Chapter Two
"Today, I know what I wanna do, but I don't know what for." – Tom Scott
Jazmine woke up from her nap to hear knocking.
It was almost 9:00 pm, and her grandmother was passed out in her bedroom. No doubt exhausted from the excitement of their trip to the grocery store, where Jazmine had already been introduced to several people in town.
She tried to ignore the person at the door, hoping they would take the hint.
But after two minutes of endless pounding on the front door, Jazmine grumbled a few choice words before swinging it open to an undeniably sexy man. The symmetry on his face jolting her senses. The perfection of his tall, dark, and handsome features alongside a suprisingly sexy scent immediately lulled her into a different feeling of calm.
"The name's Cairo, ma'am," He drawled out. Standing before her with his flannel shirt just slightly undone. His chest hair finely resting upon his chest, "I'm sorry to swing by so late. I work up at the ranch and knew your grandfather, Sam. Didn't feel right not stopping by to tell his only granddaughter hello."
Oh, right. They were actually decent people around here, unlike her.
"Jazmine," She suddenly felt self conscious and regretful of wearing her plaid pajama bottoms with a baggy t-shirt, "I'm Jazmine. Nice to meet you. I'm glad, um, I'm happy my grandfather was loved by so many people. Means a lot."
"Of course," Cairo's eyes seemed to nearly zero in on hers, "Where's my girl, Lydia? Giving you a hard time?"
Jazmine had to let out a hearty laugh, "Not yet. Do you want to come in-"
"Gotcha, womanizer! We should've known we'd catch you crawling all over her," A mysterious dread head hollered, obviously teasing, "Letting all the mosquitoes in their house."
"Hey, I was on my best behavior," Cairo winked at her in the way that made her stomach flutter all over again before shutting the screen door in surrender and heading to the kitchen table with the other men, but not before slightly brushing against her shoulder, his heat making her lose the rest of her remaining senses.
"Sure."
Another man, with a huge afro and a leather jacket made his way up the stairs before sticking his foot into the door past a suddenly visibly irritated Cairo.
"How do you know my granddad again?" Jazmine shifted uncomfortably before recognizing Caesar from the funeral, "Wait, I remember you! You helped with the casket when my dad nearly dropped it as a pallbearer."
"Yep, that was me" Caesar nodded proudly before motioning to the two silent guys next to Jazmine, "And I see you've met Cairo. Surprised he hasn't hit on you yet. Or has he?"
She wished. It had been so long since she'd had a good romp in the sheets.
The guy with the afro turned to gaze at her as if suddenly reading her thoughts. His maroon eyes scanning her before opening his mouth to speak, "If he has, trust me, shut it down. He's trouble. You do not need to get involved with him."
"He was innocent," Jazmine waved her hands as if it would save him, "He just came by to say hello."
"In a shirt that shows off his chest hair," The man raised his brow at her. His lips moving in a way that strangely turned her on all of a sudden, "At night. When he's freshly showered, work free, and has freshly applied cologne."
"You've been observing me heavily, Freeman," Cairo shot back, "You sure you don't want me?"
"Hardly," Huey snorted, "I just thought the granddaughter of a beloved man in town should know what she's getting into before you get her in your sheets and then spit her out for the next best thing. You know how you-"
"Well," Jazmine got up from the table, "As much fan as it's been getting to know you all and your odd concerns, Freeman-"
"You can call me Huey," The man got up to firmly shake her hand, and Jazmine couldn't help but gape at how he was towering over her with a strength that none of the others seemed to have, "Huey Freeman. I live up the road. We've lived here almost 18 years now. Helping my Aunt Cookie on the ranch."
"Okay, then, Huey," Jazmine continued, "Well as nice as it's been," She released an exhausted yawn, "I just got into town, and I really need-"
Cairo eyed her shirt. Reading the text, "Yo, you're from Chicago too?"
His southern drawl completely dissipated, causing Jazmine's eyes to twist in confusion as Huey and Caesar snickered like two teenaged boys.
"Yeah,technically," She signed, moving a springy curl out of her face, "I actually lived in the suburbs in Woodcrest."
"Ahhhh, yesss, daughter of a prominent attorney in Chicago," Huey spat out with a venom that felt unrelated to her, "Aren't you so lucky?"
Jazmine was just about to ask him what attorney had pissed in his cheerios when she heard a shuffling of feet walk into the kitchen. Grammy.
"Huey, Caesar, Cairo," Her grandmother had woken up. She had a wide grin on her face. Even wider than when Jazmine had shown up on her doorstep this afternoon, "What are you all doing here?"
"Just wanted to introduce ourselves Jazmine is all," Caesar said before lifting to slightly limp towards Lydia, giving her a hug as Cairo did the same, "And of course we wanted to see our main girl. We miss you, young lady."
"Wanted to see if she was just as gorgeous as the town's been declarin', eh?" Her grandmother shot the men a teasing look, "Because she is. She gets it from me."
Jazmine ignored her and the blush forcing its way across her cheeks, "Well, I think they have to go, Grammy. They have work in the morning."
"Yeah," Huey announced strangely before giving her a once over that sent that feeling down her spine, "We do. Nice meeting you."
The men followed suit behind Huey as he held the door open before lifting his hat at Lydia,
"Take care."
And with that, they were gone.
Jazmine found herself sitting there. Staring at those boots.
The guilt of it all weighing on her. Hanging above her head like the stars in the night sky.
She closed the door to the guest bedroom, not sure how she'd gone from enjoying the sexy eye candy in Jefferson to well, grief.
The tears welled up in her eyes, leaking out before she could even delude herself out of letting them fall.
She missed him so much. Probably more than she'd ever let him know.
Huey closed the door to his ranch home, tossed his keys on the table, and grabbed the bottle of whiskey off his kitchen island to take a gulp out of the bottle before setting it down. Glancing around the very wooden walls of his home.
It had been a while since he had seen Lydia Dubois, and he was happy to see her in good spirits again. Undoubtedly because her long awaited granddaughter had come home to stay for the interim.
He couldn't blame Cairo for trying to corner her first. The woman was even more beautiful than people had described.
A natural beauty with perfect skin, a beautiful body, and a fullness in what he suspected to be in every region imaginable.
But it was the natural calm surrounding her that really caught his attention. He could tell that she was easy going and quick witted. If her grandmother hadn't interrupted, his remarks about her family background would have been shut down immediately.
Fair enough.
When Sam had asked him to help his granddaughter with finding whatever she'd been looking for, Huey's first inclination had been to rush him to the doctor to get him tested for Alzheimer's. He'd been insistent that Jazmine had made the right move in getting away from Woodcrest, and that he was proud of her for taking that step.
He just didn't think that he knew what would make her happy. He barely knew what that looked like for himself.
February 28, 2008
"And you think that I-" Huey gave the cherub cheeked man in overalls a once over, "can make her happy. Sam…"
"That's not what I'm saying at all," Sam gave him a glance before placing one of the seedlings in the greenhouse back on the shelf. His brown eyes meeting Huey's wine colored ones, as he leaned his round belly downward, examining another one, "I'm saying that you had your struggles when you arrived, and I see some of those same struggles in her. My clock is winding down, Huey, and I know in my heart that when Lydia needs her, she'll come running."
"Maybe she's happy in California, Sam. Everybody's not like you and Lydia," I found myself snorting, "Maybe she'd come see you all more if you stopped butting into her life so much. She's 30 years old. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were talking about a sixteen year old."
"It's not that she isn't married, Huey!" Sam's let his hand bang down onto the shelf, startling both Huey and Caesar, who was in the back hard at work eavesdropping, "It's that she's miserable! That she's lonely! That she doesn't know that I'd love her if she were a goddamned grocery clerk as long as she were actually happy."
"What makes you think that she's not?" Huey's voice was soft. His arm slightly outreached to a clearly worked up Sam, "Why do you think that she's miserable? And doesn't she have friends, family, other people in her support system to help her work that out when that time comes way down the line?"
"I know my granddaughter," Sam's arms shook despite the bravado in his voice, "And I know what she needs even more than anyone does - including her."
"And you think what she needs," Huey cocked his head slightly to the side, "is me?"
As If reading Huey's own brief wave of unsavory thoughts, Sam shot him a glare, "Watch it. I'm not saying she needs a boyfriend OR that you should even be thinking of having any sort of romantic affairs with my granddaughter. So watch yourself boy. I have a shotgun with your name on it if you even THINK of getting fresh with her. Dead or alive. You hear me?"
"Then what are you saying?" Huey found himself asking, "What do you want me to do for her, exactly?"
"Just be there," Sam looked at him, "When the dam breaks, when the guilt sets in, when the cards fall down, don't let her push you away. Don't let her take the brunt of it all alone. Check on her. Even if it's just for one day. Show her that she can't do it all alone"
"Sam, you know that I respect you," Huey started, his hand coming up to his neck, "But I'm-"
"Incredibly abrasive, brash, rude," Caesar cut in with a deep chuckle, "He's not exactly a sugar cookie."
Huey nodded in agreement, "He's right. I ain't exactly a grief counselor, Sam. I'm not someone who should be providing any kind of emotional support to anyone. Maybe you should ask someb-"
"Promise me, Huey," Sam glanced over at him, "Pro-mise me that you'll at least look out for her. You don't have to be her best friend, but for my sake, just keep an eye out if I can't. Okay?"
"Of course," Huey tipped his hat to him, hating the fact that this conversation felt so final, "What are neighbors for?"
Sam, in a move unlike him grabbed Huey into a strong embrace.
Huey coughed before returning the embrace. He wrapped his arm around the man's shoulder and patting it before backing away and giving the man a once over, "Are you sure you're okay, Sam? Didn't the doctors say that you were fine?"
Sam just glanced at him. A faraway look in his eyes, "I'm fine, Huey. You can call if you don't believe me."
"I will," Huey said. The nervousness hanging he and Caesar as they discreetly shared a worried look, "We just want to make sure you're alright."
"I am now," Sam said before grabbing his keys and tipping his hat towards the two men, "Tell your Aunt Cookie I stopped by. I gotta get home to Lydia. She's waiting for me."
"We'll see you tomorrow, Sam," Caesar laughed, a teasing glint in his eye, "What's with all the dramatics? You ain't going nowhere no time soon."
Sam didn't return his laugh. He just kept walking up the dirt path to the parking lot as they trailed behind him to make sure he got into his black pickup truck safely.
Huey and Caesar watched the older man crank the ignition and drive onto the street. Heading home.
Sam never looked back.
It was the last time they'd see him alive again.
Maybe that's why it was so hard for him to be nicer to Jazmine. He wanted a reason to hate her. He needed to resent that background that had everything to do with the system that she came from. The system that had nearly destroyed him.
He'd only promised Sam that he would look after her.
But he was only human.
He knew that if they hung around each other too long, that if Jazmine could make his eyes linger in the comfort of her home wearing frumpy pajamas.
Knew that if she were here right now, her scent filling his nostrils. Her arms around his neck. Lips parte and eyes closed. Her body molded to his.
That if his lips could touch hers. His hands could slide up her waist, then down to the waistband of her pants while he told her in no uncertain terms what he was going to do to her, what he was enjoying doing to her.
That if he could touch her there until she was overwhelmed with the sensations that hadn't been awakened until he put them there.
Knew that if he did that that he would only want more.
That he would press her against the object closest to them. The wall. The couch. His desk. The refrigerator. The damned floor if he had to.
That he'd taste her before unbuckling his pants to free his straining erection.
That he would slide into her when her heat became too much to bear.
That he'd swallow all of her moans with his tongue before she clamped down on him.
Letting it all go.
He couldn't keep his promise to Sam.
He could barely keep his erection in check back at Lydia's.
So for now, he'd just keep his distance.
It was best for both of them.
That's what Huey Freeman told himself as he fought to ignore the throbbing in his erection. Fighting like hell to focus on the cold instead of the warmth of his hand. The heat in the air. The memory of her voice, her lips, her everything.
He gave himself the release he so badly needed.
He convinced himself that it wasn't in any way related to her.
And that night, alone in his bedroom, he let it all go.
He'd never wanted a woman so badly in his life.
It was too bad she was off limits.
He sighed, before rubbing his hand over his face and turning off the lights. Hopefully, he could get some sleep tonight.
Lord knows he needed the rest.
Author's Note:
This chapter is shorter, but I'll be coming back with more chapters in the next few weeks.
Feel free to review, follow, and favorite your girl.
Until next time.
Peace.