The alarm stopped blaring, but she was not going to move at all.

The house was silent, or at least she could not hear much in between her shivers and her tears. Many thoughts ran through her head. One, she should have listened to Tristan. He was right. He was only trying to protect her.

This was her fault.

She heard footsteps up the stairs.

"Johanna! Johanna!"

She could not make out who was calling her.

"Johanna, where are you?"

It was Tristan. She stood up from the floor, opened her closest door, and rushed to her bedroom door to unlock it. Tristan stood there with a gun in his hands and rage all over his face.

Once he saw her, his face softened a bit.

"You okay? Did he..."

She shook her head then grabbed him in a hug, wrapping her arms around him. Feeling safe for once.

"I got you." He held her in his arms and squeezed her. "I got you."

"I'm sorry, it was my fault. I shouldn't have-"

"No, this is not on you." He stepped into her room and then put the gun on her dresser. She never knew he owned a gun, but she was glad he was ready for whatever.

She could not stop shaking. Tristan held her in his arms rubbed her back and made her feel safe again.

"I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you, Jo. I...I watched that guy on camera try to get in here and...hurt you. What kind of man am I if I can't protect you? My girl."

"Your girl?" She looked up at him.

"Yes," he said, brushing her tears away with his thumb. "Jo, I want you too and I can't fight it anymore."

He leaned down to kiss her, like that first kiss, and she felt all the same butterflies. 

"You still want me?"

"Yes!" Now she forgot all the other feelings she went through today. All she felt was happiness being in Tristan's arms. "You mean, you want me to be your girlfriend? Even though you don't do the girlfriend thing?"

He grinned at her, his hand caressing her cheek. "I don't like the idea of having a girlfriend, but I know you deserve something more. I'm new at this, but I want to give you what you deserve."

She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his luscious lips. "I want to be your girlfriend."

"You're so beautiful, Jo." He planted kisses all over her face. "I've been dying thinking of you every night. Wanting to kiss you again, knowing I could not."

"You can, please, all the kisses."

He took her mouth in his, kissing to the depths of her soul. His tongue languishing with hers, his lips the right amount of pressure to hers, his arms holding her up so she was off her feet. He literally swept her off her feet. If she could help it, she wanted to stand there and kiss him forever.

"Damn Jo, what have you done to me?" Tristan said between kisses.

"Something good?"

"All good, baby." Then he pulled away from her. "We're not supposed to be doing this."

"Why not?"

"Zee."

"What about my sister?"

He planted a couple more kisses on her. "She told me to stay away from you."

She figured that's what she had done. "So? She can't make us not be attracted to each other and be together."

"Yeah well, she threatened to throw my Black ass out of here if I even lay a finger on you. And I want to lay way more than a finger on you."

She smiled at that, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. "I won't let her do that to you."

"Come on Jo, this is serious. I can't come between you two like that and I don't want to betray her trust in me. Zee is mad cool and shit, hooking me up to stay here. All I had to do was leave you alone and I couldn't do that shit."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

Tristan rubbed her back not saying anything. She was afraid he would say he made a mistake and she could not be his girlfriend. They had to go back to being roommates, stealing glances at each other.

"I'm just not going to tell her," he said. "We can't tell her."

"What?"

Then she heard someone coming into the house.

"That's Zee, I better get out of your room." He moved away from her but gave her another quick kiss before stepping out of her room as Zee bounded up the stairs. She too was holding a gun.

"You have a gun?"

"Damn straight!" She clicked the safety off the gun. "That motherfucker tried to break in and I couldn't get here fast enough. You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, looking at Tristan. He left his gun on her dresser, but if he went back to get it, Zee would question why it was in her room. "Tristan came and I think scared him off."

"No, the neighbor did," Tristan stated. "When I got here Mr. Miles said he came out with his shotgun when he saw that motherfucker break the backdoor window. That's what set the alarms off. Good thing you armed all the doors, Jo."

"Come here, sis." Zee grabbed her in a hug. "I should have been here with you."

"It's fine. That's what we have Tristan for." She looked back at him and smiled. Her hero.

"I can't believe the fool tried. He must not be from around the block. Let him try that shit now, I have something for his ass."

She did not know what to say to her sister. She had a gun now? She never had a gun before or talked about wanting to have a gun. Was it licensed? Was Tristan's? Not that she cared. She was not afraid of guns, she just wondered why neither ever told her.

"I'm home now lil sis, and I got you. Come on, let's go downstairs and figure this shit out."

She told them about going to the park, the guy approaching and harassing her. She told them she thought she was being careful leaving the park and looking around for him. Somehow, he still followed her home. He must have been hiding somewhere, watching and waiting.

"Good thing the neighbors scared him off before I got here, I was ready to lay his ass out," Tristan said.

"Sis, we have to get you a gun."

"Why do I need a gun? You have a gun, Tristan has a gun."

"But you're the one with no car, walking around the neighborhood like we're in West County or something. This the hood. Motherfuckers will shoot you for crossing the street," Zee said.

"You definitely need protection, Jo," Tristan said to her.

He was her protection. She did not need anyone else. She refused to become a prisoner in her house, only leaving if she had her sister or Tristan with her. They could leave and go around as they pleased, why not her?  She felt she did everything right. She did not go out at night, she watched her surroundings, and she left when the guy got super creepy.

Carrying a gun to the park with little kids, what good would that do her?

"I just won't go to the park alone anymore. Is that okay?"

"Fine by me," Zee said. "Now let me make us some dinner sis, you chill and watch TV."

"I have to fix this back window this asshole broke," Tristan stood. "I have to board it up, but we can get someone to put the glass in tomorrow hopefully."

"Just glad it's not worse," Zee said.

They both left her to do what they had to do and she turned on the TV even though she was not interested in watching it. Her head was still in a cloud from all the kisses from Tristan, and him asking her to be his girlfriend. Was this all real?

Did she have a boyfriend now? And was he really a boyfriend if she had to hide it from her sister?

Zee made spaghetti, one of the few things she made well. She kept hers vegan and made the rest with meat. Also, she made a salad with fresh veggies, though not from her garden yet. Her garden had yet to sprout anything. Zee also made garlic bread, but she ate plain bread with hers.

They all sat in the dining room and ate together, this being the first time they all had dinner together. They talked more about keeping the house safe and that they would continue to get the neighbors involved with keeping their block crime-free. 

Even with the alarm that went off, police hesitated to race to the neighborhood to check on things. The cops did call Zee as an emergency contact when the alarm went off, but by then Tristan was there and she told them not to bother.

It was a one-time thing she hoped never happened again.

After dinner, they sat and watched some movies. She felt awkward sitting on the couch with her sister, when she wanted to be next to Tristan cuddled up against him.

She kept stealing glances at him, but he played cool and barely looked her way. That hurt her feelings.

"JoJo, you want to come to sleep in my bed tonight? We can keep watching movies and talk all night. I miss how we used to do that."

Back when they shared a room for so many years, sometimes they would talk all night, forget to sleep and both would have to go to school with little sleep. They would eat chips in the bed and talk about crazy things that popped into their head.

"I'm in!"

She went to her room to take a quick shower, changed into pajama shorts and a t-shirt then went to her sister's room. It sort of looked like she tried to clean it up, but it still was a mess. She picked up some clothes thrown all over her bed and tossed them in her closet. Then she got in the bed that reminded her of her GiGi.

Zee came out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"You sure you wouldn't rather call your girlfriend and have her spend the night over," she teased her sister.

"Naa!" Her sister dropped the towel and pulled on a long t-shirt. "I need to stick around the house more. Feels like since we moved here, I barely see you."

Well, at least she acknowledged that. But now that she was "dating" Tristan, she liked the fact that her sister was barely there. That meant she could sneak in more time with him since they were hiding things.

Zee pulled out a bag of chips from her nightstand. "Let's watch Child's Play. Remember how you had nightmares when you first saw that."

"I was four!" Johanna giggled at that. "And Chucky still gives me the creeps, let's not watch that."

Once they both were settled in the bed, there was a knock on the door. Of course, it was Tristan, and she smiled thinking of him.

"Yo, what's up? Come in homie."

Tristan opened the door, his tall frame filling up most of the frame. "Just checking on y'all. All good?"

"Boy, hell yeah we're good. Good night."

"Goodnight," Johanna said, watching him watch her, as he licked his bottom lip.

He gave her a head nod and then closed the door. That man made her all warm all over. She would for sure have naughty thoughts about him tonight, in bed with her sister.

Her phone pinged and she picked it up and saw a text from Tristan.

Wish it was me in bed with you

The big smile that spread over her face made her dizzy.

A/N: Finally!! They are together but keeping it hidden from Zee. Hmm, interesting.