CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jelly
“Will you tell me something?” he asked.
I was so tired from the night before I was having trouble opening my eyes. “What?” I asked, my voice coming out rough and muffled against my pillow.
“Why is your nickname Jelly?”
I went very still. I never told anyone this. In fact, the only people who knew were my grandparents. Even Nadine and her mama didn’t know. “I… I don’t usually tell people that.”
“I know. Remember? I’ve asked you like a million times.”
I turned my head to look at him. His hair was adorably messed up as he lay on his pillow looking at me.
That was the only part of him that made it obvious he’d been sleeping.
The rest of him looked unfairly handsome and perfect as he laid there.
The sheet was pushed low and only covered the lower half of him.
I couldn’t help but admire his body. I’d known he was fit and muscular, but I’d had no idea how cut he was.
His biceps, forearms, and pecs were ridiculous, and I couldn’t wait to run my tongue over his six pack, not to mention the V of muscle that led to his cock.
God. His cock. It was so much bigger than Evan’s. It was at least the same size as Nico’s, if not a little bigger. I was glad that I’d done a lot with Evan and had that one night with Nico, or I’d feel inexperienced compared to Paolo. He knew what he was doing in bed. That much was clear.
He pulled the sheet up and over his torso. “My eyes are up here, Jelly, my God. You’re making me feel like a piece of meat.” His gray eyes sparkled as he pointed to them and pretended to be offended by me checking him out.
I gave him a lazy smile.
I had just about decided not to tell him about my name but then thought better of it.
We were going to be together almost constantly for the next four months.
I’d also grown close to him during the time we’d been working together at the hospital and he’d been coming into Sugar. I felt like I could tell him.
I rolled over on my stomach and leaned on my forearms. His eyes dipped to my breasts for a moment but then focused back on my face. “It has to do with my mother,” I said.
I could tell he sensed it was a serious story by the look on his face. He propped his head up on one of his hands and drew circles over my back with his other one.
“What about her? You’ve never talked about your family.”
“Yeah. There’s a reason for that. More than one, really. I guess the first part is that my mom had me when she was a teenager. I’m not sure exactly how old she was. My grandparents wouldn’t talk about her after she left.”
“She left you?”
I studied his face. There wasn’t pity there, maybe empathy, but not pity.
I was okay with that. Mainly he just looked interested.
“Yes. But it wasn’t until I was around ten.
I was old enough to know she was leaving me with my grandparents.
” I swallowed hard. I never talked about this.
It felt… strange. Like I was laying myself open, baring my soul.
“I begged her not to go, not to leave me with them. But she went anyway.”
He flinched. “I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “Anyway, her name was Anjelique, and she was so beautiful. Everyone said I looked just like her. They called me little Anjelique. But after she left, I hated hearing that. It hurt too much. It wasn’t long before I told people to just call me Jelly.
Even my grandparents agreed, so I knew they were bothered by it, too.
Every time someone called me that, we were all reminded of her and how she’d left.
“And that’s why you’re Jelly.”
“Yep. It’s short for Angelique.”
“You say you begged her not to leave you with your grandparents. Were they bad people?”
I considered the question. “I mean, they weren’t great. But they weren’t bad in the sense that they beat me or anything like that. They were just very narrowminded and they cared so much about what other people in town thought of them.”
“And what did people think of them?”
“They had always been these upstanding people, you know? They were super religious, but more in the sense that they wanted to be seen in church all the time. Not that they were actually listening to the sermons and taking them to heart or anything. And they had my mom, which was kind of a miracle. They were both plain-looking, so they loved that she was beautiful. She could sing, too. So, they had one of the most beautiful girls in town and she sang solos in the choir on Sundays, and they were just so proud of her. But then she got pregnant and everything changed.”
“How so?”
“They wanted her to get an abortion, but she wouldn’t. They were so embarrassed of her. They told her she was a sinner and that God would condemn her and her baby, all this crap. She didn’t listen, though. She just had me anyway.”
“What about your father?”
I shook my head. “I never knew who he was. If my grandparents knew, they didn’t tell me.
I think she didn’t tell them, though. I always wondered if it was some older, married guy who took advantage of her or something.
But that’s just me trying to piece out why she wouldn’t just say who it was.
” I lay there thinking about it for a minute and he just let me be silent; he didn’t push me to keep going.
I liked that. “I looked like my mom, like I said, so it wasn’t long before my grandparents started to be proud of me, too, because I was beautiful.
I couldn’t sing, though, so I guess that sucked for them.
But then I got boobs and an ass. My mom was very thin.
She didn’t have much in the way of curves, so I must’ve taken after someone on my dad’s side. ”
“They were upset by this?”
I nodded. “They were terrified I was going to turn out just like Mom did. They started dressing me in very loose clothing so I wouldn’t entice anyone to sin.” I rolled my eyes. “Like men can’t help themselves. They see tits and just have to fuck someone, right?”
“You were just a kid,” he said, still rubbing my back.
“Yeah. Anyway, I refused to dress like that. Instead, I dressed kind of in a… unique way. I wore very pale facial makeup, heart shaped glasses, purple lipstick and nails, and baggy black dresses with black and white striped tights. And always Doc Martens. I didn’t want to go to church with them anymore, and they didn’t want to take me when I looked like that. So, we both got what we wanted.”
“You avoided the same fate as your mom.”
I gave a bitter laugh. “Not really.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
I didn’t want to tell him this part, but I could feel myself doing it anyway. It’s like the floodgates had opened.
“When I graduated from high school they said they’d pay for two years at the community college. I got my LPN and a job at a local hospice center. I also worked for a caterer with Nadine. Everything was going along okay, until…” I trailed off, not really wanting to get into the next part.
“What happened?” he prompted. “Why don’t you see them anymore? I mean, don’t get me wrong. They don’t sound like grandparents of the year or anything…”
“I got pregnant,” I interrupted, then my face turned crimson. I hadn’t meant to tell him that part. “And they wanted me to abort the baby so they could save face with their church friends.”
“Their church friends would want you to have an abortion?”
“No, of course not. But if they never knew I was pregnant in the first place…” I shrugged.
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. I didn’t want an abortion. I wanted to have the baby. So, I went to the dad. That was horrible. He asked if it was his, and that was like a slap in the face. Then he told me he was about to propose to a girl he’d met overseas. He was in the army.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“He asked if I could suck him off one more time for old times’ sake before he left town for good.” I glanced at him. “I didn’t, of course. In fact, I’m glad I didn’t have a weapon of any kind right at that moment.”
Paolo looked so upset for me that I was starting to think I shouldn’t have told him my story. I couldn’t believe I had, really.
“Then I moved in with Nadine’s mama. She helped me out since Nadine had already left for West Bay. Anyway, I… I lost the baby.” I looked at him and tried to keep the tears out of my eyes.
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry.” He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Thanks. I was pretty devastated. My grandparents found out and said they’d pay for two more years of college if I wanted to move back home with them.
They were thrilled I’d lost the baby. Thrilled, like it was a good thing.
I told them what I thought of them.” I gave him a wry grin.
“That’s why I wouldn’t go to them when I needed money for the internship.
It’s fine with me if I never see them again.
But I did need money, and I didn’t want loans. That’s why I did the auction.”
“But how did you get here? West Bay, I mean?”
I snorted. “Nadine’s mama took care of me after I lost the baby.
She waited about a week after I’d recovered physically and then marched me to the bus station.
She paid for a one-way ticket to West Bay and told me to call Nadine to pick me up.
She said not to come home. She told me I was too damn smart not to go to more college, and I could pay for it by showing off my ‘nice figure’ at the strip club Nadine worked at. ”
He looked amused. “I thought she seemed like a character at Nadine and Reynolds’ wedding.”
“Oh, she is. She’s something else. Anyway, I’m so thankful for her. She put me on that bus, Nadine came and got me, and the next thing I knew, Carmen had given me a makeover and started me as a hostess at Sugar. And here we are.”
“Here we are.”
I sat up, holding the sheet to my chest. “You got more of a story than you thought you would by asking about that nickname, huh?”
“I’m glad you shared with me.”
“What do you like for breakfast?” I was ready to get the conversation off personal things.