“Okay, so now you’ve got some more medicine. Who’s that for, Travis?”
“Yep.”
Jasmine laughed. “You know, Stephanie, you are one slick bitch, you know that? I would’ve never thought about doing some sneaky shit like this.”
“That’s cause you’re not me.”
“Okay, miss slick-ass, how’d you get him to take it? Was he ’sleep?”
“Now, that’s where I really got slick.” I grinned as I told her. I was pretty damn proud of my plan. “Remember that old medicine grinder Big Momma used to grind up Granddaddy’s medicine?”
“Yeah, poor old Granddaddy couldn’t even swallow his pills toward the end. Big Momma had to grind them up to powder and put them in his food… Oh, shit!” Jasmine was silent as she put the pieces together.
“Stephanie Johnson!” she finally gasped. “You spiked Travis’s food with that medicine, didn’t you?” She sounded like she was gonna have a heart attack.
“I did what I had to do to save my family, that’s what I did,” I answered calmly. “You would’ve done the same thing if you were in my place. If you had thought of it. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess.” Jasmine answered. “I just think it’s kinda devious.”
“Not devious, Jasmine. Desperate. I was desperate. And desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“But-”
I stopped her. I was in no mood for another lecture. “Look, I think the baby’s awake. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, but call me back.”
I said good-bye, relieved to get off that phone even though I was sure this conversation wasn’t over. Jasmine had a tendency to talk about shit from the past, and this was some shit she wasn’t gonna let die so easy.
23
Even though it was almost midnight when I got home, the first thing I did when I got in the house was pick up the phone to call Jasmine. I’d just returned from a two-day business trip to Atlanta, and the entire time I was there I couldn’t get my mind off her. She was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman: smart, funny, loyal, educated, and of course, beautiful. Basically, she was a hell of a lot of fun to be with, and I was falling for her more and more every day. It was getting to the point that I couldn’t hold back my feelings much longer.
Only problem was, I was scared I would get hurt if I revealed my true feelings to her. The last thing I wanted to do was have my heart broken again. It still hadn’t healed from my breakup with Monica. But no matter how nervous I was emotionally, I couldn’t wait to talk to Jasmine. I dialed her number.
“Hi, this is Jasmine. I’m not home right now, but if you leave your name, number, and a brief message, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
And just what did she mean by “as soon as possible”? I’d been leaving messages for her all day on both her home and cell phone, and she hadn’t returned one of my calls. I was trying not to take it personally, but it was bothering me that she was probably up in Roanoke at that jail, visiting Derrick. She always went up to see him on Saturdays. Now it was way past visiting hours, so I would’ve expected a call back.
With my luck, she’d probably decided to spend the night up there so she could go see him on Sunday, too. She’d done that a few weeks ago when Derrick laid some BS guilt trip on her about her not spending enough time with him. Shit, if he’d really wanted to spend time with her, he wouldn’t have got caught selling drugs in the first place. It was his own damn fault he was in jail, not hers. If she was my woman, she wouldn’t have to worry about me doing anything stupid that might separate us.
“But she’s not my woman,” I thought out loud. “And it’s not my place to be jealous.” Not yet, anyway.
Beeeeep!
“Hey, Jazz, this is Dylan. I just got back in town and I wanted to see if we were still on for church tomorrow. I’m gonna be up pretty late tonight, so don’t hesitate to call. Talk to you later. Peace.”
I was pretty disappointed when I hung up the phone. I’d really wanted to talk to her, even if it was only for a few minutes. These last few days away from her, I had just felt a little less complete. She was really becoming a part of my world, and I liked it that way.
I picked up my bags and headed upstairs. Despite the message I left on Jasmine’s machine, I was tired as hell and in need of some serious sleep. The six-hour drive from Atlanta had worn me out. The only thing that was going to stop me from getting a good eight hours’ worth of rest was if Jasmine called back. And it looked like the chances of that were about as good as my chances of hitting the lottery.
Well, when I walked in my bedroom, I decided I should run down to the store and play Lotto, ’cause I was either the luckiest man in the world, or dreaming. I turned on the light to behold the most beautiful sight. Jasmine was there! Lying in my bed with a smile a mile wide.
“Hey, handsome, was the traffic bad? I was expecting you hours ago,” she purred.
I never answered her question. Once I got past the shock of the fantasy right before my eyes, I asked a question of my own.
“Jasmine, what’re you doin’ here?”
She yawned and stretched her arms as she sat up. The covers slipped lower to reveal an incredibly sexy negligee. There was no way she was here for a chat with her buddy. That was quite evident by the thong she was wearing.
“Take a guess.” she laughed. “What do you think I’m doing here?”
I didn’t answer. She shook her head and grinned.
“It’s your birthday, isn’t it? I’m here to give you your birthday present.” She smiled wickedly, crawling catlike across the bed toward me. When she reached the edge, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me like I’d never been kissed before. It was even better than I’d imagined our first real kiss would be. Sure, we’d kissed before at Joe’s, but this was different. This was no heat-of the-moment kinda stuff that could happen between virtual strangers after a night at the clubs. This was a kiss that told me I was special to her. Our friendship had grown into something beautiful, and Jasmine’s kiss told me she felt it, too.
I placed my hands around her hips and pulled her as close to me as humanly possible. I’d been waiting for this day for over two months. I wanted to savor every second.
“Happy birthday,” she whispered seductively, her breath warm against my neck.
“Thanks,” I murmured between kisses, “but can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” She nibbled on my ear.
“Not that I want you to”-a few more kisses-“leave or anything…” She gave me a long, passionate kiss before I finished. “But how’d you get in here?”
“I used the key under your flowerpot.” Jasmine was kissing her way down my neck as she spoke. “Smartest thing you ever did was tell me where you hide your key.”
“Mmm, I’m starting to believe you.” I rolled my neck so that she could kiss the other side. She was making my nature rise. “So what brought all this on, anyway?” I knew why I wanted to be with Jasmine, but I wanted to hear her reasons for wanting to be with me. I hadn’t expected this. I figured I’d be the one to seduce her, not vice versa. I had to know what she was thinking.
“Well, I did a lot of soul-searching while you were out of town, and I realized that I don’t wanna lose you, Dylan. I just had to stop fighting what my heart had been telling me all along.”
“And what’s that?”
“That I want you, Dylan. And that I want to be with you.” She stopped kissing me and lifted her head so that we were eye to eye. “I have wanted you since the first night we were together.”
I stared at her, processing everything she’d just said. This seemed like such a quick change from the woman who could only talk about her love for her man in jail.