MY WAY TO YOU
by Lyndell Williams
“The last one on the left.” She looked straight ahead—her eyes vacant and emotionless.
A familiar aching feeling crept over Simon. I know that look. He’d seen it on Marcus plenty of times while they were in college. Although he’d encountered his share of racist bull, some unimaginable stuff happened to his best friend. Professors were especially condescending and offered Marcus far less face time. Cops followed him around, and he was frisked in the street more than once because he “fit the description.” The world makes sure that people with darker skin do not have an easy time of it.
Like then, his gut twisted in knots and the back of his neck tightened. He walked by Regina’s side in complete silence, waiting for her to say something—she didn’t.
Regina’s hands shook as she fumbled her keys in front of the apartment door. Simon held out his. She looked at him. Her eyes now showed an intense mixture of pain and anger. He motioned towards his hands with his. Regina’s shoulders slumped before she dropped the keys in his palm.
The rattling in the lock crackled through the air. “You know,” he said trying to make sure his voice was just the right tone, “I wanna listen if you wanna talk.” The line always worked whenever he or Marcus needed to get something off their chest.
“I don’t.” He paused. Her tone shut him down and out. He searched her face. The angry expression softened and her eyes shifted from side to side. She touched his chest. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”
“I get it. I’m not totally clueless, though.”
She smiled. “I know. I just don’t want to give it any more energy.”
Simon opened the door. “Enough said.” Light from the hall fell on the tile floor of the apartment entryway. He braced an arm on the wall, looking at the blackness inside and then Regina.
“Thanks for understanding.” She turned just at the door and grabbed her keys. “Goodnight.” Tight-lipped, she cast her gaze downward and closed it.
Simon flattened his back against the wall and glared at the ceiling. “I don’t believe this,” he grunted to the air. “The whole evening ruined by one jerk.” He strode down the hallway. His thoughts quickened with the vein thumping at the side of his neck. I understand why she’s angry. She should be. The guy was a complete douche, but why shut me out?
He pushed the elevator button and groaned when he heard the churning sound. He looked around for the stairs, but then slumped his shoulders and paced. Staring down the hall towards Regina’s apartment door, his heartbeat steadied. They had such a good time at dinner, and the chemistry between them was potent. If it wasn’t for the idiot on the elevator, he would be holding her in his arms, something he waited so long to do. “No. This isn’t ending like this.” He took a deep breath and hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder. Undeterred by the nervous sensation creeping through his spine, he strode back to Regina’s door and knocked. He placed his outstretched hand on the door jamb, closed his eyes and breathed deeply with his head down.
She appeared in her bare feet, skirt and tank top. “Simon?”
He cleared his throat. “Hi.” She stepped a little closer and his pulse pounded so hard that he felt it through his entire body.
She looked down the hall. “Is everything okay?”
Simon stepped until his shoes met her painted toes. “Yes. You just forgot something.”
Her eyes darted in their sockets as she searched his face. “What?”
Simon held the back of her neck between his hands. He grazed her lips. The light touch sent charges of desire through his body. “Me.”
Regina’s eyes became alit with passion. He felt the rush of her breath tickle his top lip. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and smashed her lips against his. They parted, and his tongue explored the sweet warmth of her mouth. Regina backed into the apartment, pulling him with her. The sound of the elevator door churning open drifted into the apartment just before the door closed.
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Lawyer Simon Young is smart, confident, and adept at keeping things with women casual—until he meets his best friend Marcus’s sister, Regina. Immediately intrigued by Regina’s beauty, Simon becomes increasingly enthralled and ultimately risks his friendship to have her for himself.
Social justice writer and activist Regina Kent is usually cautious and savvy. Yet, unable to resist her attraction to the handsome Simon, she plunges into a torrid affair, knowing that she chances angering big brother and her less tolerant followers, many of whom will not accept that one of their most popular pro-Black bloggers is dating an Asian man.
As their clandestine romance evolves, Simon and Regina fall deeper in love. Making sure that things stay between them becomes progressively impossible, and neither knows how much longer they can keep Marcus in the dark and the world at bay.
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