by J Peach
Smiling, I nodded my head. There wasn’t a point in lying. I was gon’ put my hands all over his space.
“Hmm, I already know how I’m going to do Leon’s office. I can see the tan, maybe beige walls. This desk right here can go in there.”
He pulled me closer to him and laughed again. “You’re not taking my desk so leave it alone.”
Humming, I nodded as my hands went to his forearms. “I’m going to get rid of it. You’ll be pissed, but your Jerron, you can never stay mad at me for long so you’ll get over it.” Replying with a slight shake in my voice, my hands slowly caressed his forearms to his shoulders. “You’ll get over it,” I mumbled lowly, this time as my eyes met his.
“Cards sound good. Davis’ Brothers Construction may do...” he said, trailing off. Looking away from me, his hands left my waist. “We should go, it’s late.”
“It’s Friday,” I countered as my hands continued to move along his arms and shoulders.
“I have an early morning and a brother that needs to be persuaded into going into business with me. So we should go.”
With a lick of my lips, I moved back.
“You mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” That had me confused.
“Because I won’t kiss you like you want me to.”
That brought another smile to my face. “No, Ron I’m not. You’re doing what I asked you. To be my friend, I can’t be mad at you for that.”
He grabbed my arms and brought them around his neck before bringing his hands back to my waist.
“What would you say if I asked if we can we forget about the friend thing for a few seconds?”
Biting into my lower lip, Ron pulled me closer.
“I’d say no…” trailing off, my arms left his neck and my fingertips pressed against his jawline. “…but if you ask for a minute or five then I’ll have no choice but to say yes.”
He gave me that sexy peek-a-boo smile as his head came down. My teeth slowly scraped my bottom lip.
Ron’s lips lightly pressed against mine and they pushed back before grabbing his top lip as his took hold of my bottom. My head tilted to the side as my lips parted, opening for him.
Once our tongues touched, the slow motion of everything seemed to suddenly speed up. Our lips moved faster, our sucking of each-others lips became intense, almost desperate.
He pushed my cardigan down my shoulders and I pulled his shirt off. The tight, ripped panels of his pecks and abs led to the deep sexy V on his pelvis.
My stomach tightened at the sight. I leaned forward and kissed from his collar bone down to his chest, letting my tongue flick over each nipple. I pushed Ron on the desk and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips.
Jerron’s left hand grasped the back of my head, bringing our lips together once again. It wasn’t until my hips started moving that he stopped kissing me and groaned.
Laughing, I pressed my forehead to his. “I understand now,” I mumbled against his lips.
Ron kissed me again which caused a smile to come to my mouth.
“Understand what?” He asked between pecks.
“Why it took you so long to visit me again.” I nipped his bottom lip before I sucked on the top.
I did understand. A part of me was glad that Blaze and I weren’t together anymore for the simple fact with Jerron back I was sure my judgment on being faithful would’ve been tested.
Jerron would always be the guy that made me look past all reason. What was right wouldn’t have mattered and what was wrong, I wouldn’t have cared about.
Ron would always be that guy to me and now that he was back it complicated everything. The guilty part of me knew I shouldn’t have been feeling like that because of Blaze, who I still loved. Even so, he was not Jerron, no one was or could ever be Jerron.
“What’s wrong, Peaches?” His thumb swiped across my cheek.
I leaned into his hand, kissing his palm. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, I know you, Peaches. So tell me what’s wrong?” I rolled off of him and just lay against him. “Peaches?” He propped himself up on his elbow, and leaned over me. “You not gon’ talk to me?” Lowering his head, he bit my shoulder once then twice. I glanced down at him and he smiled. “She hears, talk to me.”
I turned to face him. “I’m happy you’re back, I really am. It’s just that I don’t know what I want. I mean, one minute I’m thinking I don’t want a relationship, I’m just going to focus on myself, school and work, you know. Then I’m here with you, happy.
“I just got out of a relationship with Blaze, I shouldn’t be feeling like this. Especially because I don’t want to hurt you. I can’t tell if what I’m feeling is because I want to forget about him or if it’s because you’re Jerron. I can’t distinguish the two. If it’s the first one then I’ll just hurt you which is what I don’t ever want to do,” I explained.
“A month ago I was laid up in Sam’s truck thinking the exact same thing and was feeling good about being with someone, even comparing them. What if I’ve been doing the same with you?” I questioned with a shake of my head.
“Then there’s Blaze again. Ron, I still love him, a part of me still hurts because of the shit we’ve been through. At the same time I want to forget and forgive him. Then you come back and I’m feeling every bit of that fourteen year old girl again, secretly crushing over the older, sweet, mean, funny dude.
“Jerron, you’ve always been that guy to make me forget reasoning into something and I wouldn’t care. But you’re also the guy that just up and disappeared without a word which hurt me. Then you show up and I forget about how hurt I was and within a few hours we’ll end up like this before your gone again.
“I literally forced myself to forget about you six years ago and now you’re back and I’m happy. My first thought when I found out you were back was why didn’t I know. The six years didn’t matter, I just wanted to see you and hang out with you again. Now we’re here and I can’t find it in me to want to be anywhere else with anyone but you. Isn’t this wrong?” He complicated everything. It has to be wrong because I was still in love with Blaze.
It has to be?
“Are we speaking as friends right now?” He asked and I nodded my head.
“The Sam thing was just comfort, you were hurting and he let his feelings for you counter on that. So he was acting on his selfishness by comforting you. From what you tell me about him, my guess is that you want an understanding, considerate man as well as a rough one. That’s the only reason you compared them. Ain’t nothing wrong with it, but you can’t go to his best friend to get what he doesn’t have. Especially if you still love this dude,” he explained, staring hard at me.
“As for this Blaze cat, he’s just stupid and don’t realize what he had. I mean, you got some men like that. What’s their reason for this shit,” he shrugged, “I don’t know. If you don’t love the one you’re cheating with then I don’t understand the point for the cheat.” He stopped talking and brought his hand to my side, slipping it under my shirt and pulling me closer to him.
“This, what we have, is something that was started ten years ago, something we didn’t take advantage of for our own reasons. I regret not doing so, but I wouldn’t change my decision on leaving. Yeah, I regret not being here for you when you needed me and for not telling you. But the decision to leave was best for me. If I had of stayed, ain’t no way I would have this let alone finish anything.” He let out a heavy breath as he shook his head.
“Peaches, you were my downfall, as long as I was with you nothing mattered. I was at the point where I didn’t want to leave Gary. The mill was good for me, but it wasn’t where I wanted to be.
“Washington University was one of the top schools in St. Louis. They were best known for their successful rate in Engineering and I kept putting it off waiting for time to run out, then it would’ve been too late.
“It wasn’t until my mom came at me and made me realize how stupid I was being. What I w
anted didn’t really matter because all I needed was Peaches. Her conversation, her smile, the eye roll, the smacking lips and the threats, that’s it and Jerron was all good,” he said, laughing.
“You were bad for me and I didn’t even realize it until I was about to throw everything away. After my moms went in on my ass, I went to your house…” He groaned as he rubbed his head before he laughed.
“You had just gotten out the shower when I was coming through your window. I asked you about us being together, if we were ever going to start something real. You didn’t say anything at first, but when you did it was to laugh. You told me no, asked me why ruin a good thing. Said that this was nothing serious, it was just fun, nothing more nothing less.
“I felt stupid as hell after you said that because I was about to throw everything away to stay here with you, but for what? Fun? N’all, that wasn’t good for me. Even after you said that I stayed a night and kept coming back. Then about a month or so after, I met Monica and we clicked. I found out she was moving to St. Louis, going to the same school for design. She was my out, two weeks before summer ended we were gone.
My plan was to come and tell you, but if I had I wouldn’t have left. Hell, I couldn’t even tell you about Monica. Like you said, we always end up like this. Peaches, you were bad for me back then, shid, still is. Saying bye wasn’t possible, those last two weeks drove my ass crazy. I didn’t mean to hurt you, though. You know that I’ll never intentionally hurt you, just like I know you’ll never purposely hurt me. You know that, right?”
I stared in his hazel eyes and nodded my head.
“This’s not a comfort thing for you, we got something that’s not going away. But I’m not gon’ make a move on you, whatever happens or don’t is up to you. I’ll play my role as your friend, your man, whatever you want, I’m that.”
After listening to him, I realized I was a bitch at that age. And it sucked because I really did like him, but I saw all the shit my mom was going through with my dad. I’d came to the conclusion then that every relationship was destined for disaster. So far my theory hadn’t been wrong.
“I was a bitch—”
“You ain’t never lying.” Gasping, I popped his chest. “You said it, why you hitting me?”
“Because you’re an ass. I’m being serious, I was a bitch for saying that to you. Whether I meant it or not, I should’ve figured it out then, but with watching my mom, a relationship wasn’t something I ever wanted. I didn’t want to become her or have a man like that.
“This, what we have, let’s just go with the flow of it. Where it goes, whether we end up together or not, we’re still going to be friends in the end, okay?” I didn’t think I was ready for a relationship, but I didn’t want to miss something that was probably staring me in the face.
Going with the feeling I had was all I could do right then.
“Okay, if that’s what you want.”
“It is. promise me that no matter what we’ll stay friends in the end.” I held out my pinky he chuckled before locking his pinky with mine.
“I, Jerron La’Vell Davis promise to—”
I broke out laughing remembering the girls and my promised pledge.
He was so damn stupid!
Chapter 29
Peaches
“Seriously, Peach, no matter what happens I’m gon’ always be here for you.” The sincerity in both his eyes and voice had a smile stretching across my lips.
“You know I love you, right?” I pressed my lips to his with my question.
“I know, just like you know I love you.” He gave my lips a simple peck. Ron pulled back with a groan. “We should get going, I have to be up early in the morning. Plus, I have to run this business idea by my big brother.”
“Oh, shit!” Ron’s mention of his brother had me thinking about King. We had to go because if he tried to call and I didn’t answer that was an argument I wasn’t ready to have, especially not in front of Ron.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, sitting up with me.
“Do you have your phone so I can call King?” I pulled on my cardigan as we left the building.
Ron started laughing before patting his pockets. “You still have to check in? You do know you’re grown, right?”
“Go try to convince my brother of that. He’s gotten worse since I was drugged.”
“You were drugged? Who the fuck drugged you?” The hostility in his voice made me groan.
I ignored his question and held my hand out. “Do you have your phone?” When he didn’t make a move to get his phone, I sighed. “It’s a long story, one I’ll tell you on the way to my place. Now, do you have your phone so I can call my over protective brother and check in?” He gave me his phone and I called King. He didn’t answer.
After the fifth time of trying, I gave up. He must have been handling business, that’s the only time he didn’t answer. I handed Ron his phone as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Now tell me this long story about you being drugged.”
I knew he wasn’t gon’ let that go. With a heavy sigh, I began telling him everything that happened that day leading up to me being drugged. By the time we made it to my street the truck was completely quiet and not once had Ron interrupted me. Even though he was silent, you could tell from the look on his face that he was mad.
My theory was proven right when he asked, “Where the fuck is this Mark nigga from?”
Ron wasn’t a shit starter, he was usually the one trying to avoid a conflict. Even so, I would never underestimate him. I was told once that the silent ones were the craziest and with pervious times and what happened tonight, I was starting to believe just that.
Just because a person didn’t go around starting mess didn’t mean they wouldn’t mind getting their hands dirty.
“I don’t know, I’ve never been to his place.” I shrugged. “We were basically just passersby really. I’m pretty sure King will find him through.”
“Without a doubt. Damn, I missed a lot.” He didn’t know how true that was.
“Yeah, you really have. Oh, I got a sex tape floating around too— Pull into the driveway.” He did as I said.
Turning off the truck, Ron turned to look at me. “You got a sex tape? Get the fuck outda here,” he said, laughing. I got my phone out of my purse and found the video. I handed the phone to Ron. “Damn, you serious. What, he taped y’all?”
“Don’t even start thinking like that. No, he didn’t. Somebody broke into my apartment. When, I don’t know, but whoever did it setup a camera in my room. We don’t know how many cameras were setup or where they were in my apartment, nothing. So there’s no telling what this sick son of bitch got on me and Blaze, hell even Sly’s trifling ass or Sam.
“I don’t know and that bothers me, not knowing. But it’s nothing we can really do seeing as we have no idea who the hell it is.” When Ron didn’t reply, I looked at him only to see his head tilted sideways as he watched the video. “You perv, give me that.” I snatched the phone from him.
“I knew you liked being on top—” He started saying and I hit him. “I’m playing! That’s fuck’d up, though. Who the fuck would want to do some shit like that?” Shrugging, I let out a heavy breath. “Don’t sweat it, whoever it may be is either obsessed with you or it could be a vengeful girlfriend. Maybe you let her man get a taste of Ms. Sweet. Or maybe they had a taste and you cut them off, which brings us back to obsession,” Ron theorized out loud.
I liked none of those if it was true. “If it’s any one of those then I need to be worried. I don’t have time for no vindictive ass bitches because of some head shit. Damn sho’ not any stalking ass men over the same shit. I’ve never had sex with them so to put cameras in my place is a little out there.” I told him. It didn’t make any sense to me for someone to do something like that just because I let someone eat my pussy.
“I don’t see why not. You of all people should know how crazy folks are, especially around here. You can say hey to a person th
at likes you and they’ll suddenly think you’re in a relationship with them. It doesn’t take much for a crazy mothafucka to turn nothing into something. And apparently being with your boy pissed them off.
“You got to be careful dealing with folks, man, that shit you were on was straight reckless yo. Having your friends ain’t nothing wrong with it, but you just can’t have any random ass nigga that’s willing eat yo pussy do it. Don’t be rolling yo damn eyes, man, yo ass was on some straight nigga shit—”
“Fuck you, Jerron. I was single then which meant I could do as I pleased. I’m not denying it, yeah I was out there with getting head, but that’s all it was,” I said defensively.
“That’s all it was to you, not to them! I’m not trying to argue with you, Peach. My thing is somebody breaking into yo shit and putting up mothafuckin’ cameras, someone you have no clue of who it could be. You don’t know if this mothafucka watching you now or not. My guess, though, they still are. So be careful is all I’m trying to say.” He was worried I could hear it in his voice.
If he was feeling that way, maybe I should’ve been taking it serious as well. I had kind of just let it go, not thinking that someone could actually be following or watching me still.
Last thing I wanted was to make anyone worry when it could’ve been nothing but paranoia getting to him.
With him just finding out someone broke into my apartment, that was a normal reaction for some people when it involved the person they cared about.
“Ron, I’m always careful, but I’ll be extra careful.” I gave his hand a squeeze for reassurance.
“Don’t just be saying that, promise me?” He asked of me as he leaned closer to my side.
“I promise.”
Nodding his head, he pressed his lips to mine. He pulled back and got out of the truck, leaving me there looking like a smiling fool.
After he got my bear from the back seat, he helped me out and walked me to the front door.
“I had fun with you tonight. Confession, I was kind of scared to be alone with you.” I admitted which seemed to have confused him.