My Guardian Angel(63)

“Kass?” he tried again, but I walked away.

Okay, so this workout was shot to hell. There was no point in staying at the gym now. I knew my brother and he would want to talk to me about this. Plus, Tiff would too and right now, I just didn’t want to know. I walked by Jessica, but stopped in mid-stride. Part of me wanted to say something to her, but I shook my head. There was no point in being a bitch.

“Hey, Jessica?” I asked. I figured I could ask her a favor since she thought if she had it good with me then I would tell Darios. “Could you just tell me if Jason has come by lately?” I asked, trying really hard to be nice. She stared at me, but relented. She quickly typed in his name and shook her head.

“He cancelled his membership,” she said sadly.

“What?” I was taken aback.

“Yeah, it says it right here.” She tapped on the screen with her fake nails.

“Okay, thanks.” I half smiled. “Asshole, Jason,” I murmured to myself as I walked over to the elevator.





Blackballed



I woke up on my couch, which I had been sleeping on since the day I got back. I still was too afraid to go into my room. Darios offered to stay with me. I refused by telling him I could take care of myself. Besides, I suspected Darios wanted ‘to talk.’ After a few days of thinking about it, I wasn’t too upset. I think the shock was about sharing my brother with someone else who was now important to him, too.

The day was sunny considering it was now late fall. I looked outside my window and wondered when winter would come. I loved winter and couldn’t wait until it came. The first snowfall was always the best. I contemplated going to see Jason at work. I didn’t want to be ‘that girl,’ but he didn’t leave me much of a choice. I thought about how I was going to go about it when my gaze was forced onto a big brawny man who was waving insanely at me from the sidewalk.

“Fuckin’, Dar,” I murmured, as I closed the curtain and made my way to the door. “What are you doing here?” I hissed and he continued to wave at me, knowing how annoyed I would be.

“Because I love you,” he grinned. I held the door opened until he walked through.

“I told you, I don’t need you here,” I said, rather miffed at him because I felt like he was still treating me like a child.

“Fine, you might not need me, but I need you,” he said holding up a box of cupcakes. I narrowed my eyes at him and wondered if I should let him in, but the bastard brought cupcakes.

“Are there any mint chocolate?” I asked with my eyes still narrowed.

“Yes, obviously. I'm your brother. I know how to bribe you,” he scoffed.

“Fine, you may stay,” I said as I grabbed the box out of his hand and hauled ass to the counter. I needed a chocolate mint cupcake, which was made by angels, only because it was a heavenly mix of goodness.

“Why, thank you m’lady,” he said as he approached my treats and me. I growled at him, knowing full well he wanted one. He backed away and held up his hands.

“I only wanted one.” He frowned.

“Yeah right!” I laughed. I knew him well enough to know he’d eat the whole box, maybe leave me one, and then laugh about it to my face.

“Have you seen Jason?” he asked as he sat down on the barstool.

I peeled back the cupcake paper and saw the peppermint pattie sticking out from the bottom.

“No, not yet, but I'm planning to go to his work later.” Darios sat watching me salivate in anticipation of my cupcake.

“He might not want to see you. He did say something along the lines of you needing to move on, maybe finding a healthier relationship,” he said, still watching me carefully.

“I don’t care what he wants. The old me would have admitted he was right, but the new me is going to go after what I want and Jason is what I want,” I admitted.

“Then you should fight for him,” Darios said earnestly. I dropped my cupcake and looked at him. I wondered if this was my brother or not.

“Were you cloned or did you have a lobotomy?” I asked incredulously.

“Look, I want you to be happy and I can’t just block the world from hurting you. What I can do is be here for you when you need me. So, don’t worry, when Jason gets out of line I’ll kick his ass.” He smiled and snatched the cupcake away from me.

“Hey!” I cried out, but it was too late; the asshole shoved it all in his mouth.

“So did Tiffany bring on this epiphany or did you come up with this on your own?” I asked candidly.

“Look, I want you to be okay with Tiff and me, but if you’re not…” he trailed off.

“I'm fine with it, really I am. It’s just that it’s been you and me since forever. Yes, you had a lot of girlfriends, but none stayed long enough for me to remember their names. But Tiffany, I think she might be a keeper and as much as I want to stand on my own two feet, I still want to be one of your priorities,” I admitted. I took out another cupcake, but made sure I inched away from him.