“I can tell I don’t want to hang around this place for too long,” Judi commented.

Tell me something I didn’t know.

I said, “I don’t like being up in here either.”

Alex gave me another look right after one of the ballers was unsuccessful at caressing her hand.

Judi saw it, too. “Looks like somebody likes you,” she commented.

I didn’t want to speak on that. How much of good friends were we? I had never gone after another woman in Judi’s presence before. But since she was no longer on the market for my affections, maybe she would understand. I still had those needs.

“Would you mind?” I mumbled to her. The best way to find out is to ask, right?

Judi turned and looked in my eyes. That alone gave me my answer.

“Well, as a friend, I expected to be able to hang out with you and enjoy your company.”

“You are enjoying my company.”

She paused and looked away for a minute. Then she said, “Would you even ask me that if you thought we would have sex tonight?”

It was a good question. Judi was on to something. Her celibacy issue had given me an excuse to be disrespectful of our relationship. I had a lot of strange relationships with women. We were friends and lovers who played a careful dance while in the presence of other people.

“I see your point. You are right about that,” I told her.

“You think that’s fair of you?” she asked me.

We were in a much deeper conversation than everyone else in that room, and I could see Alex watching from the corner of my eye as Judi continued to face me. Alex was really into me, and that was only making my situation worse.

I said, “Well, when you’re honest you bring out…more honesty.”

Judi said, “So, you want some pussy that bad tonight? You mean to tell me you can’t go one night without it?”

That was out of character for the Judi I knew. It made me feel that she had already gotten a lot of flack over her decision. I could just imagine. It also made me wonder what guy had pissed her off to the point of cutting off her well.

I kept my cool and answered, “Yeah, Judi. I’m a grown-ass man.”

“A grown-ass dog is more like it,” she scoffed at me.

I didn’t take it personally. I could tell when a woman was hurt. I felt like hugging her. But not in front of Alex. That only made me feel more guilty. I wanted what I wanted regardless of my friendship or Judi’s feelings. I halfway expected her to make a scene. It was a fifty-fifty chance.

Judi said, “Well, I’ma help you control yourself tonight.”

I thought about it and smiled. She was being a little bit of an asshole.

“Hey, Judi, what’s going on?” a VIP baller asked her. He had just walked into the room.