Greedily Lake drank from my well, his tongue sweeping through my mouth to claim once more what had been his in the past. I familiarized myself with the passion of his kiss.
My mind recalled simpler times as I sank under the power of his persuasion. A time when the expectations that lay in wait for me were just an imminent promise of the distant future. Yet, that future was upon me now, and it was what had beckoned me home.
And for a time, I allowed him to have this. Allowed me to reminisce about what I yearned for.
Lake deepened the kiss as if he could convince me to change my mind, run from my expected future and the responsibility that I had to my family. To my dreams.
Oh, how my body and mind wished it were that easy. But, I knew better. And that reminder hit home again when I heard a soft clearing of someone’s throat.
Breaking away from Lake with my heart pounding in my chest, I risked a peek over his shoulder. I sagged with relief when I saw that it was my best friend, Chanda.
“Hey,” I said, pulling my hand free of Lake’s, although he struggled to let me go.
I crossed my arms over myself and walked towards her. “Hey,” I mumbled.
“Just wanted to give you a heads up that your Dad is looking for you. Senait just told me, and since I knew where you were...”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Pressing my lips together and wiping around them to make sure that my lipstick was intact, I looked back at Lake. Turning back to my friend, I asked, “Did he see—”
“No,” she said, shaking her head quickly. “I doubt if anyone saw you two leave. I did. You’d better be careful,” she warned. “Oh, and your lipstick is just fine,” she said, leaving the room.
“I’ve gotta go.”
“Z!” he called after me.
Shaking my head, I said, “Not now, Lake.”
“Then when?” he asked as I hurried through the door, his words falling on deaf ears.
CHAPTER 4 – LAKE
“EXCUSE ME FOR JUST a minute,” I said to the man standing in front of me.
The annual benefit dinner for orphans coincided every year with the annual fall festival. I’d planned it that way since my organization funded our town festival, and I was the board chair for the group home in Durham, the closest metropolis to Sunset Harbor.
I’d tried hard the rest of the evening to stay away from Xiomara since her best friend walked in on us kissing, but it was difficult.
Although disappointment filled me about our moment being interrupted, perhaps it was for the best.
I couldn’t make any promises about how far I’d have taken things or how far she would have allowed me to go.
Quickly, I made my way through the crowd, searching for the hazelnut toned beauty for a while, but she seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Her parents had left minutes earlier, and she hadn’t been by their side.
There was a compulsion inside of me that said I needed to find out what the hell was going on. Despite the wall she’d erected a long time ago, I could tell we had unfinished business.
Hell, we’d barely been able to get any business off the ground.
Xiomara always drew me to her in a way that I had never been with another. It started as a close, easy friendship. Our friendship had started in middle school and continued throughout high school. Whenever we returned home from college breaks, it was almost as if we’d never missed a beat. I trusted Xiomara in ways I’d trusted no one else.
Our intense conversations and late-night chats flowed easily, and I suspected they still would if given half a chance.
I had shared most things with Xiomara, and she shared the same comfort with me.
But the summer after college graduation, I’d crossed a boundary line with her I promised myself I never would. Because even then, I’d known that Xiomara was something special, and she deserved more than I could offer her.
But one afternoon, the temptation was just too great. And I’d taken a sample of what I wanted. Kissing her had been my undoing, and I’d taken liberties with her I shouldn’t have. She’d sacrificed her virginity with me and later wanted to know what this meant. Foolishly, I’d told her I didn’t know what she meant. In reality, I’d been shocked to find that she was a virgin and hadn’t backed down when she’d pled with me, saying she’d rather give it to me than anyone else.
I had no words for her, nothing that I could do to reassure her we’d be together. Truthfully, I wasn’t ready, and I was still dumb and immature, not prepared for what she wanted.
She was confused and then angry. And then we’d argued. After she left me that afternoon, she’d avoided my calls for over a week.
When I finally heard from her again, she’d called to tell me she was leaving. And although I tried, there was nothing that I could do to stop her.
When she’d departed for New York, it left me starving for more. I’d spent a decade chasing a high that I could never duplicate with another.
And now...experiencing Xiomara’s taste again hadn’t satiated my desire. It had woken up a dormant beast who I could not satiate until it could devour its prey.
I wanted to be around her, to hear about the years she’d been away. I needed to hear all the details of her job, her social life, and if she’d missed me the way that I’d missed her since she had left.
Xiomara had left an empty hole within me. She was the closest friend that I ever had and the only one that I could trust with all of my thoughts and feelings. Though I’d had relationships and plenty of sexual encounters, I’d never recaptured that feeling again.
My steps slowed as I spotted her standing in a corner with her sister, Senait, her best friend,
