Here With Me (Paloma's Edge) (3 page)

“He just ordered his lunch,” I replied. “I didn’t think he’d come to my place of work.”

Jake’s grimace started to slip from his face. He pulled out my chair from my desk, sat down, and took off his Nike’s, as if he was touching a baby. Only, in this case, he inspected his sneakers to ensure that they remained spotless. Beth came from our closet with a shoe-box and set it on the floor. When Beth was back on her bed, she turned sideways and flashed me a smile. I straightened up on my bed and looked at her apologetically.

Jake placed his sneakers in the shoe box, took off his shirt and pants. Then he folded them on top of my desk chair.

“Who needs the room to himself for tonight?” I queried.

“Jut,” he answered. “He and Trish got started while I was there.” He laughed and laid his back against the mattress.

“Chase told me that happened to him a lot before he and his former roommates scheduled when they were going to bring their dates to their room. And they followed it, most of the time,” Beth commented, showing no acrimony at the fact that Chase had been with a slew of girls prior to her.

Jake turned his head from Beth and then looked up at the ceiling. “I would’ve slept on the sofa in the hallway if I weren’t here.”

“Crash here whenever any of them are going at it,” Beth said. “I know they won’t pay for a motel room, like you do.”

“Nah,” he agreed. “They won’t.”

“Yeah. You can come over, even if we’re not here. Just get the key from one of us. It’s not like I’ll have overnight guests. Beth goes to Chase’s when they’re going to be alone.” Jake and I eyed Beth. She blushed as she hauled herself up on her knees and she switched off the light on the wall.

“Not if your RA sees me,” Jake remarked.

“Jake,” Beth said. “No one on this floor is going to say anything about it. And that includes Michelle. She doesn’t think with her R.A. hat when she sees you.”

“She’d invite you to her bed before any of the girls on our floor gets the chance,” I chimed in. “I don’t think poor Jake would get any sleep.”

He chuckled. “I am going to get some sleep now. I got an 8 am class.”

“I thought you’d dropped that class,” I said.

“I forgot when the deadline to drop it was. It would’ve been an incomplete on my transcript.”

Beth and I made sounds in understanding. “Love you guys,” I told them.

“Love you Mariska and Jake,” Beth said.

Jake made snoring sounds and Beth threw one of her pillows at him.

Chapter 3

Hunter

I RUBBED MY HANDS
against Riley’s face. She licked my hands and opened up her mouth wide. Chase gave me a bottle of water and I poured it into her mouth until it was empty. He patted her head and she ran toward the new bone I’d bought for her after work tonight.

Smiling with a slow tilt of his head, Chase’s eyes focused on how fast Riley moved to get the bone in her mouth. She preferred to play by herself, but when it came to the neighbors’ kids some houses down from us, she let them throw objects so she’d catch them.

“She’s come a long way in—what’s it? Two months?”

“Yeah,” I breathed out. “She was skin and bones.”

Chase shook his head. “I swear, people that hurt animals need to get a real hurt in them. I thought you were going to bring her back to the shelter so they’d put her down, when you heard the shape she was really in.”

I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. Before, Riley looked tiny in my small ass backyard despite how long and wide she was. However, now, it looked like she’d be confined here by the space, but she didn’t take well to park. She hadn’t been playful, and she’d relaxed when we’d left.

“When Vince and I went to the animal shelter to look at a pup for his wife, I wasn’t looking to get a dog. But no one wanted her. Riley’s deaf in one ear, has fucked up ribs, and already has arthritis at four years old—”

“Damn, Hunter. Riley’s that young? Here I was, thinking she was like an eight or ten year old lab.”

“I thought that too, until the last two vets told me she was ‘bout four or five years old. They didn’t think she’d improve, but she’s been getting stronger.” I was quiet for a beat. “She’s been sleeping in the same room with me for almost a week.”

Riley dropped the bone from her mouth and watched us with her greenish-blue eyes intently. She knew when we spoke about her. She made some steps in our direction and plopped down, meeting us halfway.

“Dad hated dogs. You remember?” Chase asked. We hadn’t mentioned Gerald Lovell since we’d begun talking again. Besides making a name for himself as a lawyer, I think the only thing Dad had spoken about with any fervor was about his hatred for dogs.

“‘They’re stinky, messy, and expensive. Why do I need a fourth expense in my household?’” Chase recited Dad’s words.

“I tell you; it’s miserable sons a bitches like him who get dogs—scratch that—any animal, and fucks them up. He did us all a favor by not inflicting his misery onto an animal.”

I observed how comfortable Riley was as she darted her eyes between Chase and I.

“Has Mom called you?” Chase asked me after some time had passed.

“Once,” I answered. “But she cried and I could only understand that she said sorry. It was a short call. Have you spoken with her again?”

“Real quick. I had to get to practice.”

I stood up and Riley made strides toward me moments later. Riley and I were
 getting used to each other’s rhythm. I felt guilty about coming late most nights when I knew that she was used to being abandoned, and needed to feel safe. I couldn’t have gone to my empty home without her that day. Riley nuzzled her neck against my calf and then she looked up at me. Chase ran his fingers through her much thicker dark brown coat when I strode to the sink and washed my hands.

“Has she stopped letting other dogs climb on her back?”

I exhaled a breath. “Annette said that Riley pushes them off now. No barking or growling, though.”

Chase kept petting Riley while I took the leftovers from my lunch at La Caridad out of the fridge to microwave for our dinner.

Mariska

EVERYONE LEFT THE CLASSROOM
, but I stayed behind. I didn’t ace the pop quiz I’d had forty minutes ago, but an eighty-five was good, since I hadn’t read the last three chapters assigned for class today. After Beth and Jake had gone to sleep last night, I wanted to catch up on my romance novel that I’d had to set aside for over a month, because of my required readings for my classes. I’d turned on my night lamp and imagined that I was the woman who the man with dark skin and eyes that sometimes looked greener wanted. I’d aimed to read only three chapters, since it was one of the longer romance novels I’d kept in my hidden collection, but I’d been so engrossed and lost that I’d read the last chapter. Mom had thrown out what she’d called my “trashy” novels whenever I’d bought them. She returned the ones I’d borrowed from our small library in Franklin Parks. It’d been a thrill to read what I enjoyed.

I saw someone in my peripheral version. I angled my head to the side and Scott was by the door, a half-smile lifting the side of his face. He was in another one of his formal button shirts and boot cut jeans that reached his alligator shoes.

“Scott,” I greeted him when he was seated at the desk next to mine.

“Mariska,” he said, his intent gaze directly on me. I studied him, but I didn’t move the rest of my body. I felt like I was early to class and another classmate had come in. My alone time was over and I couldn’t get lost in my thoughts anymore. The door was
  open.. “I wanted to say I am sorry for a being a dick at Beth’s party.”

“I really think you owe Hunter the apology.” The cocky smile he had skidded from his features. With a deep sigh, Scott nodded and shifted in the seat. “I don’t care how much will power Hunter thinks he has to not drink, it was shitty of you to bring beers to La Floridita. Beth said she didn’t want that in her invite. Chase was going to ask you to bounce, but Hunter had asked him not to.”

“I know,” he acknowledged. “I’ll talk to him.” He casted a glance at the door, the sound of the other students in the hallway dwindled away. “I was thinking about taking you out—whenever you want.”

“Are you asking me out?” I asked in a mocking tone and he began smiling again. Scott was a senior and I knew that he’d been with many girls. None of those factors bothered me, because I noticed that he hadn’t bragged about it, or talked badly about other girls. He was the quarterback of our football team; very easy to look at, and had enough confidence that didn’t border on arrogance. Despite being a little pushy when he was tipsy, I’d never gotten a bad vibe from him.

“I am.”

“I’ll tell you when it’s a good time for me.”

***

“
I AM GOING BACK to the dorm with Raquel. Come with us, since it’s dark out,” Jennifer said. She was in my introduction to statistics class and lived in the same residence hall as Beth, Jake, Pierce, and I. After my Bio classes, I’d gone straight to the library. I would’ve read another romance novel if I’d went to my room after my classes.

“I need to do this next prep exam,” I told her, flipping through the pages of the fifty-five questions I had to know for my People & Society course. The course title may have sounded like the class was a breeze, but it was just the opposite. Professor Jesky was an expert in the field of sociology & anthropology. We not only had to know the various people in history who were not found in mainstream textbooks, but also facts, theories and suppositions she spewed out without taking in a breath between her sentences. “I’ll text Jake when I am ready to leave.”

A look of relief flashed across her face and I gave her a lopsided grin. “See you Saturday!” I feigned excitement and swung my arm forward.

“Now, why did we register for a stats class on a Saturday?” She asked rhetorically.

I made a wide gesture with my hands. “Oh, because it takes up our entire morning.” Jennifer pursed her lips and lifted an eyebrow. “But we’ll be done with it before the end of this month. That’s one less class we have to think about for this semester.”

Jennifer regarded me mutely and then walked toward the front to leave with Raquel.

After answering all of the questions within the time I’d set on my alarm and I’d checked my answers, I scanned the room. Fewer students were here than before, and Peggy, the only Librarian working tonight, was putting back books on the shelves. A tall guy with a thick head of hair stood up and started gathering books in his arms. When Peggy came to the other side of the library to get the books that some students had left behind, a deep flush infused her face. In front of her, Hunter set the stacks of books on top of her small cart and I watched as she told him “thank you”. When had he gotten here?

“May I sit with you?” Hunter asked me formally in Spanish, when he approached my table. A flicker of amusement sparkled in his hazel gaze that pissed me off. His hair hung on the sides of his face. He had on his black leather jacket, a worn shirt, and jeans that were lived in and, yet, didn’t detract from his appeal. And how did he accomplish that? I canted my head at all of the empty seats at the table. He pulled up a seat, with a dangerous glint in his eyes. My face grew warm as my pulse raced.

Chapter 4

Hunter

MARISKA HADN’T NOTICED THAT
I’d been in here before she’d arrived and sat down with some girl with short wavy hair. When her friend had left, I’d photo-copied pages from one of the reference books that I needed for my paper that was due on Monday. I’d considered going over to her, and had decided against it. Mariska looked so elegant with some loose strands framing her face, while the rest of her hair was held in a colorful metallic clip. Shoulders and arms bared in a strapless dress, Mariska could entice any man in here who liked women.

She was a weird one. At Anderson’s car dealership, she’d had no idea that Mike had said that he wished she’d worn shorter dresses and that she was one of the prettiest women in Franklin Parks. Mariska had been the reason I’d whirled around, and, in that moment, Beth had been staring at me like she’d seen a ghost.

“You should leave now, since the library closes soon. I know it’s a pain to drive late at night after reading, or whatever it is that you were doing here, ” she told me with a soft sigh and placed her papers in the middle of her textbook.

I smirked at her attempt to subtlety get rid of me. “I was doing some research. Way before you came to sit with your friend at the table. And I am used to driving at all hours, but thanks for your concern.” She gave me a hesitant nod of her head, shifting her gaze around the library like she was worried that someone she knew would see her with me. While the blush she’d had on her face had been fleeting, it’d been unsettling for her—and, truthfully, it’d been unsettling for me, too. What had caused her to have that reaction?

The librarian shot a glance at Mariska and I on her way to the information desk. “You’re welcome,” she responded acerbically. She and I rose from the table simultaneously. A frown creased her eyebrows. “Did Beth tell you that Jill, my co-worker, wants your number?”

“Beth did tell me.” I studied her and noticed that she avoided my eyes. “I have to think about it.”

She paused a foot away from the entrance of the library and I heard her drop her phone back into her purse, with an incredulous expression. “What’s there to think about, Hunter?” She didn’t give me the chance to reply. “Jill’s pretty, nice, and wants to go out on a date with you. I wouldn’t pass that up.”

Shaking my head, I laughed so hard that the librarian came out of the library and motioned me to be quiet. I bowed my head to her before she went back inside and let out another chuckle. “Oh, I should be lucky,” I quipped, “That I can go out with Jill.” Scowling, she walked faster and I caught up with her in a second. “I should take any offers I can get, huh?”

Mariska shrugged her shoulders and flicked her eyes over to me in answer. She pushed the door to the stairwell without holding it for me. She ran down the steps, her tresses flowing in the air. I was next to her when she reached the lobby of the main floor by the security guard’s post.

“You can go home,” Mariska breathed out as she texted on her phone. “Jake’s going to walk me back to my room.”

“I am fully aware that I can go home, but I’ll walk you first,” I insisted and her fingers stopped moving on her phone’s screen, her gaze fixed on me. “It’s not safe for you to wait outside. You don’t know when the guard will be back to escort you to your residence hall.”

“Why are you doing this for me?” She asked me with suspicion in her voice.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

She turned her chin up. “That won’t make me like you, Hunter.” Her tone was clipped.

I opened the door for her and told her matter-of-factly, “I could give a shit if you like me or not. If you really feel that I am a danger to you, then call Jake. I’ll be here until he gets you off my hands.”

She looked apathetic. “This won’t get you anymore brownie points with Beth. You’ve shown your admiration for her by painting a picture of her on her cake,” she commented after we walked silently for five minutes. It was too good to be true that she’d shut up for the entire walk. The thought that I should’ve let Jake get her ran through my mind. I didn’t believe that she’d give all guys this hard of a time. “She’s your brother’s girl. She’ll never be yours,” she added.

“Stop hating.” I reached for her hand and pulled her twig-like body to mine so that she could see my face—acknowledge me like a human being, who was probably just as flawed as she was, but in different ways. Chase hadn’t acted with nasty toward me after what I’d done to him. I wasn’t going to take Mariska’s pissy attitude lying down.

“When you’re someone’s girl, you won’t have the likes of me making sure you’re safe for one night. Until then, Mariska, I suggest that you put a lid on your snarky comments and not pass up on this opportunity again, because I don’t think Jake is done with the girl I saw him fucking in his car in the parking lot earlier.”

Mariska

HUNTER DROPPED MY HAND
and I didn’t remember which one of us moved first. I glanced at him. A chunk of his hair covered most of his face as the wind rushed through it. When we’d faced each other for those minutes, I’d felt my stomach dip. I’d lost my breath. And he’d been so controlled; I hadn’t seen one muscle in his face twitch. I couldn’t deny that I was envious of Beth a little. Chase adored her, and so did Hunter.

“Is that bag heavy for you?” his voice was quiet and calm, not like he’d called me out on my bitchy behavior.

“I am fine,” I replied in a low tone, peering at the three long blocks that led to my residence hall. We ended up walking inches apart. I smelled the wind and his leather coat. My textbook and other crap in my bag did weigh my shoulder down but I’d just have to wear my book bag more often. Trying to look cute wasn’t worth the strain on my muscles.

“The food was slammin’,” Hunter said, his voice gruff.

“I’ll tell Blanca for you if you’re not planning on coming back.”

“You better believe I will be,” he said with a hint of a smile. “What’s your schedule like at La Caridad?”

“What? You’re going to come by during my hours?”

“I could say that I wanna know so that I’ll go there when you’re not working, but that’s not true. You think everything has to be some ulterior motive, don’t you?” He inhaled sharply and directed his gaze ahead of us. “You know I’ve been to your room with Beth and you’ve always been out.”

I froze. “You’ve been in our dorm room?” My voice came out as a ridiculous squeak.

“I think your stuffed animals, and tie dye decorated side of the room…is cute.” he feigned a high-pitched tone. “I just think it’s over the top that all your pajamas have to match your bed set.” My eyes closed and I heard him chuckling. “If you don’t answer my question, I’ll just tell you what else I noticed about your half of the room.”

I didn’t even want to know what else he noticed about my room. “I work Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. If I don’t work Fridays, I work Sundays. My hours vary depending on my co-workers’ schedule, but Blanca lets me work out special arrangements with other co-workers when I’ve needed to change it up, like I’ll be doing for my midterms.”

“Your classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“And I have Stats on Saturday.”

“I might not get to see you in your room then,” he teased.
   

“I don’t want you to ever see me in my room,” I clarified.

At the residence hall, Hunter held the door open for me.

“Thanks, Hunter. Have a good night.”

“You have a good night too, Mariska. Scott must want to go on a date with you real bad since he’d apologized to me about bringing the beers to Beth’s party.”

***

“WERE YOU STUDYING ALL night?” Jake asked with his arm draped around my shoulder the following morning. Beth was en route to campus.

He let me go and I took the cup of coffee he’d made for me. “I got off the phone with Pete at two this morning.”

“Why wasn’t his ass asleep?”

I smirked. “My parent’s got him a cell phone and he was calling everyone. He was so excited. Most of his friend have cell phones…I hadn’t really talked to him in a while, so…”

“Because of you, your mom had a hard time getting him out of bed this morning.”

I rolled my eyes. “I won’t hear the end of it from her. Don’t remind me.” I let out a sigh. “When’d you get back on campus last night?”

“Ten something.”

I sipped some of my coffee and tossed him a sardonic look. “Or should I say when’d you get to your room after you were done hooking up in your car?”

“I could be off by a half an hour. I thought we finished our business at the motel, but we had a quickie.”

“Well, Hunter got an eyeful of your quickie.”

“He told you that he saw me?” He sounded surprised.

I gave him a nod.

“It’s about time you two talked.” Jake had felt a lot differently about Hunter being Beth’s friend during the summer. In fact, he hadn’t wanted Beth to date Chase, either.  It was funny how one’s view could change in a short period of time.

“I sassed him, and he was nice to me in spite of it.”

Jake eyed me with interest. “Mariska, do you know that you just admitted that you were wrong?” Instead of saying anything, I took another slow swig of my coffee. Jake picked up his backpack from my chair and slung it over his shoulder. The corners of his expressive deep brown eyes crinkled.

***

AS I CASHIERED UP front at La Caridad all morning, into the middle of the afternoon, I’d thought about some of the thoughts that I hadn’t told Jake. At one moment last night, when Hunter and I’d been together, his arm had brushed against mine. I associated the touch with the rough and slightly smooth texture of aged leather on my skin.

“Here he is,” Blanca said and he greeted her with a genuine smile.

I completed the last transaction and a waiter took my place. I went to the employer’s restroom to wash my hands after handling so much money.

“Blanca told me you haven’t had lunch yet,” Hunter said after I came out of the bathroom and walked up front.

“Yeah,” I said, trying not to make a face. “I am going to have it now.”

He lifted his head to an empty table with two dishes on either side of it.

Hunter

“
OUR LUNCH IS COOLING off,” I told Mariska. Confused, she snapped her gaze to Blanca, who gestured us to eat. I led her to the table I’d sat at on Wednesday while I’d waited for the take out to be prepared.

“Hunter…this is—”
 

“Shredded beef with rice and red beans, just how you eat it,” I interrupted her in Spanish and I sat down seconds after she had.
 

While gazing at the food, Mariska opened her purse and brought her arm over the table. Money was tucked on the side of my dish of steak and baked potatoes. I examined her face for any signs that she was trying to insult me, but I saw that she wasn’t. I covered the dollars with my hand and slid it underneath her plate.

“Did you get me lunch?” A look of fear started to settle over her features, before she schooled her expression.

“Mariska…” I exhaled her name and then cleared my throat. “Put your money back in your purse and let’s dig in before your lunch is over. I remember how it got in here the other day.”

Even though Mariska grimaced, she took the money from underneath her plate and shoved it back in purse. “Why are you breaking bread with me?”

I barked out a short dark laugh. “I thought Jill would be here, but Blanca said that you and she switched days. We might as well break bread.” Eyeing me cautiously, she placed the napkin on her lap. “It’d seem ridiculous for us to eat at separate tables when we know each other. That’d only make Blanca have questions, no?”

She nodded and spread butter on her bread roll. Blanca had said that Mariska had a voracious appetite and I wanted to see that for myself. The tip of her bright pink tongue darted out of her mouth, sweeping over her lips. Another appetite of mine was taking root.

“What brought you to the library yesterday?” There wasn’t any trace of condescension in her tone.

“Had to gather some primary resources for a paper I have due this Monday.”

“Have you started your paper yet?”

“I am going to highlight all of my research tonight and go from there.”

“What class is it for?”

“Greek Civilization in its Mediterranean Context.”

A smirk tugged the corners of her lips. “Who’s your professor?”

“Dr. Mastrangelo.”

“Beth had him last year for the Classical Mythology course she took and she said he’d piled on the work. How many credits are you taking?”

“Nine. I am a sophomore. The classes I’d taken in treatment were accredited. I’ve got thirty-sex credits that fulfill most of the general education requirements…” She hesitated to tell me something. “You’re going to bite your tongue?” I shook my head. “Spit it out.”

“Are you just going to school for the heck of it? Have you declared a major yet?”