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Fumie didn’t like to drink. The rare glass of wine with dinner. A nice champagne on special occasions. Never more than two glasses of anything
because Shemar hated seeing her sloppy and she was a fucking lightweight, regardless of how much she ate. Tonight was different. Shemar had been
getting on her damn nerves all day about this damn dinner. Teasing her about the date he’d found for Zori. Yes, Zo, being the amazing man he is
saved her by agreeing to this date with she and her husband. And despite how she’d tried to talk Shemar out of it by telling him Zori had no one to
double with, Shemar offered to find someone. Fumie just knew it would be one of his underaged baby hookers, but she was both surprised and weirdly
disappointed when she found out it was not. It was so much worse.
Fumie had started out on wine. Three glasses at home while she got ready, listening to her husband subtly accuse her of dressing for another man. Two more when they arrived a little early and had to wait for
Zori to show. And then he did. And he looked and smelled as perfect as always...She had started drinking Belvedere IX straight about an hour
ago...when she arrived.
Lauryn Levesque. The Yale educated, stunningly beautiful PR exec for Kidd’s Kids. On a night that wasn’t tonight, she loved Lauryn. She was a hard
worker and Fumie worked so closely with her, so often she might have even called them friends. Tonight, in her current state, she was the enemy.
Because Zori was fucking loving her and Fumie was having a hard time determining whether she was jealous of her or she just wanted to sleep with her.
She she needed to stop drinking…but she couldn’t. Not with Shemar still making this night hell for her by making her watch Zori and Lauryn
practically fall in love at the damn table. Ugh!
The conversation came into focus as her thoughts quieted and Shemar was still at it. Telling Zo and his (surely) soon to be wife how good they looked
together. Piling on the shit. Not that it wasn’t true. They did. They were fucking perfect for each other and there was nothing Fumie could do about
it, but agree.
“You would make a very cute couple-,” she smiled, first at Lauryn, then her gaze turned to Zori where it lingered...This shit was painful...
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
"...and that's when I found out I'd been calling this poor guy a 'horse' the entire night!" Lauryn giggled, her perfect, white teeth showing between
two very beautiful, full lips. Zori returned her smile as he listened to her recap her visit to Greece last summer. Her deep brown eyes sparkled with
excitement as leaned into him, the intimacy of the moment kind of blowing his mind because before that evening, he hadn't known that Lauryn Levesque
even existed. But the way they were talking, their conversation barely stopping since they'd been introduced, it seemed as if they'd known each other
for years. Zori couldn't get enough of listening to her talk about all of the amazing things she'd seen and done, the slight lilt of the French accent
in her voice warm and engaging. And Lauryn absorbed everything in Zori's story that he shared, things he hadn't opened up to anyone about in years.
"What a horrible feeling it was to find that out at the end of what I assumed was a perfect meeting! I felt like a genius and then a bumbling idiot at
the same time..." Her laugh broke yet another smile on Zori's face as she gracefully reached out to pick up her wine glass. Hell, everything about
Lauryn was graceful. From the way she sat, her legs femininely crossed at the knee underneath the table to the way she placed her fingertips to her
lips after she laughed...which was undeniably sexy. Zori found everything about her refreshing and beautiful...and still, he was overly consumed
by...Fumie. She looked off tonight. Zori had barely heard the end of Lauryn's story because he'd been watching Fumie's expression out of the
corner of his eye. Besides being sullen and just a bit intoxicated, she seemed...
"Just call me matchmaker extraordinaire!" Shemar said, his voice cutting into the short silence that had fallen over the table. Zori smiled politely,
his eyes meeting Lauryn's as they shared a silent laugh at the sentiment Shemar had shared for the third time that night. Zori didn't want to be an
ass, especially when he'd been invited out to enjoy a dinner with Fumie and her husband, but there was something unsettling about someone who barely
knew you or liked you setting you up with a wonderful woman. Especially when it was the first date and it seemed like Shemar was already planning
their wedding.
"I was right, wifey. They're perfect for each other." Zori's eyes left Lauryn and returned to Fumie, his expression growing concerned as he saw her
smile at Lauryn...and then look at him, her eyes saying something that her smile didn't.
"And I'll stop you both right there before you start planning our wedding colors..." Lauryn joked, her laughing lips pulling Zori's eyes from Fumie's
gaze.
"...enough about Zori and I. How did you two meet? I bet it is a beautiful story."
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
I was right, wifey. God she hated him! Shemar knew exactly what he was doing when he invited Lauryn to this dinner and despite Fumie’s
constant reassurance that nothing was going on between she and Zori, he was trying to expose her. At the very least he was trying to get her to admit
that there was an attraction there, but that could not happen. So she had been biting her tongue and swallowing her feelings since the night
began, chasing them with alcohol she could only hope would numb how she really felt about this whole situation. All she could really hope was that no
one was paying enough attention to her to notice her...uncharastically sour disposition.
Taking another sip of her drink, she laughed politely at the idea of planning Zori’s wedding to Lauryn. That shit wasn’t funny. Could they please
change the subject to something other than how disgustingly cute Lauryn and Zori were together?...Anything but what Lauryn brought up next. Fumie
smile grew wider, but only to keep herself from the obvious grimace that threatened to take over her face. She hated telling people this story. There
was nothing romantic or cute about the way that she and Shemar met. Sure, she had perfected it so that it sounded good (like everything else in their
lives) but in all honesty, it was a story that started with 19 year old Shemar picking up a 16 year old Fumie in a club she shouldn’t have been in
and getting her pregnant on a Spring Break trip a few weeks later...ugh. She was going to have to take the face she was putting on to a whole
other level.
“Oh!” Fumie put her glass down, trying her damnedest to pull her smile into her eyes so it was believable. She leaned into Shemar, her hand taking
his as she looked at him. “Let me tell it, babe? You know how I love our story.” She didn’t. But she sure as hell didn’t want Shemar to start
talking. He nodded his approval and Fumie spoke.
“Okay, so, you kind of have to know who Shemar and I were back then. We were young and impulsive and passionate about...well everything-,” Fumie
giggled a little, letting herself get carried back to when things were good. Because they were for a little while. He hadn’t always been who he was
now and when she was forced to tell people how the two of them met, she tried to cling to memories of the good. “I took a spur-of-the-moment trip
with my sister to Vegas for All-Star Weekend and Shemar was playing his first year for the Pistons. Not that I knew that, I used to be completely
oblivious when it came to sports, but anyway…”
Fumie told it the way she always did. With excitement in her voice and Shemar’s hand in hers, and she’d even thrown in a couple of longing looks
at the man she married when she got to something sentimental. They met that weekend and Shemar was relentless. When she finally did give him her time
he was a gentleman. She used words to describe him that she hadn’t said in relation to him in YEARS. He was attentive, and loving, and he
practically worshiped her then.
“...And we’re almost 20 years strong.” Fumie finished her story, in a position she hadn’t started in. Shemar had placed his arm around her
somewhere in the middle and his hand was casually palming her ass as she leaned into him. For once they looked like they could stand one another.Hell,
they kind of looked like they were in love. She didn’t know if it was the story and remembering old Shemar, or the drink, or a mix of both, but when
she finished she tilted her face up, her lips pursed for a quick peck that Shemar delivered, his fingers touching her face ever so lightly.
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
He really couldn’t believe how easy it was. If all of this wasn’t a big scheme to catch this overgrown tree looking motherfucker trying
to move in on his wife, Shemar would’ve taken up a career as a matchmaker because Lauryn was the perfect choice! Not only was she fine as hell (a
fact Shemar had peeped over a year ago), but she was smart. “Top of her class at Yale” smart to be exact. And she was driven. If she’d had a
little Asian in her, she would’ve been on Shemar’s “to-do” list a long time ago, but that wasn’t a true loss considering she was serving a
greater purpose here, tonight. Making Fumie jealous as fuck and proving Shemar completely right. In all their years together, he’d never
seen Fumie this gone. Shemar always teased her about how much of a lightweight she was. Even back in the day, her quota never going over two drinks.
But tonight, she was on the winning side of an invisible drinking competition with the table. Everyone: 1, Fumie: 14. He couldn’t help but
chuckle to himself as her glass stayed glued to her hand the entire night, sipping on it whenever a giggle erupted from Lauryn’s side of the table.
Did she think she was hiding it? Yeah, maybe from Zori, who Shemar was beginning to see had almost no idea Fumie was as in love with him as she was.
But him? Please. Shemar could see the green stink lines streaming from every side-eye she directed Lauryn’s way. And the way her eyes darted back
and forth between Zori and Lauryn’s whispered conversation? Come on. It was almost an insult that Fumie had insisted, so strongly, on how much it
was only business when it came to that overgrown nigga. But her husband saw the truth. He saw it all...and he hoped that she could see...just how long
his hand reached and just how easily he could dead her hopes and end her dreams. Because without him? She wasn’t shit. And no shifty-eyed nigga who
dropped his possible affections as soon as he found a better thing was going to change that.
...how did you two meet? I bet it is a beautiful story. Beautiful? Shemar wouldn’t have said all of that. More interesting than his present
married life? Definitely. If he’d seen the present situation that he was married into in the girl that he’d met in the club in Vegas seventeen
years ago, he would’ve told her “no thank you very fucking much” and kept it moving. But his young, dumb ass had been very caught up.
Hypnotized, even, by those caramel cat eyes and the body that even at sixteen, made no fucking sense. She was beautiful. And she was innocent and that
turned his nineteen year old ass on. No. It intrigued him. And when she was finally his, he’d known. He owned the world. Then, the
real shit hit. He skipped out on a rubber and nine months later, reality wasn’t lovey dovey faces, mindblowing sex and feelings anymore. It was
diaper changes at one in the morning, responsibility and...shit he wasn’t even close to wanting to have signed up for. But he trusted his mother,
did what a man would do and married Fumie. For what? A lifetime of regretting her and the life that he skipped out on to be an “honest man”.
Please.
“Oh, Lauryn. Now THAT is a story.” A story that Shemar was more than ready to tell, especially if it meant throwing it in the face of his wife’s
boy toy. But...that same overzealous wife beat him to the punch, her hand falling into his as she feigned excitement...which just really meant
“please God, don’t start talking because you’re going to embarrass me.” He smile down at her as she spoke, playing the part that he played so
well as she reenacted her role as the blushing wife. And the way she played it? She deserved a motherfucking Academy Award. Her voice rose and fell
the way a woman who even cherished the story of the beginning of her relationship would, her words pausing when emotions filled her. And Shemar
couldn’t have been prouder. Because as he laughed at some exaggerated detail of their story, he looked straight in Zori’s eyes and even underneath
all that “stoic” that he seemed to maintain, Shemar saw a flicker of something. Jealousy. With a wink, he chuckled, turning back to
Fumie’s tale of bullshit, nodding in agreement to some detail she’d probably pulled out her ass.
...and we’re almost 20 years strong. Shemar nuzzled her bare shoulder as she leaned further into him, his arm around her, his palm curving
to the shape of that brand new ass she was wearing that night. Her head lifting, his other hand catching the hint that only 20 years of bullshit would
give him and he pecked her waiting lips, his fingers caressing the side of her face.
“And she’s just as fucking beautiful tonight as she was on as day one.” He said as he stared into Fumie's eyes, slathering all that mushy shit
she'd jsut laid on the table with some of his own as he saw Zori shift in his seat out of the corner of his eye.
If there was one good thing about Shemar, it was that he was always willing to play his part. There was never a guarantee that he would play that part
for long, but whenever they had to play the game and put on a show, he didn’t disappoint. Granted, usually she didn’t ask him to speak and all he
really had to do was not look like he hated her, but he did that well. Tonight, he was on 100 and Fumie knew exactly why. She wasn’t the only one
interested in this “happy wife, happy life” bullshit story for a change. He was putting on for Zori. And Fumie could see it was working, her eyes
catching his every now and again through her story. Every time she immediately wanted her lips to stop moving, but that really wasn’t an option.
Doing that would be admitting to Shemar that she had a thing for him and letting Lauryn know she had been lying to her for...hell since they met. Not
that Lauryn mattered to her right now. She was all about Zori tonight and she would have given anything to be able to just admit that. To tell him
that she would rather be telling the story of how they met than how she and Shemar did.
Ugh. Annnnd they were back. Shemar spoke, his fingers still stroking her face as he said something that seemed sweet, but Fumie heard what he was
really saying loud and fucking clear. Just tonight, huh? Always with the backhanded comments from him. Even before they left the house he told her she
looked good...almost as good as one of his underaged dick riders. Fumie allowed her smile to fade as she leaned back into her own chair; carefully as
things were starting to spin for her a little. Her eyes fell on Zori once again as she picked her glass back up.
“Anyway. That’s us. Now we’re just...boring and married-,” Fumie chuckled a little at her own joke and others laughed along politely. She
wouldn’t necessarily say they were boring. Shemar always brought unnecessary drama, but marriage was definitely a shackle she was still forced to
wear. She took another sip of the drink she did not need, finishing it and hoping she wouldn’t need another, but sure she would as Shemar’s hand
came to rest on her thigh beneath the table. She might have dwelled a bit longer on her desire for his hand to be Zori’s instead, but fuck if Shemar
wasn’t opening his mouth to talk again.
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
Zori nodded, making a smile appear on his lips as he couldn't exactly force the words that agreed with Lauryn's to leave his mouth, especially when he
didn't exactly feel that way. It wasn't that he didn't think that a happy marriage was beautiful and from where Lauryn was sitting, Fumie and Shemar
probably looked like the reflection of one. But, Zori knew that what he learned when he was younger would always be true. That if it smelled like
shit...it probably would turn out to be shit. That's what he felt when he listened to Fumie. Like watching them...wasn't real. And maybe, just maybe,
it was the small seed of jealousy that had found a place inside of Zori when he found out Fumie was married, that was growing now, its leaves
stretching out to every part of him, making the green he saw when Fumie kissed Shemar in front of him painful...and confusing.
The confusion. He was confused as he watched Fumie. This wasn't the Fumie that he knew...not that he could say he really knew her as their
relationship was so surface, it might as well have been a goddamn table. But, he couldn't stop feeling like this wasn't her. This was the "so in love
with my husband that my heart might stop beating if he's not near me" her. And she didn't sound like the Fumie he knew from the gym, so removed at
times that he would almost forget that she was just laughing with him. So lonely that she hated being alone with her own thoughts when they'd started
meditating together. And so starved for love that she would look to some man she barely knew for it, just so she could feel something...anything.
Zori looked at his lap at that thought, his eyes avoiding the looks that Fumie had been giving him while she gushed over her husband. Looks of regret.
Of sadness. Looks that said the complete opposite what her lips were saying. Looks that...confused him. He was so fucking confused. So much so that
he'd blanked out of the conversation, that all he heard was white noise and all he saw was Shemar's fingers stroking her face after they'd
kissed....
"You guys are anything but boring and married. I would love a love like yours one day....you know, when I'm not so married to my job." Lauryn's laugh
brought Zori back, the white of the table cloth disappearing as he blinked and Shemar and Fumie's faces came back into view.
"What about you Zori...ever think of settling down?" Lauryn's deep, piercing eyes looked at him as he smirked again, clearing his throat. He
purposefully kept himself from looking at Fumie, afraid that his words might stall with new confusion.
"Of course you want to settle down. I can see it in your eyes man." Shemar interrupted, Zori's will testing him as he fought the furrow in his brow
that signaled his irritation.
"Every man wants to settle down when they find the one. And by 'the one'...I mean the one that can tame you. And by 'you'.... I definitely mean your
dick." Shemar's laugh filled the table, his eyes meeting Zori as he smiled the same slick smile he'd given him earlier. The smile that spoke all sorts
of nonverbals. Just like Fumie, his lips were saying one thing and his eyes were saying another.
"Didn't take long for this one to tame me. Married, yes. Boring? Definitely not." Shemar laughed again, leaning into Fumie as he kissed the side of
her jaw.
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
The entire time Fumie had been sitting in her seat, she’d been trying to figure out the worst part of this situation. Initially, she thought it was
the fact that Shemar was going to be present for her first non-work related activity with Zori. It was dinner was a man she was dying to get to know,
where they wouldn’t have to default to the gym or the foundation, or her training for conversation. It would have been a chance for her to really
get to know him and him to really get to know her, beyond the simple things. She wanted that. She had wanted that since chatting him up in the post
office and she didn’t know exactly why, but something in her was drawn to him. Tonight she was forced to pretend that wasn’t true.
Then she thought the worst part of this night would be Lauryn. Her friend Lauryn. Smart, talented, perfectly-shaped Lauryn who smelled like
peaches and probably tasted like them too. And Fumie could see when she walked in all stunning and shit that Zori couldn’t wait to find out how true
that was. He wanted her. He wanted her the same way he’d wanted Fumie and that shit hurt. Not because she thought Lauryn was any better
than her in any specific way, but because he could have her. Zori could leave this date with her number. He could call her. Court her. Fuck
her. Make her fucking breakfast when they were finished. He could marry her if he wanted to because these two people were single. And tonight, she was
forced to pretend that didn’t bother her... That’s what it was. The worst thing about tonight was the pretending. She had never had to pretend
with him before. Being with him was easy. She was herself; not this facade she had to be when she was with Shemar. Loving, doting, “I’d die
without you” Fumie that held her husband’s hand as she told the story of how they met and kissed him when it was over. Fumie with a love that
people envied.
It took everything she had in her not to scoff at Lauryn’s misguided assertion that she would love a love like theirs one day. She was so wrong.
There was no love here period. She might have made an all too real “joke” about it, but Lauryn continued, asking Zori if he’s thought about
settling down. Again Fumie grew irritated.Was a “settling down” conversation really one to have after knowing someone for less than 2 hours? She
didn’t think so! Or maybe that was her jealousy rearing it’s ugly head again.
She waited for Zori’s response but Shemar spoke for him. He could “see in his eyes” that he wanted to settle down. In Shemar’s head, probably
with his wife which was why they were both being tortured tonight. She really just---oh shit. The plastered smile slipped completely from
Fumie’s face with Shemar’s next words, her head turning in disbelief before she caught herself. Were things not awkward enough? He had to say dick
at the damn dinner table?! “Shemar! What?” She thought she was the drunk one! At least she knew when to stop talking...or did she?
‘’You have to find some chill. Literally no one is interested in our sex life-,” A sex life they didn’t have. Outside of what she’d promised
him the day she wanted lunch alone with Zori, Fumie hadn’t fucked her husband in maybe a month and a half. His sex life was far separate and much
more existant than hers. Something she only kept wishing Zori would change.
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
What!? Shemar’s face fell into feigned surprise at his wife’s annoyance, his smirk spreading into a smile. When it came to Shemar, he
couldn’t help but speak what he knew was on people’s minds! Especially when he knew he wasn’t wrong about it. And just looking at that thirsty
fucker’s eyes when he made his comment, he knew he wasn’t wrong. Zori wanted to be tamed… Unfortunately, he was looking to another
man’s wife to do that job and that shit wasn’t happening. Not on Shemar Kidd’s time. Which was why he was going to keep on talking and telling
the damn truth. He didn’t know why his wife was trying to treat that table like a sanctuary instead of a confessional. They were all consenting
adults who he was positive at one point in their lives had been fucked. So, why the coyness? Oh, because his “prim and proper”, drunk off her ass
wife was still trying to save face for a nigga that had lost interest as soon as he’d seen Lauryn walk through the door. Fuck. That. She could save
face another time when the vodka she was on wasn’t threatening leaking out her ears.
“Come on, wifey.” He said, grinning at her as she stared at him, the permanent smile she’d had glued to her face long gone.
“If there’s one thing that people wanna talk about...it’s sex.” He explained, letting the word “sex” roll off his tongue like the rough,
blunt reality that it was. People liked to play sex to the right, making it this overly romantic, conservative, always missionary fairy tale and that
irritated him to no end. Once upon a time, Fumie actually liked sex. She reveled in it, her sex drive matching his tit for tat...or was it “tit for
tit” as for awhile, girls weren’t just HIS thing… Then, she turned into the raging PRUDE that had just shown its face. Sure, her body looked
years younger (thank God) and that dress was talking loudly about how it just couldn’t WAIT to hit the floor. But her expression? The way she stared
him down because he’d been “too brash”? THAT was his nagging ass wifey. If he ever almost forgot she existed, it didn’t take too long for her
to rear her stuck up ass and ruin a party. And it WAS a party. The best kind, actually. One that Shemar was throwing for himself and everyone else was
fucking invited. And his entertainment? The look on Lauryn’s face at his words (was that a smile?) and Zori nearly choking on his water.
“Fumie know what I’m talking about? Don’t you?” He said, smirking at Fumie as she sucked her teeth, his hand moving up her thigh, gripping it
tighter.
“What about you, Zori?” His matter of fact tone nearly breaking with laughter. “You are talker or a shower?”
Come on, wifey…ughhhh. She remembered when that used to be one of her favorite phrases to hear from him. When she was trying to be the good
girl her parents raised and Shemar was being the bad boy she wanted to give in to. When he was trying to convince her that what he wanted was exactly
what she wanted...because they both knew that was true. Back in the day, she and Shemar had been so in sync that his wants and needs were hers. Her
desires and dreams were his. Sure, they were very different people. Shemar had always been this unstoppable kamikaze, that didn’t take no for an
answer, but that was what she loved about him when they were kids. She needed somebody that never said no after hearing it from her parents at every
turn in her life. She needed somebody who wasn’t afraid to say what he was thinking because he was afraid of being judged. That was a turn on...when
she was 16.
Now, she was sitting at a table with people he would never have to talk to again, but Fumie would see almost daily. He could understand that this
probably wasn’t the best conversation to have with people Fumie would have to continue to work with right? Of course he couldn’t. She heard
herself sigh as he began explaining to her that sex was all people wanted to talk about. Okay. Sure. But her sex? With her husband specifically?
Contrary to what Shemar thought, not everyone thought about his dick as much as he did. That was way too much for a dinner conversation. But how was
Fumie supposed to stop him. Her days of “taming” him were long gone.
She sucked her teeth, rolling her eyes a little as she felt his hand move up her thigh. She side eyed him, a sly smirk appearing as she felt his
fingers start a slow rub at her inner thigh. He was trying to keep her quiet. He knew what thigh play did to her and with as gone as she was off
however many drinks she’d had, it wasn’t going to take much to get her--her teeth caught her bottom lip as his hand creeped higher with
his question to Zori. She wasn’t even sure what the question had been, she was so distracted. Ugh. Why Shemar?
She didn’t want this feeling to stop, just for someone else to be creating it.
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
If there was any doubt in his mind about who Shemar Kidd was, it was all gone now. Zori wasn’t an ignorant man, but he knew the difference between
what he wanted to see and what was honest truth. And the honest truth was that Shemar was a walking, talking, breathing, real-life jealous
dick and all of his intentions were as clear as a cloudless day. The hard part for Zori wasn’t coming to terms with who Fumie’s husband was, but
watching the motherfucker get under his skin...and not react. And he wouldn’t give Shemar the pleasure. No, not for his simple ass. It had taken
years...YEARS for Zori to get to the mindset where he was. Where his body was controlled by his thoughts...far the hell away from the place where he
was when he left Oregon. He had years of peace, building his business, training himself. But now, just like clockwork...here was drama in the form of
a beautiful woman that he couldn’t stop feeling pulled to and that he couldn’t touch that was married to a man he couldn’t stand. And even when
he tried to do right, level out whatever fucked up karma he’d gathered when he was younger, the shit always followed him. Kinda like it was right
now...Shemar’s sights set on him as he tried Zori’s seemingly endless patience with his words...and insinuations. Zori knew what he said in the
spaces and pauses of his jokes and his laughs. You’re fucking my wife… And whether it was true or not...and it wasn’t, Shemar meant to
make him pay for it.
You a talker or a shower? Zori sighed softly, his eyes leaving the empty space over Shemar’s head as they met his eyes. Shemar meant to
really push him with that question that left nothing to the imagination. He wanted to know how Zori was giving it to his wife...he wanted to know how
Zori was fucking Fumie. Well, the clear and honest answer? Not at all. But as Zori was quickly seeing, Shemar was a straightforward man...but he liked
to play games. Games that Zori was neither up for nor did he find amusement in. He would’ve had more respect for the man if he’d just straight up
asked him what the nature of his relationship was with his wife. That was the kind of behavior that deserved a nod. Not this childish shit.
“Neither.” Zori answered simply, Lauryn’s smile turning to Zori as confusion mingled with her expression at his answer.
“Neither? Well…” Shemar laughed, clearly pushing harder for the rise he was expecting out of Zori. “...that sounds...entertaining.” He
laughed again, sarcasm coating his answer.
“No. ‘Neither’ meaning silence is my thing. I like intimacy, which means what I like stays with the person I like it with. So. Neither.”
Finishing his answer, he picked up his glass of water, sipping from it as Shemar stared at him, almost audibly thinking of his reply.
“Oh...well then, since we’re all friends at this table. Who would you...or DO you like it with, Zori?” Zori’s eyes narrowed at Shemar’s
question, a silence falling over the table as the question lingered in the air. Lauryn shifted in her seat, definitely noticing the tension as it was
so thick around them.
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
This was supposed to be a nice dinner. Four adults, holding good conversation over some really good truffle risotto. Shemar had turned it into yet
another pissing match that Zori didn’t want any part of. How many times did Fumie have to tell him that she and Zori worked together. There was
nothing more to it than that, much to her disappointment. He was a stand up guy and Shemar accusing him of having ever touched Fumie, however subtly
he was doing it, was disrespectful...well...She guessed she couldn’t say he’d never touched her. She still thought about their kiss at
the gala. How perfect he smelled, the way his lips tasted, the way his fingers teased her face as he pulled her closer...kind of the way Shemar’s
fingers were teasing her now, but in a whole different place.
Fumie shook her head a bit, trying to clear it so that she could focus. Zori was actually answering Shemar’s ridiculous questions and she needed to
stop it before it went...too...far. She leaned forward a bit, propping her elbow on the table as she rested her chin in her palm. Shemar was
far too close. Was he really trying to finger fuck her in front of Lauryn and Zori in the middle of this crowded ass restaurant? Wasn’t he
making his point clear enough already? He was all but flat out asking how, when, and how often Zori was fucking her. Did he really need to play with
“what was his” in front of the man to prove his idiotic point? Apparently. And her failure to wear panties with this dress were about to make it a
hell of a lot easier for him.
“Come on, babe, you heard him-,” her voice was softer than it had been previously, weaker, and Shemar was the only one that knew why. But she was
speaking up. He heard what Zori said and he was hearing what she was saying. It was time to stop. Stop trying to put his fucking fingers in it and
stop harassing Zo.
“He’s not into sharing. Let it go.”
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
Shemar could feel it...and no, he wasn’t talking about the less than an inch distance between his fingers and the inside of Fumie’s
thighs…”tease” didn’t begin to describe what had been going on under the table, between them for the last couple of minutes. But no, he
wasn’t talking about that. He meant the way Zori was about to lose his shit in front of his date and the woman he WISHED was his. All that resolve
that Zori the Black Ninja attempted to show off in front of Fumie was disappearing as Shemar chipped at it, piece by piece. And he would KEEP chipping
at it until he wore him down. And right when he started to pop off, he’d read him his fucking rights, remind him of the “never gonna be shit”
that he was and have his podunk ass escorted from the premises. That...was going to be the perfect ending to Shemar’s evening. Well, actually the
perfect ending to his evening was Fumie straddling him while Lauryn sat on his face, but hey...small goals. Goals that he’d already begun, his
fingers edging closer to a place he hadn’t visited willingly in months, rathering the presence of less snappy, less nagging and certainly...better
bodied company. But tonight? The way she put a little purr behind her voice whenever she said his name? Oh, he’d be taking that trip with pleasure,
her’s and his. And if Lauryn was the lucky little minx that he’d caught sight of when this dirty talk began, he would gladly accept her as a
“plus one” in their fun, later. But Shemar’s purpose now? Breaking this thirsty ass’s “collected demeanor” and turning a foursome into a
much more pleasant threesome. And after that question? There was nothing left but time and…
Come on, babe, you heard him- His nose flared as he turned to look at Fumie, his eyes connecting with hers. Wasn’t she supposed to be
concentrating on keeping her mouth shut? Wasn’t he giving her enough of a distraction? He guessed not, his fingers sliding fully between her legs,
caressing her quickly before removed his hand, placing it back on her thigh. As expected, she jumped, his smile spreading as she barely got out her
next words.
“You’re right. That was inappropriate.” Leaning closer, his breath caressed the side of her neck. He pecked her there, his hand edging back to
where it’d been before, fingertips pressing at the thighs she clasped together between crossed legs.
“Maybe we should let the love birds talk for awhile…” He whispered, his fingers finally crossing the barrier she’d made for herself, his hand
slipping back into her warmth.
Oops. Was she ruining his fun? Fumie didn’t look away as Shemar’s eyes met hers in a silent demand to shut the fuck up. Him first. The shit he was
doing was childish and he needed to stop. Shemar had no reason to be jealous. Fumie wasn’t fucking Zori and she probably never would. They were
friends...and even if they weren’t Shemar had no right to be jealous either. He slept with anything breathing, under the age of 25. Would it be so
bad for Fumie to occasionally get her needs met too? Shemar sure as hell wasn’t interested in sleeping with her...usually. Tonight seemed different,
especially as his fingers finally slipped into her, quickly pulling out again, causing her to jump a bit in the middle of her statement. She cleared
her throat, suppressing the small moan she felt building, before she finished. Zori wasn’t into sharing. That was her way of saying he
wasn’t willing to fuck her because she was married. Was Shemar listening? Of course not. Despite his words.
Leaning closer to her he whispered, his breath against her neck. His fingers were moving closer to her center again and as his lips met the skin of
her neck she allowed herself to sigh, her eyes closing briefly. Fuuucccckkkk him for this. Fumie tried clenching her thighs together, but it
was no use, his fingers slipping back into her and staying this time, caressing her from the inside. He’d said something, but damn it if Fumie knew
what it was. She was in a zone, the rest of the table disappearing, clouded by what Shemar was doing ever so subtly to her under this table. She
couldn’t keep this up. She couldn’t keep the fantasy of her proper, perfect married life with Shemar in tact while having the fantasy she
currently was.
Because the fingers inside of her right now didn’t belong to Shemar. They belonged to Zori. Zori was responsible for the wet being created between
her legs right now. He was the reason her breathing seemed to be catching with each stroke. He was the one she was kissing, her lips meeting his once,
then again, and then staying as her tongue slipped beyond them, tasting him…
Shemar who?
I was a heavy heart to carry but, he never let me down.
When he held me in his arms my feet never touched the ground.
A stupid man would’ve questioned Shemar’s actions, would’ve wondered who the hell he really thought he was. Might’ve even asked him to his
face. But Zori knew better and he grew up knowing the importance of not questioning idiots because they’ll only answer you in ignorance. Besides,
Zori knew who Shemar believed he was. Untouchable. That there was nothing that could touch him because he was the great motherfucking Shemar
Kidd. Misconception. But Zori knew that a “friendly” dinner at a restaurant wasn’t the best place to prove Shemar’s theory wrong. To
tell him that regardless what he thought or felt, there wasn’t enough command, nor bass in his fucking voice for Zori to bend to his will. He
wasn’t on a damn menu, Shemar wasn’t ordering him to do shit. But he didn’t have to tell him that, Fumie did it for him, quelling the
conversation and pulling Shemar’s attention back to her.
“Shemar’s just being an ass…” Lauryn said beside him, tearing Zori’s eyes from watching Fumie and Shemar. “...he’s been allowed to be
one for so long that it sort of...stuck.” She gave another giggle that sounded so sweet, Zori’s eyes fully left Fumie, his attentions completely
on Lauryn. She wore the smile that he’d seen her flash when Shemar started discussing himself and his dick...which seemed like the same, damn thing.
Amusement, Zori guessed. The kind of smile that a woman who was completely sure of herself smiled in an uncomfortable situation. Because Lauryn seemed
like the kind of woman that was never uncomfortable, the sureness in her smile spreading to the way she leaned her head to the side, biting her lip a
little.
“I think your desire for intimacy with your partner is beautiful. Do not listen to Shemar.” Lauryn concluded, lifting her wine glass to her lips,
Zori’s eyes lingering before he looked away again.
“I’m not, don’t w-” He answered simply, his words stopping as he felt her fingers at his chin. He let her turn his face towards him, the
surprise still in his eyes as she looked from his lips to the rest of his face until she met his gaze.
“You’re a gorgeous man.” Her lips pursed as she nibbled them again. Zori felt his heart speed slightly, his jaw tightening and relaxing.
“...and I’m not a shy woman. My life is too fast and busy for that.”
Her face drew closer to his as she spoke, his heart thudding against his rib cage now, blood pooling in places that made him thank God he was dark
skinned, but curse the fact that he was a man. He fell into her pause, which was just empty enough to give both of them the moment to appreciate it.
Her, because it gave her time to give him a chance to make a move. Him, because it allowed him to fill his thoughts with unspoken chants. Because as
beautiful as she was, as close as she was, as sweet as she smelled...this meant trouble. His head was already consumed with rights and wrongs that
night, his heart feeling confused. It wasn’t a good combination of things. For him, or for Lauryn.
“So, I’m going to say it plainly.” She licked her lips before she spoke again...except she didn’t speak. Her eyes rounded as her full lips
curled into a...smile? Zori followed her line of sight, landing on Fumie and Shemar. His expression darkened at what he saw, which wasn’t anything
out of the ordinary. Yeah, bad manners and out of place, but no...it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Shemar to love his wife. Or kiss her the way he
was and Zori was sure he was touching her too, with the way her body moved in her chair. His gaze lingered longer than it should have, although they
were attracting eyes from others in the restaurant. Disgust and surprise played on a lot of faces, but jealous played on Zori’s. Because no matter
how much he’d denied it or felt insulted when Shemar implied it…he would’ve given anything to feel Fumie’s kiss again and he would’ve
traded the world to be able to touch her.
“Okay. Well!” Lauryn took her napkin from her lap and placed it on the table. “As they’re...preoccupied...you want to get out of here? Leave
them with the bill?”
With a final glance, his eyes rolling as Fumie’s soft moan hit his ears, Zori pushed his chair back from the table.
“Gladly.”
"The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances."
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