by Bell, Olivia
“I'm glad that you had a good time with me.” Devon was happy that she was happy with him, and he knew that what he gave sexually, none of the women complained about.
“I can see through you, Devon Sager.” Erica pointed a finger at him, being serious for a change, even though she wasn't mad.
“What are you talking about?” he asked her, shaking his head. He had a look of confusion on his face. Now was a good time not to have the cameras around them, and he was glad that whatever she had on her mind had been kept alone so that it could be built up until that moment.
“There's someone out there that you have in the back of your mind. I see it in your eyes when you were pleasing me. All I can say is: go for what you want; I don't know who the lucky lady is but I can see it in your eyes. My advice to you is that, after this show, you go after who you really want, or else you're never going to be happy.” Erica went to him and kissed him on the cheek, knowing it was the last time that they were going to have sex together. She wasn't sad, but she was happy when he nodded his head in agreement, not saying a word to her.
Devon was glad that she had understood him, no one else did and it was something that he would remember for the rest of the show, maybe for the rest of his life time.
As soon as they got to the boat landing, the limo was waiting for them. No one knew that he was going to let her ride by herself back home. He didn't know where home was for her, but they were going to call it a night.
Devon reached into the limo and took out a single rose. Handing it to her, she smiled and brought it to her nose to smell it.
“I want to thank you for a wonderful evening, you are very beautiful Erica, and I hope that you had fun,” Devon stated, making himself clear and seeing that Calvin had put the camera right in his face.
“I did have fun, Mr. Sager. Thank you for showing me your yacht and having a snack with me. The dolphins were beautiful too. It was a once in a life time showing for me.” Erica giggled and he gave her a bigger smile.
He kissed her on the cheek and moved away from the limo, enough to shut the door and watch as the limo pulled away. Before Calvin had gotten into the passenger side seat, he had given Devon a smile and a thumbs up.
Calvin was going to have some time to talk to Erica about how her night went, what she thought about Devon, and how she thought about being brought home. All the details that the viewers wanted, of course, and he knew that Ken would be impressed that Devon would let her talk about how she felt about the night without him there.
Devon walked home from the boat landing, knowing it was just down the street. It was good to have some time by himself for a little while. He walked slowly and looked down at the ground, putting his hands in his pockets. He thought about having a cigar when he got home, a cigar in his office and think about which woman that he wanted to go out with the following night.
Ken had told him that it was going to be a nightly show now because the viewers don't want to wait a whole week before finding out what woman he would choose. He was going by what the viewers wanted, even though he wasn't happy with it himself, he wanted to show the viewers that their opinions meant something to him and that it was real. He wanted to impress them in any way that he could.
Devon was surprised when he reached the front porch, the winding stairs were beautiful and it led out to a balcony. He had a good view from where he stood up there, but his feet were tired, and that night he wished that he had only one landing to walk up.
Reaching the top, he was surprised that someone was there waiting for him, that someone had found out where he lived. He put a smile on his face, knowing that she would come to him sooner or later.
Chapter 3
“I thought you would never come home. I saw your show for the first time tonight,” Jasmine told him, not smiling at him. What she had seen was nothing that she wanted to see. He could see that from the top of the landing.
“It’s for ratings, that's all its for.” Devon didn't see why she cared, or why she even bothered since she didn't want to date him.
“But yet you want to be with me? You wanted me to sign up for that stupid show knowing you were going to pick me.” She glared at him and turned away from him to look at the view of the city from where she was standing. Jasmine couldn't deny that it was a beautiful place.
“You were the one who had declined me, Jasmine. What was I supposed to do, wait forever and not go on with my life?” Devon asked her, feeling bad for even talking to her like that, but it was the truth.
Jasmine didn't say anything to that; she knew that she told him no for many reasons. She wasn't going to change that, not now, not when he had so many women in his life, and she knew that he was having sex with each and every one of them.
Neither one of them said a word for a very long time, both of them just looking out at the city from where they were standing. It was obvious that Jasmine was jealous, he could see that without even looking at her.
“My mother has been dead for two years, someone broke into the apartment two months ago; I have three dead bolts on my door now. They broke in while I was sleeping and not only stole money but forced themselves on me. The only reason he wasn't able to go further was because someone called the cops knowing that thumping and banging around never came from my apartment, and I was lucky enough that my neighbors knew it wasn't like me,” Jasmine stated. This took him off guard, and he gave her a surprised look.
Devon never thought he would hear something like that, the bad luck and the pain that Jasmine was carrying…it was no wonder that she didn't talk much, that she didn't date. She felt as if she couldn't trust anyone.
“I'm sorry,” Devon whispered to her, walking closer to her, and putting his arm around her. Jasmine couldn't even look at him.
“My mother died of cancer. She was my best friend and now she's gone.” Jasmine broke down, she cried silently but refused to let him console her as she moved away from him a few inches, showing him that she didn't want his comfort. It pained Devon's heart that she would be that way with him.
“I want to help you,” he whispered to her, looking at her while she continued looking at the city lights.
“I'm a virgin, so if you think that you're going to get into my pants the way you have all the other women on your show, you're sadly mistaken.” Jasmine turned away and tried walking away from him.
Devon reached for her arm before she could walk away from him completely. He didn't know what to say but he knew that he had to say something to her.
“Everything that happened to you, you're going to have to let go. I can help you if you would just let me.” Devon stared at her, thinking about her and wishing that he could heal her pain.
“I'm seeing a counselor for all of it. It's helping a little, every Thursday night I see one. There's no way that you're going to help me. I'm doing just fine but so are you, all those women that flock to you and throw themselves at you…” She pulled roughly away from him and he watched her hurry down the stairs without looking back.
Devon knew it was no use going after her, and he wondered if she was ever going to talk to him again. He had done nothing wrong but go on with his life when she had told him that she didn't want to date him, that she couldn't date right now. He felt bad when he found out all the reasons why and felt guilty for even going out with the women.
“Damn dating show,” he growled and finally went down the stairs.
Devon knew that she was walking alone in the dark and, even though she wanted to be by herself, it wasn't safe to be walking the streets. He thought about her walking on the bad side of town, knowing that anything could happen to her.
Taking the Jag out, he drove in the direction that she had walked. He was amazed that she was such a fast walker because he met up with her at the red light that was up the street which was a long way from his home.
“Get in the car,” he told her, once he rolled down the passenger window. Jasmine pretended not to hear him.
“I said g
et into the car, it's not safe out here walking around in the dark like this!” he hollered at her this time and she flinched slightly. He knew that he had made a mistake hollering at her like that, after all that she had been through.
“Please get in the car, or I'm going to park and get out,” Devon told her, watching the red light turn to green as he slowly drove alongside of her.
Devon knew that if he had to drive to the other side of town, he would do it. He realized at that point she was stubborn as hell when she was mad. He didn't know how long she was going to keep him driving around.
At the next red light, she finally got into the Jag and buckled up, she didn't look at him and she was silently looking out the window. She didn't want to say anything that would hurt his feelings or say things she didn't mean. She had found out long ago that she shouldn't speak during any argument until she was calm.
“I think that you need to calm down, maybe you need a little more help and I'm willing to help you with anything that you want,” Devon stated, going under the speed limit because he didn't want to get to her house too fast.
“You're going to help me while you're fucking all the women on the dating show of yours? I don't think so,” Jasmine told him softly, she wasn't being mean to him, she was stating the truth. He sighed heavily.
Jasmine knew that he didn't know what to say to her; the sigh that he had given to her was the hint that he didn't know what to say at all. She was quiet most of the ride to the apartment still having her arms folded.
“I'm sorry that those things happened to you. If I were you I wouldn't trust many people either, but fact is fact, and you declined me,” he stated, they both knew that she had.
“Why would I want to go have a date with you when you have had nine people that came before me? I don't think that's a good idea, Devon,” Jasmine got out of the car and shut the door gently, she wasn't the type of person to sit there and slam things around when they weren't hers to begin with, she had more respect than that.
Devon slammed his hand down on the steering wheel and shook his head. She had him there, and he knew it. He wanted to go up after her, but he didn't know what he would've said to her anyways if she even let him into the apartment.
“Good job, Devon, good job.” He groaned, pulling away from the curb and headed on his way back home.
As much as he wanted to go to the bar, he knew that he couldn't. He would get himself in trouble for doing that, and he knew it.
For the hundredth time, he was feeling guilty as he headed home. He knew that it was his life; he had convinced himself numerous times that the truth was she had meant what she said when she turned him down. That it was her and not him, he couldn't understand where she was coming from, but he could sympathize with her because of everything she had been through.
“Get this show over with already or at least break down and sign the form, Jasmine. Something has to give.” Devon grunted, stopping at a red light he looked over and saw Erica walking. She waved and smiled at him and he did the same when the red light turned green he drove on through it and when he looked in the rear view mirror, he saw that her back was turned to him and she kept on walking.
Devon was glad that she knew that it was over and that she wasn't going to be picked. She had been right in what she said about wanting to be with the one he really was attracted to. The only way that was going to happen though was if Jasmine would just fill out the damn form.
The second Devon got home, he tried calling Jasmine when he was in his room and the phone just kept ringing and ringing; he knew that she was ignoring him and he had deserved most of it, but not all of it.
He popped a DVD into the player before he laid down and took the remote with him. He watched from the beginning to the end, the commercial with Jasmine, holding up the sign and telling them that they were looking for women that wanted to date the billionaire Mr. Sager. He couldn't help but smile at the screen; he saw the address on the miniature billboard sign and thought it looked great. That was when they were still friends, still laughing with each other and hanging out. He missed those days and, even though it was just recently that they had stopped going for rides together and she stopped hanging out at the studio, he felt lonely inside.
Devon fell asleep with the television on that night. He had kept the DVD on replay so that he could watch it over and over again until he fell asleep.
When Jasmine got into her apartment that night, she sat down on the couch and cried. She had heard the phone ring, but she knew who it was. She wasn't going to answer his calls so that he could hear that she had been crying over things that she couldn't change. That she couldn't control any of it—what was done was done, and there was nothing she could do about it but live life.
The more Jasmine thought about it, the more she knew that, deep down, Devon liked her, or else he wouldn't keep trying to get her attention. She smiled at the memories that they had shared together over the past few weeks, and she couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, she couldn't deny that he had made her happy in the past few weeks more than she had been happy in the past nine months of her life.
Looking at the clock and seeing that she had a few hours to get to sleep, she knew what she was doing in the morning. One thing she knew that she wasn't going to do was apologize for the things that she had said to Devon, because they were all true. She didn't expect him to apologize to her either because he was right too.
Jasmine was about to go to sleep when she heard the neighbors fighting downstairs again. She groaned softly, knowing that the walls were paper thin in the apartment building. Taking her pillow from her bedroom, she covered her ears with it and it helped for a little bit until someone had turned up the radio very loudly and she could feel the music vibrating through the floor.
She knew that she wasn't going to be able to sleep unless she went into her room which she wasn't about to do. Since the robbery and having a man attack her, she refused to go in there, it was as if it was cursed to her. And she couldn't move out because, at that point, she hadn't found a better place with the money that Devon had given her for advertising.
Jasmine got off the couch and went to the freezer where she looked under the meats and found the money that had been left there. She had to count the money each night, she knew that no one could get into her apartment now, but there was still the aching feeling in her chest that it might not be there. Jasmine took the money out and counted it like she did every night since she had finished with the advertising. There was two thousand dollars in her hand, and she had to give Devon the credit, he told her that he would pay her well for everything that she had done for them. Devon hadn't talked to her again about modeling since she was done with the small job that he had given her. She figured the reason was because they were so distant from each other now. She was glad that she hadn't dropped the cleaning job though, a few nights a week she went in and saw that Devon didn't show up all the time. She was happy about that because she didn't know what she would've said to him if he was there.
Chapter 4
The next morning Jasmine found herself waking up at four with the alarm, though she didn't need the alarm to know that her body was used to getting up so early. She knew what she had to do in order to fix things between her and Devon now that he knew about what had happened in her life, she knew what she had to do whether it was wrong or right.
She had an hour before she had to catch the city bus, and she got dressed in a red button up shirt and a pair of white jeans. She hurried to brush her hair and instead of putting it up, she rushed out the door, looking at the clock before she saw that she had ten minutes to get to the end of her street to wait for the bus.
Jasmine sighed as she just made it for the bus because it had been earlier than what it was supposed to be. She got on the bus and the driver gave her smile, nodding his head. He knew that he hadn't seen her in a few days and wondered if she was okay. Jasmine gave him the biggest smile she could muster and sat down in the back of the b
us because it was already full.
Looking out the window, she knew that it was going to be a long ride, her stop was the last one. As she watched people getting off and on the bus, she was hoping that Ken was at the studio so that she could talk to him. She was hoping that he was there alone.
Jasmine began tapping her foot as she grew more and more impatient. Closing her eyes, she thought about resting so that she didn't have to watch the people going off and on the bus. She couldn't wait for her stop.
After twenty minutes, she saw the studio and felt her heart racing as she got closer and closer to it. She felt her hands sweating, but she reached up and pulled the chord to let him know that it was her turn to get off, finally.
As soon as the bus stopped, she stood up and quickly got off. She didn't have time to chit chat and she didn't have time to smile at anyone. She was on a mission. Looking at the parking lot, she saw that Ken was there, but he was the only one. Sighing with relief, she didn't want to see Devon, even though she was there, she was still mad at him for the discussion that they had the night before. She knew it hadn't turned out well and she didn't know what she would have said to him if she bumped into him. She had been willing to take the chance not knowing if he was going to be there that early in the morning, she prayed to god that he wasn't on his way knowing how he liked to show up early.
Jasmine went inside without ringing the door bell to let anyone know that someone had arrived to come into the studio, she saw Ken and Calvin was busy, Calvin popped his head out from behind the camera and gave her a smile surprised that she was there. He hadn't seen her since the taping of the commercial she had been in.
“Can we help you?” Ken asked, giving her a smile.
Ken was surprised to see her as well. Seeing that she had shown up without calling and she didn't show up with Devon so he knew that something was up.
Jasmine just stood there for a few minutes at a loss for words she knew what she wanted to say but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth.
