My Guardian Angel (17 page)

The Annoying One

Time had gone by. It had been weeks since I heard from Jason. My heart broke further as time passed. Each day, which went by, only made my world seem bleaker. I dove into writing but nothing came out except disturbing stories of loss and heartbreak. They were depressing and desolate, not pleasing Tiff or my editor. The press surrounding my next book launch was exhausting; it only added to the stress I was already feeling.

“You’ll need to come out and do another book signing,” Tiff remarked as she went over the latest work I had sent her.
“You realize why I came over?” she asked as she looked through her tablet.

“No
, not really,” I said rather monotonously.

“Kass, I’m worried about you.
This stuff…” She waved her hand over the tablet, “it’s good, but it’s so different than before. Maybe you should take a break? I think that after the next circuit is done I'm going to send you off somewhere.” She smiled and tried to encourage me.

“It’s nice of you to offer, but if you want me to get better you can do me a favor and ask your boss to lay off
,” I nearly growled at her.

“What?”
she asked, surprised.

Since the day he had dropped me off
, Jeremy was nonstop with his pursuit. It was borderline crazy. The first time, I received flowers and my heart soared thinking they were from Jason. But the moment I read the note I seriously grew angry. It was from Jeremy, saying he was thinking of me. He even signed the note from the Coney Island gentleman. The next few deliveries I didn’t bother to answer the door in hopes he would get the picture, but he didn’t. The onslaught of texts asking me for dinner was his next phase.

I was working on my latest book.
I found it to be the best I had written, but Tiff found it dark and bleak. I had an idea where I was going with it because my heart was clouded with everything that had happened. I couldn’t help but write like this. I stared at my work on the screen when my phone began to ring. It was the office Tiff worked at. Strange, they rarely called me.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Yes, is this Kassia Preston?” A sweet female voice came through from the other line.

“Yes
,” I answered skeptically.

“I'm calling to inform you there will be a dinner for all our clients tonight
,” she said ever so sweetly which made me want to reach through the phone and shake her. No normal woman spoke that way.

“Tonight?” I said doubtfully.

“Yes, it was a last minute thing, and well, it is a dinner in honor of our writers and their hard work.”

I let out a
n unhappy sigh at the idea, but schmoozing was important.

“Where and what time?”

I got off the phone
unhappily, but shrugged it off. I took a shower and got dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror. It wasn’t my sexiest look, but then again, I wasn’t in the sexy mood. I wanted to see Jason, I wanted his hands and his body on me. I kept telling myself it was wrong to want him after all that had happened between us.

I stepped outside and hailed a cab.
Within twenty minutes I was in front of the restaurant. I swallowed my anxieties and walked in.

A tall, leggy, perfectly prim
blonde came up to me. Her legs were about as tall as I was and her hair was silky and smooth. I sighed at the sight of her. My not so sexy attire made me feel even worse now. She wore a black little number that barely covered her butt. Damn, I should have worn something better than my black business suit.

“Hello?”
she said smiling and looking me over.

“Yes, I'm here with the literary agents’ party, Jents
,” I said. I looked around and tried to see if I could see Tiff anywhere.

“The who?”
she asked.

“The company Jents has a private party here.” I looked at her like the bleach in her hair
had gone to her brain.

“I'm sorry
. There is no one of that name here,” she refuted.

Shit! Maybe I had the wrong restaurant.
I took out my phone and called Tiff.

“Yeah! Where the hell is this stupid party you guys are holding?” I asked
, annoyed at my night already.

“What the hell are you talking about
, Kass?” she asked.

“I'm talking about the company party Jents is holding. The stupid secretary called me to tell me to come here
,” I almost snapped at her.

“Kass, if anything I would have called you.
There is no party tonight,” she said confused.

“What?” I fumed.

“Kassia?”
a male voice called out.

I turned to see who it was.

I was still holding my cell phone to my ear. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

“What is it?” Tiff nearly shouted at me.

“Your fuckin’ boss, that’s who,” I hissed and began to walk out. “I’ll call you later.” I proceeded to the doors, but he was hot on my heels.

“Kassia wait!”
he shouted. “Wait! God damn it.”

I waved for a cab, but I couldn’t see one coming.

“Look, I know what I did was wrong. I should have told you, but you wouldn’t answer any of my calls or texts
,” he implored.

“Doesn’t that give you a
fuckin’ clue?” I yelled out.

“Look, let’s have dinner and I’ll take you home.”

I looked at him like he was from outer space. The man was literally annoying and obviously
had a few screws loose. Too bad because he was cute.

I ignored his request
, waved down a cab and jumped in. I kept muttering swear words under my breath. I was seriously cursing the man out. I don’t understand men sometimes. Just because you’re interested doesn’t automatically mean I have to date you. When I finally reached home I laughed at the sight of my new guest sitting on my step waiting for me.

“What do you want?” I hissed.

“I want to date you
,” Jeremy said as he stood up and walked over to me.

I walked by him ignoring his request.

“Come on
, Kassia. Just one date, that’s all I'm asking,” he begged.

“No
, it’s not. You’re the type who pushes for more until he gets what he wants and I'm not it,” I said annoyed.

He reached
out, grabbed my arm, and pulled hard. All I felt was his lips pressed firmly on mine. I tried pushing, but he held on, his tongue seeking to get into my mouth. I opened only a little and then bit down hard on his lower lip. He pushed me away and held on to his lip.

“Fuck
,” he growled.

“I told you, I’m not interested.” My nerves got the better of me as I ran up the stairs and opened my door
, locking it quickly.

“
Fuckin’bastard,” I mumbled as I threw my things onto the couch. I cried that night over missing Jason.

Thankfully, all the Jeremy bombardment had stopped. Tiff told me he never mentioned anything, thank God. The last thing I needed now was another fucked up bump in my already bump-filled life.

I headed downstairs after my call from Tiff.
I had pulled an all-nighter, one of many. This latest book was so easy to write that the hours melted away as I sat down and typed. I made myself some tea and a quick breakfast. I was going to eat and head back upstairs to take a shower and pass out in bed.

A quiet knock came at my door.

“Please, dear God, not another bouquet of flowers,” I murmured under my breath as I made it to my door. I opened it and there on the ground was a manila envelope.

I picked it up
while looking around to see if I could see someone. It had been months since the last stalker incident. This couldn’t be the stalker again. I opened the envelope and saw pictures inside. I pulled them out; it was the night Jeremy had come to my house. The pictures were of our kiss. I began to shake and breathe heavily as I ran inside and picked up my phone. I called my brother. I needed him now. Jeremy had red ink all over his face and the words “you bitch” were scrawled over my head.

“Kass? What
’s wrong?” He must have heard my voice.

“Dar, I need you. Come
,” I didn’t realize I was shouting.

“Kass?” I heard at my entry way and there
stood Jason. “Kass, are you okay?” he asked in a panic as he closed the door behind him and ran to me. He looked at the pictures on the counter and took them in his hands. “What the fuck is this?” he roared.

“It’s nothing
…it’s just ...” I said as I tried to stop myself from shaking in fear. The last picture had the words “you’re dead” written all over me.

“It’s from your
fuckin’ stalker! How can you say it’s nothing?” Jason yelled out.

I began to cry
as this irrational fear came over. It wasn’t about the stupid stalker who had just threatened me. It was about Jason seeing these pictures.

“Jason, I can handle it.
I’ll call…”

He stopped me. “I already called the cops.” He took the pictures and began flipping through them.
I reached over and yanked them out of his hands.

“Kass
, it’s okay. I get it. I told you that you deserve better than me. Even though it hurts, I'm glad you found someone,” he said so calmly that it brought me over the edge.

“Deserve better?” I said bitterly.
“I don’t deserve better. I deserve to be happy,” I shouted. “What’s so wrong about wanting to be happy with the person you love?” I kept yelling. “Everything is so complicated now. You think you don’t deserve me? It’s me who doesn’t deserve you!” I pointed at myself, at me; my anger took over my body. I shook as I stood in front of him; his face contorted from being solemn to pure anger. “What could I offer you to replace all you’ve lost, Jason? What? All I have is the love for you that I can’t explain. God help me, but I love you so much, Jason. I want you. I want you in my life,” I pleaded.

Jason stood; his eyes, his damn grey eyes were fiercely cold and edgy. I had never seen them like that.

“You shouldn’t love me, Kass.
I can love you, but you should give your love to someone better,” he said dryly, his words laced with bitterness.

“Jason, please
,” I begged.

“I can love you and I will always love you because you are my only one and true salvation.” The tears were now threatening to fall as Jason spoke.
I reached out to touch him, but he pushed back. “You were right about us,” he murmured. “Our sick history has tainted what we feel for each other. You want to save me and I want to save you. There’s nothing here. No future, no nothing.” Hearing his words and the listlessness in his voice gutted me from the inside.

Never had I felt so helpless and lost.
The moment I saw him at my door I knew I could finally breathe. The feeling of a gradual vise around my soul had lifted the moment I saw him. What would it take to have him back into my life?

Darios came running in.
I thought for sure they would start fighting again, but it didn’t happen, Jason only walked out. The vise appeared again, making me wince in pain. Darios nodded at him as he came closer to me. I looked over my brother’s shoulder and saw Jason leave.

“What’s going on?” Darios took my arms into his and held me.

“You tell me?” I was still crying.

“First you.” He held on tighter
with a look of concern painted on his face.

“I got these pictures
,” I said softly, nudging towards the counter. Darios let go of me and looked at them.

“Who the fuck did this?”
he asked.

“I don’t know.” I began to cry anew.
“What? Wait? You’re not going to ask me who this is?” I asked, surprised at him. He smiled a little.

“He’s the asshole
, Jeremy. You bit him hard. That’s what makes you my little sister,” He winked, sitting down on the stool and taking out his phone.

“Dar?” I was confused.

“I saw you
, Kass. That night it was my turn. I was going to get out of the car, but you handled it well.” He smiled again like he had taught me to take care of myself.

“Your turn?”

He put the phone down and sighed.

“Yes, my turn. Seeing how you pushed me out of your life, Jason came to me and we talked it over. We’re taking turns watching the house and you,” He said pointedly.

“We had too. Jason was right. The stalker wasn’t just going to go away
,” he said in serious tone.

The cops came and took my statement and the photos.
Tiff was beside herself.

“This is getting to be crazy
,” she yelled, her sunny disposition now gone.

“They are going to leave two cops outside for her tonight, just in case the creep comes by again
,” Darios said, watching Tiff pace around my home.