Impressive Tool

Alijah stood at the terminal, waiting for Erin’s plane to land. It had been almost a year since the last time she saw Erin face to face. She was more than excited to be seeing her friend after so long.

She didn’t know how long she had been waiting, but finally, she saw where the plane had landed on the screen, and the passengers were exiting. It took only a few minutes for her to spot Erin coming through the crowd, and right behind her was Chayse. This was an even bigger surprise to Alijah. She had just spoken to Chayse the day before, and she hadn’t told her that she was coming to visit for her birthday as well.

“Erin, Chayse!” Alijah called, waving her arm while making her way over to them.

When she made it to the two women, they all greeted each other with hugs. Alijah then led them out to the waiting car as they made small talk about the plane ride. Timothy was waiting for them in the private pick-up area. After taking the luggage from both women, he placed it in the trunk as they climbed into the backseat.

“Someone’s moving on up to the east side,” Chayse stated with a smirk.

“Being chauffeured around and shit. I’d have to agree with you, Chayse.” Erin concurred.

“Shut up. Both of you.” Alijah threw out.

“So, where are we going?” Chayse asked when the car began to move.

“Well, it’s still pretty early. I thought I’d let you guys drop your bags off, and then I could fix dinner for us all.” Alijah informed, looking at her watch. It was only just after seven. She didn’t see the harm in a late dinner. Both women nodded in agreement before Alijah turned her attention to Chayse. “So, how’s business. Any exciting shoots recently?”

“No, not really. I did just get commissioned to do a shoot for a magazine. They wanted to feature a particular artist.” Chayse informed her, smiling.

“Really? That’s great! Who’s the artist?”

“It’s me,” Erin spoke up.

“I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks.”

“So, Chayse is going to do your session. It’ll be amazing.”

“Yeah, she’s going to shoot my model and me,” Erin stated with a smirk.

“Who did you get to model for you?” Alijah asked. Both women spoke at the same time.

“You.”

Alijah was silent for a minute. “No. I don’t think...”

“Come on, And. You’re the only person I know that hasn’t been touched by another tattoo artist. So, your entire body is my work alone.”

“But...”

“And you’re gorgeous. So, that’s a plus.” Chayse threw in, trying to help Erin with her claim.

“But...”

“And the shoot is tomorrow. So, suck it up.” Erin then finished.

“Nice, Erin. Way to persuade her.” Chayse stated while Alijah groaned.

“Fine.” Alijah finally conceded. “How did you even get them to let you choose your own photographer, model, and place anyway?”

“I told them I knew one of the best photographers to walk the streets, had one of the hottest models, and an awesome place to have the pictures done. One of the owners at the parlor knows a guy down here that owns a little jazz spot. He spoke to him, and he agreed to let us shoot the pictures there.” Erin informed her.

“Well, I guess that works,” Alijah responded.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the condo building. Alijah stepped out, and the other two women followed as Timothy retrieved their bags. They thanked him as he told them to have a lovely evening and departed. Alijah began to walk towards the doors as Chayse looked up at the building.

“Alijah, this doesn’t look like a hotel.”

“That’s because it isn’t one,” she stated, holding the door open for both women. “It’s Kieran’s building. Well, some of it.”

“Look, no offense.” Chayse started as she followed Alijah to the elevator. “But if that man likes to put it on you as much as you’ve said he does. I don’t want to stay with you two. I don’t want to hear that all through the night.”

“I wouldn’t mind it too much.” Erin threw in with a smirk.

“First, Erin, be quiet, and second, you aren’t staying with us. There’s a vacant condo on the floor below Kieran’s. It’s furnished because it’s a timeshare or something. Anyway, he said you could stay there.” Alijah stated, stepping onto the elevator. She pressed the button for the floor they were going to, and they took the ride in silence.

When the elevator door opened, she led them to the condo Kieran had shown her the day before. It was smaller than his, as she expected all the other ones were, but it was still very nice. She unlocked the door with the key he had given her before she’d taken off to the airport and stepped aside, holding the door open as they entered.

“This is nice,” Erin spoke after a moment as she looked around.

“Agreed.” Chayse cosigned.

“Well, the bedrooms are down the hall.” Alijah pointed. “Hurry and put your luggage away so we can go up to the condo and I can start cooking.”

Alijah waited by the front door as they went to do what she’d asked. When they came back, she led the way out of the condo, locking the door and giving the key to Chayse. After all, she was the more responsible of the two. She led them back onto the elevator and placed her keycard in the slot to access the top floor. The elevator doors opened, and she led the way off and into the condo.

“Make yourselves at home. I’m going to start dinner.”

Both women followed Alijah to the kitchen and sat at the bar while she went about getting out the ingredients she needed. She decided she’d cook Shrimp Linguine with a Green Salad. She pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge as well. Taking down three glasses, she went to open the wine, only to find it had a cork in it. Alijah was never a fan of corks because they would break into pieces whenever she tried to take them out. Chayse couldn’t do it, and Erin had refused ever since she popped out one, and it hit her in the eye.

She placed the bottle on the bar and made her way down the hall. She checked Kieran’s office, but surprisingly, she didn’t find him there. Alijah then made her way to his bedroom door, which was closed. She knocked and waited for him to open it. She hadn’t been in his bedroom before — just a few glances in here and there.

“Come in, Alijah.”

She opened the door to find him running a towel over his damp hair in a pair of sweatpants, and, as usual, he wasn’t wearing any boxers. She watched as he threw the towel in the hamper before walking over to her. He pulled her in close and leaned down to kiss her.

“I feel as though you have too many clothes on,” he stated, trying to unbutton the jeans she’d changed into right after work.

“Stop it. Erin and Chayse are in the kitchen,” she told him, removing his hands. “I came to see if you would open a bottle of wine for us.”

“Alijah, you know you can have anything in the condo you want. I don’t care if you open some wine.”

“It has a cork in it, and I always break them into pieces trying to get them out.”

“Come on,” he stated, taking her hand. “I’ll open it for you.”

“Wait!” Alijah blurted, pulling him to a stop. “Put some boxers on. I can see your dick print...and a shirt.” She added on as an afterthought.

Kieran stared at her for a moment before finally agreeing to put on some boxer. However, he forewent the shirt and pulled her out of his bedroom and down the hall.

“Ladies,” he greeted the two women sitting at his bar. “I’m Kieran.”

The two introduced themselves and gawked at him while Kieran opened the wine for them. Then he poured them three glasses before grabbing a beer for himself out of the fridge. He made his way into the living room and turned on the television.

Kieran was mildly amused as he ate his dinner and listened to the three women talk. He quickly realized that Erin was blunt and didn’t care what she said. She reminded him of a female version of Nik. He enjoyed when she would say something, and Alijah, who he found out Erin referred to as And, and Chayse often referred to as Ali, would cut her eyes at her with a look that clearly said, stop talking. Though he was sure Erin understood, she just ignored them.

“So, Kieran,” Erin stated after taking another drink of her wine. “Word around town is that you know how to lay some pretty good pipe.”

“Oh, God.” He heard Alijah groan before dropping her fork onto her plate and spearing Erin with a look.

“Is that so?” Kieran asked.

“Yep. I heard you have an impressive piece to work with as well.” Erin affirmed.

“Erin, go find your chill because clearly, you lost it somewhere,” Chayse told her.

Kieran chuckled. “She doesn’t complain. So, I must do something right.”

He and Erin joked for several more minutes until Alijah pushed her chair back and rose from the table, taking her plate and glass into the kitchen. He could hear her drop them into the sink and was pretty sure at least one of the dishes broke.

“Seriously, Erin. You knew you were going to upset her. She only told you because she needed someone to talk to, and you go and make a joke out of it.” Chayse chastised.

“What? I didn’t mean anything by it. She knows that. I don’t understand why she’s so sensitive all of a sudden.”

Chayse sighed and pushed her food around on her plate. “Just stop talking about her sex life, and don’t act like you don’t know why.”

Kieran wasn’t interested in any more of the women’s conversation and rose from his seat with his dishes. He made his way into the kitchen to find Alijah cleaning it. Kieran placed his dishes on the countertop. Going up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back into him. Leaning down, he kissed her neck.

He didn’t know what this woman was doing to him. She had him doing things he never did in other relationships. What he was about to do now, he didn’t often do in general.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” he spoke softly against her ear. “I didn’t know you would take our teasing so badly.”

“Are you actually sorry?” She questioned, stepping out of his embrace and turning to look at him. “Or are you just thinking with your dick again?” She concluded, narrowing her eyes at him.

Kieran sighed. “I genuinely apologize.”

Alijah exhaled. “I guess I can’t be too upset. I know how Erin is, so this shouldn’t shock me.”

“If you knew there would be a possibility of her teasing you, then why did you tell her?” Kieran questioned as he pulled her back into his arms.

She went quiet, and Kieran began to play with a few of her curls. After a pregnant silence, he figured she had no intention of answering his question and was about to change the subject when she spoke.

“Erin is more experience with men than I am. So, I needed some...advice, I guess. I mean, clearly, I’m not a virgin, but I haven’t been with many men, and none of them have done the things you have to my body. I didn’t know how to take that or if I satisfied you the way you satisfied me.”

“Believe me, baby. I’m always satisfied.” Kieran reassured her. “But if you feel as if you need more practice, I’m more than happy to accommodate you.”

He watched as she looked up at him and rolled her eyes. Smirking, he leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. At least, that had been his intention, but they were locked in a heated battle in a matter of seconds. Their tongues were waging war with one another. It wasn’t until he was sure they would collapse if they didn’t get any air that he pulled away.

“Go, spend more time with your friends. I have some work I need to do. When you get ready for bed, come to my room. Wait on me if I’m not there.”

Alijah nodded, and Kieran leaned in to kiss her once more before releasing her and making his way out of the kitchen. He said goodnight to both Erin and Chayse after telling them it was nice to meet them and headed to his office. He had some work he needed to do, considering he was taking an impromptu day off tomorrow. Kieran needed to call the pilot and schedule a flight. He would usually leave that up to Alijah, but he would take care of it since she had company.

Once that was done, he looked over the schematics the two teenagers from Paris had sent him. He had been very impressed with the two boys’ work. He had happened upon them by accident one day as he was clicking through junk mail when a news heading from one of their city’s publications caught his eye.

The two boys, Pierre and Michelle, ages fifteen and sixteen respectively, had created a fingerprint recognition lock for handheld weapons. It was lightweight and was meant to be embedded in the butt of the gun.

Kieran thought this was a genius idea. There were so many children, teens, and young adults dying every day because one or another of them got hold of their parent’s weapons. With the fingerprint lock, only the person whose print was registered as the owner would be able to operate the gun. It would be placed so that they didn’t have to search for it and put their print on it in case of emergency. No, it would be strategically placed where you would hold the gun naturally when shooting it.

He had never been one to make weapons, and he wasn’t about to start now. No, he merely wanted to find a weapon’s company and put something into play for the two boys, backing them to get them started and then becoming a silent partner.

As usual, Kieran had lost track of time. When he looked at his computer clock, he saw that it was almost two in the morning. Saving his work, he shut everything down before leaving his office. The lights in the front of the condo were off, the only light still illuminating being the hall light, so he assumed Alijah had gone to bed.

Making his way into his room, his suspicions were confirmed as he turned on the light. She lay in the middle of his California King bed. Her curls splayed across the pillows beneath her head.

Kieran closed the door behind him, making his way over to the bed. He turned on one of the bedside lamps before removing his sweatpants and throwing them into the hamper. Going back to turn off the overhead light, he then climbed into bed. When he was settled, he turned off the lamp before pulling Alijah to him.

She rolled over in her sleep and lay her head on his chest, throwing her arm over his waist and twining one of her legs through his. Kieran brought his other arm up and wrapped it around her before exhaling and allowing sleep to overcome him.