Get What You Give Read online

  “Yeah, and she owes you an apology,” Kim stood up and said.

  Sam hit the gavel again. “Okay, I’ll apologize publicly. Cassidy and I have talked, and we’re working on our issues, but to make y’all feel better, as your President I should have kept my cool. Now, we are trying to conduct business here, and we need to calm down and not be hot under the collar.”

  “Are you trying to say I’m hot under the collar?” Kim yelled out. “This isn’t just your chapter, Sam. Cassidy may be cool with you, but most of us are not. You’ve changed since we elected you. And you need to be held accountable.”

  “For real, don’t get it twisted. You’re the president, not a dictator, and you can’t scare me into letting you walk all over me,” Connie said.

  Sam got up and looked liked she wanted to stomp all over Connie. It was madness. Folks were pulling Connie back and she was walking to the front. Obviously she was ready to take on Sam, if it came to that. Sam then shook her head and sat down.

  “Kim and Connie, everyone can have an opinion,” Sam said, actually calming herself. “Now is not the forum to express it. Let’s talk offline. Right now we need to be respectful to the process. Besides, we have the neos here for the first time, and we all have to respect each other. And you guys will respect that I’m your President, and today I want to talk about what kind of service project or fund-raiser we can do to bring some extra money in here. To begin, no dances. SGA has taken that away from the Greeks, as they practically do one every other day, it seems like. Any suggestions?”

  No one was throwing any ideas out there, so I raised my hand and said, “What about a Mr. Beta Gamma Pi contest, where the contestants are guys on our campus? They do a talent and show off their bodies, and some of the money would go toward scholarships for them and the other money we keep for our public service project. We can help Ms. King’s family who is struggling.”

  A lot of people started clapping and commenting on how they thought that was a good idea. I was happy the concept was well received. Some sorors were hitting me on the back, and I didn’t feel I deserved all that. I was throwing out ideas, just doing my part.

  When the noise got a little out of hand, Sam hit the gavel and said, “All those in favor of a Mr. Beta Gamma Pi contest, say aye.” The room was full with ayes, and no one opposed. “Great. We got ourselves a contest. And, Hailey Grant, I want you to chair it.”

  I got so many grunts and mumbles. Some sorors were saying I was too new to chair. I hated that she’d asked me to do it, but it seemed like no one else could work with Sam. And it was my idea. Though I had a lot on my plate already, I was up for the challenge. I couldn’t wait to step up and prove people wrong. I would show them that they could work with me, and everything would work out great.

  The semester had been flying by, and there was lots of buzz about our contest. We had forty-two applications, interviewed thirty-two handsome men, and narrowed it down to the top twenty guys we wanted to represent our sorority in the contest. They were leaders, had big dreams, spoke extremely well, and, oh, did I mention they were fine?

  There had been a lot of talk going around the chapter about people not thinking I would be able to handle the job. I wasn’t surprised when my line sisters were a part of that conversation. We’d said during our pledge time that we’d tell each other about issues so nothing could fester.

  I got tired of overhearing bits and pieces of their negative conversations one day. So I called them to the side and said, “Look, what’s up with the lack of support? Anyone has a problem with me, let’s talk. I expect different from my sands. I’m not saying this is going to be perfect, but I definitely need y’all’s support. I need y’all to help me make sure that I don’t fail. If our big sisters had any other ideas that were better and could do this without us, they would’ve come up with an idea, or they would have already been doing something major. It’s time for us to hit the ground running. Our line name isn’t called Essence in Distinction for nothing. We’ve got class and camaraderie. Don’t make their side conversations turn us into catty women.” They all seemed to take in what I said and agreed.

  Teddi said, “Seems we let the green-eyed monster get the best of us. And, yep, big sisters have been putting negative things in our ears, like why did Sam choose you over us, and we tripped. But no more. Let’s meet with these guys as one unit. Hailey, you’re leading the effort, and this event will be successful.”

  This was the first meeting we had for our contestants. This was the first time we would see them all together, and we were gonna have a dynamic show. Women were going to pack the place. We just knew it because all the male studs had it going on.

  There was this one guy who kept smiling at me. Morgan Brunette was six-four with dark honey, mocha-chocolate skin and muscles bulging out of his sweater. His deep stare made me melt.

  It was actually hard for me to concentrate on what I was doing because every time I passed his way, giving out information and collecting forms they needed to submit, he touched me. I looked over to the left, and I saw my sands whispering about him, too. Something about him was mesmerizing and could set a girl on fire. And this Brunette dude was certainly doing this to me. Every woman in here knew I had a guy, one who truly was Mr. Right. Why was I eyeing another?

  “Okay, I want to call you guys’ attention to the paper before you. As you see, the contest will be held the last month of school. We’ll be meeting weekly when we come back off from Christmas break. We are asking you all to raise a minimum of five hundred. If you do, you’ll receive forty percent, and anything over the five hundred you raise, you’ll get sixty percent. In addition to fund-raising, you’ll also be responsible for talent and modeling. There will be judges to judge your presentations and decide who Mr. Beta Gamma Pi is. And if you have any more questions. . .” I paused.

  Morgan cunningly asked, “If we have any more questions, can we come see you? I need an address or phone number so I can reach you.” He was flirting.

  And consciously flirting back, I said, “You’ll see on the page at the bottom that I gave y’all my phone number. If you need to use it ... use it.” And then I shrugged my shoulders.

  The guys had some other questions, and I answered them. As soon as we were adjourned, Morgan made his way toward me. I was only five feet, six inches, and he towered over me, but it wasn’t an eerie hovering. It was one that made me feel safe, like he was about to wrap his tight and chiseled arms around me.

  He looked deep into my eyes and said, “I will certainly be giving you a call.”

  Then he bent over and planted a long kiss on my cheek. When he walked away I wanted to scream, but everyone in the room could see I was fascinated with the giant.

  9

  PINCH

  When Morgan turned around, came back toward me, brushed up against my chest, and reached for the papers he’d laid on the desk when he kissed me, I was caught between a rock and a hard place. My heart was beating, and my line sisters were furious. I could tell. They weren’t looking directly at me, but I knew they were not happy at all.

  Morgan said, “I forgot this. I was so excited to get your number I forgot the information. That wouldn’t do us any good, huh? Seeing as y’all need us to raise a lot of money for charity and us dudes need to raise money for tuition.”

  Licking my lips, I couldn’t respond. This guy was just a man’s man. Rough, unpolished, yet so together. It was scary.

  As soon as he left for the final time, Teddi came over to me, tugged my arm, and said, “Hailey, why don’t you just take off your panties in front of him already?”

  “What are you talking about?” I said to her, trying to play it off. “He needed his information.”

  “Girl, Morgan Burnette has a helluva rep. Don’t get caught in the good looks,” Teddi scolded.

  The other three of my line sisters ganged up and were on Teddi’s side. Evan and I had been connecting. She was really trying to forget G-Dogg, and he’d been calling. Every time she got the
urge to return his advances, she called me. So I knew she would have my back. That theory was quickly shot to the moon when she said, “Yeah, you were a little too giddy. ‘Are you sure you’re going to call me?’ ” she mocked.

  “Hailey, I’m just saying,” Millie said in her mouse voice, “you’re the chair of this event, and you’re not supposed to mix business with pleasure. From what I just witnessed, everything was way too hot. It was almost X-rated.”

  “You guys are so tripping. Y’all were snickering and grinning over him as well.”

  Quisa said, “Yeah, we were checking him out, and the brother is fine, but none of us has a boyfriend. And as was just brought to your attention, we’re not the chair.”

  “What does me being the chair have to do with anything? Are you insinuating that I’m mixing business with pleasure? Okay, listen up. We are all in college, okay? And though I have a boyfriend, there is no ring on my finger,” I said, dangling my hand in their faces.

  “Oh, come on,” Teddi said to me. “Hailey, you and I fell out at the top of the school year because you were so into our new SGA President. What, y’all broke up or something?”

  “No! I’m meeting up with him later on. Everything is fine. You guys are overreacting. You saw a little playful fun with me and a contestant. You gotta work with what you got.”

  “Yeah, but you also gotta represent yourself the right way. Ain’t no need in giving away false signals. The way you were hanging on was a little sleazy, definitely not Beta Gamma Pi material,” Teddi said to me, crushing my heart.

  “Okay, you’re really overreacting, and I’m a little offended that you practically called me a slut.”

  “I’m not calling you a slut. I’m saying you were acting slutty. You were so into it you can’t even see how you schmoozing up to him came across. Even just then when he brushed up against you, you were acting like it was one hundred and fifty degrees.”

  “Okay!” Evan said, agreeing with Teddi. “Yeah, it was too hot up in here.”

  Teddi said, “Bottom line, Hailey, just stay away from the guy. You got a good thing going on with Covin. Your passion should be burning like that for him. Don’t let this boy you barely know come and douse water on your blossoming relationship.”

  Quisa chimed in and said, “Yeah. Morgan is the kind of guy you bang, and Covin is the type you keep. You’re the type who can’t play both of them. So get your feelings in check now.”

  “We’re saying this because we love you,” Teddi said. “I backed off being mad about you and Covin because I knew deep down he’d do right by you. But this slick trick ... I don’t think so. Don’t be no fool.”

  Tired of hearing my new mommies dictate my life, I grabbed my stuff and stepped outside the door. I was fuming mad. In the back of my mind, I was wondering were they right? Was I tripping? Was I having fun? Or was I messing up a good thing?

  “You didn’t have to cook for me,” I said to Covin as I sat at the table in his new apartment.

  Since the fire, his dad had been putting pressure on him to move off campus. This was tough for him because he liked being connected to the students on a more personal level, but he had finally given in. And I had to admit his pops had set him out. Covin had a really nice pad. It was a one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath decked out in colors for a king—purple and gold. The full bathroom with a whirlpool tub was attached to his room. He had a huge kitchen engulfed by a nice-sized dining area. Incense and candles had his place smelling good. There was ambiance in the air. Off the bat, I was a tad uncomfortable.

  “I know I didn’t have to,” he said as he handed me flowers and kissed me on the cheek, “but I wanted to. Dinner will be ready in just a sec, so why won’t you relax and talk to me while I fix my baby a meal?”

  He was getting overly comfortable with me. We had decided to date and all, and don’t get me wrong, I liked him, but I could see where this night was headed. I was no fool. Luther playing in the background. Aromatherapy candles lit all around to set the mood. Neither one of us was twenty-one years old, but there was a bottle of wine on the table as well. I wasn’t sure if he’d sprayed Febreze, had plug-ins, or what, but the place smelled great!

  “You looked around—you like what you see in here?” he asked, alluding to himself.

  Trying not to stroke him, I said, “Yes. It’s very nice in here.”

  “I’ve been trying to get you over for a couple days to have a woman’s touch to make this place nice, but you were busy.”

  “Yeah, I’m chair of this project and—”

  “I don’t wanna talk about sorority stuff,” he said as he turned the stove down low, came over to me, and kissed me on the neck. “I want tonight to be strictly about us. How can we get closer? How can we take this to the next level? I feel a little disconnected to you. I see you only in my dreams, never in reality anymore. We’re both going in opposite directions, but tonight is totally about us.”

  He started kissing on my neck again. I didn’t want to pull away. I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t down for what he was saying, but in reality I wasn’t sure if I was down.

  “Babe, I’m hungry,” I said to him, sliding away just a little, but not so abruptly that he would get upset.

  “Yeah, we can get back to this after dinner. Babe, I want you to try this sauce I made.”

  “Spaghetti!” I said excitedly.

  “Yeah, I did a lil’ something.”

  He had angel-hair pasta tossed in Italian dressing with hamburger and Italian sausage marinated in mushroom sauce. It was a little sweet with garlic bread and salad. Everything was delicious! I tried to make the moment stretch because I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he wanted to get me in the next room. And I didn’t wanna give off any signals that I was down for that.

  “You seem distant,” he said to me as he took my plate.

  “No, I’m just a little tired. So tell me about SGA—what do you need me to do now?”

  “I need you not to focus on work, school, or anything else other than us. Can you do that for me?” he asked as he pulled me over to the couch. Before I knew it he had taken off my shoes and was rubbing my feet.

  “Your feet are beautiful,” he whispered to me, licking his lips like he was ready to suck them.

  I moved his mouth up but allowed him to give me a massage. It did feel relaxing, but I wasn’t trying to give him mixed signals. So, finally, I stood and said, “We need to talk.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re gonna stop the mood to tell me that. We can talk later. I’m sure whatever it is can wait. Let’s let our bodies do the talking.”

  “I just think we’re moving too fast,” I said as he worked his way up my body with his hands. “Maybe we should see other people,” I blurted out.

  “What?” he said, completely freaked out. “Hailey, if that’s what you want, I’ll have to respect that and give you space.”

  A tad pissed, he abruptly blew out the candles on the table and turned on the lights. “You can go. Dinner’s done.” Covin walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

  I walked to the front door and let myself out. As I stood on the other side of the door, I wondered if I had made the biggest mistake of my life or if I had missed out on a mistake by not sleeping with Covin when I wasn’t ready. I was confused, but I was young. I felt like I was in a jam. I had made my decision, and it was time for me to get to the core of what I was thinking. Morgan Brunette, right or wrong, here I come.

  “I honestly didn’t think you were going to go out with me,” Morgan said a few days later as I rode with him in his car to a club.

  I just sorta smiled and then looked out the dark, cloudy window. “Do you even think it’s a good idea to go out tonight?” I said to him, knowing a severe storm was supposed to hit the state.

  “They did say we were gonna have a little thunderstorm come our way. Or was it a tornado watch? I don’t remember. You said yes, girl—I was not gonna let you stay inside because of a
little rain,” he said as he touched my leg and sent chills all over my body. Then he touched my chin and said, “All right. Tell a brother why it took so long for you to say yes. I knew you wanted to be with me.”

  He was so cocky, but he was so dead-on. I wanted to be with him, and he knew it. But a part of me knew it was wrong. I was usually a sensible person. Wouldn’t go outside without a coat or a jacket in the fall. Would finish all my homework before I had fun. I never imagined myself wanting to be with the bad boy, but here I was, caught up. His touches got to me way more than Covin’s did.

  All my life I’d been good, and maybe I had to learn for myself that walking on the wild side of life was dangerous. But like I often used to think about girls who made stupid decisions, you couldn’t tell me to stay away from the stove if the burner was on high. Being with Morgan made me feel invincible; there was no way I could get burned.

  I just sorta looked at him, checking out his lips, wishing they were touching mine, digging his hands, imagining they were all over me, and wondering what was between his ... Well, I don’t need to finish that thought, do I?

  “You’re thinking something over there—what’s up? Ask me whatever’s on your mind.”

  I paused before I responded. “Okay, at the contestants’ meeting last week, all my sorority sisters are cute and got it going on, but you were looking at me. I just wondered—”

  He chuckled. “Why I picked you? Well”—he reached over, grabbed my hand, and placed it between his legs—“you’re over the whole contest, you present so well, you walk around and all us guys were checking you out, and—”

  “Oh, so it’s a competition thing?” I asked, cutting him off.

  “No, it’s not. It was turning me on that other people were into you, too. I’m the kinda guy that likes people to get things for themselves, but if I see something I want, I’m gonna go for it. I had no problem letting you know I was interested. Plus, I knew I’d like your touch. You gave me an inch—”