the middle. I couldn’t pinpoint her age, but I immediately started wondering if she’d be interested in our line of work. Of course that’s not the kind of question you go asking complete strangers. When we got back to the table I introduced Chante to the ladies. After a round of drinks I asked, “So, tell me, Chante, what do you do?”
“Oh, nothing really,” she said. “What I mean is I used to be an executive assistant until my uncle died and left me a nice little stash. So I chucked the nine-to-five three years ago and just been havin’ a good time. But you know what they say about all good things-sooner or later, they come to an end. Lately my money is starting to look real funny,” she shrugged. “Guess I could’ve done some better planning; should’ve kept the job. But I’m hoping to find a generous donor.” She giggled.
“Well, when you find him, please let me know if he has a brother, uncle, or even a father. I’ve been looking for a member of that family for quite a while,” Simone said, sending us all into a laughing fit.
10
Over the next few weeks, Chante had hung out at the club with us a few times. I took her along a couple of times when I was going to private parties or CD release parties. She was cool to be around and the ladies liked her. I liked Chante because she was easy to talk to and she always kept it real. No pretense at all from Chante. She was straight up, no chaser, that’s what I liked about her. Whether she would make a good addition to our family was another matter. After my experience with the police over that shooting and seeing Mr. Investment Banker at the precinct, it had left me a little leery about new faces. But I still gotta eat, so I decided to invite Chante to meet me at my favorite restaurant. Besides, it would give me a chance to observe her in another atmosphere.
As I strolled into Jill’s for dinner, the place was packed and buzzing. I loved walking into a place and realizing heads were turning in my direction. I glanced around the bustling restaurant and still hadn’t seen Chante, so I figured I’d arrived early. I squeezed by two men who had been eyeing me up since I stepped onto the scene. “You looking for me?” one of them asked. I smirked at his tired- ass line and kept moving.
By the time I looked toward the back of the restaurant, I noticed none other than Chante, curled up with some sexy roughneck. “Ah-hem,” I cleared my throat.
Chante stuck her pretty little head around her friend’s and smiled up at me.
“Jada! I was just looking for you,” she said, looking like I had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Emp hmm, looking for me all up in his face, huh?” I teased.
“Girl!” she winked. The guy finally turned at the sound of my voice.
“This is, ah, what’s your name again, sweetie?” she cooed.
“Jordan,” he offered in a deep voice.
“Yeah, this is my new friend Jordan,” Chante said. “See, I told you I was waiting on someone,” she said to him.
Jordan’s beady little eyes ran up every inch of my body then back down, before he pulled away and glanced back to Chante.
“Well, my girl’s here, so I’d better spend some time with her,” she told Jordan who hadn’t really taken his eyes off me. “You know how it is, gotta spread the love around.”
He looked at her then back at me. “What’s up? She don’t like to party?” he asked.
Chante and I looked at each other then started cracking up. “Come on, Jordan, my girl and I need to catch up. We’ll get together later, I promise. But right now, we’ve got some private business to discuss,” she said like she was talking to a three-year-old.
Jordan took her hand to his lips and planted a kiss there. I rolled my eyes, but waited while he worked his jelly. “I’ll be at the bar waiting on you,” he promised. You’d think the two knew each other for years.
We admired the view as he walked away, then started looking over the menu.
“It is so packed in here,” I said.
“That’s why I grabbed this table. I figured if I had waited any longer, we might be eating outside on the sidewalk,” she said.
Dinner went pretty well. We talked about clothes, music and the latest black celebrity gossip. I marveled at how easygoing Chante was, and how we interacted like old friends. By the time we had wrapped up dinner, Jordan had passed by our table at least three times. Each time he did, he and Chante exchanged “fuck me” looks. I thought it was funny. I thought about telling girlfriend she shouldn’t be giving up the goods for free, but that would have led us down a conversational path I wasn’t ready to go down, so I kept it to myself. “Well, so what’s up for tonight?” I asked as I rose from the table with my doggie bag in hand.
“I’m gonna see what Jordan is talking about, then I’m gonna hook up with you guys. Where are y’all partying tonight?” she asked.
“We'll be at Sensations tonight. Or at least I will. Simone has an appoint-I mean a date tonight, and I’m not sure about Diane.”
“Even if it’s just you, me and Bella, I’m sure we’ll have a good time,” Chante said.
“Why don’t you meet us at my place and ride with us?”
“Sounds good.”
“You sure lover boy is gonna cut you loose?” I asked.
“Please,” she said as stood up. “After I work him over for a few hours, he’ll be begging me to get out.” I gave her a hug and turned to leave.
Hours later, when we walked up into the place the way we do, Chante fit right in. We watched from our table as other half-naked women jockeyed for attention. Some tables were stacked with drinks. To the left of our table, a few ladies were having a divorce party, with the guest of honor wobbling in and out of her seat. A couple of her friends were doing seductive lap dances in their chairs as her friends cheered on, while another one held a camcorder.
“You having a nice time?” Chante asked.
I nodded, and then took a sip from my drink. I was having a blast. The dance floor was packed and the music was thumping. I sipped my drink again and enjoyed the atmosphere. Waiters walked around like busy mice, quickly running through the maze of a club from table to table.
It was about one-thirty in the morning when Simone and Diane walked into the place. “Hey, ladies. How’d it go tonight?” I asked as we each exchanged hugs.
“Great, Jada,” Diane said quickly. “It don’t even take me long to do what I gotta do.”
“Must not have been all that. Who comes to the club after a great date?” Chante asked.
Bella quickly looked away like she didn’t know us. Simone and Diane looked at her and then to me, with that handle-your-girl look on their faces.
“What?” Chante smiled and hunched her shoulders. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, Chante. You didn’t say anything wrong,” I said, searching for something to tell her. “A great date doesn’t mean you got to give up the goods.” Then I flipped it back on her. “I see you here after your date with Jordan.”
“That’s ’cause I checked out his package early in the evening,” Chante came back quickly.
“What you talkin’ ’bout, Chante?” Diane asked.
“When we were leaving Jill’s, I bumped into him and felt for his dick; I couldn’t find it.” Chante grabbed her head. “I started getting a headache right then.”
The bass in the music was thumping and some blinged-out baller grabbed Diane’s hand. She looked at me. I looked him over and motioned with my eyes that it was cool. Watching Diane on the floor, feeling the music, had me feeling like I needed to go find me something to rub up against-you know, let Miss Kitty out of the bag. I quickly decided against it. I hadn’t danced with anybody since we started going there and I wasn’t about to start now. I was there for business. But a few minutes later I was rocking to the music in my seat. I wondered if Chante had noticed that I collected business cards anytime we were out, and if she did, did she wonder why.
This well dressed guy came and stood over Simone. They didn’t look like they were strangers and she didn’t bother to introduce him to us. Without a word, he extended his hand to her and she accepted. Eyebrows raised and a few smirks popped up when Simone and her mystery man walked away from our table. “I guess she was bored with our company,” Chante joked.
