ROMANCING HER PROTECTOR (10 page)

that probably made him the successful businessman he was today. “No woman of mine is

catching anybody’s bus, okay?” he said to her.

“But Matty,” she started, a worried look crossing her face.

“Shay, you need a car.”

“A car, yes. But
this
?”

“Something nice, of course. What do you expect me to do? I’m not going to give you

just any old thing. Not you.”

Shay started to protest again, but then she remembered what Jordy had said
. If he wants to

treat you like his queen, dear heart, let him
.

She smiled. Looked at Matty. He really was one of the good guys. “Thank-you so

much, Matty,” she said heartfelt, and then reached up and initiated a kiss for the first time in

their short relationship.

And the thought of it, of kissing her the way he wanted to again, of having her wiggling

beneath him again, was too much for Matty.

“Oh,
damn
,” he said, grabbed her by the hand, and then ran with her, in a near-sprint,

her entire body shaking with laughter, back inside his home.

SIX

It took two weeks. Just two weeks after Shay drove onto the campus of Franklin

University with her brand new BMW, before her roommate was trying to inject her wants and

needs into Shay’s good fortune. First Jessica was uncharacteristically silent on the matter.

Didn’t want to know anything at all about how a poor girl like Shay could end up with a car

like that. Shay didn’t say anything, either, she was always private with her private life. But

she knew Jessica too well. She knew it was just a matter of time before that opinionated,

what’s in it for me
roommate of hers would work out a way of getting in on the action, too.

They were in their small dorm room, Shay and Jessica, with Hector, one of Jessica’s

numerous boyfriends, seated beside Jessica on her twin bed. Shay was seated at the desk,

attempting to study for her Investigative Journalism exam, an exam Matty had already told her

she had better ace, and Jessica and Hector were nagging her no end.

“No,” she said again when their insistence would not let up. But they continued at it.

Jessica, the Drama major, was into her overacting big time, with her head bobbing and her

hand snatching at air as if she were demonstrating some odd sign language. When she was like

this, Shay knew there was no reasoning with her. So she didn’t try. She just made clear,

when she finished, that her answer was still no.

“But why not Shay?” Jessica asked, her pretty face a mask of puzzlement. “He’s rich,

you said so yourself.”

“You are such a liar, Jess. I never said any such thing!”

“You didn’t have to say it,” Jessica said, correcting herself without admitting ever being

wrong, “but it’s obvious he is. What poor man you know pick a girl up in a limo and then

buys same girl a spanking brand new BMW? I don’t know why you would accept that kind of

a gift, personally, and from a white man at that, but hey, that’s you. That’s your conscience.”

Shay looked at Jessica. “What does his race have to do with anything?”

“What you think? It just smacks of slave mentality, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Slave mentality?”

“Yes, slave mentality. Slavery times! Remember that bit of history of ours? When

we black women were expected to be the white man’s hoe, slut, trick, whatever they wanted

us to be? I don’t know about you and your values, but that’s what your so-called relationship

feels like to me. Because, unlike you, I can take care of myself. I can take care of this here. I

don’t want no white man buying nothing for me. I can buy my own car, thank-you. I’m a

strong, black, independent woman who don’t want that kind of help, and especially not from

no crusty butt man who only got one thing on his mind. Nobody owns this here.”

Shay stared at her roommate. She was one of the most judgmental people she’d ever

met, somebody who always talk a good talk about being tough and strong and how she can’t

stand weak women and how every woman needs to stand up to these men and fight the good

fight and be all tough and strong all the time and it sounded like foolishness to Shay. It

sounded as if Jessica expected every woman to be just like her and if they weren’t then they

somehow fell short, or weren’t authentic women.

But Shay was nothing like her roommate. She was no alpha-female and didn’t want to

be. She wanted the man to be the man, and if that man proved willing to help her, and she

was willing to accept the terms of that help, then she didn’t see where that was anybody’s

business but her and that man’s. And if that made her morally corrupt in the eyes of

judgmental females like Jessica, or that made her weak and stupid, then weak and stupid she

was. She’d been poor all of her life, had to struggle all of her life. Now she was finally getting

a little help, just a little helping hand, from a man she actually liked, until she got out of college

and was able to handle that end of her business herself, and Saint Jessica here figures she

should turn it all down. Because, according to Jess, it smacked of the kind of assistance ladies

of ill-repute would accept. This coming from a woman juggling four different boyfriends at

one time. Where did she get off, Shay wanted to say.

“The point I’m making,” Jessica went on, “is that this Matty person has got to be rolling

in the dough, that’s all I’m saying. And I don’t see why you can’t ask him to help out Heck’s

career. We ain’t asking him to give us nothing. It’ll be an investment because when Hector

becomes the Hispanic Lil’ Wayne, then he’ll get paid back tenfold.”

It sounded like a hand-out to Shay, but who was she to judge? “No,” she said.

“Why you keep saying no?”

“Because Matty is a businessman, Jess, not a rap music producer!”

“I produce my own stuff, know what I’m saying?” Hector spoke up. He was an

almost-chubby, twenty-something who always wore a bandana around his head and a gold grill

in his mouth. “I just need help with the financial backing, know what I’m saying?”

“No,” Shay said again. She liked Hector, he had always shown nothing but kindness

towards her, but this was going too far.

Jessica stared at Shay with that same hateful look Shay had seen the night Matty’s

limousine picked her up. “I didn’t want to go there,” Jessica said, “but you leave me no

choice. You owe me, Shanita Cooper. Remember when you first came to this university, and

you hadn’t found a job yet and couldn’t even feed yourself yet, remember what I did for

you?”

How could Shay forget it? Every time Jessica wanted a favor, she began by saying
, I

didn’t want to go there
, and then she’d go there with flourish. But it was true. Shay did feel

she still owed her roommate big time because of the undeniable friendship she showed her

when she first arrived at Franklin without a dime to her name. Her plan was to get a job

quickly, because her scholarship took care of her tuition, books, and dorm room, but it didn’t

cover any of her day to day living expenses.

But Shay couldn’t get a job anywhere. It was Jessica who fed her for nearly three

months, who took her out with her, who treated her like a blood sister, and who was able to

convince the former assistant manager at Stop Gap, a young man Jessica was dating at the

time, to take Shay on.

So Shay would always feel beholden to Jessica, and would always do all she could to

help her out. But helping Hector’s music career wasn’t the same, to Shay, as helping Jessica.

And that was why Shay still said no. She owed Jessica, yes, but she didn’t owe some guy

who was certain to be one of Jessica’s numerous ex-boyfriends within the next few months, a

darn thing. And especially when that favor didn’t just involve Shay, but Matty as well.

It took several more no’s on Shay’s part, however, before Hector finally got the point.

He was wasting his time. Then suddenly his disappointment turned to anger and he actually

got into Shay’s face. Shay stood to her feet, toe to toe with him. “So what you gonna do?”

she kept asking him, daring him to try something.

It was Jessica who got in between them. “That’s enough, Hector,” she said, pushing

her boyfriend back.

“I can’t stand her!” Hector yelled. “Always parading around like she so superior to

everybody else! Can’t fool with no regular dudes like us, no, not ShayShay. She gots to get

her some rich white man!”

“That ain’t got nothing to do with you,” Jessica said. “So you just need to step off.”

And Hector did back off, because he knew Jessica didn’t play. But he still pointed a

finger at Shay.

“One day, little sister,” he said between clenched teeth, “somebody gonna cut you

down to size!”

“It ain’t gonna be you,” Shay assured him. “Bet that!”

Hector tried to lurch at her again, but Jessica pulled him back again. “Outside, Hector!”

she said. “You may not like her but she’s my roommate, so you’re crossing a line, buddy.

Outside.” Then she got sassy when he didn’t move. “Now!”

Hector looked at Shay longer, but then walked out.

After he left, Jessica looked at her roommate. “You wrong for that, Shay,” she said.

“Wrong for what? I’m not getting Matty involved in his crazy schemes. I ain’t down with

Matty like that yet.”

“Then you should have explained it to him that way. You didn’t have to be acting all

superior just like he said. You wrong for that. You may be on top of that mountain now, but

you may need people like Hector on your way back down.”

“I doubt that,” Shay said. “And I don’t know what mountain you’re talking about.”

“Just check yourself, that’s all I’m saying. These white men get these sisters all giddy,

be at their beck and call, and they’ll toss those line-crossing sisters a bone or two, yeah, they’ll

do that. But then the next thing you know, it’s wham, bam, thank-you ma’am, and they off

and marry the white girl. Then those same line-crossers wanna cross back over here. They

want their people back. You just better remember who your real sisters and brothers are.”

“It’s not like that, Jess, all right?”

“But you hear what I’m saying?”

“Yes, I hear what you’re saying, I just don’t agree with what you’re saying. My

relationship with Matty isn’t like what you think. He’s just helping me out until I get out of

school, that’s all. That’s it. I’m not expecting any marriage proposal or anything like that.

Our relationship ain’t that serious.”

Jessica looked at her friend as if she knew she didn’t’ mean a word of what she’d just

said. And then she left.

When she left, Shay laid her head on her desk, exhausted. She hated the way Jessica

had looked at her, as if she could see right through her. And inwardly, all of that talk of not

being that serious with Matty was as full of it as Jessica probably knew it was. Shay saw their

relationship as serious, she was just too scared to admit it.

She also hated the fact that she had turned Jessica down so decisively, even though it

was a favor more for Hector than Jess, but she couldn’t take advantage of Matty’s position like

that. But that didn’t mean it didn’t bother her. It did. She liked Jessica when she wasn’t into

her judgmental mode. She was really the only close friend she’d ever had, and she wasn’t

interested in losing that friendship.

Then she thought about Matty. He’d already told her he wanted to meet her

roommate. Not because of any interest in getting to know Jessica or anything like that, that

man didn’t have time for that, but Shay suspected it was because he wanted to size Jessica up,

to see if she was somehow worthy of Shay’s friendship. Matty was like that, Shay thought

fondly as she pulled out her cell phone. He always seemed to want to look out for her best

interest. If she could set up that meeting between the two, then it would be up to Jessica to do

Hector’s bidding, if that was what she wanted. You never really knew with Jessica.

Matty was in Chicago this week, in a busy conference room going over several forms

with his staff, when his cell phone rang. When he saw that it was Shay, he smiled.

“Hello, sweetie,” he said as soon as he answered.

“Hi,” she said to the man who was quickly becoming the most important person in her

life.

“You okay?” Matty asked her. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s great.”

“Studying hard for that exam?”

“Sure,” Shay said less confidently. She knew she had to pick up her grades, especially