Read Online Between Friends by D. L. Sparks - Free Book Online Page A

perfectly. He sweat caused some of the short wispy curls to hug her hairline. She was short and put together, but she wasn’t one to be messed with either. I learned that from running around with her in college. We were always up in somebody’s dorm, cussing out a chick for one reason or another. Usually, it was over a rumor that had made its way back to her. Dionne was into women, had been since high school, so it was never over a man; but the relationships she was in and out of with women seemed to cause just as many problems as a heterosexual relationship.
    I turned to make my way to the back when I was stopped in my tracks by a slurred, gravelly voice.
    â€œHey, Miss Idalis! What I gotta do to get a dance?”
    I smiled at Mr. Lewis as I walked by. I scanned his appearance. His salt-and-pepper hair, scruffy beard, and crooked smile were endearing. His wife passed, over a year ago, from cancer, I think, and that’s when he started coming here. I think it was more for company than for anything else. He was a sweet man in his mid to late sixties, and he was always trying to convince me to dance with him.
    I winked at him. “I told you, I can’t dance with you until you’re ready to marry me and take me away.”
    He smiled a big grin, revealing missing teeth. “Okay, now, I’ll get the ring. You just better be ready.”
    â€œI promise I will be.”
    â€œHere you go.” He handed me a twenty-dollar bill.
    We’d had this ritual for months now. I had accepted the fact that my short, flirtatious conversation was the equivalent of a lap dance for him.
    He didn’t get a lot of attention from the waitresses, mainly because he was older and didn’t have the best hygiene. The first few times I turned down his money, but then he confided that it offended him and that I should take it as a compliment—so began our weekly exchange.
    â€œThank you, Mr. Lewis,” I said, shoving the bill in the back pocket of my jeans.
    Our little conversation didn’t stop my momentum. I wanted to know what had drawn and, more importantly, what was keeping Lincoln in the back for so long.
    Before I pushed the door to my small office open, I stopped and tried to hear over the music what was being said. I couldn’t make out much, but I heard Lincoln’s voice and he was angry. I could only make out him asking if someone was “sure” about something.
    When I finally pushed the door open, Lincoln was leaning against my messy desk in the middle of the room. There were papers all over my desk, because it was coming up on the end of the month, and it was almost time to balance the books. There were packages of supplies, which I hadn’t opened yet, stacked up throughout the dusty office.
    That’s when it hit me.
    Nate was the dude I’d seen at the gym.
    Nate shot me a grin that made my skin crawl. “Hey, girl. What’s up?”
    â€œHey, Nate,” I answered back.
    Linc looked up from his phone. He was agitated. “What you need, Idalis?”
    â€œI was just wondering where you disappeared to—”
    He cut me off. “I’ll be out in a second.”
    I stood there for a moment, not sure of what was going on.
    He looked up at me. “Idalis, gimme a few minutes to wrap this up.”
    I stared at him for a second, prepared to check his ass for snapping on me in my own office, and that’s when I saw it.
    Saw the anger swirling around in the same brown eyes that were so happy to see me just moments ago.
    I turned around and headed back to the front of the club.
    By the time I made it back to the bar, I didn’t know what to think.
    â€œYou good?” Through my clouded thinking I heard Dionne speak. I looked at her. Tried to focus. I saw her lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what was coming out.
    I shook my head like I was trying to clear it. “What?” I asked.
    â€œI asked if you were good?”
    I looked