ROMANCING HER PROTECTOR (5 page)

there, but everything else was still on the table and they both knew it. It was the history. It

was the fact that he wasn’t the kind of man that could love a woman unconditionally for nearly

a decade, and just stop having any feelings for her whatsoever. He still loved Alex, if truth be

told. He’d probably always love her.

“I come because I care about you,” he said truthfully. “But there are limits, Alex.

Don’t push too hard. Now what is it you want this time?”

“You make me sound like such a cad,” Alex said, walking back behind her desk. Matty

watched her body, that body he used to crave, but now only despised because he knew

somebody else was filling her up.

“What is it, Al, I’ve got a business to run.”

Alex sat down. Truth was, she was terrified. Had been ever since her home pregnancy

test came up positive. She told Peter Dial about it, when he returned from a football recruiting

trip he’d been on, but Peter denied it could be his. But it had to be his because he was the

only man, except for Matty before they broke up, she’d been fooling with. But he said no, no

way, and dumped her.

It was a heartbreaking rejection for Alex. Peter was the man she had wanted even

above Matty, who was once the love of her life. He was a gorgeous hunk of a man with the

body of a world class athlete and a smile that made her want to swoon. When Peter dumped

her, she thought she was going to die with grief. How could she have been so stupid? She

gave up a good man like Matty Driscoll for a player like that? She actually had thought Peter

loved her, too, and would cherish her the way Matty had. She could not have been more

wrong.

“The campus ball at the president’s house is at the end of the month,” she said. “I

need you to be my date.”

Matty stared at her. “You’re joking, right?” he said, amazed that she would even

consider such a thing.

“It’s no joke, all right? I need this favor, Matty. I can’t show up to the most important

event of the year empty-handed.”

“And why would you be empty-handed? What happened to lover boy football coach?”

“Stop calling him that!”

“What happened to Peter Dial, Alex?”

“We broke up ions ago, for your information.” A lie. She’d just told Peter about the

pregnancy a few days ago, and that was when their breakup occurred. “Besides, it never was

as serious as you were making it out to be.” Another lie.

Matty had known Alex Graham for so many years, but he still was hard pressed to truly

figure her out. “So lover boy dumps you,” he said, “and you come running back to me?”

Alex closed her eyes. She wanted Matty back, it was true, but more than that she had

to have him back. She was no spring chicken anymore. She was pushing thirty-five. She

wanted to be married with a kid and time was not on her side.

Besides, she’d already figured it all out. Matty would take her to the ball, see how

unbelievably beautiful she was, especially in that diamond necklace he had allowed her to

purchase from Tiffany’s, and they’d make love right then and there. She knew he couldn’t

resist her when she was looking a certain way. Then she’d spring the big news of the

pregnancy on him and Matty, being Matty, would feel he had no choice but to offer his hand in

marriage. But that was why she had to get him in bed again. Claiming that he impregnated her

before they broke up wouldn’t fly. He wouldn’t fall for that. She needed fresh evidence, a

fresh night of passion, and she would have him right where she wanted him.

Of course she’d have some big time ‘plaining to do. Especially if the baby didn’t come

out with any hint of being biracial. Peter was a black man, but he was a high-yellar black man,

so the baby could conceivably take on his skin tone. But if not, Alex was so dark-

complexioned that she felt she could easily explain it away that way, too.

Besides, the timing would be perfect. According to Clive Stewart, a brilliant surgeon

and very close, “intimate” friend of hers, she was impregnated only about three weeks ago.

Which meant that it truthfully couldn’t be Matty’s baby, but it would be close enough in time

the night of the ball that the truth could be manipulated. Matty, not Peter, would have been

the last man she’d been with, which would make the chances of his fathering the child more

plausible. It would be an early delivery, yes, but that could be explained away too. But the

key was getting him in bed again.

And if all of that didn’t work, if her sleeping with him and then declaring herself

pregnant wasn’t enough to wrangle him, then she would have to result to her bigger, bolder

back-up plan that was, in her estimation, too big, too bold, too incredible, to fail.

She opened her eyes, tears suddenly appearing. She wanted Matty back. All of her life

she went after what she wanted with a vengeance, and always got her way. Only she was

always slick with her trick. Always lady-like and undercover. Just as she was about to be right

now.

“This is vital, Matty,” she said to him, laying the tears on as thick as she could manage.

He could never handle her tears. Never. And she knew how to turn them on. “I wouldn’t ask

you if I didn’t need you,” she added.

Alex and tears were a foreign concept. In all his years of being with her, he could count

on one hand the number of times he’d seen her cry. And usually they were tears of anger, not

tears of pain. But when she did shed tears of pain, he couldn’t take it. Just like he couldn’t

take it now. His heart melted. Most people would say Alex Graham was nothing but a spoiled

bitch who deserved every bad turn she got. But Matty knew she hadn’t always been that way.

Besides, this ball wasn’t for another three weeks. Maybe she’d meet somebody new

by then, and tell him no thanks.

“All right, I’ll see what I can do,” he said, and she beamed.

“Oh, Matty,” she said heartfelt. “I knew I could always count on you! I just knew it!”

***

“Shanita Cooper, please come to desk five,” the speaker announced and Shay grabbed

her book bag and hurried toward the now open cubicle. She was in the bustling financial aid

office in Franklin’s student union, to see what in the world her options were.

“I’m hoping you can help me,” Shay began as she sat in the small, metal chair. It had

been nearly a week since she received word of losing her scholarship, and she was still trying

to see her way clear.

“What’s your social?” the counselor wanted to know. He was tall and thin and all

business. When he punched in her social security number, he studied the screen in front of

him.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if y’all can’t help me. They took my scholarship away and

now I may have to drop out if there’s no other funding available.”

But his entire attention appeared to be focused on his computer screen. As she talked

he began pecking his computer keys furiously, reading the screen, and then pressing Enter over

and over.

Shay was hopeful. “You found something?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, although he never took his eyes off of the screen.

“Have you found another scholarship for me?”

“Scholarship?” the counselor asked, still distracted by his screen. “No, of course not.

Besides, it’s covered.”

Shay frowned. “What’s covered?”

“Your tuition,” he said. “According to this, your tuition is covered in full for the

remainder of your college studies, with an option for you to get a Master’s if you choose,

which I strongly recommend,” the counselor added, looking at Shay over the top tip of his

glasses.

“But that’s a mistake,” Shay said, confused. “Dr. Graham said I lost my scholarship.

She said my grades were too low and they took the scholarship from me. That has to be some

mistake.”

“This isn’t a scholarship,” the counselor said.

“Then what are you talking about? I already get the Pell grant, but that’s not nearly

enough to cover Franklin’s tuition.”

“You don’t have a scholarship, young lady, nor is this a grant. You have a

benefactor.” Then he noticed something odd on his computer screen. “Oh. That’s

interesting,” he said as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his wide, flat nose and began

pecking at his keys again.

“What is it?” Shay wanted to know.

“The cost of your dorm room and cafeteria fees are included as well,” he said.

Shay was floored. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re a very blessed young lady, understand that?”

“But do you know who it is? And why would anybody want to do something like that

for me?”

“I don’t know and I don’t know,” the counselor said and looked, once again, at Shay.

“But I would advise against too much protestation. You have an anonymous benefactor, that’s

all. That’s a good thing.”

“But this is crazy!” Shay was a product of the streets. She was always suspicious of

gift givers. “Have you heard of anything like this before?”

“Yes, of course I have. I mean, it’s not the norm, no, but it happens more often than

you might realize. Here at Franklin we call people like this ‘protectors.’”

Shay frowned. “Protectors? Why protectors?”

“Because it’s in your best interest to continue in college and get your degree. People

like this look out for that interest, they protect your interest.” Then he exhaled, seeing the

doubt, the concern on Shay’s innocent face. “You’re over-thinking this, young lady. It’s not

all that serious.”

“Somebody giving me what amounts to a full scholarship, out of the blue, and you

expect me to just accept it? What are the strings? What are they expecting in return?”

“Contrary to what you may believe, there are still good people in this world.”

But Shay had her doubts. It had been her life’s experience that nobody had ever shown

her much favor, unless they wanted something significant from her in return.

The counselor exhaled again. “It’s probably just some rich old lady somewhere who

asked the school to find a deserving student. Maybe it was even Dr. Graham who

recommended you when you lost your scholarship. It could be as simple as that. So don’t be

obsessing over it, just accept it. Because if it was me somebody was willing to protect,” the

counselor said, finally cracking a smile, “I wouldn’t give a good hot damn who it was.”

But Shay did give a damn, hot and otherwise. And as she slung her book bag on her

small shoulder and hurried out of the chaotic confines of the financial aid office, words

couldn’t describe just how much she gave a damn. Because she knew just as surely as she

knew her name who this
protector
was. And he was a far cry from some rich old lady.

But the implication of it all was what drove her mad. If she accepted such a gift from

him, it would make her no better than a street corner whore. He was trying to buy her silence,

because she now knew why he was always coming to town. According to Dr. Graham, he

was one of the school’s business partners. What if he could lose that partnership if they found

out he had banged one of their students? Was that why he suddenly became her protector?

To protect his own interest, and buy her silence?

He was wasting his money if that was the case. As if she was going to tell what they

did to somebody else. What did he take her for? Did he think she’d tell her roommate Jessica,

who didn’t even know she’d lost her virginity, or was a virgin to begin with? Did he expect her

to say, ‘hey, Jess, there’s this guy who always comes into Stop Gap. They call him Brad Pitt.

Well my shiftless little stupid behind decided to give that man my virginity, just gave it away to

him. And guess who else he’s screwing? Franklin U itself!’ Please! She’d die before another

human being knew about her private life that way.

And she’d be damned if Matty Driscoll was going to make her feel even more

insignificant than she already felt. She needed the help, Lord knows she needed it desperately,

but she’d take out a high interest loan and work triple-shift at Stop Gap, before she sold her

soul that easily.

Instead of going to the library to research her term paper, and instead of going to her

Comparative Studies class that was due to meet within the hour, she hopped a commuter train

and traveled those short, but agonizing forty miles, into the heart of Baltimore.

FOUR

She stepped out of the cab in front of the massive Driscoll Systems, Incorporated building

and had to lean back on all fours just to see the full breath of it. It was modern, made of green

glass and marble, and immediately, just seeing the scope of Matty’s business, made her heart