Not Always

by Ancelli

  “Open the door, Jewel!”

  Jewel closed her eyes, and stomped her foot in frustration. When would he leave her alone? She took a deep breath. José was here and if anything got out of hand, she would scream. She twisted the doorknob, pulling it open. “What do you want, Phil?” Coco growled at him. Jewel smiled down at her puppy. Good doggy.

  “I need to talk to you.” Phil watched the dog, and then noticed her smile.

  This fool thought she was smiling at him. “We don’t have anything to talk about. Didn’t you learn your lesson last time you came here?” She stared intently at him. She could smell the stench of liquor of his breath, and the sweat seeping from his pores. Something caught Coco’s attention and he disappeared to the back of the house.

  “Jewel, did you know that thug you live with is a criminal?”

  She stared at him from the threshold. This time he wasn’t going to enter her house. He’d had José investigated. She wasn’t surprised. “You’re drunk at seven o’clock in the morning. You need to go home and drink some coffee.” She went to shut the door, but he stopped her with his foot.

  “I need you, Jewel.” He moved closer to her, making her move away from him. The scent of liquor was making her nauseous. He got the message and leaned against the wall. “I admit I made some mistakes in our relationship. I can get help.”

  This shit again. “It took you almost four years to realize that.” Jewel was done listening to him. “I don’t need you.”

  “What we had was unique.” His voice rattled. “Nobody compares to you. I’m my best when I’m with you.”

  Really? “I wasn’t my best when I was with you.”

  “You don’t mean that,” he murmured.

  “I’m in a relationship, and he treats me as his equal, not his possession.” She tilted her head. “What I have with José is different.” Even with the issues she had with José, she was the happiest she’d been in her adult life.

  Phil’s eyes widened and his jaw tightened. She watched as his face developed a dark red hue. “Do you value what you have?”

  Jewel inhaled slowly and released the breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn’t need this. If the idiot wasn’t in front of her, she could’ve been in bed next to the man she loved. Instead, she was listening to Phil’s gibberish.

  “I wonder what the staff at your school would think if they found out you’re living with a convicted criminal?” He moved closer to her. Jewel fisted her hand, she was getting ready to knock him out, if he got any closer. “Because that’s what’s going to happen if you continue in this immoral relationship with that Puerto Rican thug. ” He spat. “He is not enough of a man for you.”

  “Are you really giving me an ultimatum?” Jewel stepped forward, barely touching him, pointing her index finger at him. “Go ahead. Tell the board members! My personal business is just that: mine.”

  “Not when they find out you had him up in the school interacting with the students,” he replied with a smirk. “What will the parents think?”

  “He’s not a sex offender.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “If you did your homework, you would know he was a kid when he was locked up.”

  She would defend José until the end. He was a changed man, and she was getting tired of people judging him for his past.

  “Jewel, you won’t win this battle. Leave him or lose that job you love so much.” He wrinkled his nose. “They will believe me over you anytime. I’m with the school board.”

  “Do it!” Jewel hollered. “If I have to choose between my career and the man I love, I pick him.”

  “What?” he shouted. “You would choose that asshole.” He began to pace. “When I asked you to quit, you wouldn’t.” He balled up his fists. “You bitch, is he that important to you? You would sacrifice your dreams for him?”

  “I will give up everything for him, even this fucking house.” Jewel was beyond pissed now. “If selling this house will get you out of my life for good, then so be it. I will put this fucker on the market first thing tomorrow.” She backed up, holding the edge of the door, about to close it.

  Phil shambled forward, pushing the door wide open, making her stumble. “I knew you weren’t nothing but a fucking pushover, and now I get half of the profits to this house.” He laughed. “Your house.”

  Her ears were burning from the anger she was feeling. Jewel tightened her jaw. “Fuck you, Phil,” she growled.

  “Oh, I will be fucking you very soon.” Phil lunged for her, trying to grab her arm. She jumped back before he could touch her.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” José’s voice sounded vicious as he walked out of their bedroom in his boxers. “Dude, I warned you if you touched her again I would break every bone in your body.” He marched up to where they stood. Phil glared at him, stepping back. José smirked. “So you know about my past, and you’re trying to use it against the woman you claim to love.”

  Jewel knew something was off. He’d heard everything Phil had said to her. But José was too calm. He didn’t even appear mad.

  “I love my wife,” Phil stated.

  Jewel scurried to the living room, looking for her purse. She looked around the sofa area, and found it on the couch, then picked it up and dug for her phone. Calling 911 was her only option. Phil was trespassing, and she wasn’t about to let José go to jail for defending her.

  José’s lips curled up on one side. “Not as much as I love her.”

  Jewel paused in shock. Her phone slipped out of her hands. Had José just said he loved her? She’d waited for this moment. She could feel her eyes tear up. Why did it have to come out like this? Her heart beat double time.

  Phil stumbled out of the doorway, moving away from José. “You punk.”

  “Look who’s scared away.” José drifted past Jewel. He cracked his neck, and she could see the vein protruding on the side.

  Oh, shit.

  Phil flinched when José clutched the door.

  “José! Let him go. Please…” She knew his temper and what he was capable of. The consequences of his actions could cost them everything they’d built together.

  In one swift move, José lunged forward. His right fist connected with Phil’s chin, and then the left. Jewel heard the cracking sound of Phil’s jaw. He screamed like a little bitch, covering his mouth. Blood ran through his fingers. José threw another punch, hitting him in his stomach and sending Phil to the ground. Pain etched her ex-husband’s face.

  José was about to attack him again, and Jewel’s heart sped. “José, no…no! Stop, stop.” She tugged on his arm. “Please,” she cried. “I can’t lose you.”

  José tilted his head to side, staring at her. He nodded his head, and mouthed “okay”, then turned his head back to her ex.

  “I keep my promises.” José spoke with venom, glaring down at Phil who remained on the ground in a fetal position. “I also told you not to talk to her again.” He grabbed the door and slammed it.

  José took a couple of deep breath and banged his fist into the wooden barrier he’d just closed. Jewel knew he was trying to calm down before he turned to face her. She moved closer to him, placing her palms on his back. She could feel the thumping of his heart. Jewel wrapped her arms around him. She could hear Phil’s shoes scraping the walkway as he grumbled in pain.

  José’s breathing slowed down. He twisted around in her arms. “Are you okay?” He watched her through hooded eyes.

  “Yes.” She rocked on her heels.

  “Why did you open the door for that fool?” He arched a brow. “He could’ve hurt you.” José moved a strand of her curls behind her ear.

  She took his hand in hers, noticing his knuckles were swollen. José must have broken something in Phil’s face for his hands to look like they did. “You need some ice.”

  “I’ll be okay.” He shook his hand, opening and closing his fist.

  “I can’t do this anymore.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “Do what?”
>
  “Phil,” she replied. “Can you believe what he tried to do?” Jewel paced in front of him. “If I don’t leave you, he is going to the board and the parents. He is going to tell them I’m with a convicted felon, and you were around the kids.” She rubbed her hands together. “So what if they believe him? I can find another job.” Jewel shook her head as she ranted off what she would do if she got fired. “He might claim I put their safety in jeopardy.”

  “Jewel…” José whispered.

  She continued talking. “I don’t care. Let him tell the fucking world. He won’t rule me.” She finally stopped at looked at José. “I’m selling the house.”

  ***

  José combed his fingers through his hair. Jewel was rambling about selling her house. He gazed at her. She was the best thing in his life, beside his son. It hurt him, but he knew what he needed to do. “Jewel,” he repeated again as she went on and on.

  “What if he presses charges?” She stared at him, and answered her own question. “If he does, I’ll press charges against him. He entered my house without my permission. You were defending me.” Jewel kept pacing. “He cares too much about what people think. He won’t tell.”

  “Jewel!”

  “Yes?”

  His throat went dry. There was only one option. “I’m moving out.”

  Jewel’s eyes widened, and she started shaking her head. “No…you can’t do this to me.” Her eyes begged him to take back those words.

  “It’s the best solution.” José wasn’t going to be the reason her dreams and accomplishments came tumbling down. He wasn’t giving up on them, either. He’d never wanted someone so bad in his life. Jewel had become his reason for smiling, for living, and believing in himself. She made him dream about white picket fences, puppies, and kids.

  “For who!” she yelled. Jewel took several strides away from him. “Phil!”

  “Babe.” He lowered his head. For the first time since his son had been born, he had tears in his eyes. She wasn’t going make this easy. “I’m doing this for us. I don’t want you to give up everything you’ve worked for because of me.”

  “José, you’re my life.” Jewel’s eyes watered.

  His heart sank as he watched the only woman he’d ever loved suffer because of him.

  “Muñeca.” He drifted in front of her. “I don’t want you to resent me later.”

  She continued shaking her head. “No…no…no!” she hollered. “Don’t do this!”

  His heart was breaking, she knew he wouldn’t change his mind. “Jewel, if the roles were reversed, you would do the same thing.” José wiped at her falling tears. “Teaching is your passion, and he can take that away. This house, too.” He waved his hands around.

  “I don’t care about this fucking house!”

  José made no attempt to speak. She said she didn’t care about the house, but she didn’t mention her career. He knew she would give it up for him, and later on regret it.

  “You’re leaving me.” He could barely hear her words through her whimpers.

  “Heavens no.” José cupped her face in his hands. He needed her to understand what he meant. “I love you.” He bent down, grazing her soft lips with his. “I have never, ever felt this emotion for any other woman.”

  Tears continued to roll down her beautiful face. “I love you, too.” Jewel gazed at him with so much feeling in her eyes, they were mirroring what he felt. “If you love me, don’t leave.”

  “I’m doing this because I love you, Jewel.” José took a deep breath, trying to control his tears. He was hurting the one person that had always been there for him. “We are not breaking up. But Phil needs to think we did.” He sighed. “Please, don’t give up on me. I need to get some shit together by myself, and I promise I’ll be back.”

  “Why? You have me.” She shrugged, hesitantly pulling away from him.

  “Jewel, it’s time for me to take care of some things. I can’t always rely on somebody else. I promise I’ll be back for you.”

  José’s voice rattle, he didn’t want to leave her. Jewel was his light in the darkness, but he’d learned sometimes you have to make sacrifice for the ones you love, and walking away from her was the biggest one.

  “How long?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  José shook his head. “I don’t know. As long as it takes.”

  Jewel looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. “What if I don’t wait around for you?”

  He knew she couldn’t mean those words. He would be broken if he came back and she’d moved on, but at least she wouldn’t have given up all she’d worked for because of him.

  “Then I’ll have lost the love of my life.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  José twisted into a different position, trying to get comfortable. The cheap pillow he’d bought the night before wasn’t helping. His neck hurt as he turned to face the passenger side. The car was too small for a guy like him to be sleeping in. The seat was pushed and leaned all the way back, yet his knees still hit the damn steering wheel. He’d been sleeping in his car for four days now. José couldn’t afford to pay the first and last month’s rent anywhere. He needed to save his money and continue to send child support to Olga. He was surprised she was okay with him sending two hundred dollars, instead of three hundred fifty. José cracked his neck, trying to find a better position. He missed Jewel. His mind drifted to the last time they’d laughed together. He was so lucky to have her in his life. Giving up on her wasn’t going to happen. When he returned, hopefully in a couple of months, he would be a man she could be proud of.

  The sound of someone knocking on his window startled him.

  “Martinez.” The person tried pulling on the car handle, tapping the glass. “Are you okay?”

  José sat up, and rolled down his window. It was his mentor. Shit. He thought Tyron was gone for the night. He’d said goodnight after they’d gone through the new menus scheduled to come up in a few weeks. José usually locked up. “I’m good.”

  Tyron observed him, bending down, looking at the bags in his back seat. “Son, are you living in your car?” José didn’t answer; he just sighed. “I know you told me you left your woman for a good cause. However, you didn’t tell me you didn’t have a place to stay.” He stood straight.

  “I have a place to go.” He stared forward. He wasn’t going to go running to Javier again. Javier was gone on training for two months, and Jazmine was going to meet up with him in a few days. They had enough on their plates. “I must have fallen asleep.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit. How long have you been sleeping in your car?” Tyron didn’t move a muscle, waiting for his response.

  “Four days.” José gripped his steering wheel. “I have a place to live. I just chose not to go running back to my baby brother’s house. He has his own family to take care of. I’ll be okay.” He’d been through hell and back before. He would make it through this one, too. José needed to make it, not for himself alone, but for Carlitos and Jewel. They came first in his life.

  “The hell you are.” Tyron dug in to his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Follow me.”

  “Where?” José raised an eyebrow.

  “You’re staying with me.” Tyron started walking over to his Escalade. “My mother will love having someone else to bug.” He laughed as he jumped into his truck.

  “You live with your momma?” José chuckled.

  “Get it straight. My mom lives with me,” he yelled from his truck.

  Tyron’s vehicle roared to life. He flashed his headlights and turned into the road, waiting for José to follow him.

  José knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer. They’d been working for almost three months together, and the man had taught him a lot.

  He missed Jewel, her smile, her voice, even her nagging. His body yearned for hers. José couldn’t sleep well without her tucked against his side. José hoped she was doing okay. Jewel was supposed to start the new school year in a week, summer went by so
fast. At least he had some lasting memories with Jewel and his son. He sent her a text and she hadn’t replied. He hoped she would understand why he left, and she would come to her senses and text him back.

  José followed Tyron out of the city to the suburbs. They entered a gated community. The guard at the small shack handed him a piece of paper, and told him to place it on his dashboard. He continued, glancing at the big homes as they passed by. They were gorgeous, contemporary houses. The landscape was beautiful, with flowers going up and down the pathways. Decorative lights were nestled next to the sidewalks.

  Tyron turned into the corner lot. It was one of the biggest white houses on the block. It had a four-car garage, with a waterfall in the middle of the lawn.

  “Grab your bags.” Tyron got out of his truck. “And follow me.”

  “Tyron.” José looked up at him from his vehicle. He hadn’t turned off the ignition. “I don’t want to impose. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He placed the gearshift in reverse.

  “Martinez!” Tyron ambled away to the glass front door. “Get your ass out that car before I make you.”

  José chuckled low. He knew Tyron wouldn’t let him go without a fight. He rolled up his window, stepped out, and grabbed one of his bags from the back seat.

  “Hurry up.” Tyron turned around. “I’m sleepy.”

  “Yes, sir.” José rushed through the open door, and stopped at the entrance. “Damn.”

  Tyron walked in, locking the door behind him. “Let me show you where you’ll be staying.” They strolled through the house. It had an open floor plan, high ceilings. José glanced at the rooms as they passed by. A huge family room, gourmet kitchen with all the gadgets any chef would love: an in-counter six-burner range, and an oven built into the wall. Tyron opened the fancy sliding doors to a huge backyard. A pool sat in the middle of the yard, and a Jacuzzi to the left side.

  “You’ll be staying there.” Tyron pointed to another small house. “That’s my guest home. You have your own entrance on the side.” He waved in the direction of the side gate. “Feel free to use anything on this property. You can stay here as long as you need. I’m going to sleep.” He turned and threw a key at him, then re-entered his house.