C7 Chapter 7
Backslide
To lapse morally; To drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards; To revert to a worse condition.
She woke up before dawn, quickly got dressed and took off from Justin’s apartment across her own. Good thing, she just lived across from him. Otherwise, this escape would have become so difficult. She intended never to see him again. She would soon look like her old self, with her boring, old-fashioned style and thick glasses.
He’s a snob who didn’t look down on her kind. She looked quite different last night, even she couldn’t recognize herself. She was so sure he would never remember her. She just made it easier for him to ditch her, which she believed he quite certainly would.
She washed her face and soaked in a hot bath to clear her head. She stared at her own body. Almost every inch of it, had been touched by the City’s most wanted bachelor—Justin Adams. She couldn’t believe that she went so far overboard. She looked for fun. For oblivion. Losing her virginity on a one-night stand to a hotshot playboy seemed way over what she had in mind when she started out last night.
She still felt a bit sore. But she didn’t feel guilty at all. She didn’t feel like she didn’t have any values. She didn’t even feel like she cheated on Troy.
It was the first time in her life that she felt alive. That she felt appreciated and adored. And when she felt the pain of the impact of their lovemaking, she felt his concern. It was genuine. She felt cared for. Like she finally mattered.
She remembered that, when the pain became visible on her face, concern and guilt appeared in his eyes as he wiped her tears away. He took off the condom when he realized she was a virgin. Probably, he thought, using it might hurt her more. Her body was not yet accustomed to sex. It would be gentler if he didn’t wear the condom.
He probably believed she was safe. He need not wear protection. He was her first.
A thought crossed her mind. She was a virgin. He was a player. She probably seemed safe for him. But what about him for her? Adrienne shrugged the thought off her mind. Justin Adams is most probably too smart and too egotistical to catch something. He must be using protection all the time, not just to be safe, but to make sure that no woman could blackmail him into marriage.
She felt fine when she went to bed after a bath. And this caused her to worry. She spent the night in sin, but all that’s left were memories that she knew she would not mind dwelling on for some time in the future.
She was awakened by the ring of her phone. “Hello,” she said sleepily.
“Wake up!” It was Jill.
“It’s too early!” she told her grumpily.
“What time did you go to sleep last night?” Jill asked.
“Why?”
“Because you’re still sleeping and it’s past twelve. You never sleep past noon.”
“Well, I decided to break the habit,” she responded.
“You slept late last night, that’s what it is.” Jill’s tone seemed to accuse her of something.
“I don’t know what time I went to sleep,” Adrienne said. She stood up to go to her bathroom. “Hold on. I’m just going to splash some water on my face to wake myself up.”
Jill waited for five minutes while Adrienne washed her face and brushed her teeth.
“All right. What’s up?” Adrienne asked when she finished.
“How was Gypsys?”
That was enough to wake her up. “Ah…great. Nothing different. The same as the others.”
Shit! I’m lying!
“Did you leave early? Tell me you didn’t leave early!”
“Why?” she asked.
“Well…one of the girls I know from my neighborhood said that Justin Adams attended the opening. And he became attached to some redhead. They didn’t arrive together. He approached her and then they danced, kissed and left together.”
Now, her heart was pounding.
Damn! How popular can Justin Adams be?
She must remember not to go to Jill’s apartment for a minimum of two months at the risk of being recognized.
“So what?”
“Well, Justin isn’t known for picking up girls at bars. He does have a reputation of a playboy, but you would never see him holding hands with a girl in public, least of all kissing.”
“And the point is?”
“Well…she could be special. Justin likes to keep his reputation of being single. He doesn’t go steady with any girl. He doesn’t go public with a girl. And that’s what makes him more attractive! Like he is an ice king or something. He doesn’t pursue and he walks away easily.”
“Wow! How can an ice king be a playboy? I thought playboys are supposed to be hot!”
“Yeah, and that’s what makes him different! That’s what makes him a god! He doesn’t have a reputation for pickup lines! But beautiful girls, worthy enough to be models, would just fall at his feet. And last night, it seemed he broke his rules. He picked someone up!”
“Jillian, why are we talking about Justin Adams? You called me to talk about him? Why does everybody obsess about his love life?”
“He doesn’t have one,” Jill reminded her.
“All right. Then why is everybody obsessed over his sex life?” she asked, correcting herself. “So what? He sees a girl. He could have known her from the past or something. Could be an old girlfriend.” She surprised herself there. She didn’t know she could lie with so much conviction.
“Nope. He never had a girlfriend! That’s the point.”
She heard her doorbell ring. She was happy with a little distraction. She lost count of how many lies she just told her best friend in a span of two minutes. She opened the door.
Surprise of all surprises. The man of the hour himself came to her doorstep, and Adrienne thought she would die that instant.
“Holy mother of fuck!” She cursed like she’s never cursed before, it rendered Jill speechless on the other line.
He was about to open his mouth to say something but she cut him off.
“Shut up!” she said and his eyebrows shot up behind his sports sunglasses.
“What is wrong with you?” Jill asked.
“Sorry, Jill. I dropped a shampoo on my foot, it fucking hurts! I’ll call you back later.” She hung up without waiting for Jill’s answer.
She faced Justin, who looked amused. He held out a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand.
“For the hangover? That’s assuming I can speak now.” He smiled at her.
“How…how…”
Shit! This is embarrassing!
“How do I know where you live?” Justin asked.
Her tongue was tied somewhere inside her mouth. She could only nod.
“I have always known where you lived, since you moved into this building…Miss Adrienne Miller.”
“You…you knew who I was? You knew my name wasn’t really… Jamila McBride?”
He smiled at her. “Yep. I never realized that being fake named by somebody you already know could be hilarious. I couldn’t resist playing along. The name you chose actually suited you… Beautiful.”
“Oh my God, this is so embarrassing!” she groaned in disbelief.
“It’s not embarrassing. I thought it was funny and cute,” Justin countered. “Now, do you want to discuss this here in the hallway, or are you going to invite me in?”
She opened the door wider without saying another word. He followed her inside and closed the door behind him.
He placed the coffee on her table and pushed his shades up on his head, revealing his beautiful blue eyes.
“Thanks.”
“No sweat,” he said. “You didn’t give me a chance to make you one this morning.
She turned red. She was now very sober yet his presence reminded her of everything that happened between them the previous night.
“Yeah…last night…It was…it never should have happened,” she stammered.
He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her with his crystal blue eyes, quizzing her…and for reasons she couldn’t understand, drowning her.
After a while, he said, “But it did happen, honey.”
“Yes. And I hope we can just forget about it. Like…like we don’t know each other.”
“But we do know each other now,” he stated. “Intimately, I might add.”
“Yes, damn it!” She found herself really irritated. She didn’t need this. She didn’t want this. Sure, she would feel very insulted if she met him in the hall or in the elevator and he acted like he didn’t know her, especially if he had another woman in his arms, which most likely would happen.
Although, she realized that since she moved into her apartment and learned that he was her next-door neighbor, she had never seen him bring a woman into the building.
Nevertheless, she thought it would be much better and much more comfortable pretending that she didn’t know him than exchanging “hi’s” and “how are you’s” with him.
“I was not myself last night. I just needed an outlet. I needed to explore, pretend to be somebody I wasn’t. Assume a different identity. You were there! That’s why I gave you a different name! And I was drunk more than half the time…and it… it got completely out of hand…”
He smiled. “I sort of knew that.”
She waited for him to say something more. But he just stood there, staring at her with an eyebrow shot up.
“Damn it, say something!”
He smiled. “All right. You’re cute. And you’re cuter when you’re mad.”
She took a deep breath. “What do you want, Justin?”
He shrugged. “Actually, I’m not sure,” he admitted.
Then he walked a step closer. She walked a step back, her heart pounding in her chest. He looked so divine in his black jeans and leather jacket. His hair still looked wet, which meant he went to Starbucks straight from the shower.
