Careful of the Company You Keep by Angie Daniels Page A

want me.
    â€œDanielle, look.”
    I pointed to the bottom of Leslie’s boot. She was dragging a long piece of toilet paper. We both fell out laughing.
    I sat there for the longest time watching Leslie watch Landon. What Leslie needed to do was go home and change her damn clothes. I don’t know why fat people always feel they have to throw on a miniskirt, especially when their thigh is wider than their waist.
    Danielle lightly kicked my leg underneath the table. “Nae-Nae, here comes David.”
    David Lavell. Short, chocolate mothafucka and one of Columbia Police Department’s finest. He looked fabulous in dark slacks and a white polo shirt and white sneakers. But then he looked good in anything he wore. He had a body made for clothes. I tried to give him some last year, but his crazy-ass wife came banging on the door of our hotel room. If I had gotten some before she had interrupted maybe I wouldn’t still be angry.
    â€œWhassup, Renee?” He gave me his devilish smile and held out a hand. “Come dance with me.”
    I shook my head. “Hell nah! So your wife can come over and start trippin’? I don’t think so.”
    â€œShe’s not here and if she was, she wouldn’t trip about me dancing with a friend.”
    Before I could object further, he took my drink out of my hand, placed it on the table, and led me out onto the dance floor. The music had slowed down to Fantasia’s new cut. I allowed David to pull me in his arms. I ain’t gonna lie, the married mothafucka smelled good as hell.
    He brushed his lips against my ear. “You know I regret what went down with us.”
    â€œNo, you don’t, ’cause if you did, you wouldn’t have gotten me in that mess in the first place.” I leaned back so he could see my eyes as I spoke. “How could you set my ass up like that?”
    â€œI didn’t mean to. Really,” he pleaded.
    â€œYeah, you just forgot you and her were together,” I replied sarcastically.
    â€œNah, I just was pissed at her.”
    â€œAnd you tried to use me to get back at her?”
    He offered me an apologetic smile. “Something like that.”
    Laughing, I shook my head, then rested it on his shoulder again. That was something I would have done, so I guess I couldn’t be too mad as long as that shit never happened again.
    â€œSo you want to go to the hotel after we leave here so I can tap that ass for real this time?”
    â€œDavid, shut the hell up!”
    He tossed his head back with laughter. “You know I can’t help myself when it comes to you. Renee, you fine as hell.”
    True that, but I wasn’t even going to go there with his married ass. One thing Renee Moore doesn’t do is intentionally mess with someone else’s husband. Your man, yes. Your husband, no. Even though I don’t attend church on a regular basis, I know that there is a God up there in heaven and if He says do not to be drooling over someone else’s husband, then I know better than to disobey Him. Adultery is a sin, which I have been committing for years on my husband, but that situation was different and as far as I was concerned didn’t count. But I never ever mess with someone else’s husband. I didn’t like that shit when I caught my husband in bed with another man, so I wouldn’t want to see anyone else have to go through that kind of shock, ever.
    We danced two songs before I looked over to see Landon. He was leaned up against the bar flirting with some female. As soon as he spotted me, he whispered something in her ear, then headed my way. With his eyes, he asked me to dance. I thanked David, who didn’t look too happy, and moved toward Landon, who wrapped his arms around my middle. Together, we moved to the beat of the music, neither of us saying anything. I closed my eyes and got caught up in the moment.
    â€œYour body feels so good next to mine.”
    That shit