Guarded

by J. D. Rivera

“You’re crazy,” I told her as my phone pinged with a text message from inside my purse. I took it out to see Jackson had texted me.

  Jackson: What are you doing tonight?

  Me: I’m having dinner with my best friend.

  Jackson: Y’all should come hang out here.

  I thought about it for a moment. Even though the photo of us had irritated me earlier, I really wanted to see him. He brought out a happy side of me that I hadn’t had in a long time.

  I looked up from my phone to see Amanda watching me with a huge grin on her face. “Is that him? I can tell because your face lights up.”

  I shook my head, but couldn’t help grinning back at her. “Do you want to go over to his place and hang out?”

  “Hell yes, I do!”

  Jackson

  I HAD no idea why but I’d invited Vanessa and her friend over to my place. I had an idea why I had invited Vanessa but not her friend. As I opened the door, I was greeted by Vanessa and an attractive blonde. “Come in,” I told them as I stepped out of the way, holding the door open.

  “Hi, I’m Amanda, Vanessa’s best friend.”

  “Hi, I’m Jackson. Vanessa’s…”

  “Friend,” Vanessa cut me off. “Jackson is my friend.”

  I had to laugh. “If that’s what you want to call it.” I pointed to the couch. “Have a seat.”

  After a few minutes, Amanda turned to me. “I’ve been wondering something. I know y’all spent a day together a month ago and then you just happened to show up at the same school V works at. Was that a coincidence?” She didn’t hold back on the questions and she was smart.

  I smiled. “Actually, no. Um, I may have Googled Vanessa.”

  I was a little nervous as I looked over at Vanessa, whose mouth was now hanging open with a shocked expression on her face. I didn’t say anything else but Amanda did. “That’s what I figured.”

  A couple more minutes went by before Vanessa spoke. “You Googled me? Why?”

  “I figured that would be obvious. I like you. After we spent that day together, I wanted to see you again. So I Googled you and found your LinkedIn and Facebook pages, which both said where you work and then I made a phone call.” After I said it aloud, I felt like a stalker.

  She didn’t say anything for a minute, just nodded. After a few beats, she turned to me. “You’re good. I have to give you that.”

  “Are you mad?” I took a glance at Amanda who was sitting with a huge smile on her face, enjoying the show.

  “No, I’m not mad. I kinda like you too so I guess I’m glad you’re a stalker.”

  I breathed a big sigh of relief and hoped she didn’t find out my other secret about paying someone to destroy her car. That I would never admit to.

  “Where is your bathroom?” Amanda asked. I let her know where it was and moved next to Vanessa after she left the room.

  “Can your friend get a kiss hello?” I asked playfully.

  She seemed to mull it over. “I guess.”

  I leaned into her giving her a quick peck, then immediately I licked her bottom lip, making her gasp and open her mouth. I slipped my tongue inside and kissed her hard, letting her know we were not just friends.

  Surprising me, she slipped her hands inside my shorts, grabbing my ass. Before I could think about what I was doing, I laid her on the couch and climbed on top of her. I began kissing her harder and she matched my kisses.

  “Ummmm.” I looked up to see Amanda standing beside the couch, biting her lip to contain her laughter.

  “Oh God. It’s so not what it looks like,” Vanessa told her, pushing me off of her.

  “Actually, it is exactly what it looks like. Vanessa took advantage of me. She pulled me on top of her,” I joked. What in the hell did it matter if her best friend knew we were together or whatever?

  Amanda laughed. “I knew it.”

  “Fine. We were kissing and we’re more than friends but we’re not dating.”

  I was confused. “I think we’re dating. We might not be a couple, but we’re dating.”

  “Okay so we’re dating but we aren’t anything more than that no matter what the newspapers think.”

  I guessed she had seen the picture. People had asked me about it and I hadn’t confirmed or denied it. I was hoping that I could confirm it, soon. I didn’t say anything to further that line of conversation. Obviously, she wasn’t thrilled about being in the newspaper.

  “This has been fun guys, but I’m going to take off,” Amanda announced, still standing by the couch.

  Vanessa looked at Amanda, then me. “I guess I should go too.”

  “Did you ride together? I can take you home later,” I offered.

  She pursed her lips trying to decide. “No. I drove myself. I guess I could stay a little longer.”

  “Okay, well it was really nice meeting you, Jackson,” Amanda said before walking to the door.

  We followed her to the door where I told her it was nice to meet her as well and Vanessa said good-bye. After closing the door, I asked Vanessa, “So what do you want to do? We could watch some TV.”

  “That sounds good to me,” she said before walking to the couch and sitting down.

  I picked up the remote from the table then sat down next to her, dropping my arm over her shoulder and pulling her close to me. We settled on watching reruns of Friends before we started kissing again.

  We were both down to our underwear by the time my phone started ringing. I decided to ignore it and kissed her harder. She pulled back. “Aren’t you going to get that?”

  “They’ll call back,” I said before sucking on her bottom lip.

  “No really, answer it. It could be an emergency,” she said breathlessly.

  I really didn’t want to stop kissing her but she was being persistent. “Fine.” I grabbed my phone from the side table it was sitting on, seeing it was my parents. “Hello,” I said into the phone.

  “Jackson, it’s Dad. How you doing?”

  “Good, what’s up?” I asked trying to figure out if there was an actual reason he was calling.

  “Nothing really. Just wanting to talk to you.”

  “Okay. Well, what are you up to?” I asked, looking over at Vanessa sitting beside me. She seemed to be engrossed in a television show. I looked to the TV to see it was a celebrity gossip show she was watching. They were showing clips of a professional basketball player who had just been caught cheating on his wife. Not what I needed her to see. I had no clue what my dad had said to me. “Hey, Dad can I call you back?”

  “Sure. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just need to call you back.”

  Vanessa

  I DIDN’T want to place Jackson in a group of cheaters but it was really hard. Professional basketball players were known to be cheaters. I watched the TV show covering the basketball player’s cheating scandal and I wanted to cry for his wife. I knew exactly what she was feeling.

  I felt Jackson wrap his arms around me. “Hey, I can see this has upset you. Don’t let it.”

  I wiped away a tear, not realizing I was crying. “I’m sorry. It just brings up past…feelings.”

  He gave me a peck on the lips. “Is that the only reason you’re upset? Please, don’t lie.”

  “No. I realize your profession doesn’t make you a cheater but it still scares me. Add that to the fact that I’ve always been cheated on.”

  He placed his hands on my cheeks. “I understand that it scares you and there is no way I can make you trust me other than showing you that I’m not a cheater.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I told you yesterday that I wouldn’t be with anyone else and I’m not going to. Just try to trust me. What does your ex do?”

  Confused by his question, I answered. “He’s a computer programmer.”

  “I’m sure not all computer programmers are cheaters. Just the asshole ones. Same with basketball players.”

  I looked into his eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity. I wrapped
my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. I crashed my lips into his making him moan. I found the bottom of his shirt, pulled it over his head, and took an appreciative look at his sculpted chest. I ran my hand all over his naked chest, just admiring.

  “Are you enjoying that?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

  “I am. You’re very…sexy,” I said, my cheeks flushing. I had never said anything like that before.

  He grabbed me, forcing my lips onto his. I had never felt what I felt when Jackson was kissing me. I felt adored and sexy. The way he kissed me - it was like he couldn’t get enough of me.

  He broke away. “You’re very sexy too. Way too sexy.” Then he kissed me again until I was lost.

  “OH COME on, please come out dancing with me tonight,” Amanda whined into the phone.

  “It’s a Wednesday night. Are clubs even open on Wednesdays? Plus I told Jackson that I would hang out with him,” I said as I opened my apartment door, kicking off my work shoes.

  “You’ve hung out with him every night since you guys met,” she huffed. “Ask him if he has a friend and see if they will go with us? I really want to go tonight because it’s open just for people over twenty-two on Wednesdays.”

  I knew I had been spending a lot of time with Jackson but I wanted to spend that night with him too. “I’ll text him and ask. I’ll let you know, okay?”

  “Text me and let me know.”

  “Bye,” I told her before flopping onto the couch. I swiped over to the text message screen on my phone and texted him.

  Me: Do you have a friend that would want to go to a club with me and Amanda?

  Five seconds later, he texted me back.

  Jackson: I thought we were hanging out. Can I not go to the club?

  Me: She’s begging to go clubbing and I meant you too.

  He texted back quickly again.

  Jackson: I’ll check if my friend Ray is busy.

  I decided on a quick shower to shave my legs and rinse the work day off. Just relax under the water.

  As I was coming out of the shower, I heard knocking on my door. I wrapped a towel around myself as quickly as possible before making my way over to it. I checked one last time to make sure I was covered before I opened the door.

  “Do you always answer your door like this? ‘Cause I’ll drop by everyday if you do,” Jackson said with a grin on his face.

  “No, only when I’ve been in the shower. What are you doing here?”

  He gave me a kiss. “I guess we’re going clubbing. Ray said he’d go.”

  “So you came over here to tell me that?”

  He walked past me to sit on the couch. “I was in the neighborhood so I decided to come over. Is that a problem?”

  I smiled. He actually wanted to be with me. It was a new feeling knowing that. “No. Not a problem at all. Just let me text Amanda.” I picked up my phone and typed her a text.

  Me: We’ll go clubbing. He has a friend that will come. Want us to pick you up?

  Amanda: Yay! I’ll just meet you there at 9.

  I laid the phone on the coffee table. “She said she would just meet us there around nine.” I noticed that he’d yawned several times since he had walked in. I was feeling pretty tired after my long day at work as well. “I know this doesn’t sound really fun but do you wanna take a quick nap?”

  “That sounds amazing actually. I worked out and practiced hard today.” He got up, grabbed my hand, and led me into the bedroom. After watching Jackson strip out of all his clothes, including underwear, I removed my robe. I laid down and waited for him to climb into bed. He crawled in behind me, pulling me close to his body. He kissed me on the cheek and sighed. It felt nice to snuggle next to him knowing he liked it too.

  Jackson

  THE CLUB was dead, which was to be expected on a Wednesday night. I didn’t really want to go but I went to be with Vanessa. I knew things with us were progressing really fast but I didn’t care. I also knew that she needed time with her friends, which is why I wasn’t upset that she had wanted to hang out with Amanda.

  “I gotta tell ya, this is kinda lame,” Ray told me from across the table.

  “I would tell you to leave anytime but I brought you and I’m not leaving until Vanessa’s ready.”

  He took a drink of his beer. “What the hell, man? When did you get whipped?”

  I shrugged. Nothing to say. I watched as Vanessa and Amanda walked back to our table from the restroom. I felt like the luckiest guy in the place, hell anywhere, because I was there with Vanessa. I wrapped my arm around her as she came up beside me. I noticed Ray checking out Amanda, which made me regret taking him. He loved to have sex with women and kick them to the curb a minute later. He needed to leave her alone because I didn’t want Vanessa upset with me when he ditched Amanda.

  I tried to let him know silently that he needed to leave her alone but it didn’t matter.

  “Please stop looking at me like that. Not going to happen,” Amanda told him.

  “I’m not looking at you but you want it to happen.”

  She took a drink of her martini. “You wish. I’m not looking for an STD. Thanks though.”

  I could see his anger building. “And why would you think I have an STD?”

  I glanced over at Vanessa who was watching the argument like a game of volleyball. If she wasn’t stopping it, neither was I. It was actually fun to watch.

  “Look at you. You think you’re God’s gift to women. I’m sure you’ve caught something along the way.”

  He took a long pull from his beer. “I’m really done with this. I’m going to go dance with a girl that’s actually worth my time.”

  Ray walked off toward the dance floor leaving Vanessa and I stunned and Amanda fuming. “He is such a jerk,” she told us.

  I didn’t really want to point out that she was rude first so I said nothing. Vanessa, on the other hand told her, “Amanda, you did kinda tell him off first.”

  She gave her a pissed off look. “I did not.”

  “Yeah you did. You told him not to look at you and said it wouldn’t happen. That’s kind of rude.”

  “Whatever, he’s still a jerk that needed to be knocked down a couple of notches.”

  I took Vanessa’s hand and led her to the dance floor. Some slow song came on that I couldn’t place and I wrapped my arms around her. She placed her arms around my neck and looked up, smiling at me. I could tell it was a happy smile and I was glad that she felt that way with me. I pulled her in closer to me and she leaned her head on my chest. We swayed to the music and I never wanted the song to end. I could have danced with her forever. As the song ended she looked up at me, smiling again.

  “Thank you.” She said.

  “Thank you for what? Dancing with you?”

  “Yes. I’ve never been with a guy that would dance with me before.”

  “They were stupid. Complete assholes.”

  She laughed and grabbed my hand pulling me back to our table. After about fifteen minutes, I turned toward Vanessa. “It’s getting late. Do you want to leave?”

  “Sure. Do you want to go get Ray?”

  I gave her a quick kiss. “Be right back.”

  I found Ray in the middle of the dance floor with a girl who wasn’t exactly pretty. She was in serious need of… something. I tapped him on his shoulder. “We’re leaving. Ready to go?”

  He looked at the girl one more time. “Yep.” We met the girls at the door where I noticed Ray and Amanda scowl at each other. I took Vanessa’s hand, leading her out the door into the parking lot where she said good-bye to Amanda.

  As soon as we got into my Range Rover, Vanessa turned around to Ray. “What’s up with you and Amanda?”

  He shrugged. “She’s just a hateful bitch.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Um, you just met. It’s something else. She’s never like that.”

  I looked at him for a minute. I could tell he was debating something. He huffed. “Fine. We hooked up about six months ag
o and it didn’t go so well.”

  I wanted to yell at him but I couldn’t. It had happened months ago, way before anything with me and Vanessa. “What do you mean it didn’t go so well?” Vanessa asked him angrily.

  Ray looked out the window. “I’d rather not say.”

  “No, you will say,” she told him.

  “Fine. We had amazing sex, then I kicked her out. I told her to wait outside for a taxi.”

  I knew that was what had happened. I knew it.

  “Wow. You’re really disgusting. Are all men like that?” She asked both of us.

  “No!” I yelled a little louder than necessary. “I’m not. I promise you I am nothing like that. Not even on my worst days have I ever been like that.”

  Ray came to my rescue. “He’s not. In fact, he’s always telling me how awful I am.”

  She looked over at me. “Really?”

  I smiled at her. “Really. Let’s go take him home, okay?”

  I could tell she was trying to hide it but I could tell she was disgusted by him. “Fine with me.” She said while glancing back at Ray.

  Vanessa

  I WALKED into my apartment after the longest day at work ever. The students had been in a mood and I’d sent four of them to see the principal. All I wanted to do was take a long bubble bath and dream about the three day weekend ahead of me.

  A knock on my front door stopped me from stripping down for a bath. Instead, I walked over to the door and yanked it open. I really wished I hadn’t been so frustrated and had taken the time to look through the peephole. Shane stood in front of me, looking very handsome His looks were the only thing nice about him. Inside, he was ugly.

  “What do you want, Shane?”

  He slipped his hands into his pants pockets. “I just want to talk, Vanessa. Can I come inside?”

  I closed my eyes and debated. I didn’t really want him to come in, but I didn’t want to piss him off so close to our court date either. I stepped to the side and motioned him in.

  After he stepped inside and took a look around, he said, “I had no idea you were living like this. If you had just asked, I would have made sure you were living someplace nicer.”