’t measure up. I never felt this way before. It doesn’t take much to satisfy a horny man. I don’t know why I feel like I’m out of my league with this man.
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br />   Of course Bash showed up on time. Of course he showed up in his Porsche. It made me again wonder if he really owned a black BMW. If I found out that he lied about that, would it matter?

  Things were simple with Bash. Simple was good because complicated was a hot ass mess. I like that he picked the places, drove and ordered for me. It was like a little dating vacay.

  We were going to spend the day together again. I had never done this with any man before. I always felt that spending too much time together was a surefire way to kill a relationship. Bash is different. I couldn’t imagine being away from Bash for a long period of time.

  I didn’t feel this dire need to interrogate Bash. It was like I already knew him. He hadn’t done anything that gave me pause. He didn’t chew weird. He didn’t chew with his mouth open. He didn’t talk negatively about random people on the street. He didn’t try to force his opinions on me. He didn’t try to act like he was smarter than me. He just didn’t. I like that about him.

  We drove for about thirty minutes and ended up in Brookfield. As far as I knew there was only one thing in Brookfield and that was the Brookfield Zoo.

  The zoo, is that where we were going? Bash parked in the parking lot and we crossed the street to get to the entrance. I hadn’t been to the zoo in over a decade. I didn’t have any kids. My sister and my nephew lived in Arizona. I had absolutely zero reasons to be at a zoo.

  After Bash paid for us to enter we went through the turnstile. Bash immediately took my hand in his. I could get used to this, the intimacy. It seemed this was the best place for us to be. Chilling at the zoo with the stinky animals. I liked his date ideas.

  “You ready to see some lazy animals?” Bash asked.

  “Yeah I got a few of them at my job in the claims department.”

  Bash laughed out loud and squeezed my hand. “Well are you ready to see some smelly animals? You got any of them at work?”

  “No, no. Geez I hope not.” I snickered. He was always saying what I was thinking.

  “Hey.” Bash stopped walking and forced me to do the same.

  “Hey.” I smiled waiting for whatever would come out of his mouth.

  “Would it be offensive if I told you that you are the most beautiful shade of brown I’ve ever seen in my life?”

  My lips inched into a smile. “No, that wouldn’t be offensive.”

  “It’s true. You are so.” He closed his eyes. “Pretty… I’m sure you hear that all the time.”

  I was so lost in his eyes I couldn’t think. I searched for words. “I hear a lot of things but it sounds like the truth when you say it.”

  “Damn Nina.” He looked directly at my lips. “Nina, Nina, I think you’re changing me.” Bash grimaced and he was still very handsome with his chiseled frown.

  “Do you want to change?”

  It took forever for him to respond. He was searching for words, phrases or maybe just a suitable answer.

  “Yes. I do. I want to change. It’s time.” He pulled me into an embrace that was sweet and not at all sexual. It was a good old-fashioned earnest hug. I stopped breathing while he held me. People milled around us but it didn’t matter. We were the only ones that mattered at that moment. He mattered to me and I mattered to him. I just knew it.

  Bash pulled back and smiled at me. “Let’s go to the snake house and check out a boa constrictor and a king cobra.” He pulled my arm when he took strides in a random direction, probably the snake house direction.

  I toddled behind him but soon caught up. “You like snakes?”

  “Not really I just haven’t been to the zoo in a long time. I’m kind of excited.”

  “Me too. I want to see the bats. I hope they still have the bat cave.”

  “There’s a directory.” Bash pointed with his free hand. “We can see.”

  We both walked over to the stationary directory. There were only a few people in front of it. I forget I had a map in my bag. It didn’t really matter much. I was going to go with the flow. I liked seeing Bash do his thing. We inched closer to the directory. I touched Bash’s arm and it was burning up.

  “You are hot.”

  “Yeah it’s blazing out here. I forgot to wear sunblock. I hope I don’t burn out here.”

  “I have some sunblock in my bag.”

  “You do.” He looked down on me.

  Black people wear sunblock. “Yeah I do. Let me do your exposed areas.”

  “Yes ma’am. You can do all my areas.” He grinned. “We’re going the right way. The bats are up ahead.”

  “Come with me.” I pulled his arm. He followed me over to an empty park bench under a tree. “Sit.” I ordered and he took a seat.

  “Shade.” He hummed.

  I dug into my shoulder bag that was crossed over my body and rested on my hip. I removed my tube of sunblock. I put my rear on the bench next to Bash and tried to ignore his beaming eyes on me. Whoever said it’s not nice to stare, never had Bash’s eyes on them. I like when he stares. His eyes hammer my heart and ignite my core.

  I removed the tube’s top and squeezed a little of the white lotion in my hands. I took his arms and rubbed the lotion carefully up, down and around his muscular arm. This was arousing for me and I couldn’t really explain why. My eyes were glued to his arm but his eyes were glued to me. Oh my. The heat.

  “Other arm.” Bash took one arm away and delivered his other. I repeated my rub down and paid extra attention to his bicep. This innocent act was so unquestionably sensual. I placed his arm in his lap.

  “Don’t forget my face.” Bash reminded me, dare I say gave me the permission to touch his face.

  I squeezed more sunblock into my hands. I carefully rubbed the lotion on the bridge of his nose. I massaged it over his entire face as he closed his eyes. A sudden urge to kiss his lips overtook me. I traced his defined cheekbones. I ran my fingertips over his brow and all the way to his chin. I made my way to his neck and collarbone. I made sure I massaged the lotion on the back of his neck and up into his hairline.

  Bash quickly grabbed my wrists. “Hey lady, you’re trying to make my dick hard?”

  I smiled with closed lips and batted a bashful eye. “No I’m not.”

  “Yeah right.” He leaned into me and placed his face at my ear. “Just because I fucked you with my fingers doesn’t mean you can fuck me with your fingers.”

  Ohhh! My pussy yearned with need. I felt heavy with carnal desire. It was like someone dropped cinder blocks on my stomach. Why did he have such an effect on my mind and my body?

  “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t burn.” Finally I had words for this man.

  I was done with my rub down and just like that Bash grabbed the back of my head. He kissed me quickly on the lips.

  “Thanks.” He said with a glint of something mischievous.

  No thank you Mr. Vandervol.

  Bash stood and held his hand to me. I took it. I’m going to take him too.

  We braved the heat and got relief every time we stepped inside an air-conditioned building. We made it to the bat cave and I latched onto Bash’s arm like a leech. It seemed like a good idea. There were hundreds of bats hovering over our heads in the darkness of the cave. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Why was that cool? What seems cool when you’re young now seems dangerous, stupid even.

  Bash didn’t seem to be bothered by the flying rodents at all. I have been around cowardly men plenty of times. Bitch made, selfish lying bastard motherfuckers. Bash was far from that.

  Bash was spontaneous, clever, sweet, chivalrous and honest. He did kiss a random old lady at the Blues Fest. I’m not going to hold that against him. Willie Mae was an old sexy bitch. Thinking about it makes me smile.

  Things had barely changed at the zoo. We did the Dolphin show. Cute. We did the snake house. Gross. We did the children’s farm. Baby chicks. Adorable.

  My favorite house was Tropic World Asia. The chimps are cute and the apes are huge and scary. Seeing the exhibits with Bash was like seeing
them for the first time. His perception was impeccable. He saw things in awe and wonder. It felt like I was on a date with a younger man.

  I realized I don’t know how old he is. He might be younger. I will keep the question in my mind. I decided to ask him if I remembered. I would have to tell him my age if he asked. I was more comfortable and okay with that now.

  We stopped off at a family restaurant for dinner. I made a point to stay away from alcohol and Bash followed my lead. As we walked to his car we both noticed a white man and woman looking at Bash’s Porsche. The man was actually gawking and the woman was just standing nearby.

  The woman alerted the guy that Bash and I were approaching. When the man turned to us I could see he was very young, maybe twenty-one. He was blonde like Bash but not as tall. The girl I assumed was his girlfriend. She was a brunette. She looked young too.

  The guy backed away from Bash’s car. “Dude, is this your car?”

  “Yes this is me.”

  “It’s sweet. Is a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Club Coupe?

  “Yeah you have a good eye.”

  “There are only a few of these in the world.”

  “Yeah they made sixty of them. Only forty-three in the U.S.”

  “Cool. My first time seeing one on the street.”

  “Take a look inside.” Bash opened his driver’s door. “Get in.”

  “Serious?” The young man’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. His girlfriend stood awkwardly near him and decided against giving me eye contact.

  “Yeah get in.” Bash offered. The young man got into the driver’s seat. Well no he actually hopped in like he was related to Bugs Bunny. Man and cars, I still can’t figure that shit out.

  “Cool.”

  “You drive stick?” Bash asked.

  “I sure do.”

  “Let’s go around the block.”

  “Really?” The stranger animatedly said.

  Bash turned to me with his dimpled smile. “Will you be okay here? It will be a quick go ‘round the block.”

  “Yeah sure.” Is what I said. I was thinking, are you serious? You don’t even know this person. I smiled to hide my indignation.