Walter then dropped down to the carpeted floor and began furiously doing push-ups. I laughed. “Laugh now, niggah. In twenty minutes you’ll be singing my praise,” he huffed between sets.

I went back into the hall. One of the bathroom doors was open. In Walter’s gym, Robinette stood staring at herself in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. I came up behind her, placing my hands on her hips and my lips on her long brown neck. She moaned as I nibbled softly, but never took her eyes off her image. She ran her hands up her body, finally stopping at her chest. Then she cupped her breasts through her blouse. My hands followed her trail and then blazed new territory by sliding inside her blouse and under her bra. Together we slipped out one breast and then the other. My groin pressed between her small buns, and my hands pinched her nipples. Slowly, like we were dancing to an old-school jam, I turned her around until we were in profile in the mirror. Watching the spectacle of my hands on Robinette’s girlish body and shining ebony skin, I felt like a vampire preparing for the first bite.

But I knew that for Robinette I was just a tool being employed to achieve pleasure—a pleasure that her hazy eyes suggested wasn’t necessarily dependent on me. This moment was more about her mind, her fantasy, than me. I went down to my knees, pushing aside her leopard panties, savoring her taste with my mouth. As I slipped my tongue under the crotch of her panties she opened her mouth and a moan escaped from the back of her throat, a beautiful sound I remembered from the taxi. But now I was the reason she made it.

As Robinette rocked in my mouth, an animal sound came from down the hall. It was primordial. It came from deep inside someone, from down where the larynx meets the lungs.

For the first time since Moomba, Robinette’s eyes seemed focused. “What was that?” she asked, her voice hushed.

“Sounded like either Sonja or Beatrice?”

“Who?”

Now I was pulled out of the moment. This woman—a girl, really—didn’t know anyone here except Walter. Not even the guy who was currently eating her pussy.

This was really crazy.