Darker The Forbidden Berry

“I thought we’d go have a nice time out in Detroit.”

“You want to leave the suburbs and go out to Detroit?”

“Hell yeah. This place gets so fu*king boring. I hate it out here.”

Aja kept looking out the window as the rows of mansions eventually faded into a long stretch of recently paved. Finn’s comment about wanting to get out of the suburb settled over her and wouldn’t let her go, even as they parked the car and walked into a restaurant she’d seen before, though she’d never been able to afford to go.

Punch Bowl Social advertised itself as a place where one could find food and fun. They walked past the room with the arcade games and instead perched at a tall, round table beside the bowling alley. She looked around and grinned.

“I’ve never been here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! And I’m from Detroit,” Aja said, taking the water the waitress handed her.

“No kidding. You lived in the city?”

“Born and raised on the south side.”

“Wow. That’s wild. I mean…It’s cool, you know? The city is incredible.”

Aja glanced up at him, her brows knitted together, head cocked to the side.

“Have you ever been to the south side?”

Everyone knew you did not go to the south side if you did have to. Detroit was not as bad as the movies and TV made it out to be, but there were definitely areas that were less…sanitized.

“No. I um…I’ve never had a reason to go out that way.”

“That’s the reason? Or is it because your dad told you that you’d get mugged?”

She watched a strange mix of embarrassment and shame run across his face. Aja smiled a little and shrugged.

“It’s okay. I get it. I was so surprised to hear that you wanted to get out of the suburbs. I would have given anything to get into the suburbs when I was younger. Hell…I’d give anything for it now,” she sighed, sipping her water.

“I always thought it would be nice to be out from under my parents’ thumb,” he said, with a shrug. “The city was the best way to achieve that. Because you’re right….! My parents wouldn’t be caught dead downtown unless they were here on business.”

That sounded about right. Finn was not the first rich white man Aja had met. Most rich families avoided the city.

“The kids from the south side come downtown to get away from their homes too, you know.”

“Really?”

Aja nodded and stirred her water. “Yeah…There was always sh*t to do in the city. It was a good distraction from the sh*t going on at home.”

The silence that passed between them after that statement was odd. It was not uncomfortable, but it was not something Aja wanted to sit in either. She was silently thankful when Finn changed the subject.

“You said you are going to college?”

“Yeah. At Wayne State.”

“For what?”

“Art.”

“Another thing my parents would murder me for.”

Aja smiled a little. “Did they make you get an MBA?”

“How’d you guess?” He asked, feigning surprise.

“You aren’t the first heir I’ve ever met.”

He just laughed and shook his head a little, smiling as the waitress came by. He ordered them a plethora of appetizers before slipping out of his seat and offering his hand.

“Ever played pool?”

She shook her head and took his hand, more than aware of the eyes that were on them. Was it because they knew who he was? Or was it because he was white and she wasn’t? Aja tried to shake off the unease and followed him up the single stair to an elevated area littered with three different colored pool tables. The balls were already neatly arranged into little triangles.

“Here you are,” Finn said, handing her a pool stick and a little blue square.

She watched him scrape the square over the tip of his cue, so she did the same, even though she was not sure why.

“It’s to make sure you hit the ball dead on and it doesn’t slip,” he explained as if reading her mind. “I’m going to break and then you’ll take the first shot. Rules are simple. You’re solids and I’m stripes. You want to try and get all your own balls in the pockets first. Don’t go for the eight ball until you’ve sunk all your other ones, okay?”

Those were pretty simple rules. She could do this. He leaned over the table and hit the white ball and it sent all the others scattering across the table. Aja went up to the table, doing her best to mimic his movements but failing miserably. A rumbling chuckle sent chills down her spin as Finn came up behind her.

“Would you like some assistance?”

“Yes please.” The words came out breathier than she’d intended.

Finn leaned over her and bent her over the pool table a bit, his hips pressed against hers in a way that was almost undeniably s*xual. She had to bite down on her lower lip so as not to give away the fact that she was enjoying the way his smooth fingers slid up her arm and rested on her hand. His fingers curled around hers and he turned his head so that his nose brushed against her cheek. God, Finn was not a stupid man. He had to know what he was doing.

“Use your fingers to steady the tip of the cue,” he instructed, his free hand running down the back of her arm and gripping her elbow gently.

“Ah…Okay,” she whispered, her throat tight with anticipation.

“Then you just pull your elbow back and… Push it forward.”

As she shifted and hit the ball, she felt his hips tuck tighter against hers and her cheeks flushed bright red. She was practically pushed up against the table now and he was leaning over her, giving her a glimpse of what it might be like if this restaurant was not packed with people. A mix of embarrassment and wanton lust ran through her and while she knew she should pull away she just did not want to.