Annette and Denise pushed their way through the crowd, ignoring the looks and advances from some men along the way and finally reached a large booth seat in the back shaped like a half circle. She smiled when she saw Anthony seated there with a few other close friends. Leroy was seated next to him with his date for the night. TJ and Bianca were seated on the far left corner engrossed in conversation. A few other people she didn't recognize were also seated, too, talking and laughing over the blaring hip hop music. Anthony stopped talking when he spotted her and suddenly all eyes were on her and Denise. She walked over to him, with Denise at her heels.
"Hey, you," Annette said, smiling, sweetly.
The look on his face told her everything that he was thinking. Annette loved the way that he still got mesmerized by her looks after two years.
"Hey, homegirl, sit down."
"You know Denise," she said, gesturing to Denise, before sitting down.
Leroy had scooted over to make a space for Denise beside her.
"What's up, Denise." Anthony nodded towards her.
"Hey, Denise." Leroy was giving her the once over, making his date frown.
At the same moment, Bianca had spotted her and Denise. Annette smiled and waved her hands. Bianca reciprocated the gesture, smiling, and whispered something to TJ, pointing towards her and Denise.
The music was loud and Annette wasn't about to hear ten conversations at once, so she turned her Attention to Anthony. "You got all your promoting done, baby?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "I handed out some demos in the parking lot. I got some of my people handing out flyers outside and downstairs, too."
"That's good, baby," She looked at the small bottle of Ciroc beside him and saw that it was almost half empty. "Are you drunk?"
"Yes, baby, I am fucked up," he said. Suddenly, she could see that his eyelids were a little heavier than usual. She hoped that he didn't get too wasted tonight because he didn't handle his liquor too well and sometimes didn't know how to act.
"Hope you didn't drive … " she said.
"No, I'm going home with you tonight," he said, giving her a kiss on the neck.
"All right. Whatever." At that moment, a guy that Annette didn't know, walked up to Anthony, gave him daps, and they began talking. She turned her attention away and back towards Denise beside her. Apparently, Leroy's date had gotten up because Leroy was chatting with her.
"I heard that you still work over at the radio station with Anthony," he said to Denise. Leroy's eyes were glazed over, as well. It looked like he was high on something and his slurred speech indicated that he was clearly inebriated. His eyes were all over Denise.
"Yeah." From the look on Denise's face, Annette could tell that Denise was not interested. Leroy wasn't Denise's type. As a matter of fact, Denise had confided in her that she was only interested in dating men at least five years older than her.
"So, you drinking tonight or not? I got you, Shorty," Leroy said to Denise.
Leroy and Anthony apparently rubbed off on each other too much. Maybe she would have to live the rest of her life hearing men refer to women as "Shorty".
"Naw … I'm good. It's too early. But, thanks, anyway." Denise politely turned him down.
Annette smiled. Leroy was cute and had plenty of girls at his beck and call, but obviously Denise wasn't too delighted.
Denise leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I see something I like across the room." She nodded towards a group of men standing over a table. "I think I know the guy in the black jeans."
Annette smiled back at her. "Well, go get him, girl." She watched as Denise got up and switched over to the other side of the room.
"What? Your friend think she too good or something?" Leroy had waited until Denise was out of sight to comment on her departure.
Annette sucked her teeth. "Leroy, you must be think that somebody is crazy. Didn't you bring your date here, tonight?"
"Yeah, but that hoe been complaining all night about how she hot and shit!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure you won't have a hard time finding someone else with all these other girls in here. It is your party, remember?"
"You right, Shorty. If that hoe come back asking for me, tell her I went to the bathroom. I'm going downstairs … I'll be back up here later." And with that Leroy got up and disappeared.
Bianca walked over to where Annette was sitting.
"Hey, girl," Bianca said, sitting in the space where Leroy last sat. "I thought he would never leave from over here."
Bianca was referring to Leroy. Bianca and Leroy had sex with each other a couple of times, but when Leroy starting sneaking around with other girls Bianca had no choice but to separate herself from Leroy.
"Hey … yeah, he probably won't be back anytime soon." Annette said.
"Good."
"Where's TJ? I wanted to meet him."
"Oh, he's coming right back. He went to go get his cousin so I can meet him."
Annette felt Anthony's hands moved around her waist. He startled her by pulling her closer into his side. He didn't say a word to Bianca as he began to place small kisses up Annette's shoulders and on her neck.
"Anthony … stop all that … I know you drunk, but we got plenty of time for that tonight." She said, gently pushing him away.
Anthony poured another shot of Ciroc and downed the whole thing in one gulp. Before she could say anything, her thoughts were interrupted when TJ and two other guys walked toward their booth seats.
She could tell why Bianca was into TJ. He was extremely tall and she could see that he had a pretty nice body under his baggy attire. He wasn't all that, but looked all right nonetheless. The other guy was equally good looking with dark brown skin. His clothes weren't as baggy and his jeans fit him nicely. His arms, covered in tattoos, were big and bulky. He looked like a football player. The third guy stepped forward and on instinct Annette bit her bottom lip. Damn.
Now that muthafucka is fine.
He was just as tall as TJ, well over six feet tall. He had chocolate brown skin that looked smooth to the touch. His face was smooth and well-shaven, but he still had a well-defined jaw line and masculine features. His eyebrows were thick, but neatly developed and groomed above a set of eyes that were almost the same color of her necklace. His eyelashes were also thick and heavy. He had a full set of lips and when she looked, he licked them and she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. His muscles started in his neck and disappeared in the top of a dark navy button down collar shirt. His arms were also defined by muscles and the short sleeves revealed tats on both sides of his arms. The jeans he wore were a little loose fitting, but she could tell that the waistband sit perfectly on his well-defined waist. The metal from the belt buckle he wore reflected against the sparkling glass lights that hung from the ceiling of the club and drew her eyes below his waist line to the sizable package under his zipper.
Damn, how could a man she had never met in her life stand in front of her without saying one word and make her have such dirty thoughts?
Annette realized that her mouth had fell open and she slowly pressed it shut. That whole time she had been staring at him, everything must have paused because her mind drowned out all the music and everyone around her. Everything and everyone but the man in front of her that looked like both a thug and a model at the same damn time.
TJ began to introduce them all. "You've met Travis, my brother. And this is Jordan, my cousin." The guys started giving each other daps and hand shakes. "This is Anthony, Leroy's friend. This is his girl, Annette and this is Bianca. Remember, I told you about Bianca." TJ turned around and gave Travis and Jordan a look that no one else could see.
"Hi," Bianca chimed in, smiling, crossing her legs.
"Hey." I nodded, trying to avoid looking into his eyes again. Jordan was his name. Jordan looked like one of those guys that she could never get around to dating in college. They were the football players or fraternity members that never paid her much attention. He was so attractive, he had to have a girlfriend already, so he was off limits. And so was she! What was she thinking?
"Remember, I told you that I just bought my BMW," TJ asked Anthony. "Well, Jordan, here, is who you want to talk to. He hooked me up."
Jordon must have been a car salesman. He could sell me a car, anytime.
"Oh … for real? I been wanting to get my hands on that new model ever since it came out. I might need to come see you next week about that." Anthony said, leaning forward, showing a little bit more interest.
Jordan had reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed Anthony a business card. "There's all my info right there. We carry several makes and models of most luxury cars out on the market today. If you want something we don't have on the lot, there's a good chance we can get it for you. Just give me a call before you come down there and we can talk business."