Tiana

The rhythmic thumping of my feet against the pavement usually distracts me from my worries but today it’s accentuating them.

Drake is going to help me plant flowers this afternoon and when Jayden finds out he will finish breaking his face. I need to come up with an excuse to bow out if he will accept one that is.

His arrogant exit this morning had me all kinds of turned on and pissed off. Even with a bruised-up face and no sleep, he was the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on and easily the sexiest. I’m slipping. I can almost see myself falling off Jayden’s giant white pillar for him.

I can’t do it, though, he’s being gracious enough to let me move back home temporarily and I can’t disrespect him like that, it’s not who I am. But Drake makes me wish I were.

A woman with a golden retriever is running along the path ahead of me. Maybe I need a dog? It would give me something to take care of and focus on while I figure out my next move. A shelter dog would be perfect, I’ll save it and maybe it will save me from myself. Ha, not likely.

An hour later, I fall into the house and stand in the foyer bent over with my hands on my knees panting. I pushed myself hard and ran much further than I usually do. Wonder why? Oh, maybe a sexy Marine, named Drake had something to do with it?

Sexual frustration is a bitch. I haven’t been with anyone in months. I’m not into sex without feelings. I don’t do hookups. My last boyfriend was a bouncer at The Aquarium named Mason. I liked him a lot, for a while. We dated for six months and when we started spending most of our dates at the gym and I caught him flirting with his hands at work, we went our separate ways.

Drake has me considering sex without feelings. I wonder if horny is considered a feeling? If it is then I’ve got a lot of “feelings” for Drake.

“How was your run?” Jayden is standing at the top of the curved staircase watching me gasp for breath and fantasize about his best friend.

“Great, it’s so damn hot here, though. I’ll have to start earlier from now on.”

“See anybody you knew out there?”

I stand up straight and put my hands on my hips. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean did you run into anybody you know?”

“No, Jayden. I didn’t run into anyone other than a woman with a golden retriever. I want a dog by the way. Did you find your breakfast?”

“A dog?”

I knew that would throw him. “Yes, a shelter dog, can we go and look tomorrow?”

He sighs and leans hard against the railing. “Yeah, I guess so. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” I nod my head once and my ponytail bobs up and down. “So, did you eat or not?”

“Don’t talk about food. I appreciate the effort but I can’t. I took the Ibuprofen you left me, though, thanks.”

“You shouldn’t drink so much.”

“Yep.”

“Go back to bed and sleep it off. I’ll clean up the kitchen.”

“Thanks, love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I’m glad he didn’t mention our plans for today because I’m spending the afternoon digging in the dirt with Drake.

I hear him pad to his room and close the door. I’m starving, breakfast is long since cold but I heat up some bacon and eggs and wolf it down before I hit the shower.

If I were working in the yard with my brother as planned, I’d stay in my sweaty running clothes. I shouldn’t be so pleased about spending time with Drake. Maybe we can be friends. I mean it’s possible for a man and a woman to have a platonic relationship, right?

Wrong. Not with someone who looks like him.

I shower and pull my hair into a wet knot on my head. Dressed in a pair of cut-offs and a tank top, I slide my feet into a pair of Gucci flip flops that Mason gave me for my birthday. One good thing about Mason, besides the sex, was that he knew how to give a gift.

It’s mid-morning, I have hours before I start working outside so I grab my laptop and sit on a barstool at the island to look for a job, and a dog. Ten minutes later with no job and no dog, I risk checking a few of my social media accounts. I hope enough time has gone by that the videos are buried in the club's archives and new scandals have popped up to titillate the masses.

I scroll up and down the feed and smile at some of the goofy posts and videos. It feels good to smile again. I’ve been so stressed out lately and it's been forever since I’ve had anything to smile about. The familiar ding of Messenger draws my attention to the bottom of the screen where someone has sent me a video link. It’s from someone named B. Love.

That doesn’t sound creepy or anything. I should ignore it. I should click the x in the top corner and leave it alone. I should do a lot of things that I don’t.

I click on B’s profile and find no pictures, a blank cover photo and a black profile pic with simple white text that says Watch It. I close the laptop and push it across the island like it’s on fire. This isn’t over and it wasn’t just some club footage, somebody is out to hurt me on purpose.

I need to talk to Suki. My phone is upstairs. I take them two at a time and close the door to my room to make the call. I sit on the edge of the bed and press dial under the cute picture of her and me at work one night goofing around behind the bar.

“Tiana? I’m so glad you called. How’s small town life treating ya? Are you ready to kill your brother yet?”

My words catch in my throat. I can’t talk.

“T? You there?” Suki asks worriedly.

I clear my throat and try again, “Yeah, sorry.”

I hear her shuffling around like she’s sitting up in bed. She’s still working nights, I didn’t even think about waking her up. “I woke you, didn’t I? You can call me back later if you want.” I feel bad disturbing her sleep to hold my hand through this stupid scare.

“Tiana, I don’t want to go back to sleep. You called me and clearly something’s wrong, so let me have it. What’s going on?”

“You sure?”

“Yes, talk.”

“I haven’t been online for a few days and I just logged into Facebook to see if things had blown over.”

“Yeah, and you saw that they have, right? I haven’t seen a video for over a week.”

“Well, sort of. I didn’t see anything in my feeds but someone sent me a video.”

“They sent it? Like personally?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know who it is, the screen name says B. Love and there’s virtually no account like it was made just to do this.”

“What’s on the video?”

“I didn’t watch it.”

“You probably should. You know, before this person starts posting it all over the place. It could be the same person who did it the first time.”

“I’m scared of what I might see.”

She’s quiet for a moment. I can almost hear her thinking. “So, there’s nothing on their page?”

“No, just a profile pic that says watch it.”

“Watch it? That’s creepy, you want me to do it for you?”

“I want it to go away.”

“I know, honey, but you have to know what you’re up against; you can’t hide from it.”

“I will, later or maybe Jayden will do it for me. Whoever it is was watching for me to get online to send it. It can’t be anything good, the account looks like it was made with one thing in mind, to torture me. What did I do, Suki? Why would anyone want to do this?”

“You didn’t do anything. People are psycho. Maybe it’s a scared jealous contestant from Just Sing making sure you aren’t on the show?”

“Well, they’ve already done that. There’s no chance of me competing now, why keep bothering me?”

“You have to watch the video and find out.”

I flop down on the bed with a huff and close my eyes.

“Alright. I’ll let you know what it’s about.”

“Now?”

“No, I told you I need some time.”

“Well, don’t take too long. Whoever it is knows you were online and they probably think you watched the video. Are you going to respond?”

I throw my arm over my eyes and groan, “I don’t know, really I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s why I called you.”

“Yes, and I’m telling you I think you should watch it. Maybe it won’t be that bad and you can tell them to shove their damn videos where the sun don’t shine.”

“I doubt that. I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you later.”

“If you don’t I’ll call you.”

“Okay, bye… and Suki?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“I didn’t do much but you’re welcome. That’s what best friends are for.”

“I’m glad you’re my friend. I’ll call you soon, bye.”

“Bye.”

I drop the phone on the bed and roll over into the fetal position. How can someone with no enemies become the target of such harassment? I’ve been nothing but kind and generous to everybody I’ve ever known. I wracked my brain in New York trying to figure out who might hate me enough to do something like this. I couldn’t think of a single person.

I wake up to the sound of a lawn mower. I must have been more tired than I thought and dropped off to sleep. Shit, what time is it? I grab my phone and flip it over. It’s three o’clock, great. I had planned on going to Drake’s house around one. I hope Jayden is still asleep.

I sit up and the reason I was up here comes rushing back to me. That damn video and my call to Suki. No time to dwell on that now, I’ll watch it later, if I watch it at all.

Downstairs I find no evidence that Jayden’s been up, perfect. When I pass the front window, I see Drake is already outside. He’s who I heard mowing. He’s heart-stopping in just his athletic shorts and tennis shoes, nothing else. He glistens in the sun as he is covered with sweat and I consider pulling up a chair and watching until he’s done. Who needs a job? I could sell tickets and provide refreshments once a week to watch him mow the grass and make a fortune.

He mows an intricate diagonal pattern one direction and starts repeating it from the opposite corner making a checkerboard. I’m going out, that looks like it’ll take forever and I’m already behind. I also want a closer look at his sexy rippling back and chest.

I step outside and the humidity and heat hit me like poison gas. I take several breaths to acclimate my body to the smothering moist heat and walk around back to the shed where Jayden keeps the gardening tools.

It’s darker in the shed and cooler. When my eyes adjust, I gather what I need and move to the back patio where flats of flowers and plants are waiting to be planted.

“Starting without me?” The deep timbre of his voice causes gooseflesh to rise on my skin in the ninety-degree weather. The way my body reacts to him is off the charts crazy. I’ve never felt this before.

“I could say the same for you.” I nod my head in the direction of his sweaty abs and turn back to my flowers. No need to look pathetic even though I kind of am.

“I’ve been working in my own yard, just a little cleanup.”

“Looks more like a human sized checkerboard to me.”

“It’s called lawn striping and it’s on the diagonal. You can’t play checkers on it. You’re quite sassy, aren’t you?”

Sassy? I’ve never been accused of being sassy, but yes, something about Drake makes me want to sass him.

“Just stating the obvious.” I tip a tray of hydrangeas over in my hand and loosen the roots.

“Stand up.” I’m squatting down with a plant in my hands covered in dirt.

“No. I’m not ready yet.”

“You’re ready and you’re doing that wrong.” He moves behind me and slides his arms under my armpits to lift me out of the way like a child.

“I was not. I’ve been planting flowers my whole life, I know what I’m doing.”

He moves around the patio gathering the flats into a wheelbarrow without responding. I want to protest and put my foot down. This is my yard after all and my project. But Drake in motion is mesmerizing. He glances sideways at me and chuckles and I want to kick him in his sexy-ass shins.

“Come on, you’re putting these out front.”

I am, am I? Now how does he know that? Maybe I want some of those planted back here. I follow him in a huff to the front yard gawking at his tanned back and firm ass.

He stops and turns to me with expectant eyes.

“So how do you want this to go?”

“You’re asking me now how I want my flowers arranged? A second ago you claimed you knew.”

“I didn’t mean the layout, I mean this arrangement. Are you going to be cooperative or are you going to be a brat?”

My arms come up crossing over my chest in my typical defensive stance and a huff escapes my lips.

“Okay, I see. Would you like me to leave?”

Fiery defiance rises in my chest and I want to tell him to go blow himself but a pulsing desire also settles between my legs. I don’t know what to do, I want him but I also want to smack him.

My newfound sassy side takes over and I wave my hand toward his house.

“You can go, I don’t need you.”

He turns his head to the side and his mouth drops open. I cock my head to the side and grin as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Okay, you know where to find me if you change your mind.” He saunters across his lawn striped yard and disappears into his house.

The nerve of that man! Now I see why Jayden doesn’t want me to get involved.

Are you going to be cooperative or a brat? I say, repeating his words under my breath with my upper lip curled and the rest of my face twisted in irritation. I got this, screw him.

A teeny tiny voice in the back of my mind says, Yes! Please do! I groan and set to work emptying the flowers and plants from their flats and arranging them on the ground where I want them.

It takes a lot longer than I anticipated; getting everything perfectly placed. I had to lift big heavy bags of wood chips into the wheelbarrow and bring them around front along with some landscaping brick. I work much harder than I would have if Drake hadn’t suggested I couldn’t do this alone. I’m in great shape but I know I’m going to be hurting tomorrow.

I straighten up a couple hours later and wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my arm. The July sun is scorching hot, but thankfully, I have an enormous oak tree to shade me. That big-ass tree is keeping me from having heat stroke.

I glance up to the second floor of the house and curse my brother for sleeping all day like I was praying he’d do earlier.

How could I have been so wrong about Drake? He seemed perfectly polite and well-mannered last night at… Wait, what if he’s being an ass because Jayden wants him to? If he is, that’s really fucked up. I don’t think that’s it, though. Being cocky comes along with being a Marine. God knows, I’ve met a few hundred of them and every single one had a dash of jerkoff in his personality trait book.

How am I going to tell? I reach for my bottle of water and it feels like someone’s watching me. I take a long drink, set it down, straighten up and jump when I see Drake ten feet from me hauling a bag of wood chips from the ground. He’s freshly showered and shaven and even from this distance, I smell the familiar scent of sandalwood on his skin.

He doesn’t say a word and he doesn’t make eye contact. He just rips the plastic and shakes the twenty-pound bag’s contents into the wheelbarrow like he’s pouring sugar into a canister.

I frown and place my hand on my hip but he keeps on ripping bags open and dumping them out like I’m not here. I bristle with irritation, but unlike earlier I’m worn out. I wouldn’t deny the Devil’s help at this point. I just want to be done.

He lifts the handles and steers around to the back of my landscaping and tips it up pouring the chips onto the black weed barrier cloth. I slap my hands on my hips and sigh, heading over to help him spread them around the plants.

If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

We work together for a long time never speaking and using hand gestures to communicate when something’s not even enough or a spot needs more chips.

We’re almost finished before I notice the time. It’s dusk, at least eight thirty in the evening.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s getting dark,” I say breaking the silence.

“You worked hard, I didn’t give you enough credit. Nice job, Firecracker.”

Ha, at least he can admit when he’s wrong but what’s with the nickname?

“Firecracker?”

He leans against a shovel in his hands, cocks his head to the side and devours me with a head to toe perusal. I feel the heat of a blush rising up my neck and spreading across my cheeks.

“Hot, feisty, sassy… Firecracker.” He lifts one corner of his lip in a smirk when he sees my blush and I want to turn around and march into the house.

“So, you think you’ve got me all figured out, do you?”

“Yep, pretty much,” he agrees.

“Well, for your information I’m not usually any of those things. I’m a very sensible, calm, level-headed woman.”

“Really? Why did you move home then?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean if you’re so level-headed how did you end up in online videos drunk off your ass?”

I gasp and my mouth hangs open. I cannot believe he just brought that up and threw it in my face like that. I was right, he’s a cocky asshole and I don’t want anything to do with him.

I pull off my garden gloves and throw them on the ground, turn on my heel and stomp up the stairs of the patio and into the house slamming the door as loudly as I can.

He calls after me, I think he may have even apologized, but I’m seeing red right now and I need to be alone. I tromp up the stairs, passing Jayden on the way to my room. He asks what’s wrong, but I ignore him and slam door number two when I get into my bedroom.

Hot tears spring into my eyes as I head to the shower. Time to get cleaned up and watch that damn video.