Page 26 of When I Thug You Like That

“Thank you, Lord, we made it in one piece,” I let out, unbuckling my seatbelt once the car was parked.

“You so dramatic. I wasn’t even driving that fast.” She grinned.

“You right. You were driving faster.”

Grabbing our purses, we stepped out at the same time.

“Here.” She handed me my keys. “Looks like they may have a crowd.”

I scanned the semi full parking lot and nodded before looking up at the building.

Sullivan Distillery.

“We shall see.”

Falling in step together, we walked side by side up to the entrance where two men casually dressed in all black stood.

“Good evening, ladies,” the taller of the two spoke, pulling the door open.

“Hi,” I spoke.

“Hey,” Taina followed up as we walked inside.

Although I was holding onto my verdict until the end of the night, the coworker was spot on with her description of the ambiance inside. The lighting was dim but not lounge dim. It was a sultry vibe that said the people in the building were thirty and up. There was a throwback R&B song playing that I instantly caught onto, bobbing my head as we made our way through the people. Everyone seemed to be dressed in their best, like they knew their picture could be taken at any moment.

“Well?” Taina asked as we found a table near a group of women gathered around what looked like a wine flight.

“I’m feeling it,” I admitted, looking around. “So, do the waiters just spot us out of the crowd and come take our order, or do we yell out whoodie who?”

She laughed, threw her hands in the air, and swayed her hips to the beat of Swing My Way. “I don’t know, but your part ‘bout to come up, so get ready ‘cause you know I’m K.P.”

Just before the verse dropped, I glanced over at the bar that I just so happened to have a direct line of sight to and spotted a familiar face. He spotted me at the same time and shot me a smirk.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I said out loud.

“Okay, friend, this the part where you look away and play like you weren’t lookin’ in the first place,” I heard Taina say.

“I think it might be a little too late for that,” I muttered.

“Damn, he caught you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why you still lookin’ crazy?”

“Cause I ain’t hiding, and I recognize him.” I finally pulled my eyes away from the man and turned to her.

He was dressed down when I’d seen him earlier, but his fit seemed to have a little more swag to it from what I could make out from a distance. Jamison Sullivan, or Big Jay as he suggested, stood leaned up against the bar, talking to a guy and a woman. Whatever was being said between them only had his attention partially because his eyes found their way back in my direction. This time, instead of the smirk, he gave me a slow once over from head to toe. It was open and deliberate, like he wanted to make it clear that he was looking.

“Jai.”

“Huh?” I leaned my head over to answer Taina but didn’t turn my head her way.

“Who is the man?”

Her question got my attention and made me turn to her.

“The father of one of my new students. Well, who I believe will be a new student.”