by Tiya Rayne
I wasn’t going to guess. I was already out of Jackson’s truck making my way into my still dark house. My heart was racing because I was wondering why Jackson didn’t turn the lights on. That was something Jackson always did. A little quirk of his. As soon as he walked into the house, he turned on the lights.
“DUCK!” Eli shouted getting my attention. “Are you listening?”
“I’m trying to find Jackson. He went inside the house, but he didn’t turn the lights on.” I knew I wasn’t making sense, but my heart was beating too fast, and my head was spinning.
“Don’t go in the house,” Eli demanded.
I fumbled over a large object in the middle of my foyer, nearly falling to the floor. The lights cut on, and I screamed dropping my phone to the ground. Lying in a pool of blood was Jackson.
“Jackson! Baby, please wake up. Please!” I cried trying to turn him over.
“It’s too late for him, Charli,” the familiar voice pulled my attention away from Jackson.
Standing at the doorway leading into my living room with the gun still in his hands, was the last person I expected.
“Sean, what are you doing here?”
Sean gave me his signature smile, broadcasting his all white teeth.
“What do you mean, I’m here to help you.”
“Then help me with Jackson.”
The smile disappeared from his face.
“WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT HIM!” Sean pushed off the wall he was leaning on and pointed his gun directly at Jackson’s head.
I slowly climbed to my feet. My heart was racing, but I was still thinking clear. It looked like Jackson had a gunshot wound in his chest when I flipped him over, but I could feel his chest rise and fall with his breathing. He was barely alive, but if Sean realized it, he may put another bullet in Jackson ending his life. Even still, if I didn’t get Jackson help soon, the amount of blood he was losing will kill him. I just needed to get to my secret stash of guns. I still had a few hidden around the house. My job was to keep Sean calm so he didn’t shoot Jackson again.
“Ok! Ok! You’re right. I shouldn’t be worried about him.”
Sean shook his head at me. “You’re damn right. He doesn’t love you like I love you, Charli. No one will ever love you like I love you. You can’t see that?” He stepped in front of me, and for the first time, I could see that glimmer of madness dancing in his eyes. Something I had missed all these years.
“What about your girlfriend? What about Rochelle?”
Sean laughed and took my hand escorting me towards the stairs.
“You don’t have to worry about her anymore, Charli. Rochelle knew that I would never let you go, but she purposefully got pregnant.” He shook his head. “She thought I was going to let a baby get between get between what you and I have. She was always just a decoy. I only used her to make you jealous.” He chuckled. “You used to get so jealous of Rochelle.” He held my hand all the way up the stairs towards my bedroom.
I allowed him to lead me, because most of my guns were in my room.
“Plus, having girlfriends use to also helped me keep up your time frame. I knew you had your limits. You only liked to be in relationships with short term goals. That’s why I always went back to my girlfriends. I knew if I didn’t have a girlfriend to go back to, you never would have let me keep coming back.”
He was right about that. That was part of the thrill when it came to Sean. He would always call it off with me about every four to five months, right when it was starting to feel too clingy. It’s like he knew every time just when to go back to his girlfriend.
“What about the wedding ring?” I asked.
There was no way he dropped that amount of money for someone he didn’t want to be with.
He smiled over at me. “It’s yours. You picked out your own wedding band.” He laughed like it was the funniest fucking thing ever. “Don’t worry, I’ll give it to you tonight. Tonight we don’t have to worry about anyone else.”
This truly bothered me. It’s the second time he mentioned not having to worry about Rochelle.
“Sean, what happened to Rochelle?”
Sean shook his head as he turned to me. “I told her to get rid of the baby, but she wouldn’t. So I got rid of both of them. I did it for you.” He says the last part when the tears started to fall down my eyes.
I never really liked Rochelle, but I damn sure didn’t want this to happen to her. I wouldn’t wish this on my enemies. I mourned for the beautiful girl and her unborn child.
Sean stopped in front of my bedroom door and directed me to walk in in front of him. The moment I walked into my room I paused.
This muthafucker had clearly been staying in my house. His clothes were thrown across my room haphazardly. There was takeout food and boxes thrown everywhere and on the television, was a recorded video of Sean and I having sex.
“This is my favorite part,” he said, stepping up behind me, wrapping his hands around my waist.
At that moment in the video, I opened my eyes and looked right at the camera while biting my lip. It was so natural, it was almost like I knew the camera was there.
“It always amazed me at how perfect we were together,” he whispered in my ear. “You never knew the cameras were there, but you would always make eye contact with it. It’s like you could feel my eyes on you.”
Just then, Charli on the screen came on a load moan that made the real Charli want to vomit. I turned away from the screen. Seeing this monster use my body was too much. I noticed that lying on the bed was one of my Louis Vutton suitcases.
“Why are my bags packed?”
Sean pulled me to the side of the bed where my suitcase was sitting open. My clothes were crammed inside.
“We’re going to go away for a little while.” Sean explained. “I took care of Cliff for you, baby. I made sure he would never hurt you again. That muthafucker didn’t get to live after he put his hands on you. It took me longer than I wanted to track him down. He figured out I was after him. And he had the audacity to try to call you and ask for help.”
My stomach sinks. That day he showed up at my house, he was asking me for help to save his life. He even called me a few times after and I ignored him because I assumed he was the problem. Oh my god!
Sean placed a kiss on the side of my neck.
I dug my nails into the palm of my hand to keep from flinching away from him. Now was not the time to make him angry. I was closer to one of guns, but I still didn’t have it in my hand.
“They found his body today.” He went on to say as his gun-free hand slipped under my shirt to stroke my skin. “I got desperate when I was searching for him, so I asked around to find him. Now there might be someone that can point me out as a suspect. And if they start looking they may find Rochelle’s body. Which means you and I have to go away for a while. But I don’t want you to worry. I have it all taken care of.”
The fact that he had a gun in one hand and telling me how he murdered two people—one being his pregnant girlfriend—but still had his hard dick pressed into my ass told me he was fucking insane.
“It’s been so long since I’ve been inside your pussy, Charli,” Sean moaned as he continued to ground his dick into my ass and squeezed my breast through my bra.
I took a deep breath, I was a fucking fighter. Even when I was a little girl I proved that I was a fighter. No matter the situation I would never lie down and take shit. I made the promise to myself at sixteen that no other man would make me afraid, well that goes for this one. I didn’t have time to be weak and scared. I needed to handle Sean so that I could save Jackson.
Jackson!
Just thinking about him lying down stairs, possible bleeding to death gave me all the added strength I needed.
I spun around in Sean’s arms. That practiced smile I’d perfected over the years in place. I placed my palm on his chest.
“You need me, Sean?”
He gave me that smile that I once thought was
charming, but now I saw the evil in it.
“I need you so fucking bad.” He gripped my hair with the gun hand yanking my head back to devour my lips with a kiss.
I didn’t focus on how different his kisses were compared to Jackson’s. I didn’t even think about how much his tongue in my mouth made me want to puke. I just kept myself focused on the end goal. Get him to the bed, get my gun, and save Jackson.
I pulled away from his kiss. “Lie down, Sean.”
Sean knocked the suitcases and the boxes of leftover pizza onto the floor and then climbed on the bed, the gun still in his hand. He placed his hands behind his head.
I steadied myself as I kicked off my shoes and climbed up on top of him. I straddled his waist.
“This is how we were supposed to be, Charli. I know you got distracted by that dude,” Sean said as he peered up at me with half-mast eyes. “You thought I was really going to get married and leave you. That’s why you wanted to be with him. Right?”
I placed my finger to his lips. I was barely keeping myself together, I didn’t want to hear the sound of his fucked up voice.
“Stop talking.” I purred as I placed kisses from his jaw to his neck, the entire time, my hand was down between the headboard and my bed searching for my gun.
As soon as my hand wrapped around the gun, I sprung up and aimed it at his head. I popped the safety off and cocked the gun.
Sean only smiled at me.
“You won’t really kill me, Charli. You’re angry because I lied to you, but you won’t kill me.”
Clearly, he didn’t know me.
I pulled the trigger to my gun, and it clicked. I pulled it a few more times and the same thing happened.
Sean laughed, and that’s when I remembered showing him all the hidden guns in my house for him to check. I didn’t see his hand move from under his head, but I felt his fist strike the side of my face. I fell from on top of him hitting the bed before bouncing to the floor. It felt like my entire face was on fire.
“HOW COULD YOU!” he yelled down at me.
He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me to my feet.
“After everything I’ve done for you. That asshole down stairs would have never killed for you. I did!”
Sean slammed me face down onto the bed before picking up my suit case and tossing my belongings back into it
“All I’ve tried to do is love you, Charlice. And this is how you treat me. From the first day I paid Chris to grab your ass, I’ve been watching out for you.”
He truly was insane. He paid that kid in high school to grab my ass, and he still beat him unconscious, and here I thought our first meeting was by chance, but he’d plotted and orchestrated that.
“You put me through hell these last seven months. Breaking into my house, trashing the place, sending those pictures to my family, and killing Lady. That isn’t love.”
“I DID IT FOR US!” he shouted down at me sprawled across the bed.
He ran the gun hand over his head. “I tried to get you to see that you were making a mistake with him. I never bothered the others. Just a little warning to the ones that you seemed to favor. I allowed you to have your fun because I knew they meant nothing to you, sharing you was just a part of our relationship. But that guy…” Sean pointed at the door indicating Jackson down stairs. “You took him out on dates, let him spend the night, and even called him your fucking boyfriend to my face. Everything I did, I did because you were making a mistake. I even tried to give you a break. I left you alone for a while, thinking you would grow tired of him. But then you accepted his marriage proposal.” Sean shook his head. “I can never let you marry anyone else, now that I know that you’re ready to get married, we can do it before we leave.”
“I’m not marrying you. You have to understand that, Sean.”
Sean started hitting the side of his head like he was battling voices. He was pacing my bedroom floor and I slowly climbed to my feet, despite the headache pounding in my head.
“Sean,” I called his name and his brown confused eyes turned to me. “You need help. And if you let me call an ambulance for Jackson, I’ll go with you to get help. It will be the both of us working through our issues together.”
I was lying. If he let me call Jackson some help I wasn’t going anywhere with him. However, I would say anything he wanted to hear to get out of this.
“Do you love me, Charli?”
His question was simple. And maybe if he had of asked me this about an hour ago before this shit went down I would answered honestly yes. I did love Sean, but only as a friend. At the time that was a big deal for me. Before Jackson, even loving a friend was a huge step.
However, none of that matters, because when I answered his question now, I have to answer it with a lie.
“Yeah, I love you.”
Sean’s smile wasn’t as bright as it usually was. This smile was sad and defeated.
“I’ve been watching you since I was fourteen-years-old. You were sitting across from me at a basketball game. That was an entire year before I came to your rescue in that hallway. From the moment I saw you in that crowded gym, I knew you were the woman for me. I used to follow you home and stare at your bedroom window. You and I were made for each other, Charli.” He raised his gun and pointed it at me. “So if I can’t have you, no one can.”
“Sean!” I screamed his name when the gun went off.
Wet blood coated my skin. My body must had been numb because I didn’t feel any pain.
“Char! Char! Baby, open your eyes.”
I must be dead and finally meeting Jackson in heaven. I opened my eyes and came face to face with his hazel eyes. He was a little paler than usual, but he was alive. I looked down to the ground and found Sean’s crumpled body. Blood poured from a hole in the back of his head.
A gun was in Jackson’s hand. Jackson stammered a little and I remembered that I wasn’t the one with a bullet in my shoulder. I helped him sit down on the side of my bed.
“Are you ok?”
Jackson grunted. “Not exactly feeling like a million bucks, but I’m not dead.”
I closed my eyes and allowed a relieved laugh to fall from my lips. In the distance I could hear the sound of sirens.
“I love you,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his middle and buried my face in his shoulder. “I’m sorry you got shot.”
Jackson let off a short chuckle. “I’m starting to rethink this whole relationship thing. I should have known you were trouble when you rammed into the back of my car.”
I lifted my head and laughed. I could now hear the police outside my front door. I even heard Eli screaming my name while the cops tried to keep him out the house.
“Well, it’s too late now. You’re stuck with me,” I teased, showing off my ring finger. I would do anything to keep his mind off the pain he must be feeling.
Jackson turned to me, eyes shining with what I assumed was exhaustion and love.
“From now until forever.” He declared before placing a kiss on my lips.
The cops swarmed the room shining their lights into our eyes. The rest of the night was filled with police statements, doctor visits, and crazy family members surrounding us. But as long as Jackson was still here with me, I didn’t care.
EPILOGUE
Three Years Later
“Oooh, baby, this pussy is so good.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I already knew, but my second orgasm hit me, and my body locked up. I moaned so loud and long I sounded like a zombie coming back to life.
Nobody could eat pussy like my husband.
Jackson chuckled between my legs. “I thought I told you to be quiet, you’re going to wake the boys.”
Right on time. I heard the sound of tiny footsteps at my door and then a soft knock.
Jackson groaned before climbing up my body, placing wet kisses on my stomach then collapsing down beside me.
“Your sons are little cock blockers.” Jackson huffed.
I laughed be
side him.
Six months after Jackson asked me to marry him, we said I do in front of our family. It was a small outside ceremony where we said our vows looking out at the Atlanta skyline at dusk. My cousins and Jackson’s sister were my bridesmaids and my Papa walked me down the aisle. Jackson’s parents and Memaw were also in attendance. His brother and sister-in-law weren’t, and their absence wasn’t missed.
Since the blow up at my grandparents’ house, things had certainly changed. The atmosphere in the family was better, no more secrets haunted us.
Uncle Walter was allowed to family dinners again. He and I had a slow growing relationship. We were starting to get to know each other on a deeper level. It wasn’t that father and daughter bond like he had with Devin and Chante, but I was ok with that. I was glad I knew who my father was, but in reality, I didn’t really miss out on anything, because I was raised by a strong man that I loved as if he were my father.
Aunt Vivica and I have definitely come a long way. She had turned into my self-assigned stand in mother. She called me a hundred times a day just to check on me and always offered advice on marriage and parenting. I imagined that if I’d had a real relationship with Nita that it would had been like that. Aunt Vivica and I still had our moments where we bumped heads, but neither of us felt the cold finger of hate towards the other.
Keisha had her baby, and it wasn’t Royce’s. Thank God! She admitted to fooling around with Roy a few times, but she said they’d never slept together because she didn’t want to hurt Keva. However, the accusation was enough to spook her, and she and Royce stopped messing around. Not long after the new baby came along, Keisha found a new man. He was a truck driver that doted on her and the kids. He looked at her like Jackson looked at me. They’d been together for a year and a half now. That’s a record for her.
Keva had a remarkable change. Once her secret came out, she realized that she had been stressing herself all these years by hiding it and even overcompensating with the bible thumping. She admitted that she was in love with Tracey, but that she didn’t want to be with her. Apparently, Tracey had been a onetime fling. She and Royce agreed to do marriage counseling, and it helped. Keva was a lot more fun. She still loved her God, but she didn’t remind you of it every five seconds.
