One Year Later
Chicago, Illinois
“I hear you, Max,” Kevin said as he grabbed his bag and hopped out of the cab, “but it’s not gonna change my mind.”
Keeping the phone against his ear, he closed the cab door while his brother continued to tell him why he thought this was a bad idea.
“I really think you need to give this more thought,” Max said. “This is a very impulsive decision.”
“It’s not. I’ve thought long and hard about it.
I’ve been with Jasmin for over a year and it’s hard.
It’s so hard. I can’t take it anymore. It needs to end.
I’ve made up my mind, so stop worrying about me.
You’ve got a baby on the way and from what you’ve told me, your wife is consuming an unhealthy amount of peanut butter.
That’s what you should be worrying about. ”
Max laughed, but still didn’t let up. “Jasmin is a great girl, Kev—”
He knew exactly where this was going and there was nothing his brother could say that would talk him out of his decision. “Max,” he cut in promptly, “you’re my brother. You already know how I feel and I know how you feel, so there’s no need to talk about this.”
With a sigh of defeat, Max finally relented. “Okay. I just hope you don’t end up regretting this.”
“I won’t. I told you, this needs to end. I’ll call you later and let you know how she handles the news.”
After swift goodbyes, Kevin hung up the phone and stared blankly at the house in front of him.
Jazz had moved from a one bedroom apartment in the city to a two bedroom house in the suburbs.
It was a quaint place with a little garden in the front.
He walked to the door and knocked. He hadn’t told her he was coming, and surprise was written all over her face when she opened the door.
Wide Jasmin eyes and her mouth dropped open.
“Kevin!”
“Hi.” His voice was already weighed down by the nervousness of what he needed to say.
“What are you doing here?” She threw her arms around him and he pulled away before he got too lost in the smell and feel of her.
Looking sexy as all hell in skimpy denim shorts and a tight white tank top, he already didn’t feel like talking.
But he needed to stop thinking with his dick because the first item on his agenda was having a good, long chat with her.
She immediately noticed something was off and looked up at him. “Is something wrong?”
There was no point in beating around the bush and he was anxious to have this discussion. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay.” The excitement on her face was replaced with wariness as she stepped aside and allowed him to enter.
She led him to the living room and everything he saw just screamed Jasmin.
Purple walls with big pink flowers stretching out from ceiling to floor.
Most of the framed pictures had something to do with nature—forests, rivers and even a very large one of the Grand Canyon.
There were also pictures of the two of them lined up on the television cabinet and somehow seeing them made him more nervous.
“What did you wanna talk to me about?” she asked, taking a seat beside him on the couch.
He’d practiced this conversation many times in his head, but now with her sitting right next to him, he couldn’t seem to find the words.
He was faltering under her scrutinizing gaze and the sight of her toned legs and supple cleavage was an unnecessary distraction.
Forcing himself to look away, he decided to just blurt it out.
“This whole…arrangement we’ve got going on isn’t working for me anymore. ”
His words were like a slap to the face, and after a small brain-drain twitch, she smiled. “How long have you been feeling this way?”
“Months. I thought this whole long distance thing could work, but…it isn’t.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “So you’ve been feeling this way for months and you’re only telling me this now?
It’s not like we haven’t seen each other, Kevin.
You flew all the way over here to decorate the Christmas tree with me, then I spent Christmas with your family, I came to your graduation, we went on holiday together for two weeks and not once did you mention this to me. ”
“I was trying to push past it, but I’m so tired of this now. I don’t want the phone conversations and video chats. And don’t get me wrong, phone sex is great, but it’s not…the real thing. Every now and then I want more than just my hand.”
That instantly set her off. “Who is she?”
“What?”
“It’s that girl from that class you took in your last semester, isn’t it? Your lab partner?”
“Jasmin—”
“That ho! That tramp!” She stood up and walked to other side of the room. “No, you’re actually the tramp!”
“She’s not a ho. She’s actually a very sweet girl. Besides, you know how I feel about cheating.
I told you we were just studying together. Nothing else.” This was a serious conversation and he tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. “Wait. Did you just call me a tramp?”
“Yes!” she shouted and she seemed more infuriated that he was taking this so lightly. “How could you do this to me, Kevin? You’re such an asshole!”
“If I was an asshole, I wouldn’t have wasted my money on a plane ticket. I would have broken up with you over the phone…but I’m here.”
“Oh, so I should be grateful that you came all this way to do it in person? Fuck you! You know, you told me you would never hurt me again…you told me you love me, and like an idiot, I believed you. But you’re a fucking liar!
You were stringing me along for months when you didn’t even want to be with me. ”
He’d always had a knack for drawing unwanted emotions out of her and she no longer tried to suppress them. She was raging and he needed to take control of the situation. “Okay, enough with the name calling. You’re clearly misunderstanding what I’m saying.”
“How am I misunderstanding? You said this relationship isn’t working for you anymore.”
“I didn’t say that. I said the long distance isn’t working for me anymore.
” He stood up, walked towards her and pulled her into his arms. “Newton’s Law of Gravity.
The force between two objects is stronger if the distance is smaller.
I know you don’t believe in it, but I do.
You’re not just one in one hundred for me.
You’re my soulmate, Jasmin. Of course, I still wanna be with you… I just wanna eliminate the distance.”
She immediately calmed down, but still looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“I applied for a job here in Chicago…and I got it.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not saying…”
“I am.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But your whole family is in Montana…You can’t leave all that behind…for me.”
“Jasmin…” He tightened his hold around her.
“It’s already done. I spoke to your dad about it, told him what my intentions were and he gave me his blessing.
I’m gonna marry you one day and we’re gonna have beautiful babies together.
We can’t do that if we’re miles apart. I’m leaving my mom, Momma B…
Kay…” A small lump formed in his throat as he said that.
“I’m leaving all the women I love to be with the woman I love…
and it’s worth it. You’re worth it. I can’t stand not seeing you every day…
not holding you. It drives me crazy. So… here I am. Next move is yours.”
A bright smile beamed on her face. “So I’m guessing you’re homeless now?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“And you’re a grouchy motherfucker, so I’m guessing it won’t be easy for you to find a roommate who can put up with your moods?”
He nodded again. “Not easy at all.”
“So I guess…I have no choice but to take you in?”
“Only if you want to.”
“I do.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “But first we need to set some ground rules. This is an environmentally-friendly household. We recycle here.”
“I figured.”
“And we don’t use the car to go any place that’s within walking distance.”
“I love walking.”
“And no showers longer than ten minutes.”
He grinned. “Damn. That might be a problem. As I said before, we’ll just have to shower together…to save water.” Her cheeks turned a rosy pink and his grin widened. “Are you blushing, Jazz? I’m glad that after a year I can still make you blush.”
“Pffft! Rappers don’t blush.”
“You know, you keep saying you’re a rapper. I’ve yet to hear you belt out some lyrics.”
“Oh, I’ve got lyrics, Son. I could freestyle for you right now.”
He stepped back, deciding to call her out on her bluff. “All right, Femin-em. Lay it out on me.”
She faltered for a second, but didn’t shy away from the challenge. “Oh, you want me to rap. I can rap. Why don’t you take a seat, young man, because what I’m about to do might make you fall over from shock.”
A short laugh burst out of him and he went back to sit on the couch. She disappeared for a few seconds and came back wearing a cap backwards and a thick, silver chain with a medallion of a dollar sign hanging from it. How was it possible that she could be adorable and sexy at the same time?
She noted his bemused expression and nodded at him like a true thug. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m like Drake. I wear every single chain even when I’m in the house.”
“Those aren’t your lyrics,” he chuckled. “Gimme something original.”
“Okay, here goes.” She cleared her throat and lifted an imaginary mic to her lips. “DJ spin that shit! Boom…shhh. Boom shhh. Boom…shhh. Boom shhh. Wiki. Wiki.”
“Rappers would never say wiki wiki.”
“Shut it! I’m getting into the zone.”
Fuck, he loved this girl and he couldn’t wait to see her latest display of crazy.
“So this fool here thinks I can’t rap. Tellin’ me I ain’t original and all that crap. But he be a hater and I won’t back down. It’s just jealous negativity from this clown. He ain’t even gangsta and if you need a reminder. This-the same bitch who screamed for a motherfucking spider.”
“I don’t know how many times I gotta tell ya. It’s in the box.”
She didn’t skip a beat and carried on. “But even though he be hatin’, let’s not get it twisted.
One look in his eyes and I can tell ya he missed this.
He says that I’m crazy of the bat-shit kind, but my lips and my body are enough to blow his mind.
” She rubbed her hand over her breasts, then turned around and wiggled her ass in front of him before she smacked it.
“With my tits so perky and my ass so fat, had him so turned on by dancin’ in a laundromat. ”
“That’s not true. Your dancing has never turned me on.” He was pretty turned on right now, though.
“He’s grumpy, but fuck it, I still my love my Boo. And moving to Chicago shows he loves me too.”
“I do.”
“So what does the future have lined up next?” She paused for second, looking at him with hunger in her eyes as she moved closer. “Joking and fighting and awesome sex. ’Cause I get his dick on H every time I get near. So tell him to shut the fuck up and put his lips on here.”
“Oh, snap!” He was clenching his fists to restrain himself. “I will put my lips wherever you want.”
She lifted her hand, quite innocently, and placed her forefinger on her mouth, but the movement became more seductive as she trailed it down her chin and onto her breast, slowly circling her nipple.
His jaw grew tighter as he watched her finger move across her stomach to the button of her denim shorts.
By the time it moved lower to the juncture between her thighs, his breaths were coming out hard and fast.
“It’s waiting for you, Kevin.”
Another invitation wasn’t needed. He was on her the next second, slamming her back up on the wall.
He grinded his cock against her and the soft whimper she released had his fingers pressing hard into her flesh.
“You turn me into an animal,” was all he said before his mouth captured hers and an instant later they were clawing at each other.
It felt like it had taken an eternity to get to this point.
Not just with Jasmin, but with life in general.
The point of feeling at peace and excited for what was to come.
Great things awaited him. He was positive of that and with Jasmin at his side, the possibilities seemed endless.
The road hadn’t been easy, riddled with hardship and a plethora of obstacles, yet now he was ready to take on anything.
The future was still uncertain, but good or bad, they were going to face it together and take their next step forward on their journey to the unknown.
He slid his hands down her body and grabbed her ass. “Oh, God,” he groaned. “Thank you, Alfred.”
She pulled away slightly and looked up at him. “Kevin…at some point, you really need to tell me who Alfred is.”
“I will,” he said, smiling against her lips. “We have all the time in the world now.”