Bad Decisions Good Regrets (Social Experiment #2) Page 4

  I often used to think that he’d much rather be known for his art, than sports. He didn’t ask to be king of the school, but he was, whether he’d liked it or not. He’d waited until my sophomore year to ask me out. By then, he was a senior and a part of me had almost been tempted to go on that date since I knew he was graduating soon, but I’d turned him down. A surprise to my friends, but even more so to me.

  After he’d graduated, we ran into each other a few times every year, but he’d never asked me out again. Not on a serious date anyway. I’d always wondered why, but some things were left better unsaid.

  I waved off Ares’s teasing. “Quit playin’ with me. Theseus wasn’t checkin’ for me like that.” In the back of my mind, I knew I was giggling too hard, but I tended to do that when I was nervous.

  My chuckling got even worse when Theseus stated, “He’s not playin’ with you. It’s the truth. I’ve always been checkin’ for you.”

  I turned to Theseus, taken aback by his words. The grin on his face not only told me that he wasn’t sorry I couldn’t control my giggling, but rather, he couldn’t care less that his words made me uncomfortable. Shit. This is going to be a long meeting.

  Chapter 4

  “When you look in the mirror, never forget that you are someone’s reason to masturbate.”

  ~ Layla ~

  IVY

  It took me a few moments to get myself together, but when I did, I asked them, “Since there’s no one here, did you guys want to just talk here or your office?”

  Really, Ivy? I immediately shut my mouth at the seductive way I’d said office, hoping no one caught how I’d hummed the word while looking dead at Theseus when I did.

  All eyes were on me. Yeah, they caught it. I raised an eyebrow at Layla, wishing I could wipe the smirk off her face. Or tease her about Ares. Anything to get the heat off me.

  “Out here is fine,” Theseus said, taking a seat on the couches to our left. The rest of us followed suit.

  Okay, Ivy, it’s business time. I took off my jacket, adjusted my pants, and crossed my legs, secretly glad I hadn’t chosen to wear a skirt today. I’d told Layla it was too cold for a skirt because I hadn’t expected it to drop to thirty degrees given it was April. But now, I was thinking luck was on my side because there was no way I could sit in Theseus’s presence with a skirt on and not fan in between my legs with one of the magazines on the coffee table.

  I glanced around the room before I put on my reading glasses. My vision was pretty good, so I only had to wear them sometimes. However, my chic yellow frames made me feel powerful. Unstoppable. And something told me I would need all the courage I could get for this conversation.

  “As you may or may not know, I’m a regional location and recruitment manager for Black Lush Entertainment. So, I’m responsible for booking the talent and securing the best location for our adult films. For this project, Layla is the set designer, so she’s responsible for setting the perfect scene.”

  “I thought you were an interior designer for some huge corporation?” Ares asked.

  “I still am,” Layla replied. “I’m doing this project in addition to my full-time job. Black Lush needed someone local and I was more than happy to volunteer my time.”

  That’s my girl. I wanted to laugh because so far, Layla was still adjusting to this porn life I was immersed in, but leave it to my best friend to sound like she’s all about the cause when dealing with a possible partnership.

  “I think it’s safe to say we’re all familiar with Black Lush films,” Eros said with a laugh. “But what exactly would you need Greek Gods Ink Chicago for? Your intern was pretty vague, but we got the idea that you wanted to film a scene here?”

  “Not a scene,” I said, shaking my head. “Almost the entire film would take place in your shop.”

  Ares leaned forward in his chair. “You shitting us, right? The entire film? How long would that take?”

  “I could get it done in two or two and a half weeks. Less if we can nail each scene in less takes.”

  “Two and a half weeks?” Eros shook his head. “What about our clients. We closed early today so we could focus on this meeting, but we were thinking we’d only have to close for a day.”

  “Most films take a month at least, but I’m on a time crunch as well, plus this is a short film. Trust me, you would be compensated,” I explained. “And it’s a very healthy compensation. More than any of our competition.”

  “It’s not about the money,” Eros stated. “The tattoo game in Chicago is tough. We’ve only been open a few weeks and our sign isn’t even up yet, so lots of folks don’t know we exist. To close the shop for a couple weeks seems like a bad business move.”

  “Then let me be candid since we all personally know each other.” I glanced at each of the brothers. “My team is very punctual. We are great at what we do, and when managing a film, I don’t half-ass anything. Within seconds of walking into your location, Layla and I knew it would be perfect. I would never put y’all out there bogus. I want to shed a bright light on this place in a respectful way.”

  “As respectful as a location can be portrayed in a porn video,” Ares mumbled under his breath.

  I sighed. I’d been through this before—locations who are all about the idea before reality sets in that their place of business would be filmed in what most of the nation would deem a less-than-conventional video.

  Standing from my seat, I paced before telling them, “Look, I understand that this is a lot to take in. All I ask is that y’all put your trust in me when I say this will be very good for your business. The investor behind this video is one of the biggest graphic design companies in the country. They are entrusting us to do a different kind of marketing for them by using adult film to visually market some of their artwork. I’m asking you to do the same. Trust us. Take a chance with us. What do you have to lose?”

  “Respect,” Eros mentioned.

  “Dignity,” Ares said.

  “A chance to identify ourselves in Chicago before others make an assumption,” Eros added.

  “Hell, our mama’s blessing if she ever found out we agreed to make a porn video,” Ares stated. “Mama is a God-fearing woman who used to make us stand outside with bibles stacked on top of our heads sayin’ ‘thou shall not allow Satan into our hearts’ when she found us looking at a freaky magazine. No way we could tell her this shit.”

  Layla laughed. “Oh my God, I love me some Mrs. Hood.”

  I wanted to laugh, too, because everyone in Detroit had a Mrs. Hood story. Bible study used to be off the chain because she made it fun, but come in late, she wasn’t letting you forget that as God’s child, you were letting Him and her down. I honestly couldn’t even tell you which one was worse. The guilt of feeling like I was a sinner at fourteen or getting one of those ‘you know better, so do better’ speeches that only black mamas knew how to give without saying any words.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t go down memory lane. I had to keep up my business façade when I reminded them, “You won’t be making a porn video. You’d be helping Black Lush create the perfect visual experience for hundreds of thousands of viewers.”

  Ares shook his head. “If we agree to do the entire video, you might as well just let us star in the video our damn selves because that’s all folks will think about when they visit the shop if we agree.”

  “Y’all aren’t understanding me,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t mind leaving here and going to another shop, but I felt something the minute I walked through the door. My gut is telling me that if y’all pass up on this opportunity, we would all regret it. I just wished you would—”

  “We’ll do it.”

  I stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Theseus who hadn’t said anything since the start of the conversation. “What did you say?”

  “I said, we’d do it.” He stood to join me. “But I agree with my brothers. We have a lot to prove in this city. You can’t have us out here lookin’ like clowns.”

&n
bsp; I walked to him and gently touched his shoulder, almost forgetting my words. Don’t squeeze his muscle. Don’t squeeze his muscle. “Theseus, I promise you, agreeing to partner with Black Lush for this video is a great move for your shop.”

  “Honestly, I don’t give a damn about Black Lush.” Standing and stepping closer to me, he lightly touched my chin, his honey-brown eyes causing me to lose focus. “We’re agreeing to do the video solely on the fact that I think you’d have our best interests at heart. We trust you not to fuck up our image.” He briefly glanced at my lips, and all I could hope was that he didn’t see any drool.

  Is he about to kiss me? He sure as hell looked like he wanted to kiss me, but that wasn’t the Theseus way. He’d always been more of a watch-but-don’t-touch kinda dude.

  He seemed to be leaning toward me. Or maybe I was leaning toward him? I couldn’t even tell, but there was definitely a shift in the room. I wasn’t even the type of woman to let a man touch my face. I’d seen too much in my line of business to trust that a man’s hands were clean.

  Somehow though, I found my voice and managed to tell him, “You have my word. I won’t have y’all out here lookin’ crazy. I can promise you that.”

  He nodded, his hand dropping from my chin, although he was still crowding my space. Had Layla not cleared her throat, I probably would have forgotten that I needed to let go of his arm. But not before I take a little squeeze. Just as I predicted, my fingers couldn’t even make a dent into his skin. Meaning, he was all solid muscle. And probably strong as hell, too. Stamina of a Titan. Could go for long periods at a time in the bedroom, I bet.

  I shook my head. I had some serious issues and damnit, I was blaming Theseus for them whether he was rightfully to blame or not. I could still feel his hand on my skin and it was driving me crazy. Like the kind of crazy that made a woman hurry home during an exhausting rush hour stuck in traffic just to take out her vibrator and ease the tension before continuing with her day.

  I wasn’t the type to think about sex all the time. I wasn’t even sure if signing up for the experiment was more to blame than Theseus. But I wasn’t feelin’ these new problems at the moment. Matter of fact, I needed to soak in the tub tonight because I was overstimulated by everything going on.

  Looking back to the group, I announced, “Then it’s settled. I’ll be over tomorrow morning with the contract so we can get started.”

  We’d barely gotten out our good-byes before I was dragging Layla out of the tattoo shop as she struggled to keep up with my pace.

  “Chick, would you slow down? These booties ain’t made for running. They are strictly for looking cute.”

  “Sorry,” I said, only slowing up when we’d reached her car. “I just needed to get out of there.”

  “I feel you.” Layla unlocked the car. “I’d probably need to cool off too if the sexiest man I’d ever known almost kissed me in the middle of a tattoo shop.”

  My voice was high and squeaky when I confessed, “I thought I was imagining things, but it sure did feel like he wanted to kiss me.”

  “Kiss you. Fuck you. Have his way with you. Yeah, we all saw that. And you know what else I just figured out, right?”

  I shook my head. “Nah, what else?”

  She smirked, making sure I heard her loud and clear when she insinuated, “That man has always had your eyes wide open. He’s the only one I ever thought you’d break your dating rules for. And now, Mr. Greek Hero himself, has popped up back in your life just in time for you to complete your social experiment.”

  My mouth dropped open because there was no way, absolutely no fuckin’ way, that, “Theseus Hood should help me with my social experiment?”

  “You damn right,” she said. “You should choose him, Ivy. Tell me, who else could you try this whole no-strings-attached relationship with when you’re gonna spend the next couple weeks focused solely on this video?”

  “I was thinking about Gary, the cameraman you met the other day.”

  Layla’s mouth dropped. “Creepy Gary? The one who seems like he’s two court cases away from being sued?”

  “What? Quit lyin’. He isn’t that creepy.”

  “Um, hello,” Layla said. “Did we or did we not catch him creepily standing in the corner when a couple women popped into auditions who got their days mixed up? I also think I caught him flirting with the guy who was swinging his dick during his audition before we met with him.”

  “Girl, please. He was not. I don’t date co-workers anyway, so I was just entertaining the idea. We started at the same time, so he’s kinda a friend.”

  Layla’s eyes widened. “Yeah, one of those friends who can’t decide if they like men or women. So, instead of figuring that shit out, they develop some stalker-like tendencies in which they prey on the weak-minded of both sexes until some helpless soul falls victim to his advances. Then, they figure out he’s sick-minded, but it’s too late because he locks them in the basement where they die a slow and lonely death.”

  I blinked rapidly. “Uh, no more ID channel for you.”

  She shrugged. “Don’t sleep on the ID channel. There’s some truth to every story.”

  “Regardless,” I said. “Gary may be a little strange, but he is not gay.”

  Layla rolled her eyes. “Whatever he is, he is a liability to Black Lush. You betta watch his ass, sis.”

  I nodded my head because I knew she wasn’t dropping it. Plus, she’d planted the seed, so now I would in fact be watching Gary a little closer.

  “This is it, girl,” she stated. “This is your chance to finally have sex with the man you always wanted to date, but never did.”

  I opened my mouth to deny what she was saying, but I couldn’t. Per usual, she had me figured out. Now, the biggest question on my mind was, “How do I know if he’ll go for it? Betta yet, how do I even know he’s single?”

  Layla started laughing, although I didn’t find anything funny about the situation. “Trust me, sis, if that nigga is single, he’s going for it.”

  And that’s precisely what I’m afraid of.

  Chapter 5

  “It takes true skill to choke on air or fall over something that isn’t there. Don’t be the person who has that skill.”

  ~ Layla ~

  THESEUS

  “We can set up the main scenes over here,” Ivy instructed her production staff while they moved around our shop like they owned the damn place. It was annoying as hell, but we’d signed the contract yesterday. Plus, I knew my girl had our back.

  Ivy had been professional since she’d gotten here, her business side taking full effect. I was already jealous that we weren’t alone, which was crazy considering she had a job to do. A job that she’d explained was on a time crunch.

  I had only glimpsed at her iPad when she spoke to me when she’d first arrived, but I wasn’t surprised to see visuals from the photos she’d taken yesterday of our shop with what seemed to be scene layouts. She’s always been that way—a go-getter who could make things happen quickly.

  I hadn’t seen her in almost nine years, mainly because she rarely went home to Detroit since she’d graduated. But that didn’t stop me from checking her out on social media. I didn’t believe in that shit, so I didn’t have any social media accounts, but Ares was on every damn platform. Ivy didn’t post much, but I’d kept up with what she did post. What she’d accomplished. Her outfit of the day back when it seemed she had more time to post.

  Bruh, you sound like a stalker. And that was the problem. This woman. This beautiful, yet sometimes frustrating woman, was always on my mind, and I was starting to think this shit wasn’t healthy.

  Today, she was wearing some tight jeans and a V-neck graphic blue tee that had Boss Lady written on it. Her outfit looked anything but simple. I could see everything in those damn light-wash jeans. And what I couldn’t see, I could imagine. She still had those thick thighs, small waist, and that fat ass that used to get me in trouble with girls I used to date because they’d catch me watc
hing her. Studying her. Trying to figure out what she was thinking when she’d smile to herself out of nowhere.

  Seemed like she wore her hair straight for the most part, but still long and flowy. She still pulled her hair into a high ponytail when she got hot, as she had a few minutes ago. She still had the same dark brown eyes that seemed even more vibrant when she smiled. Same luscious lips that to me, was one of her best physical assets because the fullness was all natural and so damn sexy.

  “Quick drooling, nigga,” Ares said, coming to lean beside me on the wall.

  I didn’t say anything to my youngest brother because he was right. Even if I hadn’t literally been drooling internally, I hadn’t picked my jaw up off the floor since she’d arrived today.

  “He can’t help it,” Eros added, joining us. “It was bad enough that he was all up Ivy’s ass back in high school, but now he’s gonna be around her for at least two weeks. This nigga don’t stand a chance.”

  Ares shook his head. “I still can’t believe you agreed to this shit. Her pussy must be platinum.”

  “He never hit that, dumbass,” Eros remarked with a laugh. “Why you think he’s staring a hole in her right now? He’s always wanted her, but never had her.”

  “You shittin’ me, right?” Ares stood in front of me to make sure I heard him loud and clear when he said, “You mean all that chasin’ back in high school was for fun? You had all the niggas in my grade afraid to ask her out because they figured she was your girl, yet, she wasn’t. Not even low-key?”

  “Not just your grade. He had all the dudes in school scared,” Eros interjected. “The only ones who didn’t listen were the ones brave enough to ask Ivy out any damn way.”