Chapter 21: No Awkwardness, No Bullshit

I stared at the cell phone beside me in the bed, we were staring each other down for the better part of an hour now. I was back in my own room, the door that joined mine with Stone's was closed but not locked. I wanted to call Roman, I wanted to tell him about me and Stone but what Stone had said about him being paid to guard my pussy for Braxton weighed heavily on my mind. I hated arguing with Roman, but if what Stone had said was true then...well, I don't know what then.

In the end I picked up the cell phone and dialed Roman's number, "Hey hun," He picked up after the first ring as if he was waiting on my call. "I didn't hear from you so I assume things went well."

"Roman, how much did Braxton pay you?"

"What?"

"How much did Braxton pay you to guard my virginity for him."

There was a long silence, then I could hear him shifting and then a breath being released. "Look that was before I knew you..."

"Was it Roman? Because you nearly shitted that night with Flow. You know, I'm wondering if maybe Dom knew and you just didn't want her to tell me, maybe that's why she was forcing all those men on me."

"Brooklyn..."

"It's just amazing what you get to know when you piss off somebody's right hand man. Stone told me everything. I trusted you Roman, God! I love you like a brother and you were using me as your meal ticket! Well you can just forget about your little arrangement, there's nothing to guard anymore." The tears that I had held on to earlier came spilling down my cheeks. I always thought my first heartbreak would come from some guy that I had been dating and had fallen in love with. 

I ended the call and cried into my pillow.

*****

I hardly slept that night and in addition to the headache that had kept me awake all night,  my crutch was sore. I wanted to take a warm bath and lay down the rest of the day but we had a flight to catch at two o'clock. 

"Are you okay?'

I had the cover over my head so I had no idea how long he was hovering in the doorway. I sat up and pulled the blanket off. "No."

"Did I hurt you?"

I rolled my eyes and climbed off of bed, "Yeah, I could have gone without knowing about the little arrangement Roman and Braxton had."

I grabbed some clothes out of my bag and brushed past him on my way to the bathroom. I ran a bath full of hot water and locked the door behind me. I didn't want to be bothered, I didn't want to talk about anything that had happened yesterday, but he did apparently. 

"Shit." I cussed at the ruined panty shield. Normal little girls had a mother or a cool aunt that they could call and ask how long they're supposed to bleed, I couldn't, my mother already thought I was a whore. I sank into the warm water, again I was tempted to call London, but she was still a child, what advice could she give me?

"I'm sorry, I was just angry."

"I know, you were trying to hurt me." I stepped into the tub, this was a VIP room, if the maids bullshitted in any other room, they would take their time and polish a suite. I sighed with relief and sank down to my neck in the water. 

"I'm sorry."

"Were you just trying to piss Braxton off when you...when we..."

"No, God no!"

Uh huh. I had hickies everywhere! How was I going to explain those when I got home? I was practically sharing a room with Stone and they already thought he wanted the kitty. Roman had been blowing my phone up all morning, I eventually turned it off. Daddy was supposed to call me before I left but I wasn't in a talking mood.

Stone started to say something when the doorbell rang, "Your parents are here."

They're not my parents, they're my father and his wife, I thought. But I was desperate, I needed a woman to talk to. I was sore and bleeding and confused and my best friend had broken my heart, I needed to talk to someone. For now Cassandra was somebody I didn't give much of a damn about if she liked me or not, I was still unsure about her. My father would probably freak the fuck out if I told him and he was a man, his experience would be a lot different, but I was sure I could convince his wife to leave our conversation in the bathroom.

"Go keep Daddy's company and send Cassandra in." I ordered Stone, when I heard him walk away I tiptoed over to the door and unlocked it, then I made my way back to the tub and sank so that everything up to my chin was submerged. 

"Are you okay?"

I looked down at my body that was contorted by the water. "I had sex last night." I blurted out.

"Oh." She looked at me as if trying to figure out why I was telling her this. "Oh!" Her penciled eyebrows nearly flew off her face.

I couldn't look at her, I kept my eyes trained on the clear, steaming water. "I'm still bleeding and a bit sore." My words came out like, istillbubbleenabibsore. 

"That's normal. A warm soak should still work and the bleeding will stop in a day or two." I still couldn't look at her. "Brooklyn, you're a grown woman, as long as it was consensual you don't have to worry. It was consensual wasn't it."

I finally looked up at her puckered rat face, "Yeah, it's just..." I shrugged, I wasn't even sure what I was trying to say.

"And for the record, it may hurt the second and third time you have sex too."

I shifted in the water, this conversation was so awkward. "I don't intend to ever do that again."

Cassandra laughed, "Oh, you're saying that now."

"Cassandra, can you not tell my dad about this?"

"I won't." She smiled warmly at me and I returned it.

"You will stay in touch when you go back to New York right? The kids adore you. I'll keep you away from Junior though, the last thing I need is for you to create a mini monster."  We laughed, Junior was a terror, that was for sure. 

Cassandra left the bathroom and locked the door behind her. I soaked a while longer before I got out of the tub and pulled on a white singlet and a pair of jersey shorts. "I thought you didn't wanna come hug your old man." Daddy smiled and opened his arms to me, I skipped into his embrace. 

"I'm proud of you." He murmured into my ear and I smiled. 

"Where are the girls and Junior?"

"It's Sunday, they're at Sunday school."

"I'll visit again soon." I hugged Cassandra again and walked her and Daddy to the door.  When I closed the door and turned around Stone was staring at me. "What?"

"We have to talk about yesterday?"

"Why?"

"Because you are used to running away from your problems, every time you have an issue you look for somebody else to fix it or you ignore it in hopes that it will go away. Life doesn't work like that."

"What is there to talk about? We had sex, I'm not the kind of girl to get emotionally attached to a man because he told me I'm pretty. I thought you knew that."

"I didn't tell you you were pretty, I had sex with you, your first time."

"Do you want a cookie?"

"Brooklyn I uh..." His voice trailed off, I gave him a hard look, Storm was never one to be short on words. "Why do you sell yourself short? You're a beautiful woman."

I folded my arms, I was still having a hard time accepting compliments, I wasn't used to getting them, I was used to men always drooling at the girl standing beside me. "Okay."

"There was just something about you, I don't know what it was but I wanted to get to know you the moment I saw you in Braxton's office, and the more I got to know you the more fascinating you became. You're different from all of the women I met and..."

"Stone, I just broke up with Flow, I'm not about to get into another relationship. Think about how that'll look man."

"I understand, nothing has to change since I was practically dating you anyway."

I folded my arms, he had a point, I had lunch with him nearly every day. We always met Braxton's associates together and we hung out on the weekends a couple of times. Stone was different from Flow in the way that Flow had money but he didn't have class or time, and Stone owned that classy swag and had too much time on his hands if you asked me. I had to admit the fascination was mutual.

I released a heavy breath, "Fine."

"No awkwardness."

I smiled, "No awkwardness, no bullshit." I turned to head back to my bedroom but I could feel him staring at me again, "What?"

"No awkwardness, no bullshit? You were the star of my wet dreams for months, this was a business trip. After a situation a couple of years ago, I stopped having sex on my business trips so I don't carry condoms on my business trips," I froze, "Taught myself discipline. You caught me off guard last night..."

I held up my hand. Nobody was completely oblivious to sex, even little kids giggle at the mere mention of 'doing it', there was sex ed in schools and biology. "It's cool, I am too close to my period to get knocked up, but we do have to be more careful." I grinned, "If you stop being such a dick to me I may consider birth control." I didn't want to fuck with shots and pills that would screw up my hormones then  stop me from getting pregnant when I wanted to. 

"Do we have a deal Ms. James?"

"We do Mr. Stone." He offered me a hand to shake, I laughed and went to my bedroom, I could catch up on a couple hours of sleep before it was time to get ready for the airport and I could eat when I got home.