Scream For me

JADE

There was a flurry of knocks on my door, and when I opened it, Hannah stood before me.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly. “Can I…can I come in?”

I nodded and stepped aside so she could come into the apartment.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I asked.

“Oh, a glass of water will be fine,” she said.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

She sat on my couch, perching uncomfortably on the edge while I poured her a glass of water from the fridge. I didn’t pour myself one.

I handed her the water and sat down in an armchair, perched on edge just like she was, mirroring her.

We hadn’t spoken since she’d fired me more than a week ago.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m okay,” I said, nodding. “Good, actually.”

“I saw your vlogs online.”

“Oh,” I colored. “I guess it’s for everyone to see now.”

“They’re really good,” she said. “You have a way with words that draw people in, and being so open about your mistakes…the people love it.”

“I hope so,” I said, feeling silly that Hannah had seen it.

“It’s really good, Jade,” Hannah said. “I’m serious. You could turn this into a thing.”

“I am,” I said. “I think I’ve figured out what I want to do. It’s not this crazy big business that I thought I could do, and I doubt it will ever be like Placement…but people do love it, don’t they? And a lot of people are like me, stuck in a world they don’t understand, making mistakes…”

Hannah nodded. “I think you’ll go places with this. You’ll see, it will get bigger and bigger in ways you never guessed because you’re putting yourself out there. You took the chance. You closed your eyes and jumped. You did well.”

I smiled. “It’s not what I expected to hear from you when you got here,” I admitted. “I thought we were going to go through another tongue-lashing.”

Hannah shook her head and sipped her water. “I’m not here to shout at you again. That’s all done. I just felt bad for firing you. Really bad.”

“Please, don’t,” I said. “I know why you had to fire me. I messed up badly. It wasn’t working out, and I have no hard feelings about that.”

“I’m glad,” Hannah said, looking relieved. “I felt terrible doing that to you. You’re like a sister to me, and doing that…God, working together was horrible. I couldn’t just be myself with you.”

“I felt the same,” I said with a giggle. “It was a bad idea.”

“Very bad.”

“But I learned a lot from it,” I said. “And I grew. You gave me an opportunity when I was stuck, and I appreciate that much more than you know.”

“A lot of good came from it, right?” Hannah said.

I nodded and grinned at her. “More than you know.” My smile faded a little. I thought about Aaron. If it hadn’t been for my job at Placement, I would never have met him. I would never have met Ben and had such a wonderful time with him. I would never have known what real love could feel like, only the fake shit I’d felt from Mike.

If it hadn’t been for Hannah and her job, I would also not have experienced true heartbreak, but all of it was good. Like she and everyone else kept saying, I’d learned, and I’d grown, and I was a different person now. I was better for it.

“I’m not only here to make peace,” Hannah said after we sat silently for a while. “I’m here with a proposition.” “What?” I asked, blinking.

Hannah nodded. “I have a parent with a child who needs particular attention, and after your experience as a nanny, you were requested by name.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that,” I said. “You know I’m not a nanny.” “The position isn’t quite for a nanny,” Hannah said.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Hannah took a tablet from her handbag and tapped her finger on the screen several times.

“Wanted,” she said. “A woman who loves my little boy as if he was her own, who can travel with him to the lands of his imagination, fight dragons and conquer lands with him, and show him the love of the mother he’s never had. Wanted, a homemaker who can breathe life into an empty space, make a house a home, fill the hallways with laughter, the bedrooms with smiles, and build a foundation on love.” Hannah glanced up at me as I stared at her. “Wanted…”

My front door opened, and Aaron walked in.

“Wanted,” he said. “A woman who will love me as much as I love her, a woman who will go on life’s adventures with me or stay home under the covers all day. A woman who can talk about everything or a woman I can be silent with. Wanted, a mother, a partner, a wife.”

I stared at Aaron. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m placing an ad for the woman of my dreams, didn’t you hear? I want you to fill the position if you’re available.”

Tears stung my eyes, and I looked at Hannah, who grinned from ear to ear.

“You told me your life was too complicated. You told me you couldn’t do this,” I accused. Tears rolled over my cheeks. “You told me you weren’t ready for this.”

“I know. I was wrong. I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to. I’m ready for this, more ready than I’ve ever been.”

“What about Sabrina? What about Ben’s mother?”

“Ben only needs one mother. Sabrina is gone. I only want you. We both do.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know what to say.

“I can’t do this. I can’t get hurt again, Aaron. I can’t” I let out a trembling breath.

“I love you,” Aaron said. “I made a mistake letting you go. I made many mistakes, but I’m here to make it right and ask you if you’ll be mine. I don’t want to do this without you. Like I said, I have a position open, and I really want you to be the one to fill it.”

I glanced at Hannah, who nodded eagerly.

“You don’t even know him,” I blurted out, accusing her.

“I know love when I see it, Jade,” she said. “And after your video about love…”

Aaron came closer to me. “I’m sorry I hurt you. Let me make it right. I’ll spend a lifetime making it up to you if you’ll let me.”

I waited for the little voice in the back of my mind to protest, to tell me I was making a mistake. I waited for it to tell me I was better off alone, determined to listen to it this time.

It never came.

“I love you, too,” I whispered.

Aaron took another step closer to me. He wrapped me in his arms, and I melted against him when he did. It felt right. The way he looked at me was with so much love and affection. This couldn’t be wrong.

My heart and head finally agreed when he kissed methis was where I belonged.

“I think I’m going to go,” Hannah said, clearing her throat.

“Sorry,” I said, untangling myself from Aaron’s arms. “I was distracted.”

Hannah laughed. “Don’t be sorry. I brought him here! I’ll see you soon, okay?”

I walked to Hannah and hugged her, and she held onto me just a little longer. It made me feel better about what had happened between us. We were still family, still friends, despite our working relationship going so very wrong.

“Thank you,” I said to her. “For everything.”

“Of course,” she said with a smile before she looked at Aaron. “I’ll see you around too, I’m guessing.”

Aaron offered her a grin and a nod, and Hannah left us alone in my apartment.

I turned to face him when the front door closed.

“So, a job opening, huh?” I asked. “I’ll have to check my calendar.”

“Well, I have it on good authority you’re free now, so…” He cupped my cheeks and kissed me, sliding his tongue into my mouth. I moaned at the back of my throat and melted against him. I would never get tired of Aaron kissing me, of him touching me. He always made me feel like I was the only woman on the face of this earth like he never saw anyone else.

Aaron’s kiss grew urgent, and his need matched mine. I wanted to get as close to him as I possibly couldso close that I didn’t know where he ended, and I began. We’d been apart for far too long.

Aaron’s fingers found the hem of my shirt, and he pulled it up and over my head. He pushed his hands into my hair and walked me backward toward the couch. I started with his pants, undoing his belt buckle.

“Wait,” Aaron said, breaking the kiss before I collapsed onto the couch, ready to pull Aaron with me. “Where’s your room?”

He hadn’t been to my apartment before, I realized.

I giggled. “It’s down there, but…I didn’t really clean up. I wasn’t expecting company. I have clothes all over my floor.”

“That’s okay. I’m not here to look at your bedroom floor, Jade.” He kissed me again, pushing his hands into my pants and working them down my legs. “I think we’ll just add these to the pile. You won’t need them for the rest of the day…the rest of the week if I had my way, but we’ll figure that out.”

“We have time to do that,” I said against his lips.

“Forever isn’t long enough with you, sweetheart.”

There was no more time for talking. We kissed, stumbling over each other down my hallway and undressing until we collapsed on my bed naked, our limbs pretzeled together.