Imagined Love

by Diamond Drake

  “Nooo,” he whined. “Why can’t you talk to me, baby? Hell, scream at me if you need to. But please don’t run away. Stay here and work things out with me. Please, baby.”

  “Work it out how, Pierce, and for what? You obviously don’t think much of me if you really believe I’m banging Landon who not only is like my brother but who’s also married,” Jade said, as tears sprang to her eyes. “Why would you even

  wanna be with somebody you thought was capable of doing that to you, somebody who’s apparently an asshole too?”

  Embarrassed, Pierce dropped his head. “I’m so sorry. The only asshole in here is me. I just . . . I know Landon is in love with you, Jade. Whether you wanna see it or not, he is. And he knows you better than anybody something I imagine is very comforting to you.” Pierce let out a deep breath. “I’m jealous of him. He knows my woman better than I do and I hate him for it. And it scares me to think I could screw up and make it easy for him to swoop in and take you away from me,” his voice quivered.

  “Pierce . . .”

  “Jade, I love you. I love you,” he said, as a tear rolled down his cheek, “and it kills me to think of losing you.” Pierce moved closer to Jade and she slid her arms around him. “Please don’t leave me. I need you,” he whispered, holding her tightly. “I love you.”

  Jade held on to Pierce hoping to heaven she wasn’t being manipulated. It was quite clear he didn’t want her going to be with Landon and for a brief moment she wondered if his tears were merely to prevent her from doing so. Those thoughts were quickly put to rest, though, as Pierce held her close to his heart promising never to let her go. Jade was in love and couldn’t imagine her world without Pierce in it. She pulled out of their embrace to look him in the eyes.

  “I love you. And it doesn’t matter what someone else may or may not feel for me. You’re my soul mate so that means no one can know or love me better than you. No one, you hear me?” Jade asked, as she caressed his face. “I’m in love with you, Pierce, and I don’t wanna lose you either. But if you call me an asshole again I’ma knock you out!” she chuckled, playfully pushing him away.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he smiled then kissed her.

  They thought it was a good idea to get out of the house for a while and decided to go out to eat. Jade wanted to change clothes first and Pierce needed to run to Quik Stop briefly so they decided to meet back up at the store. Twenty minutes later Jade walked inside and was surprised by what she witnessed. Pierce was flirting and talking inappropriately with one of the women who came into the store all the time.

  “Thanks for the invitation, Felicia, but I’ve already got plans with that hot lady right there,” Pierce said, flashing Jade a smile. “I’ll be right out, babe. I just need to grab some things from the back and then we can go, okay?” he asked then made his way to the storage room. “Oh, you have fun, Felicia. I’ll see you.”

  After a few nasty looks from the woman, Jade followed Pierce into the storage room and closed the door behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing the scowl on her face.

  “Did we not just finish arguing about you flirting?”

  “No, that’s not what the argument was about. You mentioned it and I told you it was meaningless. But I’m assuming from the way you standing there mean mugging me you thought I was just supposed to stop being myself because you said so.”

  “Oh, I see. So what was with all the tears and I love you stuff back at your place not even thirty minutes ago? I guess you forgot, huh?”

  “I do love you, Jade, but that doesn’t mean you get to control me! I’m not your damn puppet!”

  “So asking you to respect my feelings and not do things that hurt me means I’m controlling you?”

  “That’s funny. When I ask you to respect my feelings you basically tell me to go to hell! But when you don’t like something, I’m supposed to stop right then and there. Everything is about what you want!” Pierce yelled at her. “Jade gets to say and do whatever the fuck she wants regardless of how I feel about it! Jade’s not ready to have sex so we don’t have sex! Jade doesn’t feel comfortable with this or that so it doesn’t get done. Well, you don’t get to tell me how to act!”

  “So you cussing me out now?” she frowned.

  “Humph, and now you wanna control how I talk too,” Pierce said, as he shook his head. “I’m not cussing you out, Jade. I’m just expressing myself . . . kind of like you were back at the townhouse. So I guess it’s okay for you to tell me to shut the fuck up but if I say it, it’s offensive. But like I said it’s always about you.”

  “Wow, so it would seem my instincts were right after all. Back at your place when you were holding me and crying about how much you love me and can’t live without me, I was worried I was being played. I thought you were saying whatever you had to say to keep me from going to Landon’s. But stupid me was like no Jade he wouldn’t do that to you. Pierce really loves you. But clearly that’s not the case with you in hear screaming about how miserable I make you. I had no idea you resented me so much, Pierce. I was actually dumb enough to think we were on the same page about our relationship when you’ve apparently been putting up with so much in order to be with me,” Jade said, as she fought back tears. “Well, let me put you out of your misery, okay?” She turned to leave.

  “Come on, Jade, you know that’s not what I’m saying. You don’t make me miserable, baby. I’m just frustrated. But I do love you and I wanna be with you. I’m just not gonna change my personality to do it. Paying compliments or flirting or whatever you wanna call it is part of who I am. It’s not meant to disrespect or upset you. It’s just me. This is me, Jade. I’m sorry if you don’t like it but that’s just how it is. And I honestly don’t think this is serious enough to even be an issue but I guess that’s up to you. I think because of what you went through with Alonzo you feel . . .”

  “Ooh, would you shut up with your bootleg therapy! I see a licensed therapist so I don’t need you psychoanalyzing me, Pierce! I regret confiding in you because all you ever do is throw it back in my face!”

  “Well, maybe if I didn’t have to hear about these bastards all the goddamn time I wouldn’t have a reason to bring them up!”

  “Oh, so now I talk about them all the time, huh?”

  “It seems that way to me. Every therapy session you have is about one or more of them so . . .”

  “Okay, well tell me which one you think is worse, Pierce . . . to hear an occasional story from my past or to actually be confronted with it?”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Jade?”

  “At Veronica’s baby shower I had the pleasure of meeting your old sex buddy Jalisa who couldn’t wait to tell me how much she enjoyed what you did for her! Apparently the two of you had some wild nights. So don’t you stand your ass there acting like it pains you so much to hear about my past when you’ve never had to deal with no bullshit like that! Because you see, I love and respect you enough to lay it all out there and let you know what’s what. I would never send you into a situation blind so you could be humiliated by my past!” Jade sneered then rolled her eyes. “So if you’ve fucked any more of your sisters’ friends won’t you give me a head’s up next time, alright? Maybe then I won’t look so stupid for thinking what we have is something special!”

  “Okay, first of all I didn’t have no wild nights with Jalisa. It was one time in Mama’s coat closet when I was sixteen years old. It was whack and we never even spoke after that. So whatever she said was just to get under your skin because I’m sure my sisters went on and on about how in love we are. And she probably got jealous because what you and I have is special, Jade. But how was I supposed to know she was gonna be there? Do you really think I be sitting around thinking about some old bullshit like that?” Pierce frowned. “Look, I’m sorry that happened to you, okay? I wish you had told me then instead of throwing it at me now. But what can I do, Jade? I’ve slept with other women. You know that. And some of them probably still l
ive around here. So what do you want me to do, name them all and give you the dirty details? I mean, I don’t have a problem doing it if that’s what you need, but do you really want that stuck in your head? Do you really, because I can promise you it’s not fun. I hate Richard and I don’t even know the dude! But I get images of him touching you and being with you in a way you won’t let me and it drives me insane! I hate that he knows you intimately and you liked it. That tortures me, Jade.”

  “So basically when you ask me about my past or therapy sessions you don’t really wanna know.”

  “Of course I wanna know, Jade, just maybe not in all the details you give me. Sometimes it’s too much.”

  “Wow, so all this time I’ve been thinking how great it is that I can be so open with you about anything but you don’t even really care!”

  “Oh my god I hate when you do this shit! You just gone make me the villain no matter what, aren’t you?” Pierce was exasperated. “I never said I didn’t care, Jade. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t care. See, here’s what I don’t understand. Richard and Alonzo got away with murder but if I say one thing you don’t like then . . .”

  “Ugh!” Jade grunted and kicked a box towards him. “See, that’s what I’m talking about right there! You always throwing them up in my face! Yes, Alonzo dogged me out and paraded other women in front of me. And yes, Richard did things that made me feel like shit. But what the hell does that have to do with what we’re talking about right now, Pierce? What does it have to do with you continuing to hurt and disrespect me? You’re so quick to bring them up instead of facing the fact that my problem is with you! It’s you who humiliates me and makes me feel like I don’t matter! It’s you, Pierce Jamison . . . not any of the men from my past, just you! So why don’t you psychoanalyze that and get back to me when you come up with something, okay?”

  “Wow,” Pierce uttered, shocked by how ferocious Jade seemed. It was like she hated him and he didn’t know how to handle it. “I don’t know what to tell you, Jade. This is who I am so . . .”

  “And is that like a take it or leave it thing?”

  “If that’s how you see it then I guess so.”

  “Okay,” she said then snatched her purse to leave.

  “Okay, what? Jade, what does . . . oh so it’s like that?” he asked when she stormed out of the storage room towards the front door. “I’m not gonna keep chasing you, Jade.”

  “Good,” she said then ran to her car.

  Everything inside of Pierce was telling him to run outside to get her, but pride prevented him from doing so. He couldn’t believe she would actually leave him over something so trivial and stupid. As far as Pierce was concerned Jade was the one who needed to apologize. He watched her cry against the steering wheel and was certain she would come back inside. He was heartbroken when she didn’t. Blake asked if he was okay but Pierce just left.

  “You have got to be kidding me!” Jade shouted when she pulled into her apartment complex and saw that she had a guest waiting at the door. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

  Things had taken a drastic turn and Pierce didn’t know what to do next. His heart was urging him to go to Jade and fix the mess he’d made, but he went to his

  mother’s instead. Tamika and Alejandra were in the kitchen when he walked in looking close to tears. Naturally they asked why he and Jade weren’t out on a date and Pierce told them everything that had happened. His sisters looked at each other several times during his story unable to believe what they were hearing.

  “Stupid,” Tamika huffed.

  “I know. Can you believe she would . . .?”

  “She’s talking about you, idiot!” Alejandra snapped. “Are you really gonna throw away the best relationship you ever had trying to prove a point? And what is your point, you moron?” she asked then slapped him in the back. “How many times have we told you about that stupid ass flirting? It’s inappropriate for you to be doing it anyway but especially when you got a beautiful woman who adores you and loves your son like her own. Chicka doesn’t deserve to be disrespected like that! You wrong, Juan.”

  “Take your dumb ass over there and apologize,” Tamika demanded. “We all know she’s the one. I just hope you didn’t screw things up with this ignorant mess, stupid!”

  “I’m not stupid! And I didn’t do anything wrong! Why should I have to change who I am when she gets to do whatever the hell she wants with whoever she wants to do it with?” Pierce went into a rant about Landon being in love with Jade and she was probably in love with him too.

  “Please tell me you didn’t actually say that to her,” Alejandra said in disbelief. “Please tell me you don’t expect this girl to give up her family and her livelihood because of some crazy insecurity you have! I don’t believe Landon is in love with Chicka, but even if he was it wouldn’t matter. She loves you, Juan, no question about it. So do you know how idiotic you look right now? Why would Chicka wait until you came along to be with a dude she could’ve had years ago? Does that sound rational to you?”

  “Look, Juan, I don’t know why you tripping like this but if you really loved Jade you wouldn’t be asking her to give up everything she’s worked hard for because you’re jealous. That ain’t right and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. So quit acting like a punk and go fix this mess you made,” Tamika said.

  Pierce actually did feel ashamed and knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on in the battle with his sisters. He was relieved and grateful when Miguel came to the kitchen to get him. They went upstairs to Pierce’s old room and took a seat.

  “Is the point you’re trying to prove worth losing her?”

  “No.”

  “Then go get your woman and put an end to this nonsense,” Miguel instructed. “I don’t think you really believe anything is going on with Landon. It’s just that part of us men that want it all. Even though Jade loves you to death, you want the part of her heart that’s not meant for you to have. Landon’s important to

  her and he always will be. If you fight him for her you’ll lose, Juan, trust me. Even if Jade gave up the business and never saw him again, you can’t have the love she has in her heart for him. And believe me, I know how you feel. I used to be the same way when it came to your dad. But there’s a part of your mama’s heart that will always belong to him and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Arguing and acting out nearly cost me the love of my life because I was so focused on the little piece of love Luisa has for Jackie that I ignored all the ways she loves me. Do you hear what I’m saying, son?”

  “Yes sir. Thank you,” Pierce said then he hugged Miguel before heading out to make things right with Jade . . . or so he thought.

  28

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Thirty minutes later, with flowers in hand, Pierce knocked on Jade’s door. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d been so nervous. “Hey, Jade.”

  “Hey,” she said, allowing him inside.

  “Babe, I’m so sorry and I . . . oh, damn, I didn’t realize you had company, Jade,” Pierce glared at her. “For some stupid reason I thought you’d be upset about what happened between us tonight but apparently you’ve moved on. Wow! So it’s like that? Humph. Well do I at least get to know who this is or is it a secret?”

  “I don’t have secrets from you.”

  “Really,” Pierce said, as he tossed the bouquet of yellow roses on the couch, “because this is definitely something I didn’t know about.” He stood in front of her with his arms crossed waiting for an explanation. Captain America was pissed off! “Who is this?” he pointed.

  “Well, Pierce, this is Reese and he just . . .”

  “Reese! Aw, wow! Now see that’s interesting because from what I was told you hadn’t had any contact with him and yet here he is sipping coffee at the kitchen table!”

  “I haven’t, babe. He . . .”

  “Listen, man, I’m not trying to cause a problem but I did just drop by unannounced. I haven’t seen or spoken to Jade since that nigh
t I stood her up and I was just hoping for the chance to apologize and explain myself to her.”

  “Oh yeah? And what else were you hoping for, Reese?” Pierce asked, trying hard not to look intimidated by the guy’s massive size.

  “Come on, Pierce, you don’t have to be rude.”

  “And you don’t have to be so damn hospitable! I mean this is the guy that hurt you, right? But he gets to come in for coffee?”

  “Well, you hurt me too and I still let you in.”

  “Oh, me and this dude get equal billing with you? So what exactly does that mean, Jade? If his apology is good enough he has another chance at the big bed?”

  “How can you even ask . . .? Whatever!”

  “Don’t whatever me! Answer my damn question!”

  “Yeah, Pierce,” Jade snapped, “that’s all it will take is a real good apology and a cup of coffee and I’ll be all his!” she shouted and rolled her eyes at him as she fought back tears.

  “Okay, well that’s all I needed. Just let me know what you decide, alright?”

  “Pierce, wait. Don’t . . .” The slamming door put an end to that conversation.

  “I’m sorry, Jade. It seems like I’m always causing you problems. Sorry,” Reese said then enveloped her in his arms. “I miss you so much.”

  He continued to talk but she wasn’t really listening. All Jade could think about was Pierce and how she may have lost the man she loved. However, she couldn’t ignore what happened between them. They’d had more than just a fight as far as Jade was concerned. Their true feelings for one another had been revealed.

  For months she and Pierce had gotten caught up in the fact that everyone in their lives thought they were perfect for each other and would end up married. Though, the hatred and resentment they unleashed on each other made her wonder if maybe they weren’t meant to be together after all. So many times in the past Jade chose to ignore warnings like those and it always turned out badly for her. Perhaps for once in her life she’d put an end to a bad situation before it had the chance to destroy her completely. Then she began to wonder if it wasn’t a coincidence that Reese had shown up on that day of all days.