by Debbie Civil
Chapter 10
Carmen
I bang on the door of Dad’s suite and am not invited inside. Oh well, he’s had enough warning. I barge in and see Leon Jones and my father sitting at the table. A laptop rests in the center. The suite is grand with a polished sitting room and a massive bedroom and a beautiful marble bathroom. The suites are given to our parents. I feel stupid standing in the doorway.
“Carmen, it’s not a good time, sweetheart,” my father gently says.
“Oh, can you text me when you have time to talk?” Dad closes his eyes and thinks.
“Is it about Dom?”
“No. It’s not about boys,” I say slowly, trying to pin my father with a look. He’s torn. I make the decision for him. I leave his suite, thinking that he’s worried about enough. Maybe Dad is the wrong person to tell. Honestly, I don’t think that anyone is the right person to tell. I take the elevator down to the third floor and run into Dom, the person that I don’t want to see. He looks like he had just gone swimming. His blonde hair is wet, he has a towel slung over his left shoulder, and oh yeah, he’s in swim trunks. I try not to stare at his abs, but I fail. Despite the fact that I have the hots, for Jake, I’m still a girl. But checking out Dom has its consequences. He might tell Bridget that I’m not over him. I force myself to look into his smiling face.
“Hey Carmen. What are you up to?” He asks the question seductively. What a creep.
“Going to my room. I think that I’m going to wait up for Jake,” I say, just to see how he reacts.
“Jake’s here?” The guy looks very uneasy about that fact. But I don’t care. How many times has Dom given me compliments, had friendly conversations with me, and told me I was beautiful, only to date someone else? He likes the attention not my company.
“Yup,” I say as the elevator slides open again. I turn around and see Jake looking pissed off walking toward Dom.
“Speaking of the devil,” Dom laughs, his face lighting up. “Do you want to get a beer with me?”
“Carmen and I have some unfinished business,” Jake announces before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and steering me toward his room. He’s tense, which means that something’s wrong. I wonder what went wrong during his night out. I glance at Jake, to see if he’s all right when I notice that he’s got a black eye. When we get to his door, he releases me to fish a key out of his jeans pocket. After unlocking his door, he opens it, and I follow him in. As soon as the door closes, I’m pressed up against it. Jake’s hands are in my hair and his lips come crashing down on mine. This kiss is aggressive at first. His lips are demanding, and his tongue takes control of the dance. Then, he eases up, and that’s when I feel like I’m melting all over. My hands are trapped between us because I hadn’t known that Jake’s intentions were to kiss me. When he releases me, he curses.
“Sorry about that.” His apology catches me by surprise.
“About what?” I ask, confused. He chuckles to himself and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.
“I wasn’t gentle,” Jake whispers before cupping my cheek. His lips on mine or soft, questing, and full of tenderness. This time, I run my fingers through his silky black hair. He seems to like that action because the kiss intensifies, and his hands grip my hips. Then, everything abruptly stops. He steps back from me and scans the room with weary dark eyes. It’s as if he doesn’t want me in here.
“I could leave,” I offer. He chuckles. He turns the light on and gestures for me to sit. When I take off my flip-flops and get comfortable, Jake kisses me on the forehead and hands me his laptop.
“I need you to tell me what’s going on,” he orders. Sometimes, I hate when Jake’s vague. But I understand that he isn’t good with words. My father has a similar problem. He doesn’t sensor his words. And he talks a bunch. But I love my father.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Just look me up. I want you to see what the tabloids are saying about me.” Jake pauses and considers something. “Please,” he adds in the end. I smile at him.
“Okay, will do,” I say as I get to work. Jake goes and takes a long shower. During his shower, I go on Twitter and immediately see that Jake has gotten attention. Leslie, a gossip columnist, just tweeted “tell me why Sharp Michaels got punched by Governor Jones’ nephew while they were at a strip club!” As soon as I see that tweet, my throat constricts. It isn’t as if Jake and I or an item. But still, he kissed me not five minutes ago. He had just been at a strip club. Who did he dance with? Was she beautiful? Was he just meeting Sharp for beers? For some reason, I can’t see Jake hanging out with Sharp Michaels. I concentrate on breathing in and out. I shouldn’t bother freaking out just yet. As I continue to search for dirt on Jake, I see the pictures. The hot blond from last week is draped all over Jake. Jake is in Sharp Michael’s face. Sharp Michael’s punching Jake. Jake standing outside “rhino’s” with a girl who looks airily familiar. Apparently, she’s a stripper named Jazmyn. I’m officially confused. On the political front, people are weighing in on James Jones’ “Family Values” campaign. Folks are talking about how Jake degrades women by getting lap dances while his uncle tries to act like he has a classy family. I immediately feel horrible. My fingers itch to reply to these naysayers, but I’m not going to bother. Number one, I’m not at a public library. So if this IP address got traced somehow, people would assume that Jake did it. Number two, I don’t know what I would say that wouldn’t sound too personal, and so everyone would know it was me. I wish that Jake had hung out with me instead of going to Rhino’s.
“Carmen, what are you doing?” Danny asks, which startles me. I instinctively close the lid and look up at her.
“Jake asked me to look a few things up for him,” I say, not wanting her to know.
“On his laptop?” She seems doubtful. I glare at her.
“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?” Danny’s taken aback by my attitude. But I can’t help it. For one thing, my Aunt Kate is a murderer. Bob and Sandra are blackmailing Grandmother to keep that fact a secret. Oh, and my almost -boyfriend just got photographed with two strippers. This night is sucking, and I’m spoiling for a fight.
“I just want to make sure that you’re not snooping,” she says. That hurts me. It’s difficult not to let it show.
“So, how’s Malcolm?” I force myself to ask. Danny, as judgmental she can be, isn’t the source of my problem.
“It isn’t your business,” Danny snaps, and my rage is coming to the surface again. I ball my hands into fists, trying not to clock her. It would feel so good to smack her right in the face. Danny had once been my best friend, until she dated the former man of my dreams. I think the worst part about the entire thing was that she didn’t tell me. I had to find out the hard way, in front of my cousins.
“What are you doing here, anyways? Did you finally pull yourself away from Malcolm? Or maybe you had second thoughts about him to and want Donald next?” I hiss. Danny seems shocked for a moment. I don’t think that I have ever raised my voice at her. But then she scowls at me.
“At least I have men to choose from. You just chase them, but you can never catch them.” Her insult would have hurt, but I didn’t let it bother me. Jake kissed me. Jake asked me to handle his laptop. Jake wants me around. And that means so much to me. In fact, it means a lot more than her stupid opinion. But before I could tell her that, Jake strolls out of the bathroom dressed in a black t-shirt and boxers.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, coldly staring at me. My heart races.
“I…” He gently touches my lips with his fingertips.
“I was asking Danny.”
“Dad wants to see you. It’s important,” she says.
“And if I wanted to see him, I would have answered his texts. Get lost, I’m busy.” Danny seems annoyed.
“Can we talk about this, in private?”
“No, because my answer will still be the same,” Jake scolds. Danny stares at him for a moment then leaves, sh
utting the door quietly behind her.