Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux Read online

  K.C. Brooks was one of the most well-known police officers in the region and one of the most sought after single beaus in Memphis. He had been on the cover of Premier magazine as one of Memphis’ Top 20 Sexiest Men and was a highly respected, decorated officer. All the attention that he had gotten over the years might have gone to his head if it wasn’t for his father who was a well-known reverend and equally high profile, retired top cop. Plus there was his best friend Nicola, who enjoyed the limelight with him.

  This was one more reason that Trina was more than happy to be back with Brooks. He was all that her heart had ever wanted. He was financially independent, educated, beautiful and a very skilled lover. The only negative thing about Brooks was his inability in the past to commit. But before they had reunited officially this time, Trina had made him swear to a completely monogamous relationship, and hesitantly Brooks had agreed.

  Ivy looked over at Trina as they pulled up to Brooks’ home and shook her head. “A few friends, huh?” Ivy checked her makeup. “This looks more like a few hundred friends.”

  “Well, he is popular,” Trina said anxious to get into the house and see her man.

  Stepping out of the car, excited and somewhat nervous, Ivy felt the cold air greet her. Shivering, she dashed to the front door where a huddle of men stood drinking beers and laughing, visibly guarding the even larger group gathered inside the home.

  “Hey Trina,” one of the men said instantly identifying her as she made her way through the small crowd. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Ivy,” Trina said pulling Ivy through the half-drunken mob. “Where’s Brooks?”

  “Inside waiting for you.” There was a tense silence. “I’m Lee,” the tall young Asian man said extending his hand to greet Ivy slowing down the two women while another officer slipped inside the house to let Brooks know that his main squeeze had arrived.

  “Hello,” Ivy said offering her hand. He was cute enough.

  “Lee’s married,” Trina said moving towards the door. “Say hello to Rena and the kids tonight when you get home, Lee.”

  “I will, Trina,” Lee said taking a swig of his Bud Light.

  As they entered the oak and stained glass double doorway of Brooks’ home, Ivy took off her coat and passed it to Trina to hang up in the coatroom.

  “I swear Lee is such a dog.” Trina smiled at Ivy. “But he’s cute though, isn’t he?”

  “I guess,” Ivy said looking back outside at Lee one last time.

  “Whatever. You know that he’s fine.”

  Ivy followed Trina through the long corridor and another small crowd to the kitchen where Brooks was talking on his cell phone and stirring a large pot of spaghetti. He looked up and smiled revealing his large dimples.

  “Hey baby,” Brooks said taking off his apron. “I’m surprised to see you so early.” The officer that had informed Brooks of Trina’ arrival laughed slyly as he excused himself from the room.

  “You know that I had to come see you,” Trina said kissing him on his full rose colored lips.

  Ivy admired the two for a moment. Trina was always happiest with Brooks. He had stolen her heart when she was only a sophomore in college and put her through hell for a long time having already gone through the college experience and moved on to larger more complex circles. In the past, Trina had caught Brooks in lies and with other women, but she was determined to stay with him. She felt that since she was the only one that he had ever brought home to meet his mother, she would be the one he would eventually marry.

  Now after many apartments and roommates, Brooks was buying his first home at age twenty-eight. It boasted four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a pool and a dog name Rico, an a brand new all black, leather interior Tahoe truck that was parked in the garage. For Brooks, it was just the beginning, but for Trina it was the end to a very long chase. She was extremely proud of Brooks and all his accomplishment and was more than ready to control his entire life. Oddly enough, it seemed that Brooks didn’t mind her ambitions to tame him.

  Trina and Brooks embraced joyfully acting as though they had been soul-mates from birth. Ivy sighed to herself. She knew that they would be arguing before the night was over. It was strange though, arguing didn’t seem to affect their willingness to forgive and forget. And that was something that she admired about them too.

  “Ivy, what’s up girl,” Brooks said finally after making Trina feel overly welcomed.

  “Nothing much. I just thought I would come out and enjoy your party for a while.” Ivy smiled.

  “Well, it’s good to have you. Mi casa e tu casa.” Brooks grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and passed it to a lady officer who was hugging Trina. “I heard about what your fiancé did. That was messed up, but don’t worry. He’ll come back. We all do.”

  “Brooks!” Trina snapped. “Why did you have to bring that up? She’s trying to have a good time here, not be reminded of the man.”

  “Girl, mind your business. This conversation is between Ivy and me. Besides, bringing her here won’t make her forget about him. Am I right?” Brooks turned to Ivy, but she had already walked back into the crowded den. “Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know. You probably ran her off,” Trina said shaking her head.

  Ivy had to admit, Brooks had great taste. There was a beautiful bronze sculpture in the living room that resembled Trina and a Black art piece above the fireplace of a man holding up and woman on his shoulders. It appeared to be an original of the local African artist, Yrene. The entire downstairs had been tiled in mauve marble and accented with large area rugs and oversized contemporary furniture.

  “Care to dance?” a voice said behind her. Ivy turned around to see a tall dark young man still in his uniform bottoms and a white undershirt holding a small tumbler of Jack and coke.

  “Sure,” Ivy said taking his hand as he led her back down into the den where the rest of the guests were dancing.

  Throwing her purse on the table, Ivy began to move from left to right following his body. He couldn’t stay on beat well, but he was great to look at going back in his dance repertoire to the butterfly. Oh God! Ivy thought to herself as he went down to the ground and came back up again gaining more momentum as the crowd cheered for him. She just moved to the beat afraid to do any more considering he was cutting a rug all by himself. Grabbing her by the waist, he gyrated uncontrollably causing Ivy to laugh aloud. He looked ridiculous, but she was having a ball! She danced nearly three straight songs with him before she retired to the kitchen to grab something to drink where Brooks and several other officers were engaged in a heated poker game.

  “Where have you been?” Trina said putting down her drink.

  “Dancing,” Ivy said wiping the sweat from her brow. “Brooks, where is your restroom?”

  “There is one connected to the den, but you can go upstairs to the one in the hallway. I’m sure no one’s using it.”

  “Thanks,” Ivy said grabbing a bottle of water from his refrigerator.

  “Hey Brooks. Who is that?” Nicola asked watching Ivy as she walked out of the kitchen.

  “Ivy. Trina’s best friend.” Brooks winked at Nicola suggestively.

  “Ivy could definitely be my best friend,” Nicola said playing a card.

  “She’s engaged.” Trina said sitting back down beside Brooks. “Sorry. You’ll have to find someone else to be your prey.”

  “Yeah? Well, if she’s married then where’s the ring?” Nicola asked taking a sip of his beer.

  “They broke up,” Brooks said looking at Trina. “She’s a free agent now. I’ll introduce you when she comes back down, Nicola. Trina can’t run everybody.” He kissed her playfully on her cheek.

  When Ivy walked out of the bathroom, Trina met her at the stairwell with a small plate of spaghetti and a strange look in her eyes. Giving the plate to Ivy, she whispered in her friend’s ear.

  “Brooks is about to introduce you to his partner, Nicola. Brace yourself for this one. He thinks that he’s smoo
th, but trust me. He ain’t shit.”

  “Why does he want to meet me?” Ivy asked tasting the food. She didn’t realize how hungry she was until right then.

  “He wants to add you to his collection, probably. Brooks told him you and Grey had broken up. Just smile, be cautious and brush him off afterwards. Do not take him serious. Now come on before they get suspicious. They’re alone in the living room.”

  “Damn, they have it all planned out, don’t they?” Ivy said chuckling.

  “Girl, you just don’t know. Just remember what I said.”

  “Yeah…yeah. He’s not worth shit. Well, let’s play the game,” Ivy said throwing her hair off her shoulder. She might as well do something interesting; there was nothing else exciting in her life at the moment.

  As the two entered the empty living room, Ivy was expecting to see a less than outstanding, cocky officer waiting for her to arrive like some co-ed call girl, but instead they were greeted by only Brooks, who was counting the money he had won only moments earlier in a shady game of spades.

  “Where’s Nicola?” Trina asked as she sat beside Brooks on the couch.

  “Oh, he had to run to the restroom, too,” he said motioning at the loveseat for Ivy. “Have a seat, Ivy. He’ll be in here in a minute.”

  “How much did you make?” Trina eyed the wad of money as he put it away.

  “Enough.” He looked at her for a brief moment. “What I want to know is who told you to put on that short dress?”

  “You like it?” Trina smiled cunningly.

  “Yes, I like it, but somethings are meant for the bedroom.”

  “So let’s take this to the bedroom.” Trina bit Brooks’ bottom lip.

  “We’ll talk about this in a minute,” Brooks said pinching her side.

  “Thank you,” Ivy said sighing. She really didn’t feel like seeing them carry on all night, and why did she have to get stuck on the love seat with Shaft?

  “Boy, I was wondering what was keeping you so long in that bathroom,” Brooks said smiling at Nicola. Brooks knew that Trina hated every minute of his match making, especially with Nicola who Trina loathed most of all.

  “This is Ivy, Trina’ friend. Ivy this is Nicola, my best friend and the head gangster of the Memphis Narc-T.A.C.T. special ops team.”

  “Hi,” Nicola said extending his large masculine hand to Ivy.

  “Hello.” Ivy looked up stunned. A shy smile crept across her lips as she took his hand and made immediate eye contact. “Nice to meet you,” she said trying not to stare too hard into his hazel brown eyes that hid flirtatiously under his long curling eyelashes. Oh, how she loved men with big brown eyes!

  “The pleasure’s all,” Nicola said sitting down beside her on the love seat. “Man, Brooks. If I had known we were going to be in the presence of such beautiful women, I would have definitely been more presentable tonight.” He looked at Ivy again and smiled. “You ladies will have to excuse me for still being in work clothes.”

  “No need to blow smoke up our ass so early in the evening,” Trina said attacking Nicola.

  “Damn, baby,” Brooks said trying to hold back his laughter. Trina did hate Nicola in a genuine, unmistakable way.

  “You’re excused,” Ivy said to Nicola laughing and trying to avoid his eyes again.

  As Nicola grabbed a beer out of the cooler that sat across from him, Ivy had a chance to look at his muscular legs bulging in his cargo style black uniform pants and black SWAT lace up boots. Trina was right about their uniform, and he did wear it well. He had an amazing physique, huge sculpted arms, chiseled chest and wide back adorning a black cotton t-shirt that read “Cobra”. She could see now why Trina had taken the time to warn her. He could potentially be trouble.

  Nicola had mastered the art of detection many years ago and could tell that Ivy was looking at him. But he allowed her to sweep his body quickly assessing all of his assets in hopes of her full approval. The shy grin that she tried hard to control confirmed her attraction to him. He liked her already, and she had barely spoken. He opened his beer and smiled again bearing the dimples in his cheeks and the deep one in his chin.

  “Would you like a beer,” Nicola said turning closer towards Ivy. Just how far would she let him get by the end of the night?

  “No, thank you.” Ivy said awkwardly. She wasn’t a big drinker. Was he?

  “You just look hot in that turtleneck,” he said observing her rather large and perky breasts. That statement had two potential meanings.

  “I’m fine.” Her eyebrow rose slightly.

  Yes, you are, Nicola thought inwardly as he watched her closely. Nearly every woman in Brooks’ place tonight was in a low cut blouse and a high cut skirt showing everything they had and wanted to share. But this one was in a turtleneck and jeans. To him, that was a delightful tease in itself. No matter what she wore though, there was no hiding her heart-shaped ass or that adorably small waist. And her hair was so….

  “Nicola, pass me a beer, man,” Brooks said interrupting Nicola’s thoughts.

  Just what is he anyway, Ivy thought to herself quietly. Nicola had an awfully dark olive coloring to be a through and through white boy, but he was far too fair to be black. Was he Mediterranean, Hispanic, what? He had beautiful black hair that had small natural curls throughout it. His face was chiseled with a strong jaw line, a perfectly constructed nose, a dimple in his chin, wide, full, rose-colored lips that were shaped like a heart and a clean-shaven face baring a hard-working tan. He had beautiful cold black eyebrows that were naturally arched and his curling eyelashes hid hazel brown eyes that felt like they burned through her.

  “So, Ivy what do you do?” Nicola said placing his hand on her leg playfully.

  “I’m a graduating-senior at Bryton-Ritz University and the senior manager of African American collegiate marketing at Yveson and Letehwich.” Her response sounded scripted for an interview, and she looked away embarrassed as she heard Trina giggle. She knew that she would hear about that later.

  “Sounds like you’re a very busy young woman.” Within minutes Nicola had already analyzed her enough to know she was uptight and conservative. Republican?

  “Yeah, you could say that,” Ivy said taking another sip of her water. She was beginning to really tense up. Maybe she needed something stronger to drink than water? If she didn’t calm down soon, she would begin to sweat under her arms. It was a horrible nervous reaction that she could neither control nor conceal.

  Realizing Ivy was uncomfortable, Nicola turned to her. “Relax,” he said putting his hand on her balled up fist.

  “I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Ivy said looking down at her fists. It was a yet another nervous habit of hers when she became uncomfortable. “I guess, I just wasn’t expecting there to such an intimate setting tonight.” She looked at Trina.

  “This isn’t intimate.” Nicola chuckled at her remark and looked at Brooks. Where had they found this girl?

  “For someone that’s been in a relationship for eight years with the same guy and not gone on absolutely one outside date this is very intimate.” Ivy smiled nearly breathless from her pour out.

  Nicola laughed silently shaking his head in amazement at Ivy. She was a real piece of work. Green as money and probably as tight as grandma’s grip.

  “Five years?” Nicola said as he looked down in his empty bottle. “Damn, Brooks do we know anyone down at the precinct that’s not married that’s been in a relationship five years?” He tried to slip out a sly burp.

  “Hell no,” Brooks said getting up out of his chair and grabbing Trina by the hand. “My own parents weren’t married for five years.” It was clear exaggeration, but he would go along with his partner for face sake.

  “Where are we going?” Trina asked grabbing Brooks’ hand and giving him a mischievous look.

  “I need to show you something.” Brooks kissed Trina’ neck. “We’ll be back. You two can keep each other company.” He pointed at Ivy and Nicola.

  Ivy loo
ked up alarmed. She did not want to be left alone with this…Neanderthal, but alas her cares where in vain. Trina did not even look Ivy’s way. Too involved in what Brooks was whispering in her ear, she walked out of the room with his arms wrapped around her waist. “Ivy, grab a beer,” Brooks said pointing at Nicola.

  “So, it looks like they left us in each other’s care,” Nicola said trying to break the ice with Ivy at Brooks’ queue. Finally able to direct his full attention to her, he stared at her for a long moment before setting down his now finished beer.

  “How many of those have you had?” Ivy asked trying to ignore the strong vibe of sexual attraction coming from him.

  “A twenty-four pack maybe. Don’t worry. I’m alright.” Nicola grabbed her hand softly and caressed it. She didn’t even know that he was looking at her nails. He hated to see women with chopped up, brittle nails. Most men usually had a physical pet peeve that they harbored for women. Nails were his. A woman that couldn’t even keep her hands up didn’t usually hold his attention for too long, but Ivy passed the test.

  “Don’t try to put the moves on me just because your partner is in there about to get some, and you feel left out.” Ivy pulled her hand away and hoped that her response would break Nicola’s concentration on whatever he was thinking about.

  “Did I ask you for some? No, I did not. Someone is a little too presumptuous.” He smiled impishly. Maybe she wasn’t as green as she appeared.

  “In the last five minutes, you have put your hand on my leg once, caressed my hands and looked at my breast at least ten times. I hardly think that presumptuous is the word I would use. No, I think the best word would be precautious.”

  “Tell me about it.” Nicola took a long breath and looked around the room. She definitely was no bimbo, which was bad for the mood he was trying to set. How in the hell was he going to get laid debating adverbs? He looked at her and smiled, and casually she smiled back. He was almost unsure of how to come at her now that she had just given her sexual harassment speech.