Always been mine!

chapter eighteen

Ronald's pov

Ms Starlet invited me over for dinner and I wanted to make a good impression on Nikki. That kiss has left me wanting more and I needed to get more.

I drove through the gate to the front door to find Nikki waiting for me by the door. I couldn't help the smile forming on my lips. I jumped out of the car and reached her in two strides, pulling her to me.

"Baby," I smile.

She freezes and looks up at me. "What the f**k are you doing?"

Ronald: "I’m…sorry," I say hesitantly. "I know I’ve pissed you off."

Nicky:“Gee, say it like you mean it," She slaps my hands away.

Ronald: "Do you want me to go?"

She stops and drops her head back. “No,” she replies softly. “I don’t. Just cut the crap, okay?”

R:“Cut the crap?”

N:“Wow. You’re so dense.” She shakes her head.“The kissing and hugging. It makes me uncomfortable.” She says.

R:“You seemed comfortable enough to me the other night.”

N:“Ronald!”

R: "Right. I’m sorry.” I hold my hands up. “Let me make it up to you.”

N:“I can buy my own game ticket.”

Oh, she’s hilarious. I step towards her and push some hair behind her ear. “No, I wasn’t going to suggest that. I was hoping we could do something together.”

N:“Like a date?”

R:“Something like that, I guess.”

Her eyes widened at my hesitation. "No.” She spins and walks into the house, leaving me standing by the door. I'm wondering if she really does hate me when a tiny sharp voice calls my name.

"Ronald, right! C'mon on and get in, you sexy thing. I'm going to get you fee and plump "

I look down to find an old lady with a huge grin on her face staring at me. She's so cute. This must be Ms Starlet's mother that she warned me about.

“Granny. Will you please stop looking at him like he’s dessert?” Nicky sighs, when I let the old lady lead me to the table..

Granny: "He isn’t?"

I cough into my hand as I take my seat.

Camilla: "Granny, it’s late. I think you should, perhaps, go to bed now."

Granny:"But I haven’t even had the chance to dance with him yet."

Camilla: "People don’t dance at dinner," Camilla tells her. "They eat, they drink and then they go home."

After dinner, Ms Starlet takes granny out of the room with her still muttering about dancing.

Camilla follows them behind before she turns, "Have a goodnight Ronald. It was nice having you over." And then she winks at Nikki. "Have fun loading the dishwasher, sis."

I grin. “Need help with the dishes, Nikki?”

She shakes her head instead of answering me.

She hasn’t said a f*****g word to me since she rebuffed my offer of a date. Even through dinner, she managed to contribute to the conversation without directing a single sentence at me.

And it’s slowly starting to piss me off.

I watch as she scrapes the plates into the trash then bends over and puts them in the dishwasher. Her dress rides up her legs. If she bends over another half inch, her underwear will be fully exposed to me. So will her ass, and if she’s that kind of girl, maybe her p***y, too.

My d**k twitches at the thought of seeing her ass. I want to flick that stupid dress up and see what kind of underwear she's wearing.

Nikki: "Are you staring at my ass again, jackass?" she asks, her words slicing through the silence.

R: "Do you really want an honest answer?"

She slams the dishwasher shut and turns. "Seriously? Is me telling you to cut the crap an open invitation to ogle me?"

R:“No, but you have a nice ass and are wearing a very short dress."

Nikki: "And you wonder why I won’t go out with you."

R: "It doesn't bother me."

N: "Yeah?"

R: "a woman, you confuse me. One minute you don't want me, the next you're kissing me with hunger!"

Nikki: "I don't do relationships, Ronald. I'm done with all of that."

R: "So, just casual s*x?"

Nikki: "f**k you!" She says as she walked away from me.

R: "Why the hell are you so angrt?" I get up and follow her out to the backyard. “You’re the one sending me more mixed messages than I can't keep up with!”

N: "Then this is the last one!" she yells, turning to face me. "No. That’s the message,mwamba, all right? I can’t go out with you. I cannot be seen in public with you. And no, I do not want to have s*x with you!"

R:“Why? It makes no sense.”

N:“It does to me.” Her eyes soften and she wraps her arms around her waist. “It’s not good for me, okay? So you have to accept that as it is. You have to take my no for a no and just leave it alone."

R: "See, that’s where the problem is. I can’t," I say, moving closer to her. She doesn’t move. "I have wanted you from the moment I saw you at the bar. I wanted to f**k you, Nikki and I still do. I’d love nothing more than to have your body beneath mine right now. But you turned me down with that sassy mouth of yours, and now, I’m intrigued by you."

N:“Intrigued by me? There’s nothing to be intrigued by. I’m pretty boring.”

“You’re wrong,” I mutter, dipping my face close to hers without touching her. “I want to get under your skin, darling. I want to consume you. Even if it’s only for a night. I want to finish what I set out to start when I walked up to you in that bar.”

N:“You can’t.” She swallows.

R:“I can and I will,” I say, echoing her words from earlier. “I won’t leave you alone. I will pursue you until I get what I want. Until I get you.”

“You won’t get me.”

I cup her jaw and brush my nose along it. “I want you, Nikki. And I always get what I want.”

****************************************

"You look like you got run over by a train."

I look up at Camilla, my mouth full of Popcorn. I chew and swallow. "I’m working. All day. Which means I’m staying in my pajamas and eating a whole bunch of junk food."

" I see that." She looks over my bed, which happens to be littered with various bags of chips and candy and shakes her head

Me: "Hey, at least I showered."

C: "Thank God. By the way, Chanda said he’d e-mail the photos over at four this afternoon."

Me:“Cool.” I shove a Cheese curl into my mouth and crush my design into a ball before throwing it in the general direction of my trash can but I miss.

Camilla picks it up and drops it in. “Nikki.”

Me: "What?" I whine, turning around. "I’m trying to work!"

C: "I know, Ronald's on the phone. He said your cell is switched off."

I glare at her. "That better be on mute."

She nods.

Me: "Good. I’m not here. Okay?"

C: "Nicky…."

Me: "I said I’m not here."

She sighs but nods. Then she brings the phone to her ear. "Sorry, She’s not here. I must have missed her… All right. I’ll tell her… Bye." She throws the phone on my bed and looks at me pointedly. "He said he’ll call again later."

I grab another cheese curl, "And I will still not be here."

C: " I have to go back to school, anyway!" she mutters

Me:"I forgot. Come here," I pull her in for a hug."Travel safely, don't run off with anyone tonight."

C:"even if he's hot?" She quirks an eyebrow.

Me: "Especially Ifhe's hot. I love you."

C: "I love you more sister." She utters before walking out and shutting my door.

I focus on the scratch of my pencil against the page, of the forming of the dress as it filters out of my mind and into reality. The shape of the skirt, the flare of the hem, the tuck of the waist, the dip of the neckline. I watch it take shape, become a real design, something I can change and manipulate until it resembles black-and-white perfection. But it’s not right.

I tear the page off, ball it up, and throw it toward my trash can. This time, I sketch a jumpsuit. Not right.

Another, this time, a jacket.

Not right.

I throw my pencil across the room and grab my cell.

Then I dial Bonnie’s number and drop back onto my bed, opening a package of mashmallows.

B:“What’s up, buttercup?”

Me:“I hate Ronald Mwamba.”

B:“Intense,” she replies. “What did he do this time?”

Me:“He kissed me again. Right after he told me he always gets what he wants.”

B:“That’s not the response a guy would usually expect from a girl he’s kissed.”

Me: "He's so full of himself. Thinks he's hot, well, he is but that's not the point."

Bonnie laughs. “He’s obviously stopping you from doing something. You only get all bitchy when you’re interrupted."

Me: "b***h you know me well. I’m trying to work on these designs but nothing is coming out right."

B:“Really? Can’t you just put ‘Guardner's daughter’ down?”

Me:“Yes, because that will draw, right?”

B:“look,am in town but I can't say am coming over now, I need to be serviced. so if your regular visitor is in tell her to f**k off. I'll pass through soon.”

Me:“You’re an asshole, Bonnie. Grandpa in the picture again or your mysterious boyfriend I haven't met?” I sniff.

B: "He must have done something big if you’re this f****d up. Or is it the cobwebs down there messing with you? And no! Am with my man. Yes, mystery guy.