Star Struck (9 page)

“You know it.”

Hailey didn’t wait for him to open her car door. She was walking towards the front door before he could get out of the driver’s side.

“Want to invite me in for a night cap?” he asked.

“I could, but I’m not in the mood for being sociable,” she responded.

“Neither am I.”

She flipped the light on and deactivated her alarm. “Make yourself at home. I’m going to get out of this dress.”

Since he helped design the new security system, he was very much familiar with the layout of her house. He went to her kitchen and found a few cold drinks. He used the icemaker on the refrigerator to fill up two glasses.

He was flipping through her CD collection, when she returned. He knew she had entered the room because he inhaled her fragrance. “I have a question,” he asked, without turning around.

“Shoot.”

“What is that you’re wearing? I’ve been wanting to know for awhile.”

“You mean this old thing.”

Garrett turned around and his eyes widened at the sight of Hailey in a red two piece laced lingerie wearing a laced robe that didn’t hide anything. His mouth watered as his eyes were mesmerized by the rhythm of her chest moving up and down.

“Hailey do you know what you’re doing?”

She held out her hand beckoning for him to come closer. He took her hand and moved closer to her. “You know you want to.” She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled his lips on top of hers. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth.

“If you don’t stop, there’s no turning back,” he said, while trying to catch his breath.

“It’s too late for that. I want you. You want me. Let’s do it.” She led him up the stairs.

Hailey laid across the bed. Garrett turned around and undressed all the way down to his boxers. He heard some strange noises. He turned around and all he could do was laugh at the sight of Hailey sprawled across the bed in her sexy lingerie with her eyes closed and her mouth wide open snoring.

He picked her up and placed her under the covers and slid in the bed beside her. He turned his back to her and was dozing off until she threw her arm around him and snuggled her body closer to his.

“This is going to be a long night,” he said out loud; attempting to keep his libido in check.

~ 15 ~

Hailey yelled. “What happened? Did we?” Hailey blurted out question after question. She was not expecting to see Garrett naked in her bed. She looked under the covers and saw that he had on his boxers.

Garrett stirred. “What time is it?”

“Time for you to go. I can’t believe I let this happen.”

“Fortunately, I’m not looking for you to validate my ego.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did. I had one too many drinks. I didn’t mean for us to.”

Garrett laid on his back and crossed his arms under his head and seemed to stare into her soul. “What?”

“Was I good to you?” Hailey didn’t like the smirk on his face.

“Baby, you were fantastic.  Those tricks you do with your tongue. Oh my. Had me over the edge,” he teased.

“Wait a minute. It’s coming to me. I was laying here. You were standing over there.” She picked up a pillow and hit him upside the head. “We didn’t do anything. And you would have had me thinking we did.”

Garrett leaned up on one elbow. “A man can dream can’t he?”

“You’re so silly. Well I can’t stay in the bed all day and I suggest you put some clothes on because I’m not trying to go there.”

“That’s not what you were saying last night.”

She grabbed her robe on the floor and put it on. “That was then. This is now. Now I want you dressed and out of my bedroom.”

“A man’s job is never done.”

“Keep your day job because your jokes aren’t funny.”

“Ha. Ha.”

Hailey left Garrett in the bed. She went to the bathroom and took a long hot bath. Garrett was fully dressed and downstairs by the time she finished taking a bath. She threw on a jogging suit and was surprised to smell food coming from the kitchen when she headed down the stairs.

“I think I might keep you around,” she said, as she picked up a piece of bacon to taste it.

“Only returning the favor, but I don’t want anything from you.” He winked his eyes.

Hailey pulled up a chair and sat down. “I told you, you need to leave the jokes to the comedians.”

Garrett sat down across from her. “I hope you like the eggs. I didn’t have all of the ingredients to make an omelet, so these will have to do.”

“I just noticed you aren’t wearing that suit.”

“I had some extra clothes in the trunk of my car.”

“I forgot who I was talking to. Playa, playa,” Hailey teased.

“Ex-player,” Garrett corrected her.

“That’s what you say,” Hailey said in between bites.

“It’s what I mean. I’m ready to settle down with one woman.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it. You’ve always had multiple women ever since I’ve known you.”

“That’s because I was waiting on you.”

Hailey almost spit out her juice. “There you go again with the jokes.”

“What if I was serious?” He stopped eating and stared into her eyes.

“I’ll pretend like we didn’t have this conversation. Now pass me the butter. I will have to work out an extra hour to get rid of these calories anyway, so I might as well enjoy myself.”

She chuckled every time she thought about what Garrett said.
Garrett, serious. Yeah right.

***

Hailey thought he was joking, but one day she would learn that he was dead serious. His attraction to her was far beyond anything he had ever experienced. It was more than a physical attraction and if she could get over her fantasy of being with Trevon, she would be able to see it.

Once Brenda arrived, he didn’t hang around long. Hailey seemed to be in deep thought and he had a lot to deal with himself. Brenda’s arrival saved him from confessing his other feelings. As he drove away, he turned on his cell phone. He put his Bluetooth in his ear and listened to his fifteen messages. Most of the messages were either from Trevon or Shareeka; both pissed off at him for bringing Hailey.

His phone clicked but he didn’t recognize the number. He answered just in case it was a client. “Man, you dead wrong,” Trevon yelled from the other end.

“You sound like a woman, complaining like you do,” Garrett said.

“You trying to punk me. Man you know how I feel about Hailey. How long has this been going on?”

Garrett laughed.

“I don’t see anything funny. You owe me man. I thought you were my boy.”

“I am. I’m taking Hailey off your hands so you can concentrate on your wife to be.”

“Meet me at the spot. We need to settle this.”

“It’s already settled. What Hailey and I do is my business?”

“You don’t even want her man. You’re just using her like you use the rest of those women.”

“No brother. You get the award for using Hailey.”

He hung up on Trevon because he was tired of hearing him curse him out. He would deal with Trevon later as in tomorrow at the office. He planned on relaxing for the rest of the day. The sight of Shareeka’s car in his driveway put a damper on those plans.

Garrett pulled his car up beside hers and rolled down his window. “You need to go check on your man and leave me alone.”

“You’re an asshole,” she yelled.

“So I’ve been told,” he said, as he opened up his garage door and parked his car next to his SUV.

The garage door almost hit Shareeka on top of the head as she ran to get up under it before it closed.

“I’ve been calling you all morning.”

“I got your messages.” He went inside of his house. She followed.

He walked to the front door and opened it. “If you don’t want me to call your fiancé, I suggest that you leave right now.”

“What is it about her? Am I not pretty enough? Is it because I’m short? What?.”

Garrett felt sorry for her. “Apparently Trevon loves you or he wouldn’t have asked you to marry him. Be satisfied with that and stop comparing yourself to Hailey.”

“So when did it happen?”

Garrett looked at her as if she was crazy. “What are you talking about?”

“When did you fall in love with Hailey too?”

“First of all, it’s none of your business who I’m in love with but for the record, I’m not in love with her or any other woman for that matter.”

“No wonder I didn’t stand a chance,” she said, as she walked to the door and stood in the doorway, inches away from him.

“You didn’t stand a chance because you’re a cheater and I could never fall in love with a cheater.”

He gently pushed her out the door, closed it and locked it. He heard her let out a few obscenities.

“I swear you and Tre deserve each other,” Garrett said, out loud about Trevon and Shareeka.

II

It’s All About Love

~ 15 ~

“Looks like I missed out on a good party. Too bad I had to substitute for someone on another assignment at the last minute,” Brenda said, as she handed Hailey the newspaper.

Hailey looked at the pictures and read the captions. She scanned the article to see if any of the drama she experienced had been mentioned. Fortunately, it wasn’t.  “It was okay. You didn’t miss much.”

Brenda looked over the rim of her glasses.  “Now, I really wish I would have been there.”

The buzzer on the gate sounded. “I wasn’t expecting anyone,” Hailey said, as she stood to go view the person at the gate. A truck driver was ringing the buzzer. “Were you expecting a delivery?” she asked Brenda.

“No.” Brenda reached for her gun. “Let me go check it out. Watch me on the monitor. If anything happens, hit the alarm button so it’ll automatically lock all the doors and alert the police.”

Hailey tried not to panic. It was only a delivery truck. She watched Brenda on the monitor. She was relieved to see Brenda walk back to the house carrying a brown envelope. She met her at the door.

“When did they start delivering on Sundays.”

“Well, looks like your fan is at it again.”

“I knew it had been too quiet lately.”

Brenda reactivated the alarm. They went to Hailey’s office and sat at the table. “I need a pair of scissors.”

Hailey looked through her desk until she found a pair of scissors. She watched as Brenda tore open the brown envelope. “Looks like your fan has turned it up a notch.” Brenda took out her cell phone and made a phone call.

Hailey picked up the pictures of her and saw the words written in red across her face with the words D-i-e B-i-a-t-c-h. She shivered. She threw the pictures back on the table.

She waited for Brenda to get off the phone. Brenda said, “I wasn’t able to reach Garrett, so Trevon is on his way over. We’re going to see if we lift some fingerprints. In the meantime, I need to see if I can track the sender of the package with this tracking number.”

Trevon was the last person she wanted to see; but then again, this might be divine intervention. It was meant for Trevon to come over. She went upstairs and changed into something more alluring as they waited for Trevon to arrive.

Brenda was just as surprised as Trevon to see Hailey come in the room with a white pants suit on.

“Trevon,” Hailey said, as she walked over to him and gave him a friendly hug.

Trevon didn’t respond to her gesture. He looked at the defamed pictures and said, “I’m taking these with me so I can test them out at our lab.”

“What do you think it means?” Hailey asked.

“Fortunately, they haven’t resorted to doing anything but send things in the mail; but we don’t want to take a chance. The sooner we find out who is behind it, the safer you’ll be.”

“Scare me more will you,” Hailey responded, as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“GT Securities will ensure your safety. Trust me,” Trevon responded. He looked at Brenda. “Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?”

“Sure, you’re the other boss man.” Brenda gathered up a folder and left the room.

Hailey couldn’t look at him. “She didn’t have to leave.”

“You should have stayed away.”

“If I didn’t know better, I would think you sent those pictures to me, to stop me from telling your fiancé that we’ve been knocking boots.”

Trevon grabbed her arm. “You know better than that. I will do whatever I can to protect you; but you need to stay clear of Shareeka.”

“Why are you really here Tre?”

“Because I care about you and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“If you cared so much, you wouldn’t be marrying another woman. Tell her you changed your mind. You still have time,” Hailey persisted.