Page 24 of Bending The Rules

“Like you want to put your face in her pussy,” Joseph said, sliding his empty plate away from him as he nodded. “Same way I felt about Devyn. Hits you on a spiritual level, doesn’t it?”

“Hell yeah,” Jason agreed, a contented grin spreading over his face. “Reese, with that smart ass mouth… I justknewher mean ass would have the sweetest… man… I’ll holla at y’all later. I’m about to go see what my girl is doing.”

Joseph chuckled as he stood. “Great minds think alike.”

When they were both standing, they looked at me expectantly, then both looked away like they suddenly realized the problem.

“Our bad, bruh,” Jason said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Didn’t mean to rub it in your face… that we’re about to go get pussy rubbed in our face… and you aren’t.”

Joseph put a hand on my other shoulder. “I mean… maybe you can catch Toni.”

“That’s not helpful assholes.”

They both laughed as they walked off, and Jason called over his shoulder, “Who said anything about trying to be helpful?”

When they were gone, I propped my elbows on the table and dropped my head into my hands, thinking about the conversation. Underneath the roasting and ragging, there actuallyhadbeen salient points of truth put down by my brothers.

Maybe Iwasseeing Toni through different eyes.

Or… no maybe. I justwas.

And I wasn’t sure what to do with that.

The line between friends and lovers was something we’d never crossed. Never even considered before, honestly. But the fact remained that if it weren’t for her mother’s interruption, I would have kissed Toni.

And then what?

We werebarelyfriends again now – if at all. Just because we’d talked, and she wasn’t mad anymore, didn’t mean that our friendship would pick back up where it left off –Rule #9: Your ass is stuck with me,be damned.

I’d still betrayed her trust, even if my hands were tied. I’d kept things from her, left her in the dark, misled her… all of which went against the unwritten rules we’d created over the years. Even if the anger had been gone for years, that didn’t mean she wanted anything to do with me outside of friendly interactions in public.

I had no idea where we stood, onanylevel. And that made the sexual attraction even more of an enigma for me. Recognizing that a woman was attractive was no big deal. But finding a womansexyhad always been – at the risk of sounding obnoxious – deeper than that. Looks were a factor, but there were other elements – sense of humor, intelligence, confidence, personality, etc – that went into me allowing my mind to wander to other things.

Like wondering if she would be open to letting me bury my face between her thighs. Things like that.

I shook my head.

Not only had Toni and I never entertained romantic involvement as a possibility, she wasengaged.If I was going to focus on anything, it needed to be getting any sexual thoughts out of my head, and rebuilding our friendship. Now that we were back in what seemed to be a good place, I could progress with what the original goal had been anyway.

Getting my friend back.

- & -

Toni really did know how to throw a party.

I mean, a book signing.

I’d been to alotof signings over the years of my writing career, and could honestly say that I’d never,everbeen to one quite like this.

The decorations, the food, the liquor, the sheer amount ofpeople. With everything she’d done, things felt more like a party where I was the guest of honor, than any of the signings I’d been to in the past.

I’d been a little uncertain about Toni’s decision to hold the signing at night, past the hours the store would have usually been open. They closed the doors early to set up, and once I actually saw the store set up, I didn’t doubt her anymore.

The low shelves had been draped in cloths, and the table displays moved to make room for people. Huge banners and posters for my books were on display everywhere, and according to the posted signs, books by Justin Wright were the only ones available for purchase tonight. The decorations were all in rich blue, varying between mattes and metallics, creating a plush, grown-up vibe that wasn’t at all what I’d expected.

And she didn’t just stick me at a table up front. I was encouraged to walk around, and mingle, instead of being anchored to one spot. Again, this felt more like a party than a signing, and any dread I’d been feeling melted away in this atmosphere.

With the music going, familiar faces mixed into the crowd, and a jack and coke in my system, it was easy to just get…comfortable, and relax.

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