“I don’t know. What the hell are you talking about?” Brooks asked curiously.
“Happy birthday, Nicola,” a well-built redhead said wrapping her nearly naked body around his back and hugging him warmly interrupting his train of thought and Brooks’.
Nicola turned around half-dazed and smiled. “Dana! Where have you been, girl?”
“Well, I went home to Columbia to visit family for a while. I just made it back last night.” She stood a towering six feet two inches without heels. Her long fiery hair nestled around her waist.
“Well, you still look stunning,” he said touching her thigh. He was no longer shocked by the boldness of the women at the Black Tie and hardly ever aroused to embarrassment.
“Well, don’t forget to let me give you a private dance for your birthday before you leave,” she said holding his hand. “It’s on me.”
“Okay then,” he said watching her walk away.
“Looks like she had a boob job,” Brooks said sipping on his beer.
“Really, I didn’t notice.” Nicola sank back down in the seat. Damn Ivy, she was screwing up his concentration.
“Back to your nemeses.” Brooks set his bottle down.
“Oh, yeah. She said I was a release. A damn release.” Nicola repeated angrily. “Hell, I would have screwed her if she had told me the truth. She didn’t have to lie and give me this good girl fucking sad story.” Nicola’s vision became blurry. “What did you think that I was talking about?”
A crooked smile came across Brooks’ face as he began. It was wrong of him to enjoy what he was about to say, but he did. “I thought you were talking about the fact that Ivy is pregnant, and that the baby could be yours,” Brooks said as he watched Nicola’s eyes bulge and his throat tighten revealing the veins in his forehead.
“What!” Nicola roared in total shock.
“Thank you, honey.” Brooks rubbed the waitress’s thighs as she bought him his drink. Pulling a twenty-dollar bill out of his front pocket, he put it in the woman’s g-string beside Nicola’s dollar bill and pinched her side. “Stay close. There’s a lot more where that came from.”
“How do you know this?” Nicola tried to focus but still slurred his words.
“How do you think? Trina told me.”
“Well, I’m glad that someone’s keeping me in the loop,” Nicola said sarcastically. He pulled the cigar from his jacket pocket.
“Sorry man, I thought Ivy told you.” Brooks directed his full attention to his friend now that they were alone.
“Hell no, she didn’t tell me,” Nicola said feeling his heart in his throat. The room began to spin. He was going to be sick.
“I can see that.” Brooks watched Nicola for a moment in sheer amazement. Could his boy finally be falling in love after all these years of philandering?
“When did you find out?” Nicola lit his cigar and tried to calm down.
“Today while you two were up there chatting. I thought that was why you were so pissed off. Now, I’m curious. What did she say to you to make you that damned mad?”
“Weren’t you listening to one damned word coming out of my mouth
? She called me a release.” Nicola shrugged the entire conversation with Ivy off. Now, none of that mattered. “Damn. Why didn’t she tell me?” Nicola said feeling guilty for his previous remarks and more angered by what she was trying to conceal.
“I told you…she’s scared. Trina said that she plans to keep it and raise it on her own if she has to.” Brooks said giving Nicola a glass of water.
“She doesn’t have to,” Nicola said offended. “Not if it’s mine.” He added as a prerequisite. “I mean, she’ll have my support.”
“I know what you meant,” Brooks said sipping slowly on his drink. “Do you think that it’s yours?”
Nicola blew the cigar smoke out of his mouth and sank down into the chair. “It’s possible,” he said looking at the cigar. “It’s really possible.”
“So, the man who lives and dies by Trojan Magnum condoms didn’t use any?” Brooks probed curiously.
“We used them, but a few times we didn’t. I was too damned lazy to get up later than night. But that morning we used some.” Nicola sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Did you want to get her pregnant?” Brooks couldn’t believe that he had actually gotten the truth of Nicola after all this time.
“No.” Nicola said quickly. “No.” He repeated himself softly and sat up. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” He looked over at Brooks. “You believe me?”
“Yeah, man. I believe that you used a condom a few times and a few times you didn’t use a condom. But your biological clock is ticking. Sometimes, our unconscious desires get caught up in our conscious decisions.”
“Get on with that shit,” Nicola said standing up. “The point is that I might be the father. It could be mine or her fiancé’s kid.”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Just prepare for the worse.” There was no advice that Brooks could think to give to his distressed partner. “One thing is for sure, you should talk with her about this truthfully.”
“You’re right,” Nicola said looking vainly at his watch. “As a matter of fact, I’m gonna go talk to her ass right now and find out what in the hell is going on.” He puffed on his cigar.
“I was actually thinking of you going to her tomorrow, when you’re sober.” Since Nicola wasn’t drinking the water, Brooks took it backed and sipped on it.
“The news that you have just laid on me has totally messed up my buzz, man. I’ll be just fine.” Throwing another twenty-dollar bill on the table, he shook his head. Nicola’s words slurred. “You know I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why all of sudden she was being so cold hearted. Now, it all makes since. She was going to ditch me, and run with my kid.”
“No one’s sure whose kid that is. Remember that. Look, she’s just not thinking straight right now. Give her time. Don’t go over there screaming
