Page 5 of Forbidden Fruit

I’d spoken to our maid-slash-housekeeper. She’d only been with us a month or so, but she was so nice. “Good morning, Vashti.”

She looked around as she called me Vashti, then smiled. My father had insisted that she called me Chitrita. It was so irritating how they treated me like a kid. “What’chu cooking?”

“You mean, what are you cooking, Chitrita?”

I rolled my eyes, then turned to glare at my father. This shit was getting old. I grabbed my denim vest from the chair to put over my tube top, then went for my keys. They weren’t hanging where I’d left them last night. Maybe I’d brought them to the room. The smirk on my dad’s face let me know that he had them. “Daddy, I’m twenty-four. Why are you trying to punish me like I’m a teenaged girl?”

“That’s what you act like, Chitrita. Get yourself together, and when I see improvement with your behavior, I will give them back. It’s bad enough you waisted something all over the backseat and floor. I sent it to the car wash.”

That only made me think about Jedrek. I hoped he put his face in the shit to smell it. Ms. Carol looked at me with sympathetic eyes, before I walked off to go back to my room. I swore I felt like I was in fucking prison. How was I gonna get out of here? They’d handicapped me to depend on them for everything. I didn’t know the first thing about having a job, because I’d never had to have one. When I got back to my room, I fell in my bed and screamed into the pillow. Grabbing my phone from my nightstand, I commenced to playing my cooking fever game. It always managed to calm my nerves.

After an hour or so, there was a light knock on the door. “Come in.”

The door opened, and I just knew it was my dad coming to fuss at me, but it was Ms. Carol. I smiled slightly at her. “Vashti, I wrapped you up some pancakes, eggs, and bacon. My son is here to pick me up.”

I stood from the bed and hugged Ms. Carol. “Thank you for looking out for me. Let me walk you down.”

She only worked half a day on Saturdays and Sundays. I looped my arm around hers as we went down the stairs. She asked softly, “Vashti, why do you still live here?”

“Because they crippled me. I don’t have any money, and I don’t have a job. Where am I gonna go?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I feel bad for you. You’re such a nice girl,” she said as we walked out the door.

“Thank you, Ms. Carol. I bet you don’t treat your son that way.”

“No, he pretty much comes and goes as he pleases, but for the most part, if he isn’t at work or at school, he’s at home.”

Her son was lucky. As I walked with her down the sidewalk, I looked up to see where he was parked. I swallowed hard when I saw that black Mustang.Couldn’t be.I tensed up, and I believed Ms. Carol noticed. The driver door opened, and I damn near pissed on myself. Jedrek.What the fuck?I averted my gaze as he stared at me. “Hey, Ma. How was your day?”

“Hey, Drek. This is…”

“Hey, Vashti,” he said slowly, cutting his mother off.

She looked from me to him repeatedly. “Hey,” I responded nervously.

“Drek, how do you know Vashti?” Ms. Carol asked.

“She comes to the car wash to get her Range cleaned.”

“Oh,” she said, again looking from me to him.

I quickly turned on my heels and practically ran back to the house. This shit was unreal. “Vashti!”

He yelled my name, like he owed me an explanation. I wondered if he’d seen me before. Jedrek probably knew exactly who I was. Drek. Embarrassment swept over me like a damned landslide. I ran to my room, only to listen to my phone ring.

Four

JEDREK

“What’s really going on with you and Vashti, Drek? I can see in your eyes that there’s more to that story.”

“We talked a lil bit yesterday and the day before. She’s beautiful, Ma.”

My mama shook her head. She was my best friend, so I always talked to her about everything. Vashti looked embarrassed to see me, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why she was embarrassed. I was the one. I never expected her to walk Ma out. She’d never done that before.

When I saw her in that tube top and skinny jeans, my mind couldn’t help but recall the things we’d done last night. Shit, I could still taste her on my lips. Her hair was blowing in the breeze and my body had heated up with desire. “Drek! Snap out of it, boy! I’m talkin’ to you!”

“I’m sorry, Ma. What did you say?”

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