Page 3 of To Have and To Hold

That night as she lay in bed, Coco had come to the decision that she wanted her first time to be with him and would let him know after he asked her out for prom, when they officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. The only concern was them going to different schools once they graduated, but she felt they could work together even long distance.

“Shush, mind your business.” Finally letting go of the memory of last night, Coco gave Zahara a soft smile; Zahara shrugged.

“When are you both going to make it official?”

“Hopefully when he asks me out to prom.” Coco grinned and looked at herself in the mirror, freshening up her makeup and fussing with her braids.

“Oh, there’s Jackie.” Zahara straightened up from leaning on the locker and when Coco glanced at Zahara, she could see a frown now gracing Zahara’s young features. Coco turned to see her other best friend moving quickly toward her but with a furious expression on her face. A sense of foreboding washed away the happiness and excitement of before.

“Coco, I am so sorry, that ass—” as Jackie reached her, Coco glanced over her shoulder and her heart stopped in its tracks. There he was, walking with his arm around Belinda, one of the strings of entitled beautiful girls around the school. Coco felt her breath catch in her throat, pain rippling through her. Belinda not only had Colin’s arm around her, but she was wearing his hockey jersey, the captain’s “C” adding further insult to injury. The one she’d hoped to be wearing after prom. Hereyes followed them as Belinda giggled and stared up into his face with adoration as he guided her down the hall.

He turned his blue eyes on her, the expression in them blank with no form of recognition in them. As if he could see right through her; then, he turned his gaze away. She noticed the twins trailing behind him and caught the eye of Abbott, who stared back and mouthed,Sorry,before shrugging his shoulders. Watching in shock as they turned down another hallway toward class, her gaze blurred. Both Zahara and Jackie were talking to her, she could see their mouth’s moving but she couldn’t hear what they were saying, they sounded underwater. Then a sudden rap-rap sound cut through her musing. She was no longer in high school, lost in thoughts about her past but yanked back into present day.

Coco jumped and let out an expletive when she heard the sharp rapping again on the window glass wall of her office; she lifted her head up from staring blindly at the papers in front of her to see Jackie leaning up against the glass.

“Still thinking about the sonovabitch and what happened in high school?” Jackie asked as she came further into the office.

Coco raised her fingers to her temples where she could feel a mild throbbing going on, now paying the price of going down a painful memory lane.

“Here.” Jackie walked over to her desk and grabbed a tumbler, filling it with water from one of the bottles in her small office fridge in the office. Next was the bathroom, and Coco heard the cabinet squeak open and closed. Jackie then returned with aspirin for her to take.

“Stop thinking about that ass; we will figure out a way to get back your shares of the company.” Jackie said with a tight pinch look on her lips. Her best friend from high school, andsorority sister when they both went off to the same college, had slimmed down in appearance. She was still bigger than what society expected of women, but Jackie had come to love all her curves and said that was how mother nature intended her to be.

She now worked for Coco as her office and marketing manager, taking care that the company and staff were happy and running smoothly, leaving her to concentrate on her products and developing new ones.

“I’m not thinking of him.” Coco denied as she swallowed the pills and the water, feeling embarrassed now for thinking of the man that broke her young heart.

Jackie snorted. “Tell that to the pulsing vein along your temple. I swear it developed the day we saw Colin coming down the hall with Belinda in his jersey. You know it might help after all these years to talk about what happened when you confronted him.”

“Nothing to tell, just male bullshit as usual.”

“Okay, if you say so.” She took the glass and put it in the sink.

“Thanks for going to get my parents in the morning.” Coco decided to change the subject.

“No problem, I know how you get when you are working on a new idea. Just don’t stay too late. I will bring them here for you to say hi in the morning before taking them to the hotel to check in.”

Coco nodded and got up from her desk, donning her lab coat and following Jackie out. Locking the door, she waved to Jackie, then headed back down the hall to her lab. She paused for a second because there was something else she was supposed to do and forgot. When she was in work mode, her personal lifegot left behind. She shrugged. “It will come back to me soon.” She muttered.

A few hours later, frustrated with the outcome of what she was trying to produce, Coco decided to give it a rest, find some food, then come back to try again. She’d just taken off her lab coat when something hard hit her side. Digging into her pocket, Coco found her phone. Usually when working, she left it in her purse. Then memory hit. She’d meant to call Ambra all day to warn her that Michael was on his way there. She’d told Zahara thinking she wouldn’t say anything, but Zahara explained that she happen to accidentally let it slip not realizing Michael was there. This now bringing about her ex now having shares in her company and her walk down memory lane today.

“Shit.” Coco flung her coat onto the reception desk and dialled her parents’ house in Barbados. Hoping she got hold of her in time to tell her to run.

Chapter 2

Colin approached the glass doors of his ex-girlfriend’s company, his favorite work chair gripped in his hand as he pulled it behind him. His heart kicked up a beat when he heard Coco’s husky tones talking on the phone, her slight accent coming out when he heard his name said in irritation. He grinned. Things were about to get interesting because Coco was unaware that her life was about to change in unexpected ways if he had anything to say about it.

The shares Michael dropped in his lap were an unexpected surprise that he was using to his advantage. He now only had eleven more months to woo Coco and get her to marry him.

His hand was on the handle when he spotted her sitting against the receptionist desk, her cell phone cupped in her hand and her head tilted down as she spoke. He took her in, admiring her unconventional beauty. Coco was sporting blond braids that she had pulled in a high ponytail, exposing her dainty ears with teardrop gold earrings, and on her neck sat a gold choker necklace. He ran his gaze her cute button nose, her high forehead, her round face and cheeks.

Glancing down, his breath caught as he fixated on her bountiful breasts, encased in a fluorescent pink business dress that fell to just above her knees. The bright color complimented her darker skin. The dress was molded perfectly to her cinched waist and even though she was sitting on it, he could visualize her firm but ample buttocks that he remembered getting to gripwhen they were dating in high school. Her physique was almost the same but a little fuller now with age.

His eyes shot to her plump lips that were too big for her round face but that he remembered loving to suck on them. He shook his head as past memories of their brief time together rushed in, before he’d broken up with her in high school. His gut clenched as he recalled how he decided to end it between them and told her since she would not put out, he wanted to continue playing the field. He could not forget her expression of hurt and shock when he ended the conversation by saying, at least he did this before he ended up cheating on her instead, and he finally broke it off. Like that would make it all palatable to her. He had been an utter ass in high school.

He frowned when he suddenly heard her say.

“Hi Ambra, it’s Coco.”

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