Blow Page 6

  “I’m letting you know I don’t play around, okay? And if you want to work for it, it won’t be easy,” I stated firmly before crossing my arms. “I’m not that type of woman.”

  He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist as I unlocked my room door. “Let's start that whole 'working for it' right now because I need to start fulfilling your needs first before mine.”

  My heartbeat picked up at those words and he backed me up until the back of my knees hit the bed.

  I was nervous a bit, because I wasn't fully sure about the whole Jasmine thing. I had no solid proof about what he said, and if this were any other guy, I would've pressed all the information out of him.

  The sound of the door slamming shut cleared every single thought in my head and I watched him walk over to me with a smirk clear on his face.

  “Don't worry, Cashmere. Just sit back and relax. Let me do something for you.”

  So I did. And I came. Twice.

  ten: counter

  I sat in one of my general elective classes with Diego, trying to take notes for my upcoming paper when he poked me with the tip of his pen.

  “What?” I whispered harshly, not taking my eyes off my paper. I was not about to fail my next assignment because he wanted to have a chit chat. The lecture hall was relatively full, but the number in the back where we sat was sparse. It was a little hard to hear the professor, but I managed to strain my ears enough… until he tapped me again.

  Diego leaned closer to me this time before he spoke. “I heard you and Zeus made up.”

  I scribbled away on my notebook. “Can we talk about this later please? I'm trying to pass.”

  He sighed loudly, grabbing the attention of some around him. “When is later?”

  My free hand came up to pinch the bridge of my nose out of annoyance. He was so irritating today for absolutely not reason. “Diego Morales, if you don't shut the hell up.”

  “Oh no,” he said, feigning a scared voice. “Whatever will you do?”

  I slammed my pen down, now exasperated. “Why aren't you taking notes? Don't you care to get a good grade in this class?”

  He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “The whole lecture and PowerPoint will be put online in two hours and plus, I'm good at writing papers regardless. I'm a journalism major.”

  “Wait, really?” I asked, stopping mid-write to turn my attention towards him. “I’m a journalism major, too. How come I'm just finding this out about you?”

  He simply shrugged and turned back towards the front of the room. “You never asked. We mainly just talk about you.”

  I blinked in shock, not expecting him to say something like that. Did we really only ever talk about me to the point where I didn't even stop and ask him about his own problems?

  “I'm so sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I've been so consumed with myself lately, I think I'm the only person who matters sometimes.”

  He sent me a smile, and that gesture reassured me that we were going to be okay. “It's cool. I'm not really someone who likes to share anyway.”

  “Share info or something else?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

  When I finished asking the question, Diego turned and gazed up at me through his eyelashes. His eyes were dark, but I could still feel the heat of his gaze boring into my own eyes.

  “I don't like to share anything I know is mine.”

  With Diego's words still engraved into my head, I walked over to meet Isra over at the coffee shop near the library.

  I felt lightheaded after everything that just happened. How was one supposed to stay calm after a gorgeous man who is basically your best friend tells you something that?

  You don't stay calm. You freak the hell out.

  “I got your SOS text,” Isra said as soon as she spotted me at the door. “I had to run from the clinic here to grab a handful of pregnancy tests, just in case—”

  “Izzy!” I cut her off, because the students seated at the table next to us shot us odd glances and some even shook their heads. “Keep your voice down!”

  I sighed and rubbed my temples. “I'm not pregnant, you dummy. This was a different type of SOS text.”

  “Oh, thank god,” she said, her voice filled with relief as she sat down and ran a hand through her hair. “What is it then? I’m about to be late, I've got a class in twenty minutes.”

  “I think Diego likes me,” I blurted, shaking my head and then looking up to see Izzy's reaction.

  She blinked twice. And then she laughed.

  “That's it?” She choked out through her laughter. “I thought it was something more important for that SOS text. Cash, it’s not a secret that you're really pretty. I would've been shocked if Diego didn't start liking you.”

  My face became hot. “Shut up. You dragged it.”

  “I'm honestly not. Cash, you know you're cute and you don't need to hear it from me for reassurance.”

  “But that doesn't tell me what I'm supposed to do about Diego,” I reminded her while reaching across the table and stealing her muffin. “He's Zeus' best friend.”

  “I didn't say fuck him. All you have to do is wait it out and see what happens. Let him make the first move.”

  I was sitting in the campus bookstore during my shift when Zeus and Jasmine walked in, seemingly in a heated argument.

  Immediately, I jumped off my stool and crouched behind the counter, mostly to hear what was going on.

  “You can't just do this to me!” Jasmine screeched, indignation clear in her voice. “My father has been planning this for months, and you're just gonna screw it up for some bitch?”

  “Don't call her a fucking bitch,” he seethed. I could hear the frustration in his tone.

  I knew that Zeus was referring to me, so I decided to make myself known since there was no real reason for me to be eavesdropping. Popping up from behind the counter, I put the biggest smile on my face to greet them.

  “Welcome!” I loudly exclaimed to grab their attention, which made them both jump. “Did you find anything you like today?”

  Zeus looked up at me in bewilderment, and that's when I finally got a good glance at his face. He had deep bags under his eyes and his usually tan skin was pale and looked almost translucent under the fluorescent lights. It was as if he carried the weight of the world of his shoulders akin to Atlas.

  “What are you doing here?” Jasmine asked me snootily, which I didn’t care about because I was concerned for Zeus' well-being.

  “I obviously work here. Maybe the fact that I'm behind the register and wearing a name tag gives it away.” I tried to lessen the sarcasm when I turned to him. “Are you alright, Zeus? You don't look too good.”

  “He's fine,” Jasmine answered for him, and my hands tightened into fists.

  Breathe, Cash. Breathe.

  “Well, excuse me,” I spat, my tone very leveled. “But you're not Zeus. I didn't ask you.”

  “Anyway,” I dismissed her, making a big show to turn back to him. “Are you?”

  “Yeah,” he replied with a sigh before he rubbed his eyes. “I just have a cold and we've been practicing all week outside in the snow, so that doesn't really help.”

  “Oh.” Then I gestured to Jasmine. “Why is she with you?”

  “None of your damn—” she started to say, but he cut her off.

  “Shut up,” he simply said, and she closed her mouth to my surprise. “She's been following me here since I got out of practice to talk about something I didn't want to.”

  “Which was?”

  He shook his head and downcast his eyes. “I'll tell you later.”

  But I knew that by his body language, his “tell you later” actually meant “you'll never know”. And so did Jasmine by the tiny smirk on her lips as he said it.

  I forced a smile on before saying, “well, I guess I'll see you around.”

  “Wait, no. I wanted to get lunch with you since I know you have a break right now,” he told me. “Do you have time?”

  I
glanced at Jasmine, who was fuming, and then back at Zeus. “Sure, I have time.”

  Grabbing my purse and my set of keys, I locked up the register and I made sure no one was lurking in the store before we all moved towards the door. When I locked it, I turned towards him and wrapped my arm around his.

  “Bye, Jazzy,” I sing-songed, making sure to wave at her to infuriate her even more.

  It did.

  eleven: progress

  “So…” I trailed off, subtly slipping out of Zeus' grasp as we walked across campus. “What was up with all that?”

  He sighed, but I wasn't sure if it was because of my question or the fact that I moved away from his hold. “It's the stupid annual football charity dinner. Every year I go with Jasmine, and now she's pissed because I don't want to go with her.”

  “Oh,” I said in understanding. “And let me guess, you told her you wanted to go with me instead.”

  He nodded, and I couldn't help but smile at his recent actions in regard to me. I still wasn't buying it completely, but it was a step in the right direction.

  “I appreciate that, but wouldn't it look bad?” I asked, playing with my hands as we approached the parking lot. “I want so badly to be selfish and say 'yay! Fuck Jasmine, blah blah.' But this is your football career we're talking about.”

  Before responding, he unlocked his truck and let me slide in first before sitting and looking me in the eye. “Are you sure? I have no problem taking you with me.”

  I shook my head and leaned over so I could softly drag my finger across his jawline and pull him closer. “Baby, if I had a problem, I'd let you know for sure.”

  He smirked, before grabbing my wrist and yanking me into his lap, which made me yelp. “'Baby'?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and glanced around the car trying to seem innocent. “What would you rather have me call you?”

  He stared at me, blinked, then stared at me some more. I felt at least half a minute go by before he said something.

  “Do you even know what you do to me?” He murmured, while twirling a strand of my hair in his hands.

  Wow. All I need to get a proclamation of love from him was to call him baby. Go figure.

  “I don’t know what with you,” he admitted. “I thought I’d figure it out, but honestly I find myself drawn to you for reasons that are unbeknownst to me. I'm an asshole—I know that—but I don't want to be one anymore. Well, at least not to you.”

  I said nothing. I just grabbed the sides of his face and brought his lips to my own.

  We didn't rush, we didn't have to. We had nowhere to be, so he took his time. I could feel the small but heated patterns he was tracing on my upper thigh, I could feel the slight stubble from his morning shave graze my chin.

  He broke away from me and just stared into my eyes. I could see his pupils dilate, which was entrancing and sultry all on its own.

  Feeling a sudden burst of adrenaline and confidence, I shifted myself and shoved his body flat against the car seats.

  “What are you…” his voice trailed off as I moved my hands towards the zipper of his jeans.

  “Let me do something for you now,” I whispered lowly, moving one finger over the zipper teasingly.

  “God, you love toying with me, don't you?” He managed to stammer out, before throwing his head back.

  “Don't ever forget it,” I said, before lowering my head down.

  “I've never been in here before,” I said, sitting down next to Zeus in the booth. “I work for the newspaper for Christ's sake. I'm supposed to know about shit like this.”

  We were in an underground dining hall that was supposed to accommodate students who were learning a language, which according to the theme of the hall, was Arabic.

  “Marhabaan,” a waiter walked up to our table with a bright smile. “Hal li 'an alnnizam alkhass bik?”

  I stared at her as if she had two heads. “Wait, deadass? Y'all really have to say everything in Arabic?”

  She nodded, and then waited expectantly.

  “Marhabaan,” Zeus replied, which surprised the hell out of me. “Nahn lasna mustaeiddin baed, bde lahazat.”

  When she left, I turned to Zeus in shock. “You speak Arabic?”

  “Yeah, and I speak Spanish and Punjabi, too,” he said as if it was no big deal. “It’s my native language.”

  “Impressive,” I complimented, nodding at him. “Well, since you come here more than I do, tell me what's good. And I love spicy food too, if that helps.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me and bent close to my ear as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Oh really? Don't worry then, I know just the thing that's make you feel the burn everywhere, not just in your mouth.”

  Oh lord. I'm pretty sure I didn't need whatever food he was talking about to get me feeling hot all over.

  “Well, bring it,” I challenged before sitting up properly again when the girl walked back.

  I never backed down from a challenge.

  The waitress came back, and I could barely keep up with the exchange between the both of them as he ordered for both of us. The only other language I could understand outside of English was Amharic, and they were not even remotely alike.

  “Hey.” I glanced up to see him already looking at me as he played with the curls atop my head. “You sure you’re good with not going with me to the gala?”

  Nodding, I rested into the crook of his neck and sighed. “Yeah, I’m good. Honestly. It’s for charity, right? Go be the charitable money maker star player you’re already used to being.”

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s annoying how we have to go to shit like that. I hate having to be the face of North Atlantic when all I want to do is play football. The star player life is really more Diego’s speed than mine.”

  That was odd. Diego didn’t really peg me as someone like that, but who was I to say otherwise? Zeus was his best friend after all.

  “Here you go,” the waitress said in English as she placed two steaming plates of aromatic food in front of us. “Enjoy!”

  Zeus calmly took a bite and gestured for me to do the same. “Your turn, Cashmere.”

  I smiled at him before raising a forkful to my lips. As I was taking a bite, the pungent smell of pepper hit my nostrils and I chewed slowly before the spice slowly crept up on me.

  Keeping the smile on my face to not look weak in front of him, I swallowed my bite and tried to keep eye contact with him as his warm, hazel eyes looked back at me with mirth. I coughed and started panting, and Zeus let out a laugh as he picked the cup up from next to me.

  “What the fuck?!” I cried, tears streaming down my face as I started fanning myself. “This is too much!”

  It felt like the pits of hell decided to reside in my mouth. I felt as if I couldn't breathe.

  “What did I tell you?” He said condescendingly, pouring more water into my glass from the pitcher before continuing to eat his food calmly. How the hell was he not dying right now?

  I could feel beads of sweat forming at my hairline and I continued to fan at myself desperately, trying to ease my suffering. Holy shit, I’ve never had anything as spicy as what I just consumed! I thought my Habesha taste buds had a chance fucking with him.

  After calming down, my tongue was numb. “Oh my god. Never again am I trusting you with my taste buds again. I hate you.”

  Zeus chuckled again before leaning down to steal a quick kiss from me. It made my stomach flip, but that could’ve been from the hellish food I just consumed. “Babe, you and me both know that you could never really hate me.”

  “Oh, go fuck yourself,” I responded, which made him laugh even more. He kept smiling at me and I eventually rolled my eyes before breaking my gaze.

  “You know, this is the first time I've felt happy in a while,” he told me, after the waitress took our plates away.

  I rolled my eyes, knowing it was one of his lines. “Oh please. How many times have you said that to one of your old works?”

  He shrugged hi
s shoulders. “A lot. But I can say that you're the first one that I've said that to… and meant it.”

  twelve: believe

  An incessant banging woke me up from my sleep in the middle of the night.

  At first, I covered my head with my pillow and ignored it, because I knew Isra told me she was going to a party and planned to sleep over at her friend's dorm after. It was probably someone who had the wrong room.

  But when the loud knocking on my metal dormitory door wouldn't stop, I groaned and snatched the covers off my body. Who the hell would be hammering on my door at two in the fucking morning?

  I swung the door open, ready to give hell to whoever was on the other side of the door. Turns out, it was Zeus, in a nicely fitted suit, messy hair—as if he's been running his hands through it all night— and a bottle of champagne in his hand. “Care for a late night stroll?”

  “You woke me up out my sleep for this bullshit?” I snapped, before looking around the floor for my bonnet that mysteriously fell off my head. “Go away.”

  He rolled his eyes and stood his ground. “Just come out and stop being difficult. I’m trying to make a romantic gesture here.”

  Sighing, I walked away from the door and left it open as I crawled into my bed, not wanting to deal with him at such a later hour. He could stay or go if he wanted, I needed sleep. Romantic gestures be damned, I was tired.

  I heard the door close and I thought he was gone until I heard rustling in the dark. Switching on the nightstand light, I was surprised to see Zeus stripping out of his suit jacket and loosening his tie completely. He kicked out of his shoes and placed them over to the side, along with the champagne bottle.

  “What are you doing?” I murmured, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “We're going to sleep,” he said, as if it was a no-brainer. “What else would we be doing?”

  He then removed his pants, which left him only in his boxers, and then proceeded to climb into my small bed. I tried to shift over to make room for him, but he yanked my body tightly to his and wrapped his arm around my waist.