by Tiya Rayne
I called Eli not long after the cops came. I was still pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal, and one of the policemen asked if I had someone I could call to come stay with me. Eli was the first person I thought of besides Sean. For only a fraction of a second, I thought about Jackson, but I quickly dismissed that idea.
“Eli, I don’t want you getting in trouble. Let the cops handle it. Besides, I’ll be getting a restraining order in the morning.”
I walked past him into the kitchen to grab another glass of wine. I thought the situation called for it.
Eli was on my heels.
“Duck, I’m not going to ask you again. Where does this muthafucker stay? Is he the same dude that put his hands on you the other day?”
I knew if I told Eli yes, I would be signing away Cliff’s life. Although I didn’t give a shit about what happened to that asshole, I did care about my cousin. So instead of answering, I just looked up at Eli, letting him know I wasn’t telling him anything.
Eli slammed his hand down on my marble countertop. He knew it was a lost cause. I loved my cousin too much to risk him over this.
“I’m going to bed. You can have anything in the fridge you want,” I said, tossing the empty bottle of wine in the trash.
“Like I would eat your left over take out and condiments.” He smirked.
I breathed a sigh of relief at his joke. I didn’t cook, so I never really had food in my house. I survived off of wine, takeout, and leftovers from Grams’ house.
I stopped by Eli on my way out the kitchen.
“Thanks for staying with me.”
He looked over at me, and smiled. “Anything for you.”
I bumped his shoulder as I made my way up the stairs to my bedroom. I climbed in my massive bed and placed my wine glass beside me. I noticed I had a text message notification on my phone. I almost forgot about the message I sent Jackson. I slid my finger across the screen to read the message.
Jackson: Anytime. Anywhere.
The message was sent thirty minutes ago. Some of my enthusiasm about the date had started to disappear. I was no longer so sure in my plan. I had a crazy stalker I was dealing with, should I really get Jackson involved in this drama? Before the thought could form in my head and talk me out of it, my fingers were already flying across my keypad.
Me: Tomorrow. Noon. Starbucks on the corner of S. 28th street.
Jackson: See you there.
I placed my phone back on my nightstand, feeling skeptical about tomorrow. Was this really a good idea? By the time I reached the bottom of my wine glass, I was feeling confident in my plan, and sleep greeted me like the arms of a familiar lover.
SEVEN
At exactly twelve o’clock, I pulled into the parking lot of Starbucks. I took a deep breath before pulling the visor down and glancing at myself in the mirror. You would never be able to tell I had a rough night last night. Concealer covered the circles under my eyes. If only I had a quick fix to cover up my cousin’s suspicion.
Our conversation came back to me from this morning.
“How was your night?” Eli asked as soon as I walked into the kitchen.
He was eating a bowl of cereal. It was the overly sweet kind I kept for whenever my God-kids came over.
I placed a K-cup of coffee into the Keurig while grabbing a mug.
“Good, how about you?”
I turned to look at him when he didn’t immediately reply to my question. Those light-brown curious eyes were on me.
“You had another dream last night.”
My entire body froze. It was only for a second, but it was long enough to make a difference to my cousin.
“I…..don’t remember it.”
“Funny, that’s the same shit you use to say when we were kids.” The lack of inflection in his tone told me he was angry.
“It’s not uncommon for people to have bad dreams and not remember them.”
“Don’t play with my intelligence, Charlice.”
Damn! He must really be mad if he’s using my real name.
When we were kids growing up in Grams’ house, Eli and I often shared a room. Not because we didn’t have our own room, but because I often would play in his room at night so that I could fall asleep and sleep in his bed. He never woke me up and sent me to my own room. He would just put me in his bunk bed or throw a blanket over me on the floor and let me sleep. It’s why he knew I was often plagued with nightmares.
I turned to him with my coffee in hand. “Look, Eli, I had a really rough night last night. It was probably just a dream about last night.”
Eli’s eyes watched me closely. He stood from his seat at the bar and walked over to the sink beside me running his empty bowl under the water. He placed the bowl in the dish drain and turned to me.
“The name you called out in your sleep had nothing to do with last night.”
This time when my body froze, it was for a lot longer.
“What……what name did I call?” I questioned with a shaky voice.
Again, Eli’s eyes studied me. “Same one you called when you were a kid. You called for Aunt Nita.”
I shook my head and placed a fake smile on my lips. “No wonder I can’t remember those dreams. They are clearly filled with delusions.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Delusions.” Eli walked away from me, leaving me stranded in the kitchen.
The memory broke, and I was once again at Starbucks. I climbed out of my car, yanking down on my pencil skirt. I grabbed my purse and headed towards the door. I spotted Jackson right away. It was incredible how easily I found myself smiling at him.
His wide shoulders filled out a dark blue Polo with the name Keller Landscaping printed on the right side of his chest. Those hazel eyes swallowed me up. I forgot how fine this man was. My memory did not do him justice. He stood to his feet, and my head lifted with his height. He smiled at me, and those barely hidden dimples greeted me.
“Good afternoon, beautiful.” That deep voice made my heart beat just a little faster.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Keller.” I tried to say it as normal as possible, but I could hear the hint of a purr in my voice. I couldn’t help it, fine men made more than just my pussy purr.
Jackson smirked at me as if he knew the affect he had on me. “I waited until you came to order.” He said directing me towards the line.
I didn’t care what time you came to this place there was ALWAYS a line. However, I didn’t mind. The way Jackson’s thick thighs looked in his khaki pants distracted me from the wait. Whoever thought Khakis could look so damn good.
We placed our order at the counter, and after receiving our coffee, we headed to a table.
Jackson pulled out my seat, and I sat down with a smile plastered on my face. He sat in front of me, and for a moment, he just stared at me.
“So, you mean to tell me, you went through all that work to get this date with me, and this is how you would like to spend your time?” I teased.
Jackson chuckled, and it was a sexy sound.
“You know, for a moment I thought I was going to have to make a deal with the devil to get you on this date. Thank you for relenting and saving my soul.”
“Don’t thank me yet, the date isn’t over. You may still need his help.”
He laughed again as he took a sip of his coffee. “Then I’ll be sure to keep that appointment I made with him.”
I laughed. “I’m flattered, Mr. Keller. I’ve never had a man give up his soul for me.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve questioned your choice in men.”
I smiled again at him. I liked how easy he was to talk to. His witty comebacks were entertaining.
Again we did that weird thing where we just stared at each other with big cheesy smiles. I’d never been one of those people that made kissy faces in public. The ones that held hands as if they might get lost without the guidance of their significant other, or gazed into each other’s eyes passionately like star crossed lovers. The people you want
ed to murder with a dull spoon for being nauseously cute. Yes, today I was that person.
I cleared my throat and looked away from those hazel eyes that I was convinced had placed a spell on me.
“So, tell me a little about yourself.”
I took a sip of my coffee before I answered. “There isn’t much to tell.”
“Sure there is. All I know about you so far is that you’re beautiful, have an aversion to nice guys, and have shitty taste in coffee.”
My laugh came out so boisterous and loud everyone at the coffee shop turned to look at me. I covered my mouth as I tried to contain my laughter. I watched the mirth dance in Jackson’s eyes.
“For your information,” I said once I got my laughter under control, “this coffee is delicious. It’s a whole lot better than that tar you’re drinking.”
“There are seventeen ingredients on the label of that cup, I’m not even sure coffee is in it. At this point, you’re drinking hot sugar.”
Another laugh from me. When my laughter died down again, Jackson took a sip and lifted a brow at me.
“I did notice you didn’t argue your aversion of nice men?”
I shook my head at him.
“Who said you were a nice guy?”
“Touché, Ms. Jefferies.” He winked and then dragged his pointed pink tongue along his full bottom lip. I ignored the fluttery feeling in my belly that let me know the seat of my panties were probably drenched right now. “I still want to know more about you,” Jackson added.
I had to clear my throat before I spoke again. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start out with the easy stuff. Do you have any siblings?”
I gave a short dry laugh. “Please, Bernita Jefferies didn’t want the one child she had. She would never dream of having another.”
I didn’t mean to go that far into detail. I was a very private person. My family didn’t even know the details of my life. The only reason they think they knew about my sexual escapades was because I went to high school with Chante and Keisha, who were eager to bring back any news they could on me. Most of the shit that was spread in high school were lies. I didn’t care enough about what people thought of me, so I didn’t dispute the lies, and I felt in order to correct my family on their thoughts about me, I would have to let them in on all of my life, and I wasn’t having that.
So it threw me for a loop that in just a few minutes of this date, I had told him something personal about me.
“I’m guessing your mom isn’t winning any mother of the year awards from you?”
His calm demeanor and non-judgmental gaze lured me and made me continue to talk. It’s like there was truth serum in this damn coffee.
“No! I haven’t talked to my mother since I was sixteen, and even before then, our relationship was strained. Having a child wasn’t very conducive to her ultimate dreams.”
“And what was that?”
“To marry a rich man and never have to work.”
He tilted his head slightly to look at me. “Did she ever fulfill that dream?”
I scoffed. “Hard to find a man to marry you when you’re a selfish manipulative bitch.”
He only nodded his head. Again, I admired how he seemed to keep his face blank of any thoughts or judgment.
“Well, the only thing worse than being an only child, is being the middle child,” he said with a laugh. “My brother is three years older than me, and my sister is four years younger than me.”
“Are you guys close?”
“My sister and I are close. Even more so since she’s had the twins.” I loved the way his eyes lit up when he mentioned his sister’s kids.
“What about your brother?”
Jackson ran a hand down the back of his neck.
“Uh…… Jeff and I are……” His face scrunched as he tried to find the right words to say. “Still trying to find our common ground,” he simply explained.
I offered him the same respect he gave me about my mother—I didn’t judge.
I took another sip of my coffee, just to break up the seriousness of the conversation.
“So,” I cleared my throat and began. “Tell me about Keller Landscaping. What made you go into the field of Ornamental Horticulture?”
Jackson laughed, and I took a few moments to admire the effect it had on his face. How the lines around his eyes appeared when he laughed. The way his gorgeous lips turned upward exposing straight teeth. It made his hardened and tough exterior look younger when he smiled.
“My dad,” he answered. “Every Saturday, my dad would drag my brother and I out of the house early in the morning to cut the grass, trim bushes, cut back trees, or tend the many flower gardens my mother kept around the house. We grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood. My father bought his house by years of saving up for it. He taught us to take pride in the things that you have. Hence forth, making sure the outside of our house was as well- kept as the inside. Initially, working in the yard was a punishment, but at some point, I started to love it. After I left the military, I needed something to do with my down time. So I started my company. I’m not rolling in the money like you.” He chuckled, and I laughed along with him. “But it keeps the bills paid, and I love what I do.”
“Well, that’s all that matters, right, loving what you do?”
He nodded and cracked his knuckles before leaning back in his seat. I loved the way that Polo shirt stretched across his chest and hugged his biceps.
“So why consulting?”
I smiled as I answered the question. “I love it, and I’m damn good at it.”
For the next hour, Jackson and I talked about everything and anything. I learned that he loved to cook but hated to clean up after himself. He’s allergic to mushrooms and used them to get out of a test one time in tenth grade. He loved finding new adventures and spending time with his nephews.
When the hour was up, and we both had to get back to work, I was kind of sad it was time to say bye to him.
Just as Jackson was about to say something else, I heard my name called.
I looked up to find Detective Sean Myers and his girlfriend, Rochelle, standing over our table.
“Charli, I thought that was you.”
Sean and I went way back. He was four years younger than me. I was a senior in high school when I first met the shy freshman. Some asshole grabbed my ass in the hallway. Sean saw it and beat the shit out of the guy. I thanked him by popping his cherry in the back seat of my car. He was tall for his age with wide shoulders, milk chocolate skin, and dark-brown soulful eyes. He was gorgeous, and ever since that first time, he and I have always kept in contact.
I liked Sean because he understood me. He never tried to make us more than what we were. We got together every now and again just to fuck, and boy could he fuck. I taught him everything he knew. He’s always been working with a cobra sized dick, but that first time he had no idea how to use it. Now he’s slanging that thing like a pro. I understood why his longtime girlfriend always wraps herself around him whenever another female is around. She’s welcome.
“Well hello, Detective. It’s nice to see you two out.”
I glance over at the girlfriend. She’s a beautiful girl, half black and Korean. Her long jet black hair was pulled up in a top-knot. She’s petite and on the slim side, a complete opposite from me.
Her brown cat shaped eyes narrowed down at me. Despite how friendly I was to Rochelle, she absolutely hated me. I don’t blame her, I do fuck her man whenever they are on a break.
Sean smiled wide, showcasing those perfectly straight white teeth. Always oblivious to his girls hatred towards me.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your….” He cut his eyes over to Jackson, leaving the tail end of his sentence open for one of us to fill in.
Jackson looked at me with a smirk on his face. He sat back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee leaving the ball in my court.
Funny, Mr. Keller, but two can play that game. I looked up to Sean
without saying a word, allowing the moment to become awkward so that he would be forced to speak.
It worked.
“Uhhhh. I…uh…just wanted to come by and check in on you. I heard about the situation last night at your house. You should have called me.”
Ugh! Why did he have to bring this up now?
I knew when the cops showed up, that it would get back to Sean. He’s friends with a lot of beat cops, and apparently, cops gossip more than women at a beauty salon. The moment my address came up, Sean would’ve started asking questions.
“What happened at your house?” Jackson asked
The playful smirk from just a few minutes ago had been replaced with a furrowed brow.
“Nothing. Just a little pest problem,” I said to Jackson then turned back to Sean. “And the police handled it for me. They actually responded pretty fast. So, no need to worry. Besides, isn’t pest control beneath you, Mr. Homicide Detective?” I joked with Sean.
About two years ago, he got promoted to detective. I helped him celebrate by fucking him to exhaustion all night long.
“Beneath me or not,” Sean said with a smile, “you’re my best friend. You know I always got your back.”
Rochelle’s eyes nearly rolled out of her head. Even without all the fucking Sean and I do, we were actually good friends.
I nodded my head. “Thanks,” I said, dismissing them.
“Well, y’all have a good day, and um… Give me a call, Charli.” Sean gave me a conspiring wink as he lead Rochelle away.
One of my rules for the men I sleep with, was that you didn’t call me, I called you. I could give a shit if you’re in the mood. I called the shots. When I wanted to fuck, I’ll notify you. If you’re not available or not in the mood, fine, I’ll find someone else.
It had been about a week since I last gave Sean a call. I never called him when he and Rochelle were together. We’ve gone long stretches of time without being physical because of their relationship. He was the only guy I’d fucked that I actually remained friends with.
The moment Sean and Rochelle disappeared out the glass doors of the coffee shop, Jackson spoke.
“Let me guess, the cop is one of your exes?”
