Free Dirty Old Men [And Other Stories] (Zane Presents) by Omar Tyree

one.”
    Treena paused, then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. But then I’ll be right back on the grind again, collecting
more
numbers.”
    Beverly grinned. “Have any guys tried to get at you tonight?” She wanted to move their conversation closer to what she had been thinking about, older men who chased younger women.
    Treena frowned. “Of course. That’s all day, every day. But I always work my way around it. So I smile at their little comments and then ask them what kind of work they do. And by the time I get to my third question, I shift their minds back toward business.”
    Treena was a little
too
much business sometimes for Beverly’s taste. So she asked her, “And you didn’t talk to any man you may have been interested in tonight?”
    Treena finally grinned. “Yeah, but I didn’t let them know it.”
    They shared a laugh as Raquelle walked over to join them. “What are you two laughing at?”
    “Life,” Treena spoke up. “But it’s almost time to pack it in for the night,” she commented, taking a look around the emptying room.
    Before she could finish her final assessment of the crowd, David popped up behind them and put his arms around them all. “Girls, it’s been a good night tonight. So get back home or wherever else you have to go, and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, if not sooner.”
    Rocki and Treena chuckled, but Beverly simply smiled. David’s sly comments were tailor-made for her, and her friends had no idea what he meant by it. So as soon as he had left them, Rocki asked, “What did he mean by ‘tomorrow morning, if not
sooner’?
”
    Beverly shook it off to diffuse another one of Rocki’s bombs. “Stop reading into everything, girl,” she complained. “If you haven’t noticed it yet, he likes being ambiguous. He’s been doing that to people all night.”
    Treena caught on. “Have you been
listening
to him talk all night?”
    “I’ve listened to him enough to
know,
” Beverly countered. “He likes catching people off guard.”
    “Well, what he catch
you
off guard with?” Rocki asked with a smirk.
    Everything!
Beverly thought to herself. But she dared not to share that information with her friends. She shook it off instead and smiled.
    “You really have a wild imagination, girl,” she commented. “Well, let’s go ahead and go.”

    Beverly had driven them to the downtown event that evening, and while she drove her friends back home, she contemplated if she would call David on his cell phone to find out his intentions for giving her a key to a room at the Marriott.
    “Why you all quiet, Bev?” Rocki asked from the passenger seat. Treena was already knocked out in the backseat. She had practically been up for two days straight, strategizing the previous night, and had used up every bit of her energy at the event. And now that it was finally over, her body had shut down for a much needed rest.
    Beverly took a breath. “I’m thinking about getting in bed and getting back up for tomorrow, that’s all.”
    “Who you telling? I might be coming in late tomorrow myself.”
    “But I know who
won’t
be late,” Beverly teased in reference to Treena.
    “Yeah, that’s why she’s back there sleeping now,” Rocki suggested. “She’s a damn workaholic and ain’t even out of college yet.”
    Beverly dropped Rocki off at her parents’ house first, then she drove Treena back home to wake her up and help her into the house. Once her driving duties were accomplished by midnight, she was free to
call
or
not to call
David Butler Sr.
    “What if he’s sitting right next to his wife?” she imagined to herself out loud. “That would be so embarrassing.”
    Then his wife would look at me the way she looks at C.J.,
she assumed.
But I could call him to say we all made it back home safely. His wife can’t argue about that.
    She had rationalized an approach and a justification to call him. And she wanted to make the call before midnight, so she jumped on her