The Blackbirds by Eric Jerome Dickey Read Free Book Online Page A

told him her real name, which he didn’t recognize, being from another country. On the thirddate, as they sat at Gladstones with the Pacific Ocean a few feet away, seagulls in the air, she felt it might go somewhere, and was ready to open her world up to him, was ready for him to meet her friends, her mother and her father. She told him what had happened. She never heard from him again. No texts returned. Befriended in his ignorance, then
defriended
in real life, like she had the bubonic plague.
    Telling Indigo, Ericka, and Kwanzaa she had met someone was a big deal.
    She had wanted to tell them. She had dropped the condom on purpose because she knew Indigo would find a way to bring it up when they were all together as a group.
    Destiny said, “He grew up in Baldwin Hills and lives in Culver City.”
    Indigo asked, “Apartment, house, or condo?”
    â€œCondo.”
    â€œYou see him often?”
    â€œHe’s taken me out a few times.”
    â€œWhere? El Pollo Loco or McDonald’s?”
    â€œNeither. He took me to the Bazaar by José Andrés Beverly Hills, the Palm, Mastro’s Steakhouse Beverly Hills, the Living Room at the Peninsula, the Ivy, Caffé Roma. Opaque.”
    â€œYou went to Opaque? The restaurant where it’s dark and the blind staff are waiters?”
    â€œYeah. You have to use your senses.”
    â€œExpensive?”
    â€œAbout a C-note per person. No cell phones allowed. You can’t even see your food or with whom you’re dining, but you can feel their touch. Very interesting place. Sexy. I was comfortable.”
    â€œHe’s taking you to some nice spots. He’s trying to impress you.”
    â€œWell, now you know I met somebody and I like him a lot.”
    â€œHow often do you see him?”
    â€œSome nights, especially Fridays, I stop by his condo after FedEx to get a good-night kiss. I try to stop by a couple of times a week. A woman has to secure and maintain her position.”
    Indigo asked, “You know ain’t nothing open in L.A. after midnight but a woman’s legs.”
    Destiny said, “That too. When I’m naked, he looks at me like I’m one of God’s perfect creations and, yes, I’ve become a hopeless romantic with a dirty, perverted, curious mind.”
    â€œCorny.”
    â€œStop hatin’. I confessed.”
    Indigo said, “No wonder you’ve been coming home right before sunrise so energetic.”
    Kwanzaa said, “She just giggled. Our Destiny does not do a girly giggle. Oh, my God. She’s blushing. This is an imposter. Where is the real Destiny?”
    Ericka asked, “When do we meet this amazing guy who has tamed the shrew?”
    Indigo said, “We need to see him and his friends, the single, employed, and cute ones.”
    Destiny said, “I’m trying to see how it works out because, well, like I do strangers, I gave him my club name the night we met. He knows me as Kismet Kellogg, not as Destiny Jones.”
    Kwanzaa asked, “How serious is it between you and the mechanical engineer?”
    â€œHe gave me a key card to the gate and a door key to his condo last night.”
    Ericka said, “Get out. You can get in his crib and snoop around when he’s not home?”
    â€œAnd I have a toothbrush, a tongue brush, and a box of Honey Nut Cheerios over there.”
    Indigo said, “You’re shacking up then. I hope he’s charging you rent there too.”
    â€œSlow your roll. Don’t put down a broom and expect me to jump over it just yet.”
    They laughed.
    Kwanzaa asked, “Does he know what went down and how you handled it?”
    Destiny twisted her lips. “Not yet. Like I said, he knows me as Kismet Kellogg. It’s hard to tell how much of my past I should reveal, and when, or even if I should ever bring that incident up again.”
    Ericka nodded. “Don’t blame yourself for what others did to