She’s a quick study.
She shrugged. “Then give her the opportunity to get to know the real you. You can’t hide behind that woe is me cry forever. You already have her earnest attention. That’s half the battle. Make it work for you.” Zoey glanced down at the water, withdrawing eye contact. Her eyes slanted as though she’d been struck with a thought. “Your fears are greater than your reality.” It was delivered like more of a statement than a question. “Sometimes we allow our fears to stifle us. If you want companionship, you’re going to have to lower your guard, just a smidge, to give it a try. If you hide up high on your mountain of fear and paranoia, no one can reach you.”
Her statement jarred me. I couldn’t believe that nugget of wisdom was executed by a damn youngster. I’d never had a woman encourage a relationship with another woman; they were too busy making an opportunity for themselves. I had been struggling with fear of trusting women. Women with access to my realm of lifestyle were bred. Their faces, color and shapes varied, but their motives never did. Men were the same for that matter. Everyone had a fucking agenda. Since cleaning up my image, I’ve cleaned up my contact list, too.
Even Erika was schooled by her mother on how to bag an athlete. She’d had one or two in her day as well. I wouldn’t be the first baller Erika fucked with and I doubt if I’d be the last. What I did know for sure was that I didn’t want to be a part of that circus. Especially having run into this… Ni?a.
I studied her lips. The images of them and my body parts ran through my mind in rapid succession. They were all immoral…for this young girl.
“You think your cousin would approve that message?”
Zoey snorted, “No more than I approve the one she’s giving your boy, Alton Alston, right now.” She rolled her eyes softly.
Fucking pretty.
Our phones went off almost simultaneously. Alton and Angela were done. And unfortunately, so was my time with this Zoey girl. I left the pool having made a sound decision. I’d be putting Erika’s ass on the back burner. Her body may have acquired several accolades and titles, but her conversation and intellectual measure couldn’t hold a candle to this young girl, Zoey. My quandary was what I felt having spent the past two days with Zoey and how that fucked with my head, because wanting Zoey was ridiculous.
~~~~~~~~~~
~Zoey~
Two days after swimming with Stenton, we found ourselves at one of the restaurants at the country club. And while the atmosphere wasn’t as charged with coldness and mutual resentment at having to babysit each other, Stenton and I weren’t exactly friends either. At least not until the end of that day.
As I ate chicken parmesan that had a bit too much sauce and not enough cheese, I kept my head in my plate. We’d been spending lots of early afternoons together and I still wasn’t able to give him direct eye contact unless I was reaming him out for one of his backhanded remarks.
Stenton wasn’t disrespectful to me, at least not like I felt Alton was. He did however, have a potty mouth: the type of vulgarity that matched his scandalous tattoos. Even with that observation, I secretly thought fondly of how he expressed himself unabashedly. He was brutally honest about whatever we discussed, and there was something comforting about that characteristic.