A pair of black men

I stop in my tracks when a taller black man comes into view. Before seeing me, he seems to be scanning the room, but once he lays his eyes on me, he doesn’t break his gaze. In fact, his eyes are like lasers boring into my soul and the intensity increases as he steps forward. There’s a pit in my stomach as he gets near, close enough that I can smell whatever cologne he has on. He pivots, circling around me. While my eyes break away from his, I feel like his eyes never leave me. Is this the sensation of when a prey is cornered by a predator? His large hand gently collides with my shoulder, and I feel it’s my hair that he has in his fingers. They brush the locks back, off of my shoulder, to expose the skin of my neck. Hell, this black man could be a handsome, dark-skinned vampire who is able to walk in the sunlight.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Get your hands off of her!” a voice rings out from the foyer. I realize that I had frozen from the contact and the voice causes me to jerk out of whatever spell the first man put upon me. The hand leaves my body, and I find another black man, who appears to be shorter than the first, but wider, in terms of shoulder width. Even with their fancier attire, I can tell that both men are muscular. The second black briskly approaches, only for him to grab the first man and pull him away from my personal space. He pushes the taller man towards where one of the rooms is located. Now that we are alone, or at the least, not being put into a trance by the opposite sex, the shorter black man breathes a sigh of relief and faces me. “Sorry about that Miss. My little brother has the tendency to let his entrancing charm do the talking.”

“It’s okay,” I reply.

The man gestures to me to sit at the dining table, a round table encircled by six high-back chairs. I take a seat and the man takes the chair more or less right across from me. “He also hasn’t been on a cruise such as this before. So, take it from me, how he was while we were out on deck. But apologies, I have not introduced myself. I’m Alexander Franklin,” he explains and introduces himself, offering a hand across the table.

I do the same and as my hand clasps his and proceeds to shake it, I introduce myself, “I’m Charlene. Nice to meet you.”

He smiles at the name. “Likewise, Charlene,” he replies, putting a bit of an emphasis on my actual name, as if memorizing it for future use. “And I take it; that’s your female persona. Of course, I know that you’re here because of an offer extended to you. It is I that is actually offering that venture.”

“May I ask why?” I ask.

“You may,” he answers, “You see, I have an investment in X-Change and to better understand what I’m putting my money in, I have arranged with the administrators of the cruise to offer anyone using X-Change onboard an upgrade to my suite. And from my understanding, you are the first, but not the last. I believe Jeffrey has informed me we will be expecting another one like yourself, Charlene.”

Continuing the conversation, I divulge some of my experience on the gender-swapping ****. “Personally, this is my first time being in a public place as Charlene. Prior to this, it’s only been weekends and holidays in my apartment. I’ve actually kept my use of X-Change a secret from my friends and family. So, I’m afraid I may not be able to provide much insight for you.”

“Don’t discount your experiences too quickly, Charlene. You’d be surprised on what I’d like to know about your perspective while on X-Change,” he argues. He glances at the corridor that leads to the other man’s location. “I understand if you may still feel uncomfortable with my little brother around. So, why don’t we get out of this suite and chat as we go about?”