Page 26 of Reserved for Him
For the next few hours, I worked on the little car, and he wasn’t lying when he said it took patience because I was ready togive up after the first twenty minutes. I enjoyed listening to him tell me what to do. He also told me where his love of building them came from. I smiled as he told me about all the cars he built since he was younger. I thought it was a cool hobby to have. I appreciated him for not getting frustrated with me whenever I asked questions, and I had a lot of them.
We didn’t leave the garage until we both had gotten hungry. After he turned off the heater, we headed back inside the house.
“I think the storm has finally passed,” he said as he made turkey and cheese sandwiches for us.
“That’s good because I wasn’t sure if I could deal with any more thunder.”
“I feel you. I’ve never seen someone so scared of thunder.”
I watched the muscles in his arms flex as he spread mayonnaise on the bread. I didn’t think Franklin understood just how fine he was. From what I could tell, he seemed to like to play the background, and it wasn’t anything wrong with that. As I stared at him, I wondered why he was single.
“I don’t want to be this scared of them either. It’s terrible when I’m alone. Can I ask you a question?”
He picked up the plates and came over to the table. After he put one of the plates in front of me, he sat across from me.
“You can ask anything you want.”
“Why are you single?”
“I wasn’t expecting that, but I have an answer. My ex and I were together for a while, but at some point, I realized I was more into her than she was into me. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it was when it seemed she would rather spend my money than spend time with me. Since then, I have stayed single.”
To me, she was stupid. I would love to have a man like Franklin. He was smart and fine. He knew how to cook. He liked to keep to himself, was protective, and could fuck my screwsloose. What else could a woman ask for? I had my own, so I didn’t care about how much money a man made unless he tried to get in my pockets all the time. I was all for helping my partner but not taking care of them. I learned my lesson the hard way with Leo.
“I understand that. Do you think you will ever get into another relationship?”
I didn’t know where things could go, but I needed to know before I got myself too caught up with him. I wasn’t worried about Leo, but I knew I needed to spend some time with myself before I got into something else.
“I wouldn’t mind it, but it would have to be someone that understood me or at least tried to. I like to live a peaceful life, and I want someone who doesn’t mind that. I’m not saying we couldn’t go out and have fun, but I’m not trying to be in the club and shit every week. You get what I’m saying?” He picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
“I do. Believe it or not, I like to live a peaceful life as well. It might not seem like it since you saw firsthand a couple of the things I went through with my ex, but that’s not me. Things weren’t always like that, but something happened, and it just went downhill. I stayed longer than I should have, but I’m never making that mistake again.”
“I think we all stay in relationships longer than we should sometimes. Life is about learning from your mistakes. Just don’t repeatedly make the same mistake.”
“You’re right.”
We finished eating, then went into the living room to watch a movie. I felt comfortable with Franklin and enjoyed being around him. His energy relaxed me.
We talked about all types of stuff, but it was me initiating most of the conversations. I was okay with that. He never seemed bothered by my questions or wanting to talk.
Even though I lived next door, I wasn’t looking forward to going home. I hoped we could continue getting to know each other.
Two weeks had goneby since I had to stay with Franklin. I ended up staying the whole weekend since my window couldn’t get fixed until that Monday. I had to work, but Franklin stayed home, so he was there when the people came by to fix it.
Since that weekend, we spent time with each other almost every day. If we weren’t at his house, we were at mine. Most of the time, we were at his, finishing up my model car. I was so happy when it was finished. Franklin let me do the majority of the work, only stepping in when I absolutely needed him to. He told me how proud of me he was for sticking with it, and he showed me right on the weight bench in his garage.
Franklin surprised me over the last couple of weeks. There was a stone-cold freak under that reserved persona, and I was here for it. From having lackluster sex the last few months I was with Leo, to having sex wherever, whenever, I was on a cloud. There was no pressure from either of us, and we just enjoyed spending time with each other and having fun.
Besides sex, we shared stories about our lives, work, and everything in between. We spent time watching movies and sports. Things were good, but in the back of my mind I was waiting for the rug to be pulled from under me, and for something to go wrong. That was the same way it was with Leo. I didn’t want to think Franklin was the same way, but I couldn’t be too sure.
I found out Leo got sentenced to one hundred and eighty days in jail, and he had to pay a fine. I prayed he was donemessing with me by the time he got out. I had a restraining order against him, so that should be enough for him to forget about me. Maybe the jail time would help him get sober, and he could get his life back on track.
Franklin reached out to this guy, Crux, who owned Crux Security Systems, and he came out to put a new alarm system with cameras in the front and back of the house. I was grateful that Franklin took my safety as seriously as he did. I slept better at night knowing I was better protected.
We spent a lot of time indoors, so Franklin told me he was taking me on a date. I looked forward to seeing how things went between us when we weren’t in our little bubble.
I was getting ready when my phone rang. Lauren returned from her trip, but we hadn’t gotten around to spending any time together.
“Hey, cousin.”
