Blue Colla Make Ya Holla (42 page)

Once I had enough momentum, Carter moved to the side and watched. He broadened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest, as if settling in for the long haul. The smile on his face only grew as he basked in my enjoyment.

As much as I wanted to swing forever, there was something even better I wanted to do. After dragging my feet for several passes, I’d finally slowed down enough to hop off. I immediately jumped onto Carter, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Grasping his head between my hands, I tilted his face up and lowered mine until our lips met.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. My tongue plundered his mouth, but it wasn’t enough. My legs squeezed as tightly as they could, but it wasn’t enough.

When he shifted under my weight, I rubbed against the only thing that stood any chance of sating the need I had for him. I let go with my legs and got my feet back under me. Without breaking the kiss, I lowered us both to the ground. Although we hadn’t brought a blanket, the uncut grass was soft enough beneath us to provide a cushion from the hard, unforgiving ground.

“Please, tell me you restocked you wallet,” I pleaded.

He reached into his back pocket and produced said wallet. “Haven’t left home without one since the day I met you.”

“Thank God.” I pulled him down on top of me and started grinding my center against the thigh that had found its way between my shamelessly parted legs.

“Are you sure you want to do this in public? Someone might see us…”

“I don’t care. I just need you, and I need you now.”

We both cursed the tight black-denim shorts I’d decided to wear as I struggled to peel them away. Once I was free of the restrictive shorts, Carter shoved his jeans down to his knees and quickly rolled the condom over his impossibly hard cock. I exhaled in relief as he finally entered me. My body only felt complete when it was joined with his.

The moment was perfect. We were in
our
spot, making love beneath
our
tree. If a trip through hell is what brought me to this moment, I’d gladly make the journey all over again. There were times in the past, when I wished I could see five or ten years into the future, hoping what I saw would make it all worth it. This moment was so much better than anything I’d ever imagined. This was everything I’d never let myself hope for.

He knew my secret, and he stayed. He knew my darkest sins and still wanted me. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to give him back. Maybe there was hope after all.

‡

A
t the end
of my work week, which fell on a Tuesday, I could barely make it up the single flight of stairs to Carter’s apartment. After my fifth day in a row of waiting tables in stilettos, my feet were screaming at me. The rest of my body was tired and sore from balancing on the damned things. If the evil shoes, which now dangled from my fingers, hadn’t been so expensive, I’d have tossed them in the dumpster outside of the club. Or set them on fire. Or put them in a wood chipper and flushed the pieces down the toilet. Thank God I didn’t have to climb the rest of the way up to my apartment; the only place I wanted to climb was into Carter’s bed.

When I made it to the first floor, I let myself in using the key he’d had made for me and then pushed the door closed behind me. “Babe?” I called out while I got settled. The devil heels were tossed into the coat closet, followed by the ballet flats I’d changed into before I left work. After putting my keys back inside, I added my over-sized bag to the top of the pile before sliding the door closed.

When I took a few more steps into the apartment, I could hear the shower running. Since Carter had the night off, he’d asked me to call him when I left work so he could be ready for me. I had no idea what he had in mind, but if a shower was a prerequisite, I certainly couldn’t wait to find out. Although I’d showered at the club, I thought about getting in with him anyway. My feet made the decision for me when they passed by the bathroom door in favor of the bedroom.

As tired as I was, there was no way I’d voluntarily miss out on a naked, dripping wet boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
Damn, that word still sounded strange in my head. My panties were the only thing on my body by the time I snuggled under the covers to wait for him. Carter liked it when I left something on—said it was like unwrapping a present—but not too much because he didn’t like wasting time. The steady patter of the shower in the next room was like a soothing lullaby. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.

*

I dreamt I
was falling, and when I reached out to brace myself, my hand came in contact with a denim-covered thigh. It was one of those dreams that wake you up when your body tries to catch itself. When I started to regain my wits, the sensations didn’t go away. I could tell I was still on the bed but had rolled from my side onto my stomach. My fingertips moved tentatively, only to realize the distinctive feel of jeans was real. My eyes were instantly open, and any remaining fogginess evaporated from my mind.

I took a quick inventory of my surroundings. The shower was still running, so I couldn’t have been asleep more than a few minutes. The lights in the room were still off. A dark figure was looming on the bed next to me, which must have caused the mattress to dip and me to roll. It was much too large to be Carter. Hoping to get out at least one good scream, I filled my lungs with as much air as possible. Before I could release it, a large hand encased in a leather glove slammed down over my nose and mouth.

Sheer panic erased everything I’d ever learned about self-defense from my memory. My fingers clawed at the hand covering my nose and mouth, but it didn’t budge. Shoving and kicking didn’t do any good either. It couldn’t end like this; not after everything I’d been through. Not with Carter only a few feet away. The harder I tried to escape, the more it felt like I was suffocating.

One moment I was twisting and flailing; the next, I was suddenly free. The newly opened door let in enough light from the hallway to make out some of what was happening.

“If you so much as blink wrong, I’ll blow your brains out, motherfucker. Do you understand?” The man in front of me barely moved his head up and down. “Now slowly back away from her.”

The man held up his hands and did as he was told.

“Are you okay, babe?” Carter asked. My nod wasn’t enough since his eyes were glued to the back of the man’s head.

“Y-yes.”

“Do you need medical attention?”

“N-no”

“Can you reach my phone?”

I glanced over to his side of the bed and saw it laying on the nightstand, plugged into the charger. “Yes.”

“I need you to get it, dial nine-one-one but don’t push send. Then toss it to the end of the bed closest to me.” Carter grabbed the man’s arm and moved him farther away from me so I would have a wide breadth to get it. It took four attempts for my shaky fingers to dial the right three digits in the correct order. When I finally had it right, I managed to throw it close enough so Carter could reach it without having to look away.

Not sure what to do next, I looked at Carter and the intruder. They were both now at an angle in my line of sight, with Carter closest to the bed. From our new positions, I could see that Carter had a hand gun pressed against the back of the intruder’s head. Before I could react to the tableau in front of me, Carter spoke again. “Now you, motherfucker, get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”

Carter pulled the gun back just enough to keep it out of the guy’s reach but didn’t lose any of his focus. When the man was on his knees, my protector gave me another task. “Go to the kitchen. There should be some zip ties in the junk drawer. Grab a handful of them and bring them back.” Tears started flowing as I moved from the bed. “Get a t-shirt from my drawer and put it on. I don’t want this asshole to see you.” When I was on my wobbly legs with the sheet haphazardly wrapped around me, I took the few steps to his dresser and put on the first over-sized t-shirt I found.

Carter must have connected the call to nine-one-one as soon as I left the room. Although I couldn’t make out the words, his voice carried through the apartment as I ran to the kitchen. It took me a few tries to find the right drawer, but luckily when I did, the zip ties were lying on top.

When I returned to the room, I heard the end of Carter’s phone call. “Ten-twenty-six.” He paused briefly when I came back into the room. “Fifteen. Yes.”

“Are they on their way?” I asked when he tucked the phone into his pocket. I had no idea what he’d been telling them, but nothing at all made sense at the moment.

“Yes. They will be here in a couple of minutes. I need you to take two of the ties, and thread the ends through the slots to form one big loop, but don’t tighten it. Then throw it on the bed like you did with the phone.”

Surprisingly, I was able to do it after only about five tries. In a matter of seconds, the man’s hands were secured behind his back. As Carter pulled the guy to his feet, he looked at me and said, “I need you to go upstairs. Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone other than me. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay.” Even though I was scared to be alone, being in the middle of this situation was much more terrifying.

I waited a few moments after Carter pushed the guy out of the bedroom before following. When I finally made my way into the living room, I found the man on his knees in the middle of the floor, with his back to me. Carter was facing him with the barrel of the gun pressed firmly against his forehead. “Go on, babe. Don’t forget to lock everything.”

Nodding, I clung to the perimeter of the room in order to stay as far away from them as possible. My keys were in my bag, so I grabbed it from the closet before dashing out into the hallway. Ignoring my earlier aches and pains, I ran up the two flights of stairs to my home, digging through my bag for the key as I went. When I arrived at my destination, I took a deep breath to steady myself long enough to slide the key in the lock and get inside my apartment.

I flipped the two bolts and slid the chain into place as soon as the door slammed shut. When everything was secure, I started to remember some things I’d learned in a safety seminar they’d had at work a few years back. I retrieved one of the two chairs from my small kitchen table and wedged it under the door handle. After that, I went to my bedroom closet and grabbed the aluminum bat that had been my security system at my old apartment in the city.

Hours passed while I sat in the middle of the living room floor with my overly-alert eyes trained on the front door. The adrenaline trance had me so focused I jumped when the knock finally came.

“W-who is it?”

“It’s me, babe. It’s okay to open the door now.”

A look through the peephole verified my ears hadn’t been playing tricks on me. I dislodged the chair from under the handle, fumbled with the hardware, and then yanked the door open.

Carter’s arms were wrapped around me before the door was closed all the way.

“I was so scared,” I whispered into his shirt and dug my fingers into his back.

“Me, too. I’ve never been that scared before.”

“Who was he? What happened?”

“I don’t know who he is or why he was there. When the police showed up, I explained what happened and then handed him over. I had to retell the story several times, and it took me a while to convince them not to interview you. I knew you wouldn’t want to talk to them right now.”

“Oh, fuck. This was all my fault. I think I forgot to lock the door when I came home. I was just so happy to be home, and—”

“Shh, baby. It isn’t your fault. You didn’t invite him over”

“I won’t forget again, I promise.” His long fingers stroked my back as I sobbed into his chest.

“He would have found a way in even if the door had been locked. If anything, you probably saved me from having a broken door frame or window.”

“Can we stay here tonight?” I wasn’t sure I could sleep in Carter’s bed right after what had happened.