She said, “I decided not to go tonight. I’m just trying to pull myself away from the whole party thing. But I missed you tonight,” she told him. “And I couldn’t sleep.”

Ivan hadn’t touched Chris since he agreed to think about her school sponsorship. He had called her after their initial disagreement about it and told her he would see where her finances stood once that time arrived. But he wasn’t expecting to hear from her once she failed to show at the party that night.

He said, “Yeah, but you know how this party game is. And now we got celebrities in town. So I might be up with them all night.”

“Yeah, I know,” Chris responded. “I just thought I’d call you and see. But I wish I could just…I don’t know, stay over there and spend the night in your bed for when you come back.”

Oh, shit! Ivan thought. That’s some sexy shit to say to a guy. But it was the wrong night for it.

His cell phone buzzed from the other line. It was Ashley calling.

Ivan said, “That’s nice, but hold on for a minute,” and clicked over. “Hello,” he answered on the other line.

“Hi, it’s Ashley.”

“Are you still downtown?”

“That’s where you told me to be,” she reminded him.

“Are you by yourself?”

She said, “I came by myself.”

Ivan smiled. The girl had a seductive wit about her.

He asked, “And are you tired yet?”

She paused. “Umm, it depends. I mean, I don’t feel like walking around or anything. I have to get out of these shoes. They’re killing my poor feet.”

Ivan thought, Fuck it! What am I waiting for? She’s down already.

“So you wanna just relax for the rest of the night with me?”

“Are you inviting me to?”

“That’s what it sounds like,” he told her.

“Well, in that case, I accept. But you’ll have to answer one question for me when I see you.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you,” she teased.

“Hold on,” Ivan told her. He had left Christina on hold long enough. He clicked back over to Chris and said, “My bad.”

She told him, “Go do what you need to do, Ivan. I understand. Just call me tomorrow.”

“You sure?”

“No, but what can I do? You’re busy. So just go ahead and go.”

Ivan got back on the line with Ashley and told her, “My bad, I’m still in the mix of things tonight.”

“Okay, so…where am I going?” she asked him, cutting straight to the chase.

Ivan gave her his apartment address and prepared his place for her arrival with freshly lit incense. Twenty minutes later, when he opened his apartment door for her, she walked in and immediately asked him her question.

“So, Ivan David…are you gonna tell on me?”