Payback is Sweet

by Kristy Centeno

  Dakota looked confused for a moment. “Whatever has happened between you and me, has nothing to do with whatever it was that we agreed to.”

  I smiled sadly. “I know that.” Neither of us could deny the attraction we felt for each other. No matter if we wanted to or not. There was plenty of sparks between us and we were both aware of it. “Truth is, I really do enjoy your company. And everything else too.”

  His lips split into a half smile. “While we’re being honesty here, I should mention that…I have no idea if any of this makes any real sense but, when we first spoke about this plan to get together, I thought it was childish and maybe even immature. Who in their right mind wants to get involved in something like this in this stage in their lives?” He shrugged. “But I thought about it more deeply later on and figured out it couldn’t hurt to try. When I started spending more time with you, I realized it helped me not to think about Margaret as much. I could actually relax and forget for a while. I could be myself and feel comfortable.”

  It was hard to say for sure, but I had the feeling he was probably not very comfortable around Margaret because she always expected him to be something else—someone more. Someone he wasn’t anymore.

  Honestly, what did she see in Kirk? The man was anything but exciting. He was scared of staring down from a two-story balcony for Pete’s sake. He never did anything more exciting than working out in the same freaking gym several times a week.

  Maybe it wasn’t Kirk she had found so exciting but sneaking around with the possibility of being caught what thrilled her. I didn’t really know but it was a possibility. That kind of exhilaration wasn’t my kind of thing but who was I to judge.

  “I like it when you’re comfortable.” I gazed forward for a second. “I think you should know…this isn’t a game for me anymore.” Was I really admitting to that out loud? I should have been horrified over revealing too much of my feelings, but just then, it felt as if he needed to hear the entire truth, so I obliged.

  “What is it then?” He turned his attention to me. “At what point did it stop being a game? I’m curious.” Dakota shifted on the seat, sitting so that he could face me.

  “I’m not sure. Not really. But at some point my whole involvement with you took a complete one eighty turn, and now I find myself wanting to spend time with you because I like you. For some reason everything just stopped being important. I’m physically attracted to you, but that’s not the only thing that keeps me coming back.” Oh, jeez! I blurted all that without being able to stop myself. What in the world? “It’s your whole demeanor what I look forward to being exposed to. Your overall calmness that…is just so damn alluring.”

  “Is it because I’m so different from you?”

  “It’s a whole lot of everything.” I worked a lock of my hair behind my right ear. “Then again, I don’t even understand it myself. I like you and sometimes don’t even understand why.”

  “I see no reason why we should lie to each other anymore.” His expression hardened a moment before growing soft again. “I told you before that I wasn’t ready to get involved with anyone, but it would be stupid for me to deny that I feel the same way about you that you feel about me.”

  “I think we started off on the wrong foot.” I laughed softly. My reaction was more of a way to hide my relief than to lighten the mood. Things had started to go downhill between us fairly quickly but he seemed to be willing to talk things through.

  “I don’t want to come across as wanting to use you to forget about Margaret because that’s not true at all.” He paused for a moment to take out his cell phone and glance at the time. Once he noted how much time he had left before he had to go in and report for his shift, he stuffed the phone back in his pocket. “We shouldn’t define our relationship from now on and see where things take us. We could get serious, end up as friends with benefits, or simply as good friends. But we won’t get anywhere by centering whatever it is that we have around Kirk or Margaret. Things might have started out that way but it’s obvious something has changed.”

  Dakota was right. We were two adults and therefore we should behave as such. Neither of us could deny that which brought us together and even though both of us had reasons to not want a serious relationship, we didn’t want to continue fighting off whatever magnetism attracted us to one another.

  “That sounds like a more reasonable plan.” I reached out for his hand and intertwine my fingers in his. “Dakota, I hate myself for even saying this but,” I tried really hard not to bite off my damn tongue. What was about to slip out of my lips felt like pure, unadulterated sin of the worst kind but I had to say it nonetheless. “Demarco really had the best of intentions when he didn’t tell you about Margaret. I can’t imagine being in a situation like that and not knowing how to tell my best friend.” Right. I might have to go home and singe the tip of my tongue to feel half way clean after this, but hey, I did it for Dakota not Demarco. “He must have had a harder time trying to figure out how to tell you than you and I both realize.”

  Dakota must have known how hard it was for me to come in Demarco’s defense because he tossed me an incredulous look.

  “What? Yes, I am thinking of a thousand different ways to get a new tongue transplant.”

  He laughed at my remark. “This is one I’m never going to let you live down.”

  I gripped the steering wheel with both hands and planted my head on it to hide my face from him. “Let’s just pretend you never heard that come out of my mouth.”

  “Too late.” A warm hand slipped under my chin and gently lifted my head. Our eyes met and held for a moment. “I have a few hours to think about this whole thing with Demarco. But right now the only thing I truly want is to kiss you.”

  I straightened myself up on the seat and waited as he leaned closer over the car’s center console and brushed his lips over mine. There was nothing sexual or passionate about the way his lips worked on mine this time around. No. This time the kiss was entirely sweet and gentle. The effect it had on me, however, was exactly as powerful as when things were a lot tenser between us.

  It literally felt as if a thousand giant butterflies had been released and were happily fluttering inside my belly all at the same time. This sensation, this explosion of sentiments was something that was relatively new yet not entirely unknown to me. I’d had this experience once before years back and that had gotten me in trouble. I’d lost myself completely because of a guy and the way Dakota kissed me—it brought up sensations I’d much rather forget. It reminded me of the one and only time I’d given my heart to someone only to have that person walk all over it.

  Dakota was slowly awakening the human side of me. The girly aspect of my tough personality. He was lighting my heart on fire and setting my soul aflame.

  I wanted to fight off the goodness of the moment. The mark he was leaving in my soul, but I wasn’t strong enough. I gave up without even fighting back and buried my hands in his raven black hair instead.

  The experience was utterly magical. The way he caressed my face, sliding his fingers over my cheek with open appreciation touched a chord inside of me. I pulled back long enough to glance up at him and smile. He returned the smile before leaning forward to brush his lips over my forehead, nose, cheek, and finally to seal my mouth with his.

  I don’t know how long we sat in my car kissing, but we only separated when a knock on the passenger side glass forced us apart. Dakota slid back down into his seat and glanced to his right where a tall, African American male looked into the car, smiling.

  I rolled the passenger side window down.

  “Hey Janessa,” Anthony greeted me as he rested his arms on the car door half way inside.

  “Hey, Anthony. How are you?”

  Dakota furrowed his brow as he glanced at Anthony and then me. “You two know each other?”

  I nodded. “Anthony was our high school valedictorian.”

  “I didn’t know you and Janessa knew each other. Or that you two were an item?�
� He gave Dakota the two-thumbs-up move. “Good for you man.”

  I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped past my lips. “I see you haven’t changed. You’re still an eight year old trapped in an adult body.”

  Anthony grinned. “Growing up sucks.” He patted Dakota on the shoulder. “Yo, Dakota. Aren’t you coming in? Not that I’d blame you if you didn’t want to, since it looks to me like you’re having plenty of fun out here.”

  I blushed.

  “I have to take him with me, but don’t worry you’ll get him back later.”

  “Shut up and move aside.” Dakota shooed Anthony away, urging him step to one side before reaching for the door handle.

  “Do you guys need another private minute?” Anthony busted out laughing when Dakota tossed an annoyed look in his direction.

  “Get out of here, Anthony.”

  I laughed softly. “It was nice seeing you again,” I shouted as Anthony started for the club’s entrance, still grinning from ear to ear.

  Dakota opened the door and climb out of the car. He leaned inside after shutting the door and said, “I’ll call you when I get off.”

  “Are you going to need a ride?”

  “I should be okay. I’ll call you when I get home.”

  I nodded. “Later then.” I blew him a kiss before setting the car in reverse. He smiled as he stepped aside. A minute later he walked into the club just as I drove off the parking lot.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I opened the door to find an anguished looking Delilah pacing the length of the living room, her face a mask of mortification. The second she spotted me watching her she ran to me and profusely apologized.

  “God, Janessa, I’m so sorry.” She covered her face with both hands for a second before adding, “I didn’t mean to blurt things out to Demarco.”

  “Just how much did you tell him?” I walked passed her and slumped on the couch, resting the back of my head against the cushions.

  She made her way to the sofa and took a seat next to me. “Too much.”

  I draped one arm over my eyes. “I’m surprised he didn’t run directly toward Dakota and told him everything.”

  “Contrary to what you might think, Demarco is not like that.”

  My arm fell flaccid next to me as I turned my head to the left to look at her. “Are you kidding me? He just let lose some of that information he was supposed to keep to himself.”

  “So he made a mistake. I blurted stuff out too,” she defended.

  “So did I,” I confessed.

  “You?” Delilah snorted. “What did you say?”

  My friends knew me well enough to know confessing to anything was just not in me at all and if I had then there must have been a motive.

  “I said a few things that I…well, shit.” I choked on the words. “I told him I like him because of him and that getting back at Kirk wasn’t a priority anymore.”

  Delilah slapped my arm. “Well look at you. Janessa confessing to things she’d never say unless she was cornered.”

  God, what was it with my friends getting physical with me?

  “I wasn’t cornered. I…wanted to come clean. This thing between Dakota and me might have started out as a game but…it’s not anymore.”

  “What is it then?” She scooted closer, her entire attention focused on what I had to say.

  “That’s exactly the same thing he asked me.”

  “Damn it! Don’t play coy with me,” she practically yelled. “What did you respond?”

  I picked myself off the couch. “I guess we’ll have to see where we’re at as the days go by.”

  Delilah tossed a confused look in my direction. “Huh? That’s what you said?”

  “No.” I winked at her. “That’s where we’re at.” I said nothing more as I strolled away and headed towards the stairs.

  “What about Demarco?” Delilah followed me down the hall. “Did he say anything about Demarco?”

  I stopped at the bottom of the staircase. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Dakota is not the type of guy that stays angry for long. At least I’ve noticed that much about him while I’ve been exposed to his wonderful personality.” I shifted enough so that I could look at her directly and said, “By the way, you owe me big time. Because of your bigmouth boyfriend I had to do something I thought I’d never do.”

  Delilah winced. “What?”

  “I actually had to speak in favor of Demarco. So if you excuse me, I have to remove my foul tongue and soak it in bleach for an hour.” I snickered as she burst out in laughter next to me. Ignoring her outburst, I continued up the stairs and into my room.

  I waded into the age old routine of showering, eating, and procrastinating through my school work until Dakota called me around midnight. Thankfully, he woke me up and lifted my spirits just with the sound of his deep voice.

  We spoke for two straight hours, and those were the best two hours I’d ever spent talking with anyone in general. Dakota was great at keeping up a conversation without getting boring and of course, having such a light personality it wasn’t long before he had me giggling like a love stricken school girl.

  The night ended with a goodbye and a kiss blown into the receiver. I fell asleep with a smile on my face and the memory of Dakota’s smile on my mind.

  ***

  Thursday passed by without a hitch and after classes the girls and I decided to go on a small shopping trip so that we could pick up an outfit for Friday night. As soon as they guys heard the words shopping trip, they headed in the opposite direction, claiming they much rather stay home watching the cooking channel than accompany us.

  We left the boys behind as we hit every high end store we could think of and only headed out to grab a bite to eat after we had an outfit, matching accessories, and shoes to go with everything.

  We arrived at one of our favorite restaurants and caught quite a spectacle once we got there and I parked at back of the building. Out of all the places I could possibly run into Kirk and his lover—for lack of a better word, my favorite seafood restaurant had to be it.

  The bastard knew it was my absolute favorite joint when it came to seafood cuisine and he was out showing off his new conquest—except neither of them looked particularly happy and judging by the loudness of their conversation and angry exchange something unpleasant was being said.

  “Skank alert,” Delilah announced as we exited the car.

  I observed the couple yelling at each other some fifteen feet away from where I’d parked my car and smirked. “Guess the honeymoon’s over.”

  “Why did you wait until now to tell me?” Kirk was so engrossed in his argument with Margaret he didn’t even notice us.

  “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t. I just found out,” Margaret pathetically pleaded, grabbing on to the forearms he had crossed over his chest, trying to pry them apart. “Can’t we talk about this?”

  Kirk shoved Margaret aside and strolled over to the driver side door. “Talk to him about it. I had nothing to do with this.”

  “Are they talking about Dakota?” Audrey whispered next to me.

  “I don’t know.” I slammed the door of my car shut to catch their attention. It worked. They both turned to look at us and Margaret paled when she saw me standing a short distance away. “Are the lovers having their first quarrel?” I jiggled the car keys in my hand, amused by the display of unhappiness before me.

  A shadow crossed Kirk’s features for a moment but he recovered quickly. He opened the driver side door to his car and glanced in my direction, saying, “Tease all you want, Janessa. You never know when life will screw you over and I have a feeling you’ll find that out pretty soon.” Before I could form a response, he climbed into his car, turned the engine on as he waited for Margaret to follow his example, and drove off soon after.

  “I wonder what that was all about.” Delilah stepped in next to me. “It must not be very good by the looks of things.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s not any business of mine.
” I shrugged. “It’s not like I want to know what’s going on between those two. I knew all along it wouldn’t last.” I gave Delilah a playful shove. “Let’s go eat girls.”

  I lead the girls inside, forgetting the incident with Margaret and Kirk almost as quickly as their argument had been.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Our heels clicked noisily on the sidewalk as we strutted toward the nightclub. I was feeling a little anxious about seeing Dakota by this point though I tried to hide it. The past few days had been the most interesting of my life. When I first solicited Dakota’s help in getting back at Kirk, I never imagined we’d grow as close as we had. I certainly hadn’t expected to share as much as I had with him.

  I’d dressed in my newly acquired red, mini cocktail dress four inches too short, matching four inch red stilettos, which I accessorized with a red clutch with a silver gemstone in the middle, and silver teardrop earrings hoping to impress my date. My entire focus— the only reason I was at the club in the first place was because of Dakota and no one else. Even as I noted the guys standing in a line as they waited to gain entrance to the club, ogling me, I had eyes for no one else tonight.

  When we first agreed upon getting together for a night of drinking and possibly some dancing, nervousness wasn’t even a possibility. Being out and about was something that came as naturally to me as breathing. I practically oozed confidence a hundred percent of the time so my sudden jumble of nerves was not welcomed nor was it appreciated. It almost felt as if I was going on a date for the very first time, which was kind of crazy considering that Dakota and I had spent many days getting to know each other already.

  However, this night felt different somehow. It was hard to explain why, but nothing felt innocent between us anymore. The sexual tension had escalated so much we could barely stand it. I knew I could not. I’d come to imagine him naked more than once and that was really playing havoc on me. No guy had ever turned me on as much as he constantly did and with so little encouragement either. All he had to do was look at me a certain way and my panties became embarrassedly wet.