Be Bad For Me(34)

"Hey, baby doll," Tara said, giving her a small hug. "You off the training wheels yet?"

"Not yet. But, I'm getting there."

"Hey, Annette. Want a drink?" Troy was refilling his glass with vodka.

"Yeah. Do you have cranberry juice to go with it?" Annette needed a  drink. Just one would do. She wanted to loosen up, but she still needed  to stay sober so that she could drive herself home after the movie with  Jordan.

"Coming right up," Troy said, reaching into the fridge for the juice. As  he prepared her drink, he gestured to his friend. "This is Lauren, by  the way."

"Hi." Annette and Lauren both greeted each other at the same time.

"Troy, how come you won't show me how to ride your motorcycle?" Lauren asked Troy, as he handed Annette the drink.

Troy took a long sip of his drink before answering her, "Motorcycles are  not for you, babe. Besides, I like it when you ride something else, if  you know what I mean."

Lauren blushed and batted Troy on the shoulder. "You're so silly."

Annette turned around and left those love birds in the kitchen and took  her seat on the sectional again. As Travis was shouting obscenities at  the TV, Nick closed the gap on the couch between them.         

     



 

"What you drinkin'?" he asked.

"Cranberry juice and vodka."

He smiled. "Don't get too drunk. When you start hanging around us too  much, you start to drink just like us. And that's every night, even if  it's just one or two drinks."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. It's a surprise to me that you can handle us guys. Most females  can't hang and that's why they never get the opportunity to stick  around. You seem like you're down for the cause, you know." His eyes  traveled the length of her body and stopped on her legs. She had worn  the blue jeans shorts for Jordan, but Nick was certainly getting an  eyeful.

"I guess I can take that as a compliment, so thanks," she smiled, taking a sip of her drink.

"It's a compliment. And I meant what I said. I don't think anyone's  informed you of all the tests you have to pass in order to be initiated  as a member of Heat Ryderz, but I want to let you know that you've  passed all mine."

"Tests? Are you guys serious?" Annette wondered what he was talking  about. These guys must think she's crazy if they think that she might  allow herself to be subjected to their silly tests, whatever they were.

"Yeah. Not the kind of tests you're thinking of, but we all have our preferences."

"Do you mind me asking yours?" Maybe he had similar preferences to that of Jordan.

"Just naming a few … good sense of humor, gets along with the other guys, in more ways than one … very attractive, like you..."

"Are you serious? I would never pass your tests if you think that I  would get along with the other guys in more ways than one." She placed  emphasis on the in more ways than one part and placed up her fingers in  quotation marks.

"There are ways around that one … and I do give extra credit in other areas … "

"What do you mean by extra credit? You guys are silly," she said,  giggling. He seemed really serious, but there was no way he could be  serious with those silly requirements.

"You already have extra credit for being able to fit all that phat ass  in those little bitty shorts you got on." To emphasis his point, he tug  on the hem of the shorts, which were tightly fitted on her thighs.

"My shorts aren't--"

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Annette looked up to see that the question was not directed at her. He was looking angrily at Nick. Oh, no! Not again.

"What?" Nick laughed and tried to play it off as he scooted over and away from her as if making room for Jordan.

"You know what. Did you just touch her?"

"Yeah. And what?"

"So, you gon' blatantly disrespect me like that, dawg?" Jordan continued.

"Disrespect? Ain't nobody disrespecting you, man!" Nick got up and  brushed past Jordan almost knocking the phonebook from his hands.  "What's your problem?"

Annette's eyes widened at the tension between Jordan and Nick.

"My problem is that you put your hand on her!"

"Man, we were just talking," Nick said.

"And you put your hand on her legs?"

"Damn, dude, what the fuck? I was just talking to her."

"Let me tell you something right now. As long as Annette is here with  me, don't put your damn hands anywhere on her body. I don't want to  catch--"

Nick got so close in Jordan's face that they were almost touching,  "What? Are you fucking telling me what to do? I'm a grown-ass man. I can  touch whoever the fuck I want."

"If her name is Annette, no the fuck you can't," Jordan hissed, and then  he pushed Nick hard up against the wall. "And get the fuck out of my  face. Stepping in my face like you is crazy."

Annette thought she saw a vein pop up in Nick's throat before he threw  himself back at Jordan to shove him back. Travis had jumped up and was  trying to pull Nick back.

"You two stop fighting already," Travis said. It was not enough, because  Nick got away from Travis and had shoved Jordan again, almost hard  enough to make him trip over the ottoman behind him.

Jordan stumbled, and then regained his footing. Next, Jordan acted so  quickly that in the blink of an eye, he had Nick's body pressed up  against the wall in a chock hold. It took Travis, Troy, and Mike to try  to pull him away from Nick, who couldn't move or talk because he was  being chocked with one of Jordan's hands, as if he were a rag doll.

"You touch her again and there will be problems, you understand," Jordan  hissed. He didn't let go until Nick nodded his head. Jordan let go and  Nick doubled over grabbing at his neck.         

     



 

"Holy Shit! Were you trying to kill me?" Nick exclaimed, looking at  Jordan, grabbing at his neck. When Jordan didn't say anything, Nick  grabbed his motorcycle keys of the table and made a quick departure.

"What just happened, bro? Why did you just choke the fuck out of Nick like that?" Troy demanded, but he was also chuckling.

Jordan didn't answer him. Instead he turned to Annette and she could see  the disdain in his eyes. Annette was shocked when he also picked up his  motorcycle keys and left.

"What happened?" Tara said.

"Man, I think Nick was talking to Annette and Jordan got mad as hell," Travis said.

Everyone turned to look at Annette.

"I am so sorry," she said. "I don't know why Jordan got so mad. He-I … Nick didn't mean any harm."

"Your brother got jealous? That's unlike him!" Tara said, looking at Troy.

"Whatever happened between them, I didn't mean to cause a fight. I don't think I'm cut out for this."

"Don't worry about that. They'll be fine," Travis said.

She shook her head, feeling miserable. If she had been coming off on  Nick as misleading him to believe that she was coming on to him, she  didn't mean to, because she wasn't.

"Yeah, don't worry. They fight all the time. Shit, we all fight. And I  mean physical fights worse than that. They'll be fine in the morning, I  promise. We fight like brothers and the next day we don't remember what  we fought about. It's all good," Troy said.

"Really?"

"Really."

"I should go," she said, beginning to walk towards the door. Fight or  not, she couldn't believe that Jordan had walked out on her like that.

"I know Jordan is coming back for you. He just needed to cool off. You want to wait?" Troy was following her to the door.

"Wait?" Annette turned around and looked at him like he was crazy.  "What? Do I look like a fool to be waitin' on him and he just ran out on  me in his own damn house?" Suddenly, she felt mad.

"Damn, don't get mad at me."

"I'm sorry, Troy. Well, you tell him I said that. Bye."







An hour later, she was home getting ready to make a sandwich to satisfy  her grumbling stomach, when her doorbell rang. She used her peephole and  saw Jordan standing there. She opened the door.

He was standing there, clothes slightly wet from the pouring rain,  holding a pizza box in one hand with a 2-liter Coke in the other. If he  was a pizza delivery guy, he was the finest pizza delivery man that she  had ever seen. In fact, she would order pizzas every night and request  he personally deliver it, if that was the case. But that was not the  case. Jordan was actually there for her. And suddenly, her mine was  oblivious and forgetful over what happened only hours before.

"I said I would treat you to pizza," he said, trying not to crack a smile.

"Well, I guess I should hurry up and pay the tab so that you could be on your way," she teased.

"I don't accept checks or credit card as a form of payment. As a matter  of fact, I don't even accept cash. All forms of payment must be in the  form of a kiss."

"Oh, well, I am hungry … " She leaned into him, despite the pizza box  being in the way. He moved the pizza box out of our way, as she placed  her hands on his chest, stood on her tiptoes, and initiated the kiss.  "Does that satisfy payment?" she asked, after a long, intimate kiss.