What The Heart Wants

Chapter 7

Paula slept soundly as Jackson sat on the edge of the bed staring at her blush pink walls. Everything in her condo had such a feminine touch to it. Despite its frilliness, he was glad to have woken up there then alone in his house out in the countryside. Paula sleeping soundly next to him was a vision he could wake up to daily. Needless to say, dinner went well and got taken back to her place for dessert.

Curly tendrils splayed in every direction on her satin pillows as Paula stirred in her slumber. Jackson had made up his mind to do right by her. Even if it killed him. He started his search by calling people he knew to see if they knew of any places that were hiring. He was greeted with laughter most of the time, but at the end of it all… he only knew criminals. No one could offer him work that would keep him out of jail if someone caught him doing it. With a heavy heart, he left Paula to sleep while he went out to hit the pavement.

Jackson knew he wasn’t qualified for anything genius level. He was good at hard labor. He was excellent at fixing cars. However, the idea of him being able to put on a suit next to his beautiful woman held a small place in his heart. He’d give it a try even if just meant working in the mailroom of some mega corporation.

Nothing had ever been as intimidating to Jackson as staring up at the high rises from the street level. It made him feel small and insignificant as he strolled into one with his hands in his pockets and eyes glued to the floor. He had never actually asked for a job before. He would normally go out and take what he wanted. This was an unprecedented emotion for him. Asking the security guard at the main desk was the hardest part, but after he was directed to Human Resources, they sat him down to fil out an application. Sure it was only for janitorial spot, making less in a year than he would in one night, but if it meant he could be with Paula without her worrying then he would give it a shot.

The application process was going well until he got to the question asking about his criminal background. He balled up the paper and threw it away as he stormed out of the office. Rejection wasn’t a feeling that Jackson loved feeling as he walked around downtown looking at places with Now Hiring signs placed in the windows. He walked into a few, but at the last one, a car dealership, they laughed at him after finding out what he was convicted of. Jackson had to laugh at himself at some point too. What kind of dealership hires a car thief?

Jackson laughed out loud to himself as he sat on a park bench and played over the conversation with the dealership manager in his head. The look on his face was priceless. Jackson was excited that they hired criminals, but once he told them for what… they couldn’t stop laughing. He stormed out of the place fuming. He’d even thought about going back that night to steal every car they had off the lot, but reflecting back on it, it was kind of funny. Jackson laughed out loud to himself again.

“I heard they locked all the crazy people up,” a familiar voice cackled from behind him. Nick was a sight for sore eyes as Jackson got up to hug his lifelong friend.

“Aww man, it’s good to see you, man.” Jackson smiled.

“It’s good to see you too, but you’re not really crazy are you? They ain’t do any weird sh*t to you while you was locked up right?” Nick laughed.

“Not at all, asshole.” Jackson laughed, playfully punching him in the shoulder. “Are you hungry? You want to grab a bite to eat or something?”

“Yeah I can eat,” Nick agreed as the two guys took off to their favorite diner. Finding their favorite booth empty, Nick and Jackson happily sit down to order some food to eat. It didn’t take long for Nick to start in with the jokes. “So, what’s going on with you? Why you all dressed like Mr. Peabody and sh*t?”

“Shut up, man.” Jackson threw his napkin at him. “I’m out here trying to get a job, man. Sh*t is crazy hard to do with a record.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that’s why I don’t do it,” Nick chuckled. “Why are you acting like you don’t have the experience necessary to just pick up where we left off? It ain’t that bad out here in these streets.”

“Yeah, but Paula wants to be able to walk around without a target on her back. You know Demetri’s boys ran up on us? She would have been fine looking the other way until that sh*t got her spooked.”

“Wrong!” Nick called bullsh*t. “If you’re talking about Brown Sugar, who ended up being your lawyer, then she would have never been okay with you doing that. You know why?”

“No, why?” Jackson asked curiously.

“Because she’s a lawyer, dipsh*t! Why in the hell would she ever be okay with the guy she’s seeing being into illegitimate sh*t? Does that make any sense to you, bro?”

“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Jackson sighed. “But I need to do this so she can feel safe. So, I’m going to keep at this sh*t until I land something.”

“I mean,” Nick shrugged, “I feel you. If somebody fine as her asked me to quit, I’d at least think about it. But seeing as how you’re actually putting sh*t into motion to do it, she must have some bomb-ass pu*sy!”

“Yo, shut the fu*k up! I told you about talking about her like that.” Jackson checked him.

“You got it.” Nick raised his hands to surrender. “Not another word about your pretty ass lawyer who got you out here looking for a regular ass job.”

Jackson shook his head desperately wanting to change the subject. “So, how much time did you get off that G-Wagon?”

“None.” Nick rubbed his hands together as the waitress placed their food on the table. He couldn’t wait to dive in, but Jackson wasn’t so enthused.

“What do you mean none?” Jackson stopped him from attacking the plate with his fork and knife.

“I mean none. Did doing that much time make you hard of hearing or something?” Nick joked, but Jackson wasn’t finding anything funny.

“How the hell did you swing that? What you get probation? Community service? Anything?” Jackson was confused and demanded clarification.

“No! I didn’t get sh*t. The charges against me were dropped. Demetri’s got some good lawyers on his pay roll. They found some loophole or another to get me off free as a bird,” Nick told him nonchalantly.

Jackson couldn’t believe it. He wished he would have had the same lawyers, then he wouldn’t be in this situation right now, looking for a regular job. Jackson sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes.

“Aww, man don’t pout,” Nick poked at him. “You did the month easy and now you’re out. What’s going on with your case. Are you good now? Time served and all that sh*t?”

“Hell no,” Jackson exclaimed hitting the table with his hand. “I still got like two years of fu*king community service along with probation and sh*t! What the fu*k, man? How the hell did you send me into that damn place knowing damn well they do everything on the up and up? I should have had your lawyers!”

“Don’t be mad, man. That’s just the way that cookie crumbled,” Nick tried explaining. “Be happy that she was able to work that sh*t out for you.”

“I wish I could but, she knows the DA and told me they were friends and he only did it as a favor to her,” Jackson revealed, still feeling a way about that situation.

“I mean she ain’t have to su*k his di*k or anything like that, right?” Nick could sense Jackson’s frustration.

“Nah, just some political backing sh*t later when he runs for Attorney General,” he told him.