“Trust me, Jasmine. You do not wanna know.”
“You’re probably right, but tell me anyway,” she sighed impatiently.
“Okay, but I swear you better not tell anyone about this. And that includes Becky and that Dylan guy you been hangin’ out with lately. What’s up with y’all, anyway? You break up with Derrick, or what?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. And I’m not gonna tell no one,” she insisted.
“You better not.” I took a deep breath and began my story. “After you dropped me off the other day, I got to thinkin’ about what you said about Travis and me. Believe it or not, Jasmine, I really do love that man.”
“You’ve sure got a funny way of showin’ it when you keep messin’ with Malek,” she interjected.
“Yeah, well everyone makes mistakes. Even you.” I was about to get in her shit about bringing Dylan to Big Momma’s house every Sunday, but she jumped in before I could continue.
“Let’s get something straight. This is not about me, so don’t even go there. Now tell me what you’re up to,” she demanded. Like I didn’t know how anxious she was to keep the spotlight off her own shit right now.
“Well, after you left I went inside and took my medicine,” I started innocently. “Then I started to fix dinner. I figured I’d make his favorite lasagna. I was hoping to put him in a good mood before the bad news.”
“And?”
“When he got home, I got nervous and decided to wait until morning to tell him. I don’t think I slept a wink. I musta tossed and turned all night. I finally got up and sat in the living room until the sun came up. I was feeling so sorry for myself, Jasmine, I was a nervous wreck. I just knew Travis was gonna leave me if I told him I’d given him VD. So I decided to take my chances with not telling him.”
“Stephanie! I can’t believe you!”
“Will you calm down and let me finish?” She shut up and I continued. “I knew I couldn’t let him walk around with gonorrhea. I also knew I didn’t have much time before his symptoms started showing up.”
“That’s right,” she nagged. I ignored her and continued.
“So I knew I had to come up with a plan to get me outta this mess. And believe me, it wasn’t easy. I must have racked my brain half the day trying to come up with the perfect plan. Thank God I finally did.”
“You did?” Jasmine’s voice perked up. “What kinda plan?”
“Yep, I sure did. I got in my car and drove back to the clinic to see that doctor. I had to wait over an hour, but when I finally saw her I told the doctor that in my frustration I somehow lost my prescription and needed another one. Would you believe she didn’t even hesitate to write me a new one?”
“Okay, so now you’ve got some more medicine. Who’s that for, Travis?”
“Yep.”
Jasmine laughed. “You know, Stephanie, you are one slick bitch, you know that? I would’ve never thought about doing some sneaky shit like this.”
“That’s cause you’re not me.”
“Okay, miss slick-ass, how’d you get him to take it? Was he ’sleep?”
“Now, that’s where I really got slick.” I grinned as I told her. I was pretty damn proud of my plan. “Remember that old medicine grinder Big Momma used to grind up Granddaddy’s medicine?”
“Yeah, poor old Granddaddy couldn’t even swallow his pills toward the end. Big Momma had to grind them up to powder and put them in his food.... Oh, shit!” Jasmine was silent as she put the pieces together.
“Stephanie Johnson!” she finally gasped. “You spiked Travis’s food with that medicine, didn’t you?” She sounded like she was gonna have a heart attack.
“I did what I had to do to save my family, that’s what I did,” I answered calmly. “You would’ve done the same thing if you were in my place. If you had thought of it. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess.” Jasmine answered. “I just think it’s kinda devious.”
“Not devious, Jasmine. Desperate. I was desperate. And desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“But—”
I stopped her. I was in no mood for another lecture. “Look, I think the baby’s awake. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, but call me back.”
I said good-bye, relieved to get off that phone even though I was sure this conversation wasn’t over. Jasmine had a tendency to talk about shit from the past, and this was some shit she wasn’t gonna let die so easy.
23
Dylan
Even though it was almost midnight when I got home, the first thing I did when I got in the house was pick up the phone to call Jasmine. I’d just returned from a two-day business trip to Atlanta, and the entire time I was there I couldn’t get my mind off her. She was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman: smart, funny, loyal, educated, and of course, beautiful. Basically, she was a hell of a lot of fun to be with, and I was falling for her more and more every day. It was getting to the point that I couldn’t hold back my feelings much longer.
Only problem was, I was scared I would get hurt if I revealed my true feelings to her. The last thing I wanted to do was have my heart broken again. It still hadn’t healed from my breakup with Monica. But no matter how nervous I was emotionally, I couldn’t wait to talk to Jasmine. I dialed her number.
“Hi, this is Jasmine. I’m not home right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a brief message, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
And just what did she mean by “as soon as possible”? I’d been leaving messages for her all day on both her home and cell phone, and she hadn’t returned one of my calls. I was trying not to take it personally, but it was bothering me that she was probably up in Roanoke at that jail, visiting Derrick. She always went up to see him on Saturdays. Now it was way past visiting hours, so I would’ve expected a call back.
With my luck, she’d probably decided to spend the night up there so she could go see him on Sunday, too. She’d done that a few weeks ago when Derrick laid some BS guilt trip on her about her not spending enough time with him. Shit, if he’d really wanted to spend time with her, he wouldn’t have got caught selling drugs in the first place. It was his own damn fault he was in jail, not hers. If she was my woman, she wouldn’t have to worry about me doing anything stupid that might separate us.
“But she’s not my woman,” I thought out loud. “And it’s not my place to be jealous.” Not yet, anyway.
Beeeeep!
“Hey, Jazz, this is Dylan. I just got back in town and I wanted to see if we were still on for church tomorrow. I’m gonna be up pretty late tonight, so don’t hesitate to call. Talk to you later. Peace.”
I was pretty disappointed when I hung up the phone. I’d really wanted to talk to her, even if it was only for a few minutes. These last few days away from her, I had just felt a little less complete. She was really becoming a part of my world, and I liked it that way.
I picked up my bags and headed upstairs. Despite the message I left on Jasmine’s machine, I was tired as hell and in need of some serious sleep. The six-hour drive from Atlanta had worn me out. The only thing that was going to stop me from getting a good eight hours’ worth of rest was if Jasmine called back. And it looked like the chances of that were about as good as my chances of hitting the lottery.
Well, when I walked in my bedroom, I decided I
should
run down to the store and play Lotto, ’cause I was either the luckiest man in the world, or dreaming. I turned on the light to behold the most beautiful sight. Jasmine was there! Lying in my bed with a smile a mile wide.
“Hey, handsome, was the traffic bad? I was expecting you hours ago,” she purred.
I never answered her question. Once I got past the shock of the fantasy right before my eyes, I asked a question of my own.
“Jasmine, what’re you doin’ here?”
She yawned and stretched her arms as she sat up. The covers slipped lower to reveal an incredibly sexy negligee. There was no way she was here for a chat with her buddy. That was quite evident by the thong she was wearing.
“Take a guess.” she laughed. “What do you think I’m doing here?”
I didn’t answer. She shook her head and grinned.
“It’s your birthday, isn’t it? I’m here to give you your birthday present.” She smiled wickedly, crawling catlike across the bed toward me. When she reached the edge, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me like I’d never been kissed before. It was even better than I’d imagined our first real kiss would be. Sure, we’d kissed before at Joe’s, but this was different. This was no heat-of the-moment kinda stuff that could happen between virtual strangers after a night at the clubs. This was a kiss that told me I was special to her. Our friendship had grown into something beautiful, and Jasmine’s kiss told me she felt it, too.
I placed my hands around her hips and pulled her as close to me as humanly possible. I’d been waiting for this day for over two months. I wanted to savor every second.
“Happy birthday,” she whispered seductively, her breath warm against my neck.
“Thanks,” I murmured between kisses, “but can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” She nibbled on my ear.
“Not that I want you to”—a few more kisses—“leave or anything..” She gave me a long, passionate kiss before I finished. “But how’d you get in here?”
“I used the key under your flowerpot.” Jasmine was kissing her way down my neck as she spoke. “Smartest thing you ever did was tell me where you hide your key.”
“Mmm, I’m starting to believe you.” I rolled my neck so that she could kiss the other side. She was making my nature rise. “So what brought all this on, anyway?” I knew why I wanted to be with Jasmine, but I wanted to hear her reasons for wanting to be with me. I hadn’t expected this. I figured I’d be the one to seduce her, not vice versa. I had to know what she was thinking.
“Well, I did a lot of soul-searching while you were out of town, and I realized that I don’t wanna lose you, Dylan. I just had to stop fighting what my heart had been telling me all along.”
“And what’s that?”
“That I want you, Dylan. And that I want to be with you.” She stopped kissing me and lifted her head so that we were eye to eye. “I have wanted you since the first night we were together.”
I stared at her, processing everything she’d just said. This seemed like such a quick change from the woman who could only talk about her love for her man in jail.
“What about Derrick?”
“What about him?” She took my arm from around her waist and placed a condom in my hand. “I’m not gonna lie. I still love Derrick. But I love you even more, and you’re the one I wanna be with.”
“I’m the one you wanna be with, or I’m the one who’s available? Would you feel this way if Derrick wasn’t locked up?” I had to ask.
She looked me straight in the eye and answered, “Look, we can discuss this all you want later. Right now, you’re gonna have to trust me when I tell you that this has nothing to do with Derrick. Even if he wasn’t behind bars, you would still be the man I want to be with. That’s why I’m here.” She kissed me again and gestured toward the condom I was holding. “Now, are you gonna use that thing, or what?”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” I still couldn’t believe this was happening.
She nodded, and it finally sunk in. Everything I’d been hoping for was coming to fruition. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t all a dream.
“Hey, you. What does a girl have to do to get a kiss around here?”
Jasmine snapped me out of my fog with her question. She gave me a beautiful smile, and I responded with a long, passionate kiss. I felt like I just couldn’t get close enough. I’d been waiting for this moment for so long, and it was even more powerful than I’d imagined. I didn’t ever want to let this girl go.
She pulled me onto the bed. We rolled around that bed kissing and feeling on each other for the better part of half an hour, and I enjoyed every last sensation like it was my first time. My hands roamed up and down her satin nightgown, and every touch made me want her more and more. Finally, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to have her.
I slipped the strap of her nightgown over her shoulder, exposing the most perfect breasts I’ve ever seen. I kissed my way down until my lips could caress her nipple. I sucked gently and she moaned with pleasure, but to my surprise she grabbed my head and pulled me away.
“Stop”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. My hands went to my side right away. We’d gone down this road once before, that first night at Joe’s. I was not about to go there again. I cared for Jasmine, but the last time this happened, she tried to accuse me of rape, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
“Look, Jasmine, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I mean, maybe we’re better off as friends.” I tried to get out from under her, but she placed her finger over my lips.
“Please, don’t get up. I didn’t mean it that way. You’re just moving a little too fast. I kinda had the night planned out. Just let me do things my way. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”