by Tiya Rayne
Devin gasped beside me. I turned to her quickly shaking my head, but she was already talking.
“Oh, my God! You went on a date with Jackson!”
“Who is Jackson?” Eli asked.
“Duck, you dating now?” Papa questioned. He was no longer eating, his attention was fully on me.
“No, Papa! I’m not dating.”
“Jackson is Duck’s white boyfriend,” Keisha admitted happily.
She got a full thrill at being able to announce that.
“You have a boyfriend?” Quincy asked it disgustedly.
No one noticed the scorned lover scowl on his face.
“When did you start dating white guys?” Eli questioned beside me.
“When she ran through the entire black male population in Atlanta,” Aunt Vivica stated.
I ignored her comment. It wasn’t the first shot I had ignored today. My mind just wasn’t focused enough to retort.
“I would like to meet this Mr. Jackson,” Papa announced with a smile.
“Well, tell us, how was the date?” Grams asked.
Her face was lit with excitement. I hated to disappoint her.
“It wasn’t a date, Grams.”
“I don’t know, Duck. You guys were gone all day.”
I turned to Devin praying that she would shut the hell up. Could she not read my body language right now?
“How long were they gone?” Aunt Joe asked.
“At least four hours.”
“Oh, my God, Devin, stop talking!” I finally lost my cool.
The table went quiet again.
“Look, it wasn’t a date. It was just two people and a dog on a hike, with a picnic.”
“Sounds like a date to me,” Keisha mumbled.
“WELL I DIDN’T ASK YOU!” I shouted the words completely losing my shit.
The entire family was looking at me like I’m the crazy one. And maybe they were right. I felt a little crazy right now. I slid my chair back from the table and stood up.
“I’m sorry, Grams. I had a really long night last night, and I woke with a terrible headache, I’m just going to head home.”
“Baby, don’t leave. At least take some food home.”
I held up my hand to stop her.
“I’m not really hungry. It’s fine.”
I walked away from the table with mumbled allegations of drug use and hard partying. I made it outside to my car, and since I spilled my tea across the table, I could finally breathe again. I stopped at my car door and placed my hands on the roof of my car and took a few soothing breaths.
“Hey!” Eli called out to me.
I lifted from the car and went to get in.
“Not now, Eli.”
He grabbed my arm before I could sit down and turned me back to him.
“What’s up with you? You’ve been out of it since you came.”
“It’s nothing…..” I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Hey! Talk to me,” he demanded.
There was no getting out of this. I couldn’t lie to Eli. He was like my brother, he knew me more than anyone else in my family.
I sighed and looked to my left. “I’m still having problems with Cliff.” Admittedly, this was only half of my problem, but it was the only one Eli could help me with.
“What happened?”
“He broke in last night and destroyed some of my personal items.”
Eli’s jaw tensed up. That flair of anger sparked up in his eyes.
Grams always said that Eli took his father’s temper. I’ve seen Eli at his angriest. When I was in third grade some fifth grade dude cornered me after school and groped me. I was crying in my bedroom when Eli found me. He made me tell him what happened, that same spark ignited in his eyes that day. The next day, he beat that guy so bad an ambulance had to take the young boy from the school. Eli got expelled. I wanted to tell Grams and Papa what happened, but Eli told me to keep it to myself. He didn’t want me to have to relive it.
If he only knew.
When I saw that look in his eyes now, I knew that if he found Cliff, the guy was going to be in for a hurting.
“Alright, Duck! I’m done. I want his name and address.”
“Eli,”
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” He cut me off with a shout. “I’m done playing this game. If I have to find it myself, it’s only going to make it worse.”
Another sigh. I might as well give him the information. If the police couldn’t find him, surely Eli wouldn’t be able to find him either.
“Clifford Hall.”
“Where is he from?”
“I don’t know….”
“…Don’t lie to me.”
“I don’t know. You know I don’t get all that information from the men I sleep with.” I sighed and took another breath to calm the tension down. “All I know is that he worked at the Waffle House over off Brush Street.”
“Gotdman it, Duck!” Eli ran a hand over his short cut. “What the fuck are you doing messing with these lowlife dudes?”
“I didn’t know he was this crazy.”
Again, we both allowed for the tension to die down. I watched the house making sure nobody else would follow Eli out.
“What are the police saying? Have you called Sean?” Eli asked, after he’d calmed down a little more.
Everyone in the family knew that Sean and I were friends. I had to call Sean that last time Eli was arrested. Sean pulled some strings and got Eli off. I thanked him very thoroughly for weeks after that.
“Yes, Sean knows, but the police don’t know where he is. Apparently, he wasn’t living up to his potential, because who knew he was capable of breaking into homes without setting off the alarm and disappearing without a trace?”
“Alright, it may take me a while since the cops are asking questions too, but me and the boys will look into it.”
“Eli, I don’t want you doing anything that will get you in trouble. Promise me if you find him, you will turn him in to the police. I don’t want you going back to jail.”
“Relax, Duck,” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders and looking me straight in the eyes. It’s how he used to calm me down when I was a kid and on the brink of a panic attack. “I got you. I don’t want you stressing about this anymore. And next time something happens, you call me. You hear me?”
“Yes,” I lied easily. “Promise you won’t tell Grams?”
“Duck,” he started.
“I’m serious. I don’t want her worrying about me.”
He blew out a breath and stood up straight. “I’ll hide it as much as I can. But you know how she is. She starts asking questions and won’t stop.”
I laughed, that’s exactly how my Grams was.
Eli chuckled and grabbed my door for me to climb into the car.
“You need to head home and get some rest. I don’t like seeing you like this.” He shut my door when I was inside.
“Oh, and good luck with your new white boyfriend.” He smiled, and I stuck my tongue out at him.
I pulled out of the driveway of my grandparents’ house and headed straight home.
ELEVEN
“I told you, it’s alright, Devin.”
For the last hour, I had been on the phone reassuring my cousin that I wasn’t mad at her for ratting me out to the family. She had apologized entirely too many times.
“I just hope I didn’t ruin it between you and Jackson,” she said, sniffling again.
I took another sip of my wine. I didn’t want to talk about Jackson. In fact, I would rather talk about anything else besides him.
“There is no me and Jackson. Jackson already has everything he is looking for.”
“What do you mean?”
I sighed and tossed my head back onto the couch. I can’t believe I’m about to do this. I’m actually about to talk about my personal life to my family. I must have a gas leak in this house.
“Jackson has an on again off again relationship with hi
s ex.” Fine, I put it out there. Now she could tell me I did the right thing and I could move on.
“What type of relationship, and did you ask him about this?”
Not exactly the end result I was looking for.
“Yes, I talked to him, and he tried to say that it was nothing serious between them. He said he only fell back in bed with her when he was in-between girlfriends. I wasn’t trying to hear those lies. Obviously he cares about this chick.”
Silence from the other end of the phone.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard you, just wondering when you became so judgmental.”
“Excuse you?” I said lifting from the couch.
Devin chuckled. “I’m just saying. You have meaningless sex all the time, and you swear they mean nothing to you.”
“They don’t.”
“Then why is it when he says the same thing you don’t believe him?”
I paused. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t understanding how different those situations were.
“It’s not the same, Devin. I wasn’t back and forth with the same guy.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really!”
“So I guess you haven’t been seeing a certain cop for the last thirteen years.”
I was left completely caught off guard. I had no response for that. Not only did she just slightly prove a point, but how did she know I’d been seeing Sean for that long?
Devin chuckled on the other line. “I bet you’re wondering how I knew. Well, I went to school with his sister, and she used to tell me how obsessed he was with you. Then I caught him sneaking out of your car one day when you were home from college, and then I knew why he was obsessed. The way those windows were fogged up, I can only imagine what y’all were doing.” She laughed at her own joke. “When he helped Eli out with that last arrest, I saw him looking at you that day in court. He had that same look on his face that he did the day he climbed out your car. It’s like he knew he was going to get him some booty.” Another laugh from her.
Ok, she had me. I couldn’t get around that point. Sean and I have been fucking for that long—longer actually—but there was no love involved. We just both liked having sex, and we knew the other so well that it was simple for us.
“Ok, yes, Sean Myers and I have been having a thing going on for a while.” Devin chuckled. “But, it is only carnal. I don’t want a relationship with Sean, and he doesn’t want one with me.”
“And that’s my point, Duck. Just because Jackson and his Ex keep finding themselves back in the bed together, doesn’t mean that he’s in love with her. Some people just like familiarity.”
The exact word Jackson used. Familiarity. Did I over think his response? Thankfully the doorbell rang, and I didn’t have to respond to her.
“Hold on, Dev, someone is at my door.”
I peeked out of the glass inserts in my front door to find who was standing at my door. Speak of the devil.
“Dev, I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, and kiss my babies for me.” We said our goodbyes, and I hung up my landline.
I opened the door to a smiling Sean.
“Detective Myers. It’s awfully late for you to be knocking at my door.”
Sean gave me that blinding white small.
I stepped back and let him enter the house before closing the door behind him. He was in a button down dress shirt and dark gray slacks, his tie was hanging loose around his neck—he must be just getting off work.
“Hey, Charli. I just wanted to come by and check on you before I called it a night. I talked to the guys that watched over you last night. They had nothing to report, but I admit, I was worried about you.”
“Thanks for checking on me.”
Sean took a step towards me, he placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know you’re tough, but I still would rather you have someone here with you every night if you could. You could ask your cousin, or even that guy from last night, and if you can’t find someone, you can call me. You know I’m back with Rochelle so you don’t have to worry about it turning into something it’s not.”
This was why I liked Sean. He just got me. He knew I didn’t do sleepovers with guys that I was fucking. The latest you could stay was maybe until the early morning, but there will be no sleeping. Once you got too tired to fuck, you should take your ass back home.
Sean had never tried to stay the night. He knew to give me at least three rounds and then leave.
“Thanks for offering, but I think I’m ok for tonight.”
Sean paused for a moment, but I could tell he wanted to say something. Finally, he raked a hand down his face and said, “Ok, it’s none of my business, so you can tell me to fuck off if you want, but are you sure that guy from last night is ok?”
I laughed.
Every now and again, Sean would ask this question about who I was fucking. He’d never been good about leaving his profession at the door.
“Jackson is harmless.”
He smiled down at me and threw up his hands. “Alright, if you say. Just know if he messes up, I’ll kick his ass, nobody messes with my home girl.”
We both laughed at the playfulness.
“I’m just glad to see you dating someone.”
“Hold on.” I held up one hand. “We are not dating. We’re just friends.”
My words and the smile on my face told two different stories. Sean must have picked up on it because he just shook his head and laughed.
“Whatever you say, Charli. Have you told him about your…”
“NO!”
He watched me carefully and nodded.
I thought back to what Devin said, why did I continue to keep Sean around? He was the only person I’d slept with that I kept in contact with even when we weren’t fucking. I mean, he had a monster size dick and could eat coochie fairly well—thanks to my coaching—but that didn’t explain why I kept going back to it. I didn’t love him, that’s for damn sure. He was just a friend that I genuinely cared about.
I walked him towards the door. He stopped in the doorway before he headed out and turned to face me.
“I want you to lock up all the doors and windows before you go to bed, and set that alarm. Did you change the code?”
I nodded, and he smiled.
“Good! Goodnight, Charli.”
“Night.”
I gave him a quick hug before shutting the door on him.
I’d had a long day and decided to call it a night early. I made sure to check the doors and windows just like Sean suggested before I climbed into bed. I fell asleep quickly.
TWELVE
I yawned again as I sat behind my desk. It’d been three days since that Sunday I kicked Jackson out of my house. I hadn’t spoken to him or seen him since, and I couldn’t believe I was about to admit this, but I missed him. How the hell did you miss someone you’d only been out with one time? I mean yeah, even before the hiking trip he would send me funny and thoughtful text messages.
Somehow, Jackson Keller was able to plant himself in my life without me noticing. He was like a goddamn tick. I found myself checking my phone constantly, hoping to have a missed text from him. Even when it did chime, I was breaking my neck to check it. His lack of communication had me irritable and short tempered.
Unfortunately, I was still getting calls and text messages from Cliff’s crazy ass. He actually thought I was going to meet him somewhere. No matter how many times I blocked his numbers, he found a way around it.
It also didn’t help that I hadn’t been sleeping well at night. I kept waking up out of my sleep in cold sweats feeling like I was not alone. Whenever I checked, there was never anyone there. It was all starting to affect my ability to do my job.
“Boss lady, are you sure you’re ok?” Troy asked the moment he walked into my office.
“I’m good, Troy.” I yawned. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’ve sent me the same email like three times.”
I sighed h
eavily and rolled my eyes. See! This was outrageous.
“I’m sorry.”
He chuckled. “No problem. You know, I looked at your schedule, and you really don’t have to be here today. You only have to look over the report for the Connor firm, and you can do that at home.”
This was why I had the world’s best assistant. Not only did he know what I needed, but he was great about spacing out my schedule.
“I think you are on to something. I’m definitely going to get out of here.” I grabbed my Armani blazer off the back of my chair and stood to my feet. I placed my jacket over my arm and grabbed my laptop bag.
“I don’t know what’s bothering you,” Troy started. “But you seemed a lot calmer last week.” He shrugged. “I’m just saying.” He gave me a knowing smile before heading out of my office.
I headed to my car thinking about his words. I doubted my mood was in anyway affected by Jackson. I was always a happy person, but ever since that conversation with Devin I’d been uneasy. Maybe I did blow up at Jackson for no reason. Maybe I misjudged what he meant. Maybe that was why my car speaker was ringing.
“Keller Landscaping, this is Jackson Keller speaking.”
Just the sound of his voice had slightly lessoned the knots in my stomach. What the hell does that mean? Shit, now I had to have a reason for calling him. I couldn’t just call without a reason, that made me look desperate and I was damn sure not desperate.
“Hello, Mr. Keller,” I said as casual as possible. “Did you erase my number? Is that why you’re so formal now?” I gave a light chuckle.
He didn’t take the bait. “I knew who you were. What do you want, Charlice?”
Damn, he sounded a little cold.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
He sighed. “Maybe not if you had called me three days ago.”
Ok, he was pissed.
“If it’s a problem, I can call you back another time.”
“What do you want, Char?”
I felt a little relieved when he used the nickname he gave me. Lord knew I had more than enough damn nicknames, but I really liked the one Jackson gave me. No one had ever called me that.
“I found some socks at my place, and I was wondering if you were missing any.” I cringed, but that was the only thing I could think of off the top of my head. It wasn’t like this was a planned call.