In the Shadow of his Love

Two

Loud music reverberated around me. The club was wild tonight. With the amount of people at the club, there was bound to be problem. I lifted a glass of whiskey to my lips. My eyes scoured the room in search of any discrepancies. Nothing seemed out of order. Everyone was just having fun as usual. Maybe I was just on edge. I downed the rest of my whiskey and the glass was immediately refilled by the waiter.

I took the glass and got up. I weaved through the throng of dancing bodies to get to my office. The stripper dancing in the middle of the room caught my eye and I stopped. She was slim with soft curves and a perky butt she had no qualms about shaking vigorously to show how soft it was. For a second, I pictured Jennifer in lingerie dancing around the pole. Just as quickly as the image appeared to me, it vanished. I must be drunk.

Ever since Jennifer kissed me, I’ve been having thoughts about her. Her body. It was like her features were blurry to me before but after that kiss, they suddenly came into focus and I could see her. Feel her. Smell her. Her hair smelled like almonds and she smelled like chocolate. I loved chocolates.

I was in love with Desire. I was heartbroken over Desire. Desire was the ideal woman for me. She was sexy, smart and funny. Not that Jennifer wasn’t sexy too but I liked thick women and Jenny wasn’t. If I was going to get over Desire and start dating again, it would probably be with someone just like her.

That was what made the sudden feelings I was feeling around Jennifer so weird. I didn’t know what to do with it. Every time she came close to me, I stiffened. I hold my breath so I wouldn’t smell her because smelling her would lead to stripping her naked in my head and stripping her naked in my head would eventually lead to a hard-on and that was dangerous for me.

The bad part about all this was that I couldn’t avoid her. She was everywhere. Not literally everywhere but anytime I visited Desire, she was always there. For a couple of days, I stayed away from Akin’s house but then she called me to ask if there was something wrong with me and why I hadn’t visited. She freaking called me!

Yesterday, she bought roasted corn like she’d read my mind before coming. I had been craving roasted corn and had only been waiting around for the corn seller to open up shop and by some miracle she comes in with the corncobs while using the same perfume that stirred things in me. I had to fake a phone call so I’d excuse myself from her and her intoxicating scent.

I took a sip from my glass and looked away from the stripper. There was no way Jennifer would look that hot in lingerie anyway so there was no need imagining it. She was stiff and so serious. I suppose being a psychiatrist, she’d gotten used to being so rigid. God knows the amount of jarring things she’d had to hear from her clients. Only someone with a tough hide could handle all of that.

I closed the door to my office and sat in my chair, placing the whiskey glass on the table. I could remember a month ago, I was fawning over Desire and now I was getting distracted by her best friend. I sighed and rested my head on the back of my seat. In a week’s time, it would be December and everyone would be getting ready for Christmas. And I would be here braving the holiday season alone. My parents were back in Chicago. When I’d decided to leave the US and come back to Nigeria, it had been to find a woman of my roots to get married to and open up a few clubs and start a family.

Chicago was great and there were a lot of beautiful women there but none was like a Nigerian girl who’d be able to teach our culture to my kids. I’d opened the clubs I wanted and also gotten my heart broken while at it too. Now I just wanted to rest. No more love or relationship. I didn’t even want to think about marriage. I just wanted peace and probably a steady bed partner.

Not too sound like a baby but I really missed my mum right about now. If she were here, she’d probably pull me by my ear and drag me around Lagos asking out all the eligible women we met along the way in her bid to get a grandchild. I chuckled. Four years ago, she’d taken me to a restaurant full of women only for me to find out all the sixteen women in the restaurant were my date. She’d legit opened an account on a dating site and hooked me up with several women. I’d sat at that restaurant from noon till nighttime talking to my dates one after the other. It had been just as awkward for them as it was for me.

After that I just knew I had to get away from her and I could only have peace if I came back to her with a fiancée at least. My mum was a handful but there was never a dull moment with her. She’d be really disappointed in me if she found out what I’d been up to the past couple of weeks. Sabotaging my cousin’s relationship with his estranged wife just so she’d marry me. No matter how much I loved her, she was my cousin’s wife and I should’ve respected that.

I just needed to get away from all this. Go somewhere. Anywhere. But where? And for how long? I couldn’t just leave my business and go chill somewhere for a long time. My phone rang and I took it out of my pocket.

“Obong!” I teased the guy on the other end of the call.

“Nathaniel, how far? I’ve told you not to call me Obong. My name is Samuel. Don’t make me vex.”

“Vex na,” I chuckled. Sam was a regular customer of mine. He frequented my club every Friday and we’d grown some sort of friendship over the years. His surname was Obong. The first time he’d told me, I’d found it funny. It didn’t help that he had an oblong face shape and he looked kind of girly. It made his surname apt.

“You just like troubling me sometimes. Anyway that’s not why I called. A couple of friends of mine are going to the Calabar festival starting next week and I thought you’d be interested. Before you say no, there’s going to be a lot of women there. And I mean mad, sexy women. There’s also food and drinks. I know how much you love food. It’ll be for a whole month so just think about seeing sexy women in festival attire, bikinis and makeup. You can picture the vibe right?”

“I see strippers in less clothing than a bikini every night, Sam. What’s so special about this?”

“Come on, these are different. You can’t knack your strippers na. Just tell me you’ll come. It’s my birthday and I really want to have fun this year. You’re like the king of fun so you’ll make the experience more enjoyable for me. Think about the women, Nathan.”

“God!” I laughed. “Women will kill you.”

“Something must kill a man. So what do you say?”

“Fine, I’ll come.”

“That’s my guy. All these Calabar girls would be tripping on their feet when they see you. Fine boy looking fresh. Oyinbo!”

“You’ve started. I already said I’ll come, you don’t need to butter me up.”

He laughed and cut the call. At least my holiday problem was solved. There was no need to be alone for the holidays when I could be surrounded by women and booze. This should also get my mind off Jennifer. By the time the festival will be over, I would be cured of my heartbreak and sudden attraction. Here, I come Calabar.