Chapter 5
Six the next evening, I am sitting in the living room, ready, when there's a knock at the door. I answer the door, wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a purple peasant top and a pair of black pumps. My hair is down in its natural waves and light makeup on. Opening the door, I see Ghost standing there in a pair of black jeans and a black button down and his converse. "You look beautiful Princesa." he says as he leans in and kisses my cheek. "Thank you. You look great too." I tell him. He takes my hand and leads me to the car and we head out. "Where are we going?" I ask. "You'll see." he says, smirking.
A little later, we pull up to this little club. Getting out, we walk inside and head to a table. The waitress comes over and takes our order. While we are waiting for our drinks, we see that it's open mic night. "Thought you'd like to sing a little." he says. I look at him and smile. "Yeah. I would." I tell him. He laces his fingers with mine and we look through the book of music. "That one." he says. I look and see it's Bad At Love by Halsy. I smile and turn in the song. Once my name is called, I get up and belt the notes out and once the song is done, the crowd is cheering and I walk over to Ghost. "Absolutely perfect Princesa." he says. We stay a while longer and I do a couple of more songs before he says "I wanna show you something." He takes my hand after paying the tab and we head out the door.
We pull up to this old park. Walking over to one of the tables, I sit on top of the table and he sits next to me. "I used to come here when I was a kid. My Pops used to drink. Was real bad until my mom got sick. It seemed like this was the only place that calmed me down." he tells me. "Did your mom used to bring you here?" I ask. "Yeah. All the time when me and my brother Danny were kids." he tells me. "I'm sorry Ghost." I tell him. He looks at me before standing up and moving in front of me and between my knees. Cupping my face, my hands going to his wrists, he leans in and places a soft kiss to my lips. I allow him to deepen the kiss and we stand there lost in our own little world, just connecting. When we come up for air, he asks "Was that okay?" I smile and say "Yeah, Ghost. It was okay." I pull him closer and we continue to kiss.
When Ghost brings me home, he walks me to my door and we are standing there talking. "I still want to take things slow if that's okay." I say. "That's more than okay but I am going to call you my girl." he says. "I'd like that." I tell him. He kisses me one more time before saying goodnight. I walk into the house before he walks to his car. I turn and see Mateo sitting on the couch with my mom, waiting on me. "How'd it go?" Mateo asks. "Tay, it was amazing." I say as I take my seat on the couch. "Well...Details." my mom says. "He took me to this club and it was open mic night so I sang a couple of songs before we went to this old park and sat and talked for awhile." I tell them. "And?" Mateo asks. "Shit. Fine. He kissed me. A lot." I tell them and I am blushing. After talking for a few minutes, I head to bed. Laying in my bed, my phone on the charger next to the bed, I hear a text alert. Picking up my phone, I see it's Ghost. Looking at the text, I can't help but smile. Just wanted to tell you goodnight Princesa. Sweet dreams. I send a text back Goodnight my Prince. Dream about me. I say. Always. He says back.
Waking up the next morning, I see another text on my phone.
G: Good morning Princesa.
L: Good morning Ghost.
G: What do you have planned for today?
L: Spending time with you?
G: Pick you up in an hour?
L: See you then.
I get up and shower and start getting ready. An hour later, he pulls up to the house. Walking to the front door, I let him in. Kissing me softly, my arms go around his neck as his hands go to my hips. "I could get used to this." he whispers. "Me too." I whisper back. As I pull away, I take his hand and pull him to the couch where my laptop is. After we sit down, I say "I owe you a thank you." He looks at me confused and I say "Since I've been back and we've been talking, I feel like my old self again. I've started singing again and started writing again." I tell him. "You write too?" he asks, intrigued. "I do." I tell him. I pick my laptop up and pull up my story. "I haven't felt inspired in a long time. But something about you...you're my muse." I tell him and hand him the laptop. He reads what I have written and then looks at me shocked. "You wrote about me?" he asks and I nod. "This is really good Princesa." he says and I blush. He cups my chin to make me look at him. "Thank you for sharing it with me." he says.
After sitting and talking for a few more minutes, he says "I want to take you somewhere." I nod and we head out to his car. Opening the door for me, he waits for me to get in and then closes the door before heading to the driver side. After driving for a while, we pull up to this bluff. Getting out of the car, we sit on the hood and he has music playing and I hear At Last by Etta James. "I love this song." I tell him. "It was my mom's favorite." he tells me. "My mom used to sing this to me when Mateo and I were little." I tell him. He looks at me and I start to shy away. "Why do you do that?" he asks. I sit up and he sits up with me. "Why do you shy away? You're so perfect." he tells me. I shake my head no and he cups my face. Kissing me softly, he says "You're perfect." Looking into his eyes, I feel a tear fall. He wipes the tear and asks "Why are you crying Princesa?" I pull away from him and say "My mind is still a little messed up." He pulls me close and just holds me. After a few minutes, he asks "Will you tell me what happened?" I don't look at him but take a deep breath. "When I first started dating Paul, I had just graduated from college and started my new job at a local school as a chorus teacher. After a few months of dating, he started pushing my friends away and tried to push away my mom and brother. He would screen all my calls and wouldn't let me speak to anyone. After a while, he wanted me to quit my job and when I said no, he beat me so bad that I missed so much work, they fired me." I tell him. He pulls me between his legs and holds me close. "What happened to make your brother move you back here?" he asks. "He was cheating on me and I confronted him. He beat the shit out of me and then shoved me down the stairs." I tell him. "I'll never hurt you." he whispers. I look up at him and kiss him softly and I say "I know." We sit there a while longer and my stomach starts to growl and we both laugh. "Let's get you fed Princesa." he says and I start laughing.