Chapter 14 is up…. Shawn was already suspicious of Riana and Marcus, but now the pieces are coming together! And Marcus and Dominique share a past. Of course, what happened between them will not be revealed until Book 3 🙂
Cheryl glanced at Chris through the window, not sure if she should get out of the car.
“You want me to handle him?” Devin asked.
“No, I’ll get out.” she said.
Chris backed away as she opened the door. He was still giving her an angry look, which made her flinched.
“What the hell are you doing? Were you kissing him?”
“Let me explain?”
“I have to hear this.” he said as he folded his arms across his chest.
“It’s not what it looks like. We were talking and…”
“And you two kissed. I’m not blind, Cheryl! I asked you if something was going on between you two, and you lied in my face and said there wasn’t.”
“Because it not!”
“Why don’t you leave her alone?” Devin asked while walking over to the two.
“You better back the hell up before I knock your ass out.” Chris fumed.
“Listen, you don’t need to be violent. We can talk about this like the adults that we are.”
“Shut the hell up.” Chris said.
“Okay, you two, stop! Devin, please go so I can talk to Chris.”
“You sure, I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
“She said leave, so go.” Chris said.
Devin nodded and went to the passenger seat. He grabbed Cheryl’s purse and handed it to her.
“You might need this.” he said. He glanced at Chris before going to the driver’s side.
Once he was gone, Cheryl pulled Chris to her apartment and closed the door.
“You’re being a jerk right now.”
“Are you serious? I catch you, my girlfriend, in a car with another guy kissing him and I’m being the jerk?”
“If you let me explain…”
“There’s nothing to explain, Cheryl. It was crystal clear what I saw. So I guess you two were not working on your A&P assignment?” he asked while staring at her outfit.
“We were, but Devin wanted to go out to dinner, so we went to the Belmont. His brother is the owner.”
“And that supposed to make me feel better? You were kissing another man!”
“It was just a kiss. It’s not like I was fucking him!”
“And that supposed to make it okay. What if I was the one kissing some female? You wouldn’t be this nonchalant about it. I understand you’re stressed out because you’ve been working nonstop and now the semester started, but this is not the way to relieve it.”
“I’m fine, Chris.”
He shook his head and headed to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“We both need some time to think.” he said.
Before Cheryl could say anything else, Chris slammed the door, which made her jump.
She sighed. She knew what happened was messed up, so she doesn’t blame Chris for being upset. She has to find some way to fix her relationship.
She looked inside her purse and noticed the bag of pills Devin given her. She smiled, knowing that was what she needed right now to make the feelings she had go away.
*** A couple of days have passed and everyone was getting used to their class schedule. Monica and Riana were inside the student lounge getting coffee when they decided to find a seat. Once they did, Monica began to talk.
“How are your classes going?”
“It’s okay. I have a bunch of easy courses this semester, so I can’t complain.”
“Why does everyone have the easy schedule while I picked the hard one?” she asked and sipped her coffee.
“How are you and Donnell?”
“We’re okay. We had a talk about him being too protective, which he slowly understood.”
“What about living with him? Didn’t you have some reservations regarding that?”
“I did. I still do, but I didn’t tell him.”
“Monica.”
“What? I already dropped a bomb on him about being overprotective; why should I fueled the fire some more and tell him I don’t want to live with him?”
“Because you should be honest with him.”
“I will, once the time is right.”
Riana sighed. She realized she shouldn’t be giving Monica advice when she was doing the exact same thing.
“Let’s move on to another topic. Britney been kind of worried about you lately.”
Riana looked up from her cup and stared at Monica.
“About what?”
“About you and Marcus. She has some silly notion that you two have something going on.”
“Why would she think that?” Riana hesitantly asked.
“I don’t know. I guess after what happened at your apartment, you two have been acting weird lately. I haven’t noticed it, but I guess she sort of have.”
Riana put her cup down on the table and sighed again.
Monica stared at Riana.
“Please do not tell me there’s something going on between you two?”
“I’m didn’t say anything.”
“But your face is showing me that there is. Ri, haven’t you learned anything after what happened with you, Britney, and Isaac? “
“Believe me, I wasn’t trying to go that road, but it happened.”
“Did you two sleep together?”
“No; not yet.”
“What you mean not yet. That should have been a damn no, not a possibility.”
“I know. Before we came back to campus, Shawn, Marcus, Britney, and I have spent a lot of time together. I’ve gotten to know him some, but of course I still don’t know him; but something in me wants to. Monica, I think I might have genuine feelings for him.”
Monica stared at Riana as if she had lost her mind.
“That’s your hormones talking. You want to jump his bones. Listen, I’m the last person to judge or give you advice, but you should re-analyze your feelings for both Marcus and Shawn, which you completely forgot about.”
“No, I haven’t. I love Shawn and I want to be with him, but there’s something about Marcus that makes me feel a certain type of way. I can’t describe it.”
“Like I said, you want to jump his bones. Just be careful, that’s all. Shawn is a really great guy and if he ever found out about this, it will crush him.”
Riana sighed as a tear fell down her cheek. She doesn’t know how much more crying she can do. She needed to get her life back in order, even if it was letting her feelings for Marcus go.
She looked up, seeing he walk inside the lounge. He looked at her, which made her heart beat at a rapid speed.
Monica looked from Marcus to Riana and shook her head.
“Like I said, I can’t judge. Good luck.” she said, getting up from her seat. She walked to the door and said hi to Marcus before he went to Riana.
“Hey.”
“Hi. What are you doing here?”
“I figured you would be somewhere on campus. I know we haven’t spoken since what happened at the bowling alley and I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m okay. Thanks for checking on me.”
“Ri, I really do care about you. It’s not purely physical between us. I really wished we would have met under better circumstances.”
“Marcus, so much has happened in a short period of time. One minute, I was in love with your brother, and now, I don’t know where my feelings are.”
“I’m really sorry I put you in this position. That was never my intention.”
“I know, and it’s not your fault. Shawn did ask what happened that night, though.”
Marcus glanced at Riana while she folded her hands on the table.
“What did he asked?”
“Why we were gone at the same time and the amount of time we took. That’s something we can’t do again.”
“Ri…”
“Just talking right now is risky. People are already suspicious of us. If the wrong person catches us…”
“You mean, Dominique? Trust me, she’s not a threat.”
“You know her?”
“Let’s just say there was a past between us.”
“Does Shawn know?”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“How do you know each other?”
“That’s something I rather not get into. As long as she doesn’t acknowledge it, then I won’t either.”
“Okay.”
“But you are right about being seen together; we shouldn’t be. But we do need to talk.”
“I don’t think we should.”
“Just one last time so we can sort out whatever feelings we have for each other. Whether it’s real or just sexual, there’s something there, so we both need to figure out what it is.”
Riana sighed.
“Okay.”
“Meet me back at my place later. Shawn is working the 6 o’clock news tonight, so he won’t be there.”
“I know; he texted me earlier.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.” Marcus said. He got up from his chair and headed to the door.
Riana watched him leave, wondering if she should meet up with him later. If she does, she hoped she could control herself.
*** Shawn sat in the control booth looking at the technician type in the news script on the teleprompter. Not only was he going to be working during the mid-day news, but he was going to see how things operate during the 6 o’clock news as well. For him, this was pretty exciting to witness, but for some reason, he couldn’t enjoy it.
Even since the night at the bowling alley, he started to become suspicious of his girlfriend and brother. He wasn’t trying to be, but there were some things that didn’t add up with him, especially the amount of time the two were gone. His friends didn’t notice it, but he surely did.
Dominique walked into the booth and stared at Shawn.
“Are you okay?”
He stared at her and gave a tiny smile.
“Yeah; just thinking about something.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“No, but thanks.”
“Are you thinking about Riana?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“You just have a worried look on your face.”
“I’m probably just overreacting with things, but ever since the night we went bowling, I’ve been having this bad feeling about her and my brother.”
Dominique stared at him, wondering if she should tell him what she saw in the restroom.
“Whatever thoughts you may have is probably nothing. I’m pretty sure nothing is going on.”
“You think it’s my imagination working overtime?”
“Maybe, but you never know. Sometimes, a person’s intuition can be accurate. Basically, what I’m saying is follow your instincts. If something is going on, you need to find out before it escalates into something worse.”
Shawn nodded while Dominique sat down in the seat beside him. She tried to reach over him to grab a pen when he was doing the same. Their hands touched, which made him a little uncomfortable.
“Sorry.” he said and moved his hand away.
“It’s okay.” she said while staring at him.
Shawn continued to stare at her when Dominique kissed him. As soon as her lips touched his, he quickly pushed her away.
“Dominique, I already made myself clear with you…”
“Yes, you did, but there’s something I have to tell you.”
“There’s nothing you need to tell me.”
“It’s about Riana and your brother. You’re right to be suspicious.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw them together at the bowling alley. They were making out in the women’s restroom. Of course they didn’t see me because I was in one of the stalls.”
Shawn couldn’t believe she just said that. He wanted to think she was lying, but things really were different between them lately. He thought maybe if he gave hints to Riana that she would eventually say something, but she hasn’t given any indication if anything was wrong.
He stared at her when Steve walked into the booth. He looked at the two, wondering if he walked in on something.
“Is everything okay?”
Shawn sighed and picked up his backpack.
“Is it okay if I left early? I’m suddenly not feeling well.”
“Sure; you can make up your hours another day.”
“Thanks.” he said.
He glanced at Dominique again before going to the door. He needed to talk to both Riana and Marcus to find out if what she said was true.
Chapter 15 may be posted a little sooner than Wednesday. I’ll let you all know if it will be on the blog soon!
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