What She Needs

by Danyiel Nicole

  “I’ve heard of Weymouth. Is that where people go for vacation?” I ask, excited that my boyfriend owns a property in there.

  “Well yes, I’d like to take you there to get away from everything for the next couple of days. Can you work remotely on Monday?”

  I open my mouth to tell him no, but he cuts me off saying that he’ll introduce me to some friends of his that could be potential clients and I give in. I have to say that since I’ve been with Heath, my focus on work has been a little slack. I’ve been bringing in clients and the company is strong, but I’ve taken more days off in the last three months than I’ve done since I started working for Stansbury. Is it because I’ve finally found someone worth relaxing with? Someone who isn’t putting the extra pressure on me to stay home and have babies for a living? It’s in this moment that I realize that Heath St. James completes me. He’s the missing piece to my life puzzle; someone who respects my career and my decisions. I tell myself that with the proper proposal, I will accept his hand in marriage. I love him and I don’t think I will ever get another chance at love this close to perfect. So, in the near future, I will seal the deal and say yes.

  ***

  I’m sitting in a limousine taking in the scenery of a beautiful outside wedding and the grounds look immaculate. Rows and rows of chairs covered with white covers and blue sashes are perfectly lined up with an aisle positioned down the middle. Grand vases holding beautiful white flowers are positioned everywhere, giving off an intimate feeling. There are hundreds of people here and they are now taking their seats. The groom is at the end of the aisle with what appears to be a minister. I watch as three bridesmaids in blue dresses and three groomsmen in white tuxedos walk down, and then separate at the end of the path. When the maid of honor walks down the aisle, I give her a closer look.

  That’s Tamia!

  I focus a little harder and notice that the groom is Heath.

  What the fuck? Where am I?

  “Sweetheart, are you ready?” I hear the voice of my father next to me. I look over at him and nearly jump out of my skin. “There is no reason to be afraid, baby girl, you’re marrying for love this time. No one talked you into this one. I have to admit I like this Heath guy. He makes you smile.”

  “Auntie Licia, you look so pretty!” I look over and see Brittany giggling and holding a basket with rose petals in it.

  Of course Brittany will be my flower girl.

  Benjamin opens the door for me and my father is immediately at my side with Brittany in front of us trailing a path of flowers down the grassy aisle way as we trail behind. We make it to the alter and there he is in a white tuxedo handsome as ever, Heath St. James.

  I’m marrying Heath St. James.

  ***

  “Alicia,” Heath whispers, waking me from my dream. “We have to be in place in twenty minutes.”

  My eyes flutter open and I’m greeted with his enchanting smile. He’s so fucking dreamy. I scratch my eyes to make sure I’m really here and now and then I stretch and yawn. “I just had the strangest dream,” I say as I make my way to the bathroom to freshen my makeup.

  “Oh really? How so?” Heath asks standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

  “We were getting married.” I watch his eyes stretch wide in the mirror. “But . . . that wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was that my father was there giving me away.”

  He looks concerned.. “Darling, I can see where that could be a concern for you, but I think that he’ll be watching from the Heavens smiling down on us both.”

  I look at him and give him a tight smile.

  “We have to head out now,” he says looking at his watch.

  ***

  Heath has to have writer’s cramp with the number of autographs he’s signed today. Bridgecam Racing must be bigger than soccer here. He left before the line ended because the ribbon cutting ceremony is about to start. Heath and I walk over to the rollercoaster that was built in his namesake and then takes pictures. I notice David coming up the sidewalk and he is not alone. Lauren is with him and she is pushing a stroller.

  This motherfucker will do anything possible to make my life a living hell. I roll my eyes upon their arrival.

  “Mr. St. James, we meet again,” David says when he walks up. They shake hands.

  “Mr. Barfield, it’s nice to see you as always,” Heath responds back.

  How could Heath be so cordial when he knows the malicious attempts this motherfucker has made to ruin our relationship? I want to punch his ass in the face and slap the shit out of his little bitch, too.

  “Alicia, I haven’t seen you in forever. How have you been?” Lauren asks as she hooks her arm around David’s

  Bitch don’t talk to me. “I’m well, thank you,” I say as business like as I possibly can.

  “Would you like to meet Olivia?” She asks, and no sooner than she does, I feel a twinge of pain in my heart. This bitch knows what she’s doing.

  Heath grabs my hand and caresses the back of it with his thumbs. He notices Lauren’s game, too. “Sure, I’d love to meet her,” I say with a smile on my face.

  Lauren grabs her baby out of the stroller and hands her to me so that she is cradled in my arms. She looks at me with those big hazel eyes and chubby cheeks and just smiles. I start to regret not having David’s baby. Holding this innocent little girl in my arms makes me want a baby of my own. Maybe one day soon Heath and I will try. I look up at Lauren who looks as if she’s enjoying my private pain. “Hey Olivia-Skye,” I say focusing my attention on this pretty little girl in my arms, “it’s nice to finally meet you. You’re just as beautiful as that picture your daddy showed me the day after you were born.”

  “What?” Lauren says, sounding a combination of confused and angry. “Did you just say you saw David the day after I gave birth to Olivia, and how did you know her name was Olivia-Skye?”

  If I let David’s girlfriend know what he’s been up to, maybe he will just leave me alone. Heath lets out a soft chuckle because he knows exactly what I’m doing. “Oh, David didn’t tell you? He visited me for about five days back when I first moved here, but don’t worry, nothing happened because I don’t want his no-good ass.”

  “Then why was he here?” Lauren asks. She’s mad as hell now, and I don’t know if she was directing that question to me or David. I look over at him and he has that please-don’t-do-this-here look on his face.

  “To try to win me back,” I say simply. “And he hasn’t given up his quest, might I add.”

  “Smile!” A photographer says. We all stop our conversation and smile for the camera.

  No sooner than the flash finishes, Lauren is in my personal space taking her baby out of my arms.

  Heath chuckles a little louder this time as Lauren puts Olivia back into her stroller and storms off into the crowd in the direction they came from. David looks at me, his eyes squinted and his nose spread. He is furious, but I don’t give a flying fuck. They both asked for this.

  “Why did you do that?” He asked.

  “Because you and your little bitch keep showing up and attempting to make my life miserable. You’re playing with fire David. What I did was just a warning. If you keep it up I’m going to burn you.” I’m staring him square in the eyes.

  “What are you talking about?” He asks calling my bluff.

  “Your impromptu visit to my office on Monday, and how you insisted on stealing a kiss and professing your love to me.”

  “Oh and let’s not forget Lindzi,” Heath interjects. “Lauren may not find out, but my little cousin has every right to know that you’re in a relationship.”

  “Let me tell you something,” David says looking pointedly at Heath. “Alicia was my wife first, her father gave her to me and I will not stop until she is back in my arms.”

  “Well that’s never going to happen because Heath and I are getting married,” I say without a second thought.

  “What?” David asks, sounding mildly defeated.

  “You
heard her correctly. We’re getting married,” Heath says, holding me in his embrace from behind and kissing me lightly on the cheek making everything south of my shoulders hot with desire.

  “You can’t do that!” David exclaims.

  “And may I ask why not?” I ask him.

  “Because you belong to me. You’re my first love. I still love you Alicia.” David’s sincere tone tugs at my heart, but it’s not enough to make me want to run into his arms.

  “I’m sorry David, but I’ve made up my mind. I’m not in love with you anymore. I only love Heath and he’s going to be my husband soon. I need you to respect that.”

  David looks at us both and then storms off in the direction Lauren did . I turn to face Heath. “That was a good bluff, I’m glad he didn’t ask why you weren’t wearing a ring,” Heath says with a chuckle.

  “It wasn’t a bluff. I do want to marry you,” I say watching his smile grow across his face. “Pending my awesome proposal.” He pulls me into his arms and holds me so tight I can barely breathe.

  “This moment is better than winning any trophy or having any theme park ride named after me. This is a moment I’m going to cherish forever,” He whispers against my ear.

  Moments later, David is back with Lauren who looks mad as hell. I smile a little knowing that I had something to do with that. Everyone gathers around the entrance of the ride and the director of the park introduces David as the engineer whose company worked diligently to build this amazing ride and when he introduces Heath, the crowd goes wild. Everyone is clapping and screaming which eventually grows into a full-on chant. Heath takes the scissors and cuts the big red ribbon in front of the entrance and then everyone begins to line up to get on the ride.

  “Are you ready to go?” He pulls me to the side and asks.

  “I thought you had to stay all day,” I say.

  He chuckles. “We’ve been here for five hours, I’m tired and we still have to pack for Weymouth so that we can leave tonight.” He takes my hand and leads me back to his trailer so that we can grab the rest of our things. When we get there, two women that made it past security were naked on the sofa waiting on Heath’s return. When they see me, one of them quickly puts on her clothes and the other one asked me if I’d like to watch or join. The look on my face told her that I didn’t want to do either and she put on her clothes and leaves, too.

  “I should have those bitches arrested for trespassing,” I say infuriated.

  Heath laughs. “Unfortunately, sometimes this comes with the territory darling. There’s no need to get someone arrested over something so petty. Besides, if we weren’t together, I probably would have done them both on that sofa.”

  I shake my head in disgust at him. “Nasty desperate bitches,” I spit.

  “What’s the matter? The whole watch or join idea wasn’t your thing, eh?” Heath asks jokingly.

  “Hell no!”

  “It wasn’t a totally bad idea,” he says feigning a try-it-just-once-for-me smirk.

  “Heath, don’t play with me.”

  He pulls me into his arms laughing at my response.

  Chapter 17

  I wake up from my nap looking for Heath. Spending the day at London World has me more tired than I want to be, but it was refreshing to see Heath St. James the celebrity in action. I finally find him in the closet picking out clothes and finishing up a phone call with God knows who. He kisses me on my forehead and tells me to pack some warm clothes because it’s going to be in the mid-fifties by the sea. I fill up two suitcases, pack my makeup and toiletries, and then get dressed choosing a pair of skinny jeans, a cream knit sweater, and pair of brown Ugg Boots. Heath makes fun of me for being overdressed, but the Floridian in me knows I need to bundle up because fifty-five degrees is cold as hell. When I finish packing I walk out of the closet and Heath is sitting on the sofa on another phone call. He instructs me to sit on his lap as he continues his conversation with whoever is on the other line.

  “Thank you so much sir . . . no, no, I appreciate you keeping me in the loop on this . . . Yes, my main concern is keeping her safe.”

  Keeping who safe?

  “I wish I could find a way to tie her to it but even my private investigator can’t find a connection . . . Well thank you again sir . . . likewise.” He hangs up and then pulls me closer to him. I snuggle my head against his chest loving the warmth of it.

  “Albert is trying to get a bond hearing.” That news makes me grip him tight. “It’s okay my love, my friends at the courts are denying them every time his lawyer presents one. There is no way he’s getting out anytime soon. Right now I have someone investigating Nadia to try to connect her to Albert’s little vendetta but so far they have nothing. Albert was just a fool for her and now he’s going to go to jail for attempted rape and attempted murder.”

  “Poor Albert,” I say

  “Poor Albert? Ha! That bastard tried to kill you and you feel sorry for him? To make matters worse, I honestly don’t know if Nadia had anything to do with this at all. Albert has been cold and distant toward me since the whole Switzerland incident.”

  “What are you saying?” I ask.

  “I’m saying that Albert may have targeted you to get to me because if he lost his job, he wouldn’t know how to function in society. He knows that I’m so in love with you that I wouldn’t be able to make it without you anymore. He wants me to feel lost and alone like he would have been if I took his job away from him.”

  My sympathy for Albert went out of the window with Heath’s little epiphany. Nadia may not have had anything to do with Albert’s attack on me, but I’m not going to write off the possibility that she could have either. That bitch doesn’t want me with Heath any more than Lauren wanted me with David, but this time I’m not going to give up so easily. Heath is my forever guy, and I won’t let anyone ruin what we have.

  “I don’t care; I still don’t trust Nadia,” I say to him.

  “Nadia may be conniving but she’s no murderer. My gut is telling me that Albert acted alone.” He stands up with me still in his arms, puts me down and then kisses me on the cheek. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, let’s go enjoy the rest of our weekend. I’ve talked to my parents and they are vacationing in Weymouth as we speak.”

  “Same house?” I ask

  “No, just the same neighborhood.” I look at him, silently asking him how close their house is. “Next door,” he says answering my unspoken question.

  Oh great, now I have to deal with his mum. I roll my eyes.

  “I’m sorry Alicia, but at one point we were a close-knit family.” He sighs, “We can go somewhere else if you’d like, but I really want to show you the house.”

  I think about it for a moment and then give in. I can’t dodge his mother for the rest of my life. Besides, we’re going to be family soon.

  “Great, let’s get on the road. It’s about two hours to Weymouth.”

  On our way to the elevator, I hear Heath groaning under his breath.

  “What is your problem?” I ask as the elevator door closes shut.

  “Your ass is looking fatter in those jeans,” he says, letting go of his suitcase handle and grabbing two handfuls of my behind and then kissing me chastely on the lips, sending a sensation from the top of my head to the apex of my thighs. It doesn’t help that I got him off earlier today and left myself hot and horny. I reach up and grab his face with both of my hands, kissing him back with enough passion to show him that I want him. “I know you’re horny and I promise that I will finish you off as soon as we get to the house,” he says right before the elevator doors open.

  ***

  “Alicia, we’re here,” Heath says waking me up from the sweet continuation of my dream of our wedding. I wish my daddy was here to give me away.

  I yawn and stretch, and then meet his gaze.

  “You need a vacation because you fall asleep every moment you get,” Heath says. “Call Carolina and tell her you won’t be in for the whole week. You ca
n work from here.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I say through another yawn.

  “I’m serious Alicia. You don’t have to be a workaholic to get the job done. That’s the roll of the people who work for you. All you need to do is ensure that they do their jobs.”

  “Ok,” I say not wanting a lecture on how to run my fucking company. I get out of the Range Rover to get a good look at Heath’s house. It’s three stories high and made completely of glass, except the roof and the sides.

  Seriously Heath, how much money do you have?

  I turn around only to see that his house is closed in behind an iron gate.

  “Do you like it?” He asks trying to read my expression.

  “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” I say almost at a whisper.

  “As soon as we’re married, it’ll be yours, too. We can vacation here as much as you like and even invite Tamia, Marcus and Brittany down,” he says with a smile and then takes my hand and walks me into the house to give me a tour. The outside doesn’t give it any justice. This place is awesome. My favorite feature of the house is the backyard where grass leads all the way to the seawall. I can definitely sit here and enjoy this view every day.

  We end the tour in the living room where I sit down on the sofa. Heath lays down with his head in my lap and his feet resting on the arm of the chair.

  “This place is dreamy,” I say to him as I run my fingers across the top of his head thinking about how much simpler life is with him. Sure, Heath has his crazy ex-fiancé, the wild groupies, and the paparazzi that just won’t go away, but he doesn’t let that get in the way of his love for me. I’m his one and only no matter what. David couldn’t handle that kind of pressure. He folded at the little attention he was getting from Lauren and started sleeping with her as if our marriage meant absolutely nothing to him. Marriage would be easier with Heath and I think that’s what my dream was telling me. My daddy came back to let me know that he approves of Heath and our love for one another because it is genuine; we don’t have our mothers in our ears telling us that this is the right thing to do for the “families”. As a matter of fact, Heath’s mother hates me and he still wants to marry me. I smile at the thought of being Alicia St. James and Heath catches it.