Seeing Black (3 page)

She didn’t want Alexander to overhear, and since he
tended to hover, she’d certainly be heard if she called her father,
even if she whispered. She could try and channel him as she had a
few days ago, but she wasn’t sure if that had even worked, since
she received another
message
a few minutes ago. She decided
on a quick text.
Everyone texted nowadays, right?

Jillian: Rocco, I have a few
things to take care of. Will see you Sunday at your home. Please
text me your address, and please stop messaging me. I always keep
my word. I just need a few days to settle in.

Less than a minute later, her phone rang. She was
unfamiliar with the number, but it was a local Texas number, and
she was fairly certain it was Rocco.

“Hello,” she whispered.

“Why are you whispering, child?” It was Rocco.

“Listen, I’ll be there Sunday. I can’t talk now.”
She was crouching by her bed silently, hand over her lips, as if
that would stop the noise from traveling, praying Alexander
wouldn’t walk in.

“You can explain on Sunday. If you’re early, we can
enjoy breakfast together. However, I don’t understand what you mean
about messaging you.”

“You know exactly what I mean, Rocco. Don’t play
dumb.” She was whisper-shouting, and when she realized it, she took
a deep breath and continued, quieter. “I’ve been getting messages
from someone dressed like a doctor telling me that if I don’t come
to meet you soon he’ll hurt my friends. I don’t like threats.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would
never hurt anyone. I’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry.
I’ll see you Sunday. I’ll send you my address via text message.
Bye, Jillian.”

Without another word, Jillian hung up and took a
deep breath before she straightened up and turned around. But as
soon as she stood and turned, she crashed right into a solid
rock-hard wall and yelled out loud.

Umph
!

She clutched her chest as she grumbled, nervous as
to how much he’d heard. “Now that we’re together, I’d hoped you
would stop scaring me. You’re like a ninja, quiet and sneaky. My
God, one day I’m going to have a heart attack. I just know it.”

“Who was that?” Alexander asked, his jaw set tightly
and his arms crossed.

She was prepared to lie, but the look of concern
plastered on his face and the love seeping from his pores . . .
Well, she just couldn’t do it. “It was Rocco,” she blurted out.

“I figured as much, since you were whispering. I
didn’t hear what you two were talking about, but whatever it was, I
don’t care. I don’t want you to see him or talk to him,
Jillian.”

“I don’t like myself like this.” She waved her arms
around. “Crouching down, whispering, keeping secrets, all to avoid
you acting all crazy possessive.”

“It’s not possessive. It’s protective.”

“Possessive. Protective. It’s all the same thing. I
know you’re worried, and I appreciate your concern. I really do.
One of the reasons I love you so much is because of you’re
crazy-protectiveness. It reminds me that I’m not alone anymore, but
I’m still the same Jillian, the independent woman who has to be
able to make her own decisions. You’re just going to have to trust
my judgment from time to time.” She reached forward and placed her
palms on his chest. “He’s my father. I want to hear him out. I’d
like to get to know him. I made plans to have breakfast with him on
Sunday.”

“Fine, we’ll go Sunday, but—”

“No, no, no.
We,
” she moved her fingers back
and forth between them, “will not be going to breakfast.
I
will be going to breakfast. Alone. Listen, Xander. I appreciate
your concern. I really do. I’ve been on my own for a long time. I
can’t be smothered, and you love to smother. It’s your thing.” She
air-quoted the word
thing
. “I want to understand more about
myself, and he’s the only one who can help me. I would like to go
on my own. Please. I’ll give you the address so that you know where
I’ll be. I will even give myself a time limit.” She held out three
fingers. “Three hours. If I’m not back within three hours, you can
call the police or break down the door—whatever a caveman does to
get his woman back.” She smiled, trying to lighten the tension.

“I like that. My woman. I like when you say that.
You are my woman. Fucking finally!”

Jill laughed. “Seriously? Is that all you got out of
my entire little speech?”

“No, I also
got
that you need some
independence, so fine, I’ll lay off, but you have two hours. Okay?”
He held out two fingers. “If you’re gonna be longer than that,
you’ll call me?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t like this, Jill.”

“I know you don’t, but thank you for understanding,
Xander.” She reached up and pulled his head down to meet her lips
and planted a soft, gentle open-mouthed kiss on his lips. It
quickly turned insane and frenzied, and he seemed to forget all
about Rocco.

Any man whose
errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.

-Oppenheimer

The week flew by, and Saturday finally arrived. It
humored Jill to see Heather so frazzled.

“So what’s the plan? How are you gonna get the boys
here tonight?” Heather asked.

“I told them to come over.”

Incredulously, Heather asked, “That’s it? Just come
over?”

“Yep, that’s it. I said I was going to order food
and rent some movies. That was all it took.”

“Hmm? Usually I have to plot and scheme for weeks.
The obvious never occurred to me.”

Jill laughed. The obvious was the only thing that
had occurred to her. “I’ve never thrown a party. Will people
come?”

“Oh, hon’, people will come. Trust me. The boys have
a following.”

“I’m sure they do.” Jill rolled her eyes. Her twins
were hot. She knew it and so did everyone else.

“Oh stop fussing. He only has eyes for you. Go wash
that green right off your face, sugar. Then you can help me hang
these streamers.” Heather held some crepe paper in her hand.

“I am not jealous.” Jill tore the crepe paper out of
Heather’s hand. “Give me that.”

“Ouch! Sure you’re not.” Heather shook the hand that
was just assaulted by Jill’s non-jealous fit. Their scowls were
interrupted by a knock. Heather peaked through the window.

“Shit. It’s the boys! Hide the bags of decorations.
Actually, get those guys out of here. They’ll know something’s up,”
Heather said, frantically.

“Wow, look at you—cursing and everything.” Jill
mocked Heather while hiding whatever she could grab.

Jill stepped towards the door and opened it just
enough to stick her head out, fidgety.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” She tightened her grip
around the door when Oliver took a step forward. Her foot tapped
behind the door, something she did when she was nervous.

“You’re not going to let us in?”

“Uh, er, Heather’s getting dressed.” She was a
terrible liar; this she knew. She became nervous, stammered, and
began to sweat. The whole enchilada.

“In the living room? Why would she be getting
dressed in the living room?” Alexander asked.

Why would Heather be getting dressed in the living
room? Um, good question. Change of subject. Change of subject.
Change of . . . “Wh—why are you guys here?” She cleared her throat.
Her grip tightened on the door.

“We were going to grab some Chinese food for lunch,
and Alexander wanted to come pick you up. Apparently, he can’t eat
without you now. Suddenly, you’re attached at the hip. It’s a
little disturbing, actually.”

From the other side of the door, Heather yelled.
“Yes! I agree. It’s like an overdose of chocolate cake.” Jill heard
a thump behind her and an “Ow!” Keeping her grip tight on the door,
she looked back to see Heather tangled in crepe paper and clutching
her elbow in pain. Jill’s eyes opened, silently questioning
Heather. Heather whispered. “Ouch! I hit myself on my funny bone.
Not freakin’ funny! Ow!” She whisper-shouted while continuing to
fight with the crepe paper while holding her elbow and trying to
slip on her shoes.

“What’s up with the chocolate-cake references? She
keeps saying that.” Alexander asked.

“Don’t mind her. She’s just jealous. Can’t stand to
see you and me kissing.” Jill reached forward to kiss Alexander
chastely on the lips, still gripping the door. Even she could feel
her own lips tremble. It was an awkward kiss. “Come on. Let’s go
eat. Heather, you coming?” Jill yelled behind her.

“Shoot. Ouch. Y-yeah. I am.” Heather stepped
outside, winded, flushed, and still nursing her elbow. She slammed
the door shut behind her, straightened her backbone, and walked
out. She took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

“You two are acting weird. Weirder than usual.
You’re out of breath.” Oliver pointed to Heather while Alexander
grabbed Jill’s hand and began to walk towards the car.

“Yeah, just getting dressed. Anyhoo, Chinese? Yum.”
Heather! Master of changing the subject.

Jill took her keys out of her pocket. “I’ll drive.”
Alexander immediately snatched the keys from Jill’s hand. “Hey.
Give me that back. It’s my car. I drive.”

“I want us all to be able to eat today, and with
your driving, we’ll never get there,” Alexander smirked.

“Well, I’d rather get there in one piece than have
an accident with you driving and never arrive at all.” Jill had her
hands on her waist as her leg tapped the floor.
Tap. Tap.
Tap.

“God, one night—just one night without
fighting—that’s all I ask,” Oliver said, snatching the keys out of
Alexander’s hands.

“We’re not fighting, brother. We’re just having a
difference of opinion.” As he said that, Alexander plopped his arm
around Jill’s shoulder and leaned in and gave her a loud wet kiss
on the cheek. Jill rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling.

“I’d thought the bickering would have stopped once
you two finally hooked up.”

“Y’all are crazy. Give me those keys. I’m driving,”
Heather said as she yanked the keys from Oliver’s hand and skipped
merrily towards the car, leaving the three of them at a loss for
words. She looked like a teenager instead of a twenty-five-year-old
woman with her long hair slicked back into a perfect ponytail,
wearing sneakers, shorts, and an old retro-looking tight t-shirt
that said “
Goonies
” on it.

“Shotgun!” Jill yelled and ran towards the car.

“No way, babe. Oliver and I are too big to both sit
in the back seat of this tiny clown car. There’s no way we’re going
to fit.”

“Tough,” Jill replied.

“I’d offer my car, but my Mini is just mini. Y’all
sure as heck won’t fit,” Heather said as she slid into the driver’s
seat of Jill’s car.

“Seriously, Jill, Alexander’s right. We don’t fit.
One of us barely fits. Two? No way. We’re over six feet tall. This
is a two-door hatchback. Forget it. Xander and I will meet you
there. We’ll take his bike.”

“No. No. I hate that machine. The two of you barely
fit on that bike either. One of you just go and sit in the front
with Heather. You guys are guiltying me into sitting in the back
seat. That’s low even for you two.” Jill pouted, pulled down the
passenger seat, and made her way to the back.”

“I don’t think guiltying is a word.” Alexander said
with a chuckle.

“You know what I mean.”

Oliver and Alexander did rock, paper, scissors, and
Oliver won. Seconds later, Alexander was squishing his way next to
Jill in the back seat.

“I can’t believe you rock-paper-scissored for it.
You should
want
to sit back here with me. You’re my
boyfriend for Christ’s sake.”

“I love you, babe, but the front seat wins every
time.”

Jill scoffed incredulously. “Unbelievable.”

“Thank God it’s around the corner. This car is so
small. Babe, I hate your car. You have enough money from your trust
fund to buy a decent car. How can you stand it?”

“Don’t talk about my car. I like it. It’s small,
yes, but I don’t normally have so many people in here. It’s a cute
car. I love it. Don’t listen to them.” Jill caressed the headrest
in front of her as if she were talking to another person.
Meanwhile, Alexander was trying to somehow bend his legs to fit
inside. Jill was practically sitting on Alexander’s lap. She stuck
out her tongue at him.
Very mature.

“Be careful with that tongue. You don’t know when
someone will just grab it.” He winked at her, which caused her
pulse to race and thoughts of her tongue on his body to run through
her mind. There wasn’t much conversation on the way to the
restaurant. She was squished in the backseat of her car, leaning
her back against Alexander. Less than five minutes later, Heather
was parking at the restaurant. Jill could feel the warmth of
Alexander’s breath on her neck and his racing heart on her back. It
seemed as if the backseat would become their favorite mode of
transportation from now on.

“Red, that might have just been the best five
minutes of my life. You’re killing me. Look.” He pointed to the
bulge in his pants. She smiled at him in a taunting manner but
didn’t let him know she felt the same way.

“And you wanted to sit in the front? I wonder if the
front seat would have had the same effect,” Jill teased.

“Definitely not.”

At the restaurant, they ordered a variety of
different dishes, all picking from one another’s plates, talking
and laughing.

“So what’s
Goonies
?” Oliver asked, pointing a
chopstick at Heather’s shirt.

Heather almost choked on her dim sum. “You’re
kidding me, right?”

“Kidding you? No, I don’t know what it is. Do you?”
Oliver asked, looking at his brother and Jill, both of whom
shrugged their shoulders.