I nodded and shook my head at the same time, I was so torn. “Of course, I’ll do it, just give me a second to get Ayana and my things together.”
My mind was rushing so fast. I had an overwhelming feeling of guilt trying to choke me. This whole time I had thought the worst of him and Albert said he had been in the hospital fighting for his life.
I ran towards the stairs, but then paused, ‘cause I had no idea what I was doing. He said Jo was at his place. I couldn’t go to his house, his fiancée was there.
“What’s the matter?” Albert asked, wondering why I had stopped.
“You said he’s at his place, I—I can’t go to his place… can I?” He looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“Yeeess!! Journey! Hurry, he’s been in an accident!”
“Right…Okay--Right!” I was a nervous wreck…I didn’t know what the right move was to make… I stalled again.
“Sweet baby Samuel.” He uttered under his breath. “What is it now?!”
It was clear he was losing patience with me, which was not helping, because my mind was already frazzled. My first instinct was to rush to help Jo, but there were so many issues with that. Was his fiancée there with him? Would I go there and run into his parents or her? Would there be pictures of her on his wall? Should I just go for the day and then come home? I had absolutely no idea what to do!
“I don’t know how to pack, should I pack for the day or two…a week?”
Albert must have heard the distress in my voice, because when next he spoke, his voice had gentled.
“You may want to pack for a long stay, sweetheart. Who knows what condition the boy is in? He’s going to really appreciate you helping him out.”
I nodded. “O—okay.”
I packed for Ayana and me as quickly as I could, then I ran upstairs to the greenhouse and set the timer for my sprinklers, so they could water my plants while I was gone. I had no idea what a long stay meant. I wish I would have just kept my mouth closed and not offered to look after him.
But how could I do that? It was my love for him that spoke. The thought of him laid up in his bed with a bunch of tubes running from his body that was weak with pain, barely clinging to life was tearing me up. The pictures of his car were horrendous; it was a miracle he’d survived.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the wreck happened after he and I broke up. And if so, would that mean it was my fault?
That thought put me into something of a slump. If I had been kinder would it still have happened? Maybe I could have gently called it off and given him a little hope for tomorrow.
I shook my head. It was a waste of time to ponder what could have been. We are here now and I just had to deal with it.
I sat silent as we drove into a part of town that I had only been to a handful of times. This area reminded me a lot of Chicago’s Gold Coast, except where the Gold Coast had Lake Michigan, this area had the Potomac River. This was the part of town that housed all the elites of D.C. On the outside, Jo’s building looked like something from the future, all glass and stainless steel. On the inside, it was a world of luxury.
Albert had to pass two check points in which he had to identify himself to park his car. I was so nervous as we rode the mirrored elevator to the top floor I was shaking. By the time he used his key card to open Jo’s door I was drowning in my guilt, because I had somehow convinced myself this was all my fault.
“Jo, my boy!” He called out as he carried Ayana into the huge foyer of the penthouse. As soon as the bright light hit me, I remembered what stood out to me most the one time I was here. The windows. He had huge floor to ceiling boxed windows with a startling view of the Potomac River and the Hill outside.
“In here!”
For just a moment I closed my eyes as that deep voice caused a shiver that took my breath to run down my spine. I know it’s only been two days since I’d last heard it, but it felt like a life time. His voice sounded strong and clear, it wasn’t the voice of a sick or injured man.
I inhaled as we rounded the corner into the massive living room, but all my breath whooshed through my lips at the sight of Jo looking simply scrumptious sitting on his couch. He was dressed in a white t-shirt that clung to his muscled chest and ripped lean stomach just right with a pair of white basketball shorts. His rich dark skin contrasted with the white of his clothes in a way that made his beautiful melanin pop.
I brought my hand to my belly as an involuntary flutter of arousal shot through it. His dark gaze swept over me with the same hunger, no…starvation that mine was doing him. My body was betraying me.
We are no longer allowed to have these feelings for him! I screamed at myself. But then it seemed like time just slowed down as he licked his lips before lifting those beauties in a killer smile aimed at me.
Speak for yourself! My body yelled back at me.
“How is that leg?” Albert asked breaking the spell Jo had cast over me.
Y’all, I had been so distracted by his chocolaty goodness I didn’t even notice that his left leg was propped up on an emerald green ottoman that matched his couch, and it was wrapped in a
