Loving Sweetness (Sweet #2)

by Jude Ouvrard

  “I… I don’t really get along with Candice, I guess.” Right away, I wished I could have started with a different approach, but I couldn’t think of a way to tell him what had happened.

  “She told me she was nice to you, and suddenly, you just lost it.” Calvin informed me.

  I laughed hysterically. “Are you fucking kidding me, Calvin? Are you really that blind?”

  He ran his hand into his hair, messing with his clean look. “Explain yourself, Iris.” His voice left no sign of humor, only a sound that gave me shivers all the way down my back.

  “Did you tell her about last night? The lingerie? Because she made sure to mention that she knew you had a thing for lace.” I spat in his face. “How dare you to talk about our personal life with her.” Our private life had nothing to do with her.

  He stood up, clearly upset. “I didn’t say a word, Iris.” I didn’t know what to think anymore.

  “Well, she knew. She knew you were taking me out to shop and she knew about your thing for lace.” I paused at the realization of my words. Right, they had been together. “So disgusting.” If I hadn’t forced myself to think of something else, I would have vomited all over the floor.

  “Iris, please.” He said approaching me.

  “Calvin.” I stepped back. “What about all the meetings you guys suddenly have on lunch break? The only time we have together. She’s taking that time from me.”

  I waited for him to say something. He was clearly going through the last few days in his mind.

  “I don’t think she did it on purpose,” he defended her.

  “Fine, take her side. I must just be crazy imagining things. Thanks for trusting and believing me. I appreciate how strong our relationship really is.”

  Standing up, he kicked my chair toward my desk, making more noise than necessary. “Don’t say shit like this, Iris.” He groaned. “What am I supposed to do now, huh? I’ve been working with her for years and never encountered any problems. We got along just fine.”

  Of course, you were fucking her, I thought. “It’s all on me, Calvin. I told you. I’ll leave you two to the perfect world you guys had. I’m going home.”

  “Don’t. I’m leaving tonight and won’t return for two days.” He tried approaching me again, but I didn’t let him. “Let me touch you, Iris.”

  “I’m sorry, but no. I’m mad at you.”

  “I want you to come with me. There’s a fundraiser I need to attend in Dallas, and after, I’m meeting some friends. I want you there with me.”

  “How come I’m just hearing about this now?” Why did he keep this from me? All kinds of questions and emotions went through me.

  “I had the dates wrong. Candice got a call this morning to confirm I would be there. I really need to go. It’s important for the kids.”

  I stayed silent. Part of me wanted to go and the other part of me wanted to be alone. This situation hurt me and it confused me; it made me question myself and our relationship.

  Small knocks on my door startled both of us. The tension between us was far from sensual this time. He wanted to touch me, to make me forget, but I wanted to go through this argument and get it over with.

  “Calvin, Iris.” Candice saluted both of us. “Humm, I thought we could go over the marketing plan for the big advertisement coming next week while Calvin is away. If you don’t mind.” She acted like nothing had happened, like I didn’t want to murder her enough already.

  Again. Calvin couldn’t ignore this now. She was doing it right to his face. Separating us, pushing us apart. He couldn’t be that blind, right?

  “You have a point, Candice, but we were in the middle of something here.”

  “Sorry. I’ll be in my office, Iris, when you’re ready.”

  “Oh Candice, did you get my shirt and suits from the dry cleaner?”

  He asked her to do that. Why not me? I was his girlfriend. We lived together, these were things we were supposed to do for one another.

  “I’ll get them now.” She smiled, not at him but to me. Bitch!

  She left us and I had only gotten more furious, but I fought to remain calm. “Why her and not me? I should be the one taking care of your things, not her. Who’s your girlfriend, Calvin? Iris or Candice?”

  “Stop this, Iris. You’re out of your mind. You know I only love you. I didn’t want to bother you with this.” He looked exasperated. My attitude toward Candice was ruining us, if only he could see it from my perspective.

  “So you asked her.” I nodded sarcastically, not approving his explanation. “I’ll see you later. Take it off my paycheck, I’m taking the afternoon off.”

  I took my purse from under my desk. I touched him involuntary, my arms against his groin. His breathing hitched, he craved my touch that much. I could sense the tingling between us, but it was tainted.

  “Iris, don’t be like this. I hate this.”

  “She gets what she wants, Calvin, and that’s you. I’ll just wait on the side if you ever wake up,” I spat at him. I wanted to yell at him, beg him to wake up. She had two personalities and played with them as she pleased.

  “Stay,” he ordered me.

  I left without looking at him or saying goodbye. I had enough. Hurrying out of the building, I had no idea where to go. In such a short time, my life had completely included Calvin in everything I liked to do, whether it regarded going to the gym or the Lounge; they had become my daily hang outs. My friends were his friends, except for Krys.

  My feet hurt, I missed my old sneakers. Who was I trying to impress now? Dressed in expensive clothes, none of which I could afford. All that for nothing. This personality wasn’t me. The only things I liked about it were Calvin’s eyes when he looked at me, and how sexy he made me feel. A first tear ran down my cheek. I had to stop. Be stronger than that, Iris. You’re in the middle of the city. You can’t cry.

  Where do I go now? A coffee shop? Or maybe I could get a nice haircut. I hadn’t gotten one in quite a while and my hair could use a new do. I kept walking until I found one. Some people say getting their haircut is like therapy, well bring it on.

  After ignoring my phone for a couple of hours, the time to get home had arrived. Spending two hours getting my hair done was exactly what I needed. A new start definitely made me happier, but it faded slowly as I approached the penthouse.

  It was late. He’d mentioned he had to leave tonight. What if he had left already? I checked my phone. Nineteen missed calls and my voicemail bursting to capacity.

  “Shit!” I muttered to myself.

  As I was about to unlock the screen, a call from Calvin came in.

  “Hello.”

  “Where the fuck are you?” he asked.

  “Where the fuck are you?” I could be just as mad as him if I wanted to.

  “Iris, don’t play stupid games with me. Where are you? Where have you been?” His voice started to smooth down, I could hear relief.

  “I got my hair trimmed.” Maybe a bit more than trimmed, but I didn’t have to be specific, right? Only few inches shorter.

  “Where are you now?” he asked, his voice soft, almost like the normal Calvin. Not the stressed-out man he had been today.

  “On my way. Are you still home?”

  “I just got in my car, I’m driving to the airport.”

  Oh! “Okay.” I couldn’t forget how mad he had made me earlier, but a big part of my heart wanted to see him before he left. “I’m two corners south. I’m sorry I missed you. Have a safe trip.” I heard him say my name, but I hung up before he could hear the pain in my voice.

  The tears finally became uncontrollable. Today sucked. I wished my brain could delete the last ten hours. I probably had mascara streaming down below my cheeks, but I didn’t care. I tried walking faster. Maybe tomorrow I could stay home again and stay away from Candice. Dealing with her drained all my energy.

  “Iris? What the fuck have you done?” Calvin’s voice startled me.

  I turned, searching for him. I had choppe
d off at least five inches of hair, making it just below my shoulders.

  “Calvin.” I cried his name. He hated my hair. He hated me. Everything about today came down to ruining us.

  “Iris, I have to go, okay? We got some shit to get through, but I still love you. You need to know that.”

  I nodded, but I kept quiet because I couldn’t speak. Shame drowned me six feet below. I waved him goodbye and turned around, hurrying to get to the penthouse to curl up in my bed until exhaustion took over.

  “Iris!” Calvin called my name repeatedly. He didn’t run after me as his car was illegally parked in the street. People were starting to react, blasting on the horn of their cars, and the blare resonated in between the buildings.

  At that moment, I missed Rose more than anything. Calling her wasn’t an option, I didn’t think I could find the right words to explain myself without making me look like an idiot. Jealousy took over, I claimed Calvin as mine, and he defended Candice. And now, to top it off, he didn’t agree with my decision to get my hair cut. I knew the hair cut was just a detail, but I was hurt.

  Rest would help me see things clearly. I had to get a nice night of sleep. Even mad, I couldn’t help myself, I missed him and slept on his side of the bed. I lost myself in his scent. He was nowhere close to me, but his manly cologne facilitated the hard task of falling asleep.

  Because I hadn’t taken care of the curtains last night, the sun awoke me as soon as it started to rise. I got the remote control and had them slowly covering each of the windows. I fell back asleep battling, against a headache and heartache. I didn’t want to wake up. Sleeping through the day sounded much better than facing that bitch at work. Who knew what could happen with Calvin gone?

  Finally, the pounding in my head had gone, I checked the time on my phone and it said 9:23 am. I was late to work and in terrible need of a shower. The icon for text messages notified me of what I missed while I slept. With little surprise the message was from Calvin.

  Iris, we need to talk.

  Iris, stop ignoring me please.

  Are you home? I hate that you are not answering me.

  This is my last message. Good night, babe.

  Why are you not at work?

  Jesus Christ, he had to chill out.

  I fell asleep without setting my alarm. I’m late to work. I’ll be there ASAP.

  We’ll talk when you’re back. I’m not doing this via text.

  I wondered if he wanted to break up with me. The ‘we need to talk’ worried me a lot.

  I showered, dried my hair, got dressed and kept the outfit simple. There was nothing I could do now that would help my case with Calvin, not even showing some cleavage. I was never that type of girl anyway. I hopped in a cab to work while drinking my morning coffee. My eyes were still swollen and red. I looked like crap, no matter how much makeup I tried to apply.

  The office was quiet, too quiet, and I hadn’t seen or heard Candice yet. I sipped my coffee while going through my emails. I received confirmation for our big promotional plan of next week. I wanted to high five myself. My first real task as a manager and it turned out to be a success. I forwarded my email to Calvin because I knew he wanted to get the confirmation.

  Minutes later, Candice appeared at my door, looking like a Barbie doll.

  “I’m surprised to see you here, Iris.” I could hear the bitchiness in her voice and it triggered me.

  “Why is that?”

  “Well, Calvin asked you to go with him, didn’t he?”

  “And you made sure I couldn’t go by suggesting we both work on next week’s project.”

  She laughed. “You know, just like I do, that we’re almost done. Plus, you could have easily done the project on your laptop wherever he had to go. You decided to take the easy way out. You didn’t fight for him, like I would have, and he’s going to see it. He’s not stupid. Calvin is smart and he knows women really well.”

  “Okay, why are you even talking to me?”

  “Because I actually enjoy watching you ruin everything you have with Cal. You keep pushing him away. You refuse him constantly. I would have left him fuck me on my first day.”

  “You are spying on us!” It wasn’t a question, it was a fact.

  “I’m learning from your mistakes. You let him leave, alone, unsatisfied. How many time have you refused him so far? How many girls are going to throw themselves at him?”

  I wanted to slap her. God knew how much I hated her. She was right, I hadn’t fought for him enough. He was slipping through my fingers, and I was about to lose him.

  “You’re not different from the others, Iris. He will get rid of you.” Her hands softly caressed my cheek. It disgusted me. “Sooner, rather than later.”

  I pulled away from her. “And you think you’ll be the next one. That he’s going to go back to you? Don’t you care that will you never be more than his second choice?”

  “What makes you think I’m his second choice, Iris? He always comes back to me, but never goes back to the others. Thank you for making it just so easy for me.”

  Out of rage, frustration and hurt, I slapped her across the face. Her perfect hair, her perfect face tarnished by me. My hand stung, but God, did it feel good. “You’ll never have a taste of him again. I’m not going anywhere. We belong together.”

  She laughed. “You’re so naïve. He probably has another girl by his side as we speak. You’re too late, Hun.”

  I have to get out of here and find him. After closing down everything in my office, I left. I let Candice watch me as if I had grown a second head. Calvin was mine, it was time I fight for him and show him.

  Outside, I yelled, “Taxi,” trying to catch one fast. I was out of breath, panicking. Candice’s words echoed in my head. I could only hope he hadn’t replaced me. Some part of me knew he wouldn’t. We were it. He had sent a few hints my way about getting married. We were serious.

  A cab finally stopped before me. “The airport, please.”

  I had no other clothes, absolutely nothing, but my purse. Calvin meant more to me than that and I had to find my place next to him.

  I text him on my way to the airport.

  Which hotel are you staying at?

  I waited, held my phone with my shaky fingers, but I only got a text back from him as I sat in the plane waiting for takeoff, two hours later.

  He asked me why, but I didn’t answer. He probably knew what my intentions were. Candice had probably warned him. Luckily, I had gotten on a direct flight and would be there by five tonight. I tried to nap, but I was restless. My mind kept reliving the moments we had spent together. The thought of his reaction to my impromptu visit scared me more than it should have. We both acted like never before; this situation had me in knots.

  I hated this. It definitely topped one of the worst days of my life.

  Sitting in the lobby of the hotel, I knew it could take hours before he showed up. I could call him, I could text him, but even if he invited me, I didn’t think I belonged here.

  What would I do if I found him with someone else? My heart wouldn’t be able to live through that.

  Maybe I should ask the lady at the counter if she knew about a fundraiser being held in town. Dallas is a big city. As I walked to the counter to speak to the receptionist, my phone began ringing.

  I recognized Calvin’s ring tone, and right away, my heart started beating faster and faster. “Hello?”

  “Iris, we need to talk. It’s driving me crazy.” I could hear the distress in his voice.

  “Where are you?” I hoped he would still be here, at the hotel.

  “I’m in my hotel room. I’m leaving in a couple of minutes.”

  “So, you call me hoping we can fix things within a couple of minutes?”

  He sighed. “No, Iris. I’m lost here. I’m mad and confused.”

  “Me too.” I really didn’t want to do this over the phone. His eyes, I needed to see them while he spoke these words. My heart had to feel our connection. His beautif
ul blue eyes, I missed them. “But I still can’t get over the fact that you… Look, Calvin, I can’t do this now,” I said before ending the call. Finding his room number, that’s what I had to do.

  “Excuse me, could you tell me the room number of Calvin Banks?”

  She eyed me and I gave her a shy smile. She probably wasn’t allowed to give me his room number.

  “We don’t have a reservation under his name.”

  Oh! But he said… right… Candice. “Oh, I’m sorry. It must be under my name. Candice Moore. I’m sorry, I just got in town. My flight was delayed.”

  “Room 212.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  It only had been a couple of minutes after the phone call when I reached the elevator. My body craved him, but I also wanted to push him away. A mix of emotions stumbled in my head as the elevator stopped on the second floor. A couple entered while I exited. A man I had seen before, a football player? Maybe. I turned the corner to room 212, and standing right before me was Calvin, a man, and two women. Two beautiful women who made my heart crack wide open. Calvin’s back was towards me. He hadn’t seen me—he had no idea. He seemed to be leaving a different room than the other man, but I couldn’t tell for sure. It all happened too fast and my vision blurred at the confusion.

  One of the girls grabbed the hand of the other man. Calvin turned around, his arm about to hook around one of the women when he caught my eye and stopped dead.

  “Iris, what are you doing here?” he said in shock, as he hurried to me. “What are you doing here? You hung up on me five minutes ago, and now you’re here. What the hell? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  I stayed silent. His words, his reaction, I couldn’t tell if he wanted to see me or not.

  “Calvin, we’re going to be late, you coming?” The girl had some balls. Couldn’t she see something was happening here?

  “Go, just go,” he said, ignoring her. Calvin looked disgusted. With himself, perhaps? Because I sure was. “Come into my room, babe. We can talk now.”

  “Don’t babe me, Calvin. This is really not the time to play nice.”