“Damn, she’s not working, huh? Maybe she can do some dome work, make an extra buck or two,” Tim teased, and raucous laugher followed.
“She works here and there, but nothing full-time. She’s a fitness instructor.”
“This gets better and better. You should’ve asked ’er for a little training, under the sheets.” Tim snickered.
“If she were one of the girls we see at Shorty’s I sure as hell would have, but of course, well, you know…” He shrugged before popping the top of his beer and taking a deep swallow. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold.” He smirked.
“Yeah… can’t exactly go around screwing the clients, especially while attempting to get promoted. So, uh, what’s her story anyway?”
“Well, she’s been divorced for like a year and a half or so. Really smart lady, too.”
“You said that…”
“I know, but it bears repeating. She graduated from Seattle University and was working for a couple of years before she met her husband. He was old fashioned I guess, I don’t know,” Aiden said dispassionately. “And he didn’t want her to work as a speech pathologist anymore so she quit her job while he was the main bread winner. They split, and now she’s trying to get back on her feet.” Tim nodded, listening intently. “She grew up in Clyde Hill.”
Tim’s eyes grew big. “Wow, nice area.”
“Definitely.”
“Well, at least she’s nice to look at. Can’t take it further than that, though. Hey, let’s order a pizza.” Tim grabbed his phone off the coffee table and looked through it for the pizza place number.
“All right, but I uh.” Aiden looked away from his friend, avoiding eye contact. “I got a little curious after she left our office. I looked up her social media stuff.”
“Well, we do that anyway, to get a feel for how they conduct themselves.” Tim shrugged as if to say, ‘so what?’ before turning back to his phone.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t for that, you know, vocational reasons. I was curious about her.”
“Oh… ohhhhhh.” Tim’s voice dropped as he gave Aiden a faux judgmental glare.
“Shut up, man.” Aiden chuckled, then took another swig of beer. “I don’t even know if she likes White guys. I may not even be her speed. Some people are funny like that.”
“White guys? She’s like, Black? Asian or Hispanic or something?”
“She’s Black. You never dated a Black chick before?” Aiden grinned, surprised his best friend hadn’t partaken in the buffet of sexy ethnicities from around the world. Aiden had always prided himself on never turning down good-looking pussy, no matter the owner. He was an equal opportunity fucker, and he happened to like all women, regardless of their race.
“Like, as in a relationship? No, but I went out with one Black lady a few times. It was years ago.” He waved him off and grinned. “We messed around a few times but neither of us really wanted a relationship so we just remained friends. The sex was fucking amazing. Anyway, I’m not opposed to it or anything like that, you know me. I just never really heard you talk about anything like that, you know, interracial dating.”
“To me it’s not really a topic of conversation. It’s like, who cares? If I find a woman attractive, and we have some things in common, she’s my type and all of that, then hell, that’s good enough for me.” Tim nodded in agreement. “So anyway, I saw some more photos of her… like her training people in the gym and stuff that she’d posted. She was looking amazing. She likes to put up motivational stuff, too. I saw some pictures of her friends and family, the public ones anyway. I liked what I saw… she seems to have her shit together. There’s just the one issue you know, but I don’t see it as completely her fault. She’s busting her ass trying to turn this around from what I can tell.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight.” Tim sat up and cleared his throat. “You broke up with Tina five months ago and swore on an imaginary stack of Bibles that you weren’t going to get involved with anyone for at least a year. You said you were tired of the drama and craziness, and just wanted to be alone for a while or, at the most, just some sex here and there, no commitments, nothing serious for a while.”
“Right, yeah, that’s what I said. What’s that got to do with anything?” He grimaced, not sure where his friend was going with this.
“I’ll tell you what it has to do with it. Pretty women come and go at the club, at work… hell, you’ve got a couple of our coworkers that have been trying to fuck you since day one, but you managed to avoid temptation. But then, as soon as a gorgeous, divorced, Black, unemployed fitness instructor—unemployed being the key word,” Tim said, holing up his finger, “walks into the office with long legs and tits out to here, you begin to stalk her online. Good job, Aiden!” He gave a big golf clap. “You’re the official chump of the year and we’re only in February!”
“It’s not like that!” Aiden threw up his hands and burst out laughing. “How is me just being curious stalking? I don’t even know her like that. I didn’t private message her or slide into her DMs. I just think she’s sexy is all, and if she weren’t my client and I bumped into her at a club or out and about, I would have probably bought her a drink and struck up a conversation. You’re making more out of this than it actually is. Why are you reading so much into it?”
“Because I know you…” Tim shook his head. “This is how it starts for you. I’ve seen it too many times before. You see somethin’ you like, you dance and sniff around it for a bit and then, BAM! You’re on it like salt on popcorn and the woman is hinting to you about wedding bells and babies.”
“That’s not true!” Tim’s grimace said it all. He didn’t believe a word of it. “All right, it’s true sometimes, and I know this is going to sound stupid, but… I really, well, it’s hard to explain… there was just something about her.”
“Yeah, her body. She’s a fitness instructor and you want to fuck her. This is no great mystery. You’re just smitten and horny. ’Nuff said.”
“It was more than that. She just, I don’t know, she seemed like the type of lady I would like to get to—”
“Don’t say it.” Tim shook his finger in his direction. “Look, Aiden, this could be bad news. We’ve both had people walk in there that we’d love to fuck, but you know dippin’ and dabblin’ in that could be chaotic. Don’t mess with the clients. What if she turns out to be a total nutjob? You can’t smash and dash in these cases. It’ll just come back to bite you and it’ll only lead to trouble…”
Tim sighed and got on the phone to call Pagliacci Pizza.
“Yeah, I wanna get two large pepperoni and mushroom pizzas… extra sauce…”