Page 8 of Divine Sense
I walked down the front steps of the old plantation and unbuttoned my jacket, breathing a sigh of relief. When my hand reached for the door to my car, I heard a voice call out from behind me.
“Not so fast, skater boy.”
6
MAGNOLIA
My heart stopped for a beat when I saw him walk into the room. The guy who almost ran me over—the guy I was incredibly rude to—was the same guy my parents had hired to run security for my family now that my father was running for the senate seat.
The last time I’d seen him he was in a baggy shirt and jeans with rips in them, a stark difference to the man my mother introduced me to. When I was officially introduced to him, he was wearing a suit that was at least $800, had a solid gold watch around his wrist, and I could smell his Tom Ford cologne from the other side of the living room. I knew the scent because it was my favorite and I had spent nearly $200 on a bottle for Daniel one Christmas just for him to tell me it smelled like cat pee. He looked like a completely different man as he sat on the couch opposite from me this morning. The way he held himself and spoke was night and day to the guy on the skateboard. More professional and poised than before. When he and I ran into each other this past weekend,literally,he was more laidback and warm, unlike the polished and proper version he was presenting as he sat next to my father.
When he walked out the front door and Ms. Ruthie closed it behind him, I waited for my parents to walk away before going out after him. I wanted to apologize for how I treated him.
“Not so fast, skater boy,” I called out to him from the porch.
Growing up, I would spend hours out here with Margaret or Ms. Ruthie. My parents had this fear that I would wander off or get lost on the grounds and told me I always needed to stay within eyesight of the front door. When they weren’t home, which was often as they loved to travel and go to fancy parties without me, I would sneak off and explore the nearly 200 acres my family owned. When they were home though, I could be found here, on the porch, coloring or playing with my toys.
When he heard me call out to him, he turned to look at me and I swallowed hard when his dark eyes met mine.He sure looks good in a suit, doesn’t he?I walked towards the edge of the porch and leaned my arms across the railing. When a piece of my hair fell into my face, I tucked it behind my ear and studied him. He was standing in front of a finely detailed G-Wagon and had unbuttoned his suit jacket, giving him a more relaxed look. His short hair showed signs of curls but was cut short and buzzed on the sides. The thing I noticed most about him was his height. He couldn’t have been much shorter than six and a half feet tall as the top of his head nearly reached the top of his SUV. He was handsome, there was no denying it.
“Skater boy? So you do remember me.” He cocked his head to one side and there was a sense of disapproval in his voice. I licked my lips and wrapped them around my teeth for a moment. I don’t know why I pretended not to know him in front of my parents but I was grateful he had played along.
“Yeah, sorry about that. My parents are hyper nervous about me living downtown and I didn’t want them to freak out aboutour little…encounter.” I started down the stairs of the porch so I wasn’t shouting at him. The last thing I wanted was for my parents to hear me and come out. I stopped when I got a few feet away from him and didn’t miss when he gave me a once-over with his eyes. I looked down at my dress to make sure there wasn’t anything on it before looking back at him.
“I see,” he started, nodding his head once. “And why would they freak out about that?”
“Because my mother is convinced something is going to happen to me. To her, ‘downtown is full of dangerous people.’ She nearly keeled over when I asked to live in the city for the first time,” I explained quickly, recalling how I had to beg my parents to let me move downtown after graduating from college. While they’d hoped for a boy and didn’t hide their disappointment at my lack of Y chromosomes, they were still fiercely protective of me. He nodded his head again and pushed his lips out a little without replying, so I continued.
“So your name is Kolbi? Like Jack?” I teased, trying to break the tension between us. His broad shoulders stood tall and he had his eyes locked on mine. I watched as he worked out the joke in his head before dropping his gaze to the gravel driveway with a grin and an airy laugh.
“And your name is Magnolia?Like the flower?” he teased back. The way my name sounded on his tongue made my heart skip a beat. Watching him where he stood, I started to really notice just how handsome he was. A solid foot taller than me, his rich brown skin looked warmed in the November sun and his teeth were perfectly straight. He was built like an ox, sturdy and proud, but had a softness to him that I wanted to get to know better.
“I’m surprised you’re even out here talking to me. I thought I remember you saying something about not needing ‘someone like me pretending they can help someone like you.’” The way hedid air quotes as he said “pretending” stung and I bit my lip. I knew it was wrong for lashing out at him, it wasn’t his fault I’d had a bad week.
“Look, I’d like to apologize for my behavior last weekend. I’d just had the week from hell and shouldn’t have treated you like I did. Especially when you were so kind to me. It was my fault in the first place for stepping out in front of you.”
“You did mention something about it being ‘the worst fucking week’if I remember correctly.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against his car door, studying me. I tried to hide my surprise at him remembering what I had said almost verbatim. I also tried to ignore the way his perfectly tailored suit hugged his body.There’s no way he bought that off the rack.“This week has been better, I hope?”
“Well I haven’t walked in on my boyfriend of five years bopping a twenty-one-year-old, so yeah, I’d say it’s a better week.” The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them. He raised his eyebrows at my confession and blew out a breath.
“What an idiot.” He shook his head, looking at the ground again and my heart sank because that’s exactly how I felt—like an idiot.
“Well you didn’t need to call me out like that, but I guess I deserved it,” I mumbled. His head snapped to me with his eyebrows pushed together in the center of his face.
“What? No, not you.Him. He’s an idiot for doing that. I don’t even know the guy and I can tell he’s a fucking tool for treating you that way. If I had a girl like you, I wouldn’t even think about looking at anyone else.” I felt my cheeks warm as his words hit me and couldn’t bring my eyes to meet his. Instead, I looked at my feet and tried to breathe.Did he really just say what I think he said?The air was thick between us and it wasn’t because of the lingering humidity that clung to the air. He cleared histhroat, snapping my attention back to him, and took a step closer to me.
“Look, if you need me for any reason, here’s my card. I know your dad has my number, but I technically work for you, too, so in case you need it, my number’s on the back.” He handed me his business card which was matte black and printed on thick paper. It almost felt like a credit card in my hand. I moved it in the sunlight and could read the shiny black text: Kolbi Vesey, CEO, Sweetgrass Security. On the back was his number. I waved the card at him and gave him a tight smile.
“Thanks. I guess I’ll be seeing you around then,Jack.”
He took a few steps away from me and opened the door to his car before turning to look at me again. He had a soft smile on his face as he gave me another once-over with his eyes.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll see ya around then,flower.”
As he drove down the long gravel driveway, I could still smell the lingering scent of his Tom Ford cologne in the air.
7
KOLIB
