I’m sorry for the delay but I wanted to let y’all know that Malaya and Jared is on the way…My 9 to 5 and family stuff has forced me to push the release from Early April to Late April.
Barring the apocalypse :), Malaya and Jared Part 3 will be released April 30, 2013.
As a thank you for reading and your patience with me while I iron out the kinks and get you the best story possible, here’s an excerpt from Malaya and Jared (Part 3). Hope you enjoy!
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Section One: Malaya
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I knew he could have just maneuvered past me and followed through with the promise he let loose a minute ago. The promise to go back in the restaurant where both our families were celebrating his upcoming marriage to my sister and call the whole thing off. But for some reason he was just standing there, pretending like I had control over this situation.
I was hit by wave after wave of confusing emotions. On one hand, I was elated. Ever since I opened the invitation to a wedding that didn’t have my name embossed beside his, I’d hoped that something would happen to put a stop to the nuptials. Something like my sister, Shanice, growing a conscience and realizing that she never should have gone after the love of my life in the first place. Or better yet, a riot as all of the guests were cured of their amnesia and gathered, pitchforks and all, in front of the venue–refusing to standby while my happily ever after was given to someone else. Hell, I was even down for a natural disaster, an act of God that would lay waste to their colossal mistake.
I was terrified. Thrust head first into the memories of answering the phone, stressed out because of exams and trying to find a teaching position, when my guy, my rock, deserted me with no explanation as to why. My heart, my soul fragmented into a million little pieces that I held together with tape only to shatter when I found myself in his arms again. Back then, he made promises to make things right and when I wasn’t ready to forget the heartbreak, he went back to her. Even though he was staring at me like I was his sun, his moon, like I was the very reason for his existence, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t afraid that he’d hurt me all over again.
But I hid that all away, pulling on a mask of determination and a facade of reason–even though I could barely be within five feet of him and think straight.
He was ready to rush upstairs and end it all; make Mama’s leg’s give out as she fainted while Daddy clutched his chest and went into cardiac arrest. And those pitchforks would be out alright–but Shanice’s friends would be armed with them and they would be pointed at my head. And Mrs. Goodson–Jared’s sweet, soft spoken mother–her big blue eyes would melt from the shame.
“You can’t call it off in front of everyone, Jared,” I said. “Not when you were just toasting the beginning of the rest of your life.”
His eyes narrowed to slivers of navy blue, hot with anger. “Of course I can.”
“You can’t call off the wedding at the rehearsal dinner!”
“Then when?” he spat. “Tomorrow at the church when the preacher asks for objections?”
I paused, considering it and it was just the moment of weakness that he needed to rush past, striding toward the elevators that would shuttle him back to the restaurant. I moved faster, adrenaline launching my legs forward and I gripped his arm, wheeling him back to face me.
“Not like this, Jared,” I said, in between pants. “Not like this.”
He cradled my face between his hands, his touch a stark contrast to the fire in his gaze. “Then how, Malaya? You can’t ask me to go through with this. You can’t possibly expect me to marry her after we just…”
Heat flashed in my belly, the warm tendrils of lust dancing in the part of me that wanted nothing more than to have him back inside. To go back to that place where everything faded but the two of us. His lips were so close that I breathed the air he breathed. I could feel his pulse racing through his touch. He was close enough that all I needed was to go those last few inches and I would taste heaven.
I closed my eyes, drew a breath, and took a step back. “I don’t know where we go from here. I don’t know how we make this right. But I do know that the timing is wrong.”
The anger was back as he pulled his jaw tight as a bowstring and encased his words in ice. “The timing is wrong? Why am I getting a sense of deja vu? I remember telling you that I made a mistake, that Shanice and I weren’t right before. That you and me were right and–”
“And because I didn’t say ‘how high?’ when you barked ‘jump!’, you decided that I wasn’t worth the wait,” I sliced in.
“Worth the wait?” he scoffed. “I told you I’d wait, that I’d wait forever and you told me not to hold my breath!”
“Oh poor you!” I said disgustedly. We were so wrapped up in each other that we didn’t notice that we weren’t alone. A young couple inched past us like they were on a minefield, scared to come too close in case they set something off. I gave the woman a pointed look and she yanked her boyfriend the rest of the way. They climbed in their car and zipped onto the next level of the parking deck.
“I’m not trying to get your sympathy,” Jared said his tone softening, his stance a little less combative. “I know what I did was–”
“Unforgivable?” I offered.
“What I did was wrong,” he said, shying away from the ‘u’ word. “But I tried to make it right. I tried to start over and you weren’t having it, Lay.”
I had a good memory too. Hell, I’d been replaying that encounter on loop ever since I walked away. I could still remember his arms against the door and me between them, so pissed that he was blocking me in and wouldn’t let me leave the room. So angry that after he broke up with me and had come to the reunion as my sister’s date, all it took was being in a room alone with him to drop my drawers. But it didn’t compare to the fury that boiled in my veins when he had the nerve to tell me that he wanted to forget the time that had passed and begin again. Just like that, wipe the slate and we’d walk out of there, hand in hand.
Despite the obvious scandal that would have created, I couldn’t believe that he expected me to just forget what he’d done. I couldn’t just let him back in, even though I loved him so much that telling him to go to hell brought me physical pain.
And I regretted that decision every single day.
But I was done blaming myself. He made his choice–and I wasn’t it. I wasn’t going to let him throw the past in my face.
“Don’t you dare try and act like you’re the victim here, Jared. I’m the victim. I’m the one that’s had to grin and bear it since you decided that out of all the women on planet Earth you wanted to be with my sister. That you wanted to MARRY my sister.”
“Malaya–”
“I am broken,” I blasted on, my voice cracking. I hated myself for showing my wounds, for going back to the gut wrenching pain of losing him then seeing him with my sister. “You have ruined me. You will not stand there and make me feel guilty because I don’t want you to rush up there and destroy our families.”
He opened his mouth but the sound of the elevator dinging behind him snuffed out whatever excuse he had handy. An older woman with a battalion of kids at her ankles walked past, giving us a sidelong look before she hustled after the children, giggling as they made their way to their minivan.
I bit my lip, holding back memories of daydreaming about a life with Jared. Imagining what our kids would look like. Girls with kinky brown-gold hair and his eyes. Boys with his wavy, dark locks and my smile. Grandkids. Growing old together. He was staring at me with such longing, promising that we could start over. But how could we get past this? Even though I still wanted all of those things, still wanted him, how could I ever forgive his betrayal?
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Charisma M. Cole 