“So it was planned?”

“Not really. They’re what I call sexy cohosts. I’m just trying them out.”

“So a guy’s not supposed to fall for them, or he is?”

Mario started laughing at me.

“They do what they’re supposed to do, man. They make you feel like you can.”

I shut my mouth for a minute. I knew a tease from a score. Candace was a tease, but Alex was a score. She had already stepped out of her boundaries with me. I could tell. Her telling me she would be around was my clue to let her do the work on her own. Or maybe not. Maybe she was better at her game of flirting than I thought she was.

The VIP section had more men than the regular areas. I recognized several professional athletes immediately—basketball, football, and boxing guys. Then you had your hip-hop guys and actors. Imagine that; a club full of Latin and white women with high-priced brothers all over the VIP. That was the new pecking order of America for you, and I was welcomed right into it.

“Hey, that’s Terrance Mitchell, the model dude. What’s happening, man?”

I nodded, shook hands, bought drinks, and mingled with them, but I won’t tell no names. It’s an exclusive membership thing, and a number of those guys were married.

“You probably don’t even have to try to get women, do you?” one of the ballers asked me. I guess he recognized that I was more handsome than they were.

“I figured I would ask you the same thing,” I told him. Athletes didn’t have to worry as much about their looks. That seemed to be much stronger than game to me. Then again, a lot of women only wanted their money.

He smiled and held his drink up high in his right hand.

“It’s a good life.”

Despite the love they were all showing me, I didn’t feel as comfortable in the VIP section as I did in the regular areas. The VIP seemed too obvious. Every woman there was looking to score with one of the ballers or rappers, or gaining points for themselves just for being inside the room. It reminded me of an old-country gentlemen’s whorehouse. If you were inside the room, then you were important enough to pick a whore. Only I didn’t like to think of women in that way. I still wanted there to be some mystery involved. There was no mystery in that room. The most important ballers could basically pick who they wanted, and the rest would scramble for the loose bones. It was like a documentary on mating, straight from Animal Planet.

Before I knew it, Judi, Candace, and Alex were up in the room. I knew that the VIP was not where Judi wanted to be in her present state of mind. But I was curious to see how Candace and Alex would act in the room.

As expected, Candace jumped into flirtation mode with anyone who got her attention. After talking to Mario about her, I understood that it was all an act. I was still skeptical of Alex, though. She continued to be coy with the attentions she received.