“Wait, no, your name is Samuel…Samuel…” Nika corrected the tall, gorgeous specimen standing in front of her with the knowing smile on his face. He shook his head and asked, “Why are you here again?”
Nika quickly replied, “To interview Stephen McDowell about…oh…wow.” She put two and two together.
“Yeah, Nika Noble,” he started, “my real name is Stephen and I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you all those years ago.”
Nika stared at him in disbelief, her cheeks burned red from embarrassment. She had fallen prey to a guy who didn’t have the balls to tell her who he really was, and all that time ago when she thought she’d found the guy she could possibly marry one day, he told her what she now knew was a lame lie about being picked up for a position overseas. And him leaving had broken her heart, so she started messing around with Kyle, and eventually began dating him.
“No. This is unreal. I’m off this story.” Nika muttered as she turned and started walking off. Stephen sped up after her and gently grabbed her arm. She looked down at his hand, then up at him. He looked her dead in the eyes, like he was begging for forgiveness.
“Please, stay on the story. It’ll give me a chance to explain. Everything.”
Nika considered it for a second; she could hear whatever it was that made him keep his true identity from her as well as why he left so abruptly. Seeing Stephen had brought back feelings she hadn’t experienced in so long, true feelings. He was the only guy she’d ever been with who made her feel alive, but she now knew that it was all based on a big lie. She yanked her arm back.
“No. You don’t get to just walk back in my life for five seconds so I can write a stupid story about your vain ass. Forget my name.” Nika turned and fled the scene like a hit and run, leaving Stephen standing there, mouth half open and dumbstruck.
The sun was still shining brightly, refusing to hide behind a rain cloud and turn the weather into how Nika felt. She wished that it would rain to at least get a cooler temperature, even if she couldn’t get a chance to let the rain drops wash away the tears hiding behind her eyes. She slipped into the driver seat of her Acura coupe and took out her cell phone. She dialed Rick’s off-duty cell number.
“Yello?” Rick answered the phone breathless, like he was in the middle of something nasty.
“It’s Nika. Look, I need you to give this story to someone else.”
“Uh, what story?”
“The story you gave me today, Rick.”
There was a pause and the sound of shuffling on his end of the line.
“Oh, the rich boy story. Why do you want off?”
Nika used everything she had not to shout at him. “It’s…it’s a conflict of interest.”
“Alright, we’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.”
That answer sufficed for the time being.
“Thanks.” Nika hung up before Rick had a chance to respond. She held her phone against her lips. She tried to process the situation, but she needed more time. She had no idea how she’d be able to shake him without closure, but there was no way she was meeting with him after all he’d put her through.
******
“Erika.”
Nika stood in the doorway of their apartment and addressed her roommate who was sitting on the couch knitting like she wasn’t in her mid-twenties. “You won’t believe what happened to my life today.”
Erika raised her head to look at Nika through her glasses.
“What? Wait, let me guess,” Erika interrupted before Nika could answer, “it has to do with you, Kyle, and something about a copy room? Am I right?” She began knitting again.
Nika cocked her head at Erika and closed the front door as she walked in and sat down across from Erika.
“Haha, no. Does the name Samuel mean anything to you?”
Erika looked over at Nika and dropped her needle and yarn.
“I saw him today.”
“You’re kidding?”
Nika shook her head.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be fighting overseas or something? For like four years?”
“Contracting defense job. Anyway, long story, short it was all a lie.”
“I don’t get it.” Erika said after a minute and looked as confused as she sounded.
“Well,” Nika told Erika about the story and going to the hotel and how Samuel was actually Stephen and their brief encounter.
“Wow, Nika, you have to see him.” Erika urged.
“Hells not! He won’t get the pleasure.”
“You deserve to know why he just up and left you, and why he lied to you, and why he basically helped screw up your love life.”
“Thanks, for that last part. You hit it on the head.” Nika said sarcastically. “I don’t know how to be in front of him without slapping him. You don’t know how hard it was to keep my hands to myself at the Brinkley.”
Erika muttered, “I bet it was extra hard.”
“Oh! And the icing on the cake, he’s engaged to some other richy Richla…Richia…some rich bitch!” Nika threw her arms up.
“Oh. Well, maybe you shouldn’t see him…or, better yet, see him and get the story then write the story and mention how he’s a pig.”
Nika lowered her head, “I wish. Then he could sue the paper and I’d lose my job and be further on the shitty end of the stick. I’ll figure it out.”
Erika gave Nika a consolatory pout as she sulked off into her room.
The coming dusk created a pretty purple-hued sky along the horizon. Nika stared out of her window at nothing. The lonely evening aroused the same loneliness that Nika felt every time she caved in and contacted Kyle. She took out her phone and slid it between her fingers, contemplating whether or not to call Kyle; whether or not to let him use her and just throw her away.
Her phone vibrated and startled her, jolting her from the thoughts of another big mistake. She studied the screen. It was a media message that contained an image of a Polaroid picture she hadn’t seen in over 2 years. It was of Stephen and herself, laid up on a beach underneath a sunset not unlike the one she was witnessing at that very moment. The smile he had on his face while looking up at Nika seemed so real, so loving. The way she looked at him wasn’t any different. The only difference was that hers was a look of love and his was a look of…she didn’t even know. She remembered that night like it was playing on a projector at a drive-in on the back of her mind; it was the first time they’d ever made love.
“No! Stop it!” Nika shouted between giggles. Samuel was holding her up by the midsection and swinging her around in the crashing waves. He kissed her neck as he set her down in the wet sand.
“You’re so crazy!” Nika playfully hit him on the chest.
“What are you talking about? I’m so confused.” Samuel began tickling her. She broke off into a run up the shore.
“I’m gonna get you!” Sam shouted after her, “And when I do I’m gonna put the tickle down on you!” He finally caught up to her and gently dragged her down in the sand. Nika rolled over and laid perpendicularly on his chest, looked into his eyes and smiled the biggest smile she’d ever felt on her face. A flash went off next to them. They looked up to see a an older woman with a Polaroid camera hanging around her neck, waving a picture quickly back and forth.
“You two looked so happy, I thought you might want permanent proof of it to look back on in the future.” Nika smiled at the woman, who handed her the picture and walked away, her linen dress flowing with the breeze.
Before Nika could say anything, Samuel grabbed her face and kissed her deeply, tasting her tongue and breath, his fingers tangled up in her hair. Nika returned the kiss, and pressed into his body; she tried to become one with him. She stood up, grabbed his hand. They looked at each other knowingly. She, still holding on to his hand, led him towards a nearby pier. They walked off into the darkness, the only thing guiding their steps was the light from the moon.
Underneath the pier, Samuel laid their large towel down on top of the sand. Nika unhooked the top of her bikini, unleashing her tight, supple breasts. Her nipples were hard, yearning to be touched. Samuel stared at them, excitement flowing through his veins, down to his loins. He shifted towards her and felt her and fondled her softly. Nika let out a small sigh as she tried not to completely melt in his arms. He nibbled on her neck, lightly biting with the tips of his teeth. The nibbles turned to kisses and he spread them all over her neck and then her lips and then her chest. He got on his knees and started sucking her reddish-brown, tingling nipples one at a time, softly, churning his tongue all around them. Nika tilted her head back, enjoying every second of that present. She ran her hands up the back of his head, imagining his golden hair between her fingers, trying to encourage him to suckle harder. He pulled away, then pulled her down to the level of his face, and drew her in to his lips again. She licked his bottom lip, then she found his tongue and sucked on it, letting her own tongue tease it. She enjoyed the soft, wet, bumpy surface of it, and let it massage her until it turned numb.
He picked Nika up by the waist and laid her on the towel, his body on top of hers, their lips still glued together. Samuel pulled away from her yearning, quivering lips and licked her body, slowly, down to her navel. He sat back on his knees and slowly pulled off her bikini bottoms. He then gently opened her legs. He played with her clit then licked his fingers and gently slid his index into her opening. She writhed in pleasure. He used his thumb to rub her clit while easing his finger in and out, in and out. He brought his head down and replaced his thumb with his tongue and licked her clit, then he switched it up to sucking. Nika’s moans mixed in with the sound of the waves crashing into each other. She grabbed a hand full of his hair and kept massaging his head as he massaged her. She felt that feeling sneaking up on her, slowly, as long as Samuel kept doing what he was doing.
He took one last suck of her clit. He was ready. He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He took his dick out, but before he could move any further, Nika sat up and grabbed it. She bent down and put it in her mouth, wetting it with her saliva and running her tongue up and down his shaft. She sat up and laid back down on the towel, watching Samuel as he gently inserted himself into her opening. He kept easing in and out, until he got as deep as he could go. He rocked his body sideways and forward and backward and around and around, deeply, deeply. Nika wanted to grab him, grab at something to hold him tight. It felt like if she didn’t somehow get anchored down, the ecstasy she was experiencing would make her shoot of into the stars. She wanted to let out loud moans of pleasure, but the ocean had gone silent. She sat up and pushed him so that he sat tilted back. She wrapped her legs around his lower half and began moving her hips back and forth into his. His dick hit her spot at every move, and she couldn’t contain herself any longer. She let out a loud moan. Out somewhere in the distance, they heard a dog mimic it, snapping them out of their groove. They looked at each other and laughed, heartily. Samuel reached in front of him and grabbed her head and kissed her, then whispered “I love you” in her ear. The words and the feeling of his breath so close to her made her shiver. It was at that moment that she knew he was something special.
Nika pushed him all the way down onto the towel and began to ride him. She squeezed herself around him every time she rose, and then fell even deeper. That feeling came over her. The waves of pleasure took her out of that world and into space; all she could see were stars behind her eyelids. She sank down on top of Samuel. She came beautifully; the pulsations of her insides in turn did the same for him. He pulled out and sprayed his love all over Nika’s breasts, his dick hard and throbbing.
Nika’s chest heaved up and down as she tried to catch her breath. Samuel wiped her off with his t-shirt and then himself. Nika sat up behind him and put her arms around his neck as he stared off into the distance. She whispered, “I love you, too” in his ear.
Nika’s phone vibrated again, and once again, it jolted her from her memories. It was a text message from the number Stephen’s publicist gave her.
Please meet with me.
Nika hesitated before responding. She did deserve to know everything, but what if he lied again? There was no way of knowing. At the end of the day, Pandora’s box was already opened; there was no way to go back in time and erase their encounter. She typed back:
Okay
