"What the fuck even is his favorite color?" I groan to myself looking through my closet. "Do people that have gangs even have shit like that, favorite colors?"
I can't stand the fact this man threatened me and told me he loved me all in the same note.
Oh, wait. I can't call it a threat. No, he's going to say that it's a 'polite warning'"
Maybe I should wear red. He's familiar with blood and whatnot I'm sure he's grown to love the color by now.
How did he even manage to get a reservation at Ashton's when it's so ridiculously hard to even move up the waitlist.
One of my coworkers had talked about having an event there and they have yet to hear back from them about whether or not they could book the place.
So how did Jesse, no longer incarcerated, Duran snag a spot at such an exclusive restaurant.
I looked over at the clock on top of my vanity to see it was 6:30. I had thirty minutes exactly to get there before Jesse started throwing a fit of some kind and I still didn't even know what to freaking wear.
I hear a loud knock on my door and I'm stunned.
He wouldn't come here to pick me up would he because he never said anything about that? I'm literally only wearing my bra and underwear.
I stand in shock for a few more seconds before more knocks violently hit my door over and over again. The person on the other side refusing to stop for some reason.
Paola, Justine, Ryan, and Cyrus were off doing their own things together so I was by myself for tonight. Or at least I was supposed to be until Jesse decided to leave hundreds of flowers around my office that I didn't know what to do with so I started giving them out to anyone I saw.
Leslie took some along with some of my other co-workers. I was waiting for the rest to die or something so I could throw them out. I rush out of my room and head straight to Paola's as the knocks continued. I go inside her room and grab her robe and put it on, quickly tying the ropes around my waist to conceal my partially naked body away from anyone at the door.
I run to the door and look at the peephole only to see nothing but darkness...yet the person was still knocking.
I push my ear up against the door and say, "Who is it?" only to be met with a gruff-sounding voice on the other side.
"Personal Driver to Mr.Jesse Duran." he says slowly, "Here to escort you on the way to your meeting with him in a few minutes."
I slowly open the door, peaking my head through the crack of it only to be met with a chest. This makes me raise my head higher only to be met with a tall man with a ginger red hair colored beard and a buzzcut. Wearing a pair of sunglasses...at night and a black suit with his arms crossed looking down at me. A smile on his lips, "You must be Ms.Onuoha." he says and I give him a firm nod.
"You have fifteen minutes to get ready for your outing with Mr.Duran. As your driver, he's allowed for us to arrive later than 7 pm if any necessary interruptions or issues occur."
I'm still shaken by how huge this man was. He was as wide and as tall as my doorframe and it was really freaking me out. But I don't wanna annoy him so I nod my head again, "Would you like to wait inside?"
"Yes. Thank you for asking." I open the door wider and he steps inside bending down slightly so his head doesn't hit the top of the door.
I lock the front door and rush inside to my room as he sits on my couch waiting patiently for me.
Fifteen minutes pass and I'm putting the last finish touches on my outfit. I couldn't decide what color to wear so I decided to wear all of them...sorta. My hairstyle of choice tonight is a short black bob.
I walk out to go see Mr.Tall Scary Driver Man waiting exactly where I left him. He looks up from his phone to look at me and stands up, allowing me to walk ahead of him out of the door, allowing me to lock the door before we head out to his car.
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We pull up to Ashton's, Mr.Tall Scary Man parks right in front of the entrance and turns off the car telling me to stay inside.
He walks around to the back of the limo where I'm sitting and opens the door widely for me to step out offering me his hand. When I grab his hand, he offers me his arm instead and I give him a small thank you as he escorts me to the front doors of the restaurant.
The decor of the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous and the area is really quiet. The silver chandeliers lined up on the ceilings with red drapes covering the windows. The owner's color scheme not really too complicated seeing as how everything was either silver or red. No voices to be heard at all in the restaurant. He leads me to the hostess and as I'm getting ready to speak to tell her who I'm supposed to meet Mr.Tall Scary Man stops me and says, "She's with the boss." she nods quickly as he unwraps his arms from mine.
The Boss?
The hostess tells me to follow her to the main dining area. However, I'm still stuck on the boss part...
When she takes me to the dining area all the tables are gone except one that's sitting in the middle of the room with a red tablecloth and candles to match the restaurant's decor. Literally, no one else is in the restaurant. There's a smug look on Jesse's face as he stands next to the table wearing nothing but a white buttoned-up dress shirt with black pants, his suit jacket resting comfortably on his chair. His hand holding one singular rose.
He thanks the hostess who takes it as her cue to go back to where she stood before. As she leaves he comes closer to me as I stand there with a confused look on my face, taking a hold of my hand and moving me closer to the table pulling out a seat and motioning for me to sit down.
When I take my seat he pushes in my chair and moves to walk back to his own seat.
When he sits down, I begin to shake my head at him wordlessly and he lets out a laugh at the blank expression on my face, "What'd I do now?"
"You're always doing something. What was with the flowers?" I ask getting straight to the point.
"Damn." Here we go. "No Hi. No Thank you or anything You just went right to the chase huh." he says resting his arm on the table placing his hand into his palm looking at me innocently, "You know I'd like to think this is me rubbing off on you. Look at you getting all blunt with me. That shit is adorable."
I bit my lip and lean back into my seat amazed at how he can turn anything into a moment to joke around nowadays, "I know you didn't do all that yourself."
"No. You're right. I had help. Special help and I won't tell you who they ar--"
"It was Leslie wasn't it," I say and he jerks his head back
"Don't tell me she's another Paola that isn't good at hiding secrets I was really beginning to like that one," he says and I chuckle quietly at that,
"She didn't tell me anything. You don't have to worry about her." and he nods at this.
"So I bet you're wondering why I asked you to come ton---" Is he serious?
"You didn't ask me? You threatened me saying if I didn't show up on time you'd go looking for me."
"Ugh Karma you're a journalist you shouldn't take things too literally it's all about figurative language. I didn't threaten you, I just politely warned you of what was to come if you chose to not hang out with me tonight. And now you'll never know because you were a good girl and listened to me."
"You sent a driver to my house."
"Yes, but you didn't have to open the door. Let me praise you Karma, damn." I snicker quietly and decide to back off of the flower subject accepting my...praise anyway.
"Anyways, I'm just going to get right to the point. I think I deserve to have a proper chance with you. I don't know why you're still pushing me away, Karma." and this causes me to sigh and clasp my hands together on the table.
"I understood why we took a break. You know, because I was literally in jail, but if I knew you were going to want absolutely nothing to do with me afterward I would've fought harder for you. If you're still afraid of us having a future or anything together, I want you to know that we can. Anything you want you can have with me."
"Not if you're still going to continue with what you do. You said it yourself when we first started talking that you had a hard childhood. You barely knew your parents. You barely knew your father when you were a kid because he was always in and out. Say if we were to have a kid, a son to be specific, would you not try to bring him up the same way you were. With guns and all kinds of violence from a young age?" I ask
"No. I wouldn't. Because I'm willing to end it all for you." he says and I raise an eyebrow silently telling him to continue
"We were separated for five years because I made a mistake that really wasn't a mistake but I wish that I had gone about it smarter than I thought I did. I heard Maddow and Joseph talk about wanting to kill me. It happened the night of that math thing you volunteered at." he says, "I left you to get some air and I overheard them talk about killing me, and then Joseph started talking about how my dad fucked him over by literally fucking his wife with Gio being the product of the infidelity. There are so many details but it's been a while so I kind of forgot most of it but I know they planned on killing you after deciding that Joseph would spare my life." Well, that last part is news to me...
"I decided I'd get to Joseph first. One of my men snitched on me and betrayed me telling joseph that I was planning on killing him. The day I planned on doing it Joseph pretended to be a victim to the police saying I wanted to kill him and tried to frame me of his murder which I actually did commit but not directly." I love how he says it so casually you know?
"I was told you went to the principal and told on Maddow for kissing you. A few weeks after my arrest, Ryan and Cyrus made arrangements to have him killed because he was still planning on killing you regardless, Karma." I remember the day Maddow grabbed me by the face and planted one on me. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I was the girl who got him fired. Going to school the rest of that school year was hell. Some of the girls of his little fan club accused me of lying saying I kissed him and he rejected me so I went to the principal and got him fired. No one believed the rumors they tried to stir because most had said he was showing favoritism to me most of the time and he was.
"You saved my life..." I say quietly, "In a way."
"Look, I don't want to go back to jail. But If I had to go back if it meant saving your life then I would. 1000%." he says to me again, his eyes pleading, "Baby, you don't understand how frustrating it is to be so close to you and so far at the same time. I know you still care about me because you still put up with my bullshit. You never flat out told me you didn't want to be with me. You just jumped into some kind of relationship with your co-worker and said fuck me." he scoffs shaking his head
"I didn't say fuck you I--"
"Well, you didn't say you wanted to be with me either so you might as well have, Kar."
"I don't like feeling like we're strangers, Karma." he says again, "Especially when I've told you things I've shared with no one else."
"You don't want me to be affiliated with a gang or anything anymore? Done. You want me to pick a better career choice? Look around. Didn't you recognize where this place was when you were outside?" He asks and I shake my head.
"I took you here to meet my mom's godparents. Athena and Emiliano?" He says and it all rings a bell. My face contorting into a look of recognition.
"This is Emiliano's Pizzeria? Are they here?" I ask looking around and a grin falls onto his lips at my curiosity.
"No actually. They're not. But they sent their love when I told them about tonight." He says, "Karma, I own this restaurant if it wasn't already obvious with the name of it."
"That's why they called you boss when I walked in?" I say and he nods, "This is yours?"
"They had some financial issues so I bought it and fixed it up. You know it's doing really well. I'm thinking of opening more in other states. I'm thinking of expanding it as a business. If it's the future you're scared of I have it covered."
I'm about to speak when he says, "I understand you're upset about your parents but at some point, you have to come to the conclusion as to whether or not you're going to live for yourself. I didn't wait for so long to play games like this."
"All I'm asking of you--" Jesse's interrupted by the waiter bringing our food to our table. I didn't even realize that wasn't any food or anything in front of us... we just jumped right to discussion.
A fully done steak dinner was placed in front of both of us along with a bottle of some kind of red wine.
We sat quietly for some time eating in silence giving each other space to think about what was said. I had no reason to be upset with him. I wanted to be with him.
However...I'm still interested in Carter too.
At first, it was a way to get my mind off of Jesse or to make him leave me alone but it's obvious that was never going to happen until I told him I'd let him go and I'm not ready to do that.
I'm not ready to let either of them go. Not right now.
I'm starting to wish Carter never told me how he felt...but at the same time I'm glad he did because I've been happy this whole time. He was a safe choice.
But there was never a dull moment with Jesse. He always made me feel alive and awakened something in me years ago, a part of me that allowed me to take risks it's the reason why I am in the position I'm in today.
Jesse taught me the importance of finding power in your individuality. I mean look at how he owns who he is all the time and doesn't give a fuck about who decides to criticize him. He's a man who makes no hesitations. He never thinks before he speaks yet everything he says is said with confidence and I always found him sexy because of it.
I'd still like to get to know Carter though too.
I look up from my food to catch Jesse staring at me, his face blank. His eyes look almost empty, I can tell he's visibly tired.
Probably emotionally tired too.
He speaks up, "All I ask is that you take the time to fall in love with me again."
"I never stopped," I say without thinking, quickly shutting my mouth as a smile grows on his lips.
"Then what are we waiting for then?" I watch as his eyes come back to life as he sits up and leans closer to me a bit.
"I still really like Carter." this causes him to sigh.
"Can't I just shoot him already and make it easier for both of us?" he rolls his eyes
"No!"
"Fine." he sulks his shoulders, "Keep dating him," he says and I look at him crazy as my eyes widen
"As long as you date me too."
"You said what now?" ...date two people at once?
"I don't want to share you but since I've already been doing it and since you actually developed feelings for that B2K boy band reject, I guess I don't mind meeting in the middle." he starts, I can't lie I chuckled a bit at the B2K part. Carter definitely is a pretty boy which is what Jess is getting at, "But by Paola and Ryan's wedding, right down to the minute before they say 'I do', you have to decide between the two of us. And if you pick me, who am I kidding? When you pick me, we're speaking to your whole family together."
It can't be that bad right? I'd still get to have Jesse and Carter and I wouldn't be hurting anyone and I'll have time to better evaluate my feelings, "If we do this...Carter can't know just yet."
He scoffs, chewing on his steak, "And why the hell not? I wanna see this man cry at the fact that he'll have to compete with me and will most likely lose you in the process."
"I'll tell him! Just not right away. I never told him about you and I." I don't even know where to begin to understand this arrangement forgetting having to run it by Carter.
'Hey! I'm still in love with my Ex, and he still loves me but he kinda gave me an ultimatum and I'd have to pick between the two of you. But I like you and I'm selfish and wish I could have you both but I can't so he said I should date you both and decide. How does that sound? By the way, you've already met him he's my Godsons brother, yeah I know, it's a long story.'
Despite knowing how crazy it sounds, I still care about the man in front of me. So I don't hesitate when I say, "Okay." I let out a breath "Let's do it." I nod picking up my glass of wine and guzzling it down, nervously swallowing every last drop.
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[A/N] Karma and Jesse are finally dating!!!...kinda