Intrigued By Danger (The Danger Family #3)

11. Declan

11

DECLAN

The Next Morning…

I’d just left Elle’s house and I was on cloud nine. On top of us nearly sleeping in each other’s skin last night, she woke me up at five this morning with some of the warmest and wettest head I’d ever had. When I threw the covers back and looked into her pretty ass eyes, I nearly lost it. Before my morning wood could poke the back of her throat out, she climbed on me, reverse cowgirl, and bounced on my dick until I nutted deep inside her. After she drained me, I closed my eyes for what I thought was ten minutes until I woke up again with sun shining brightly through the window. I had a text from her letting me know to lock up with the extra key and a few laughing emojis, which meant she knew she’d laid my ass back out. I’d gotten three extra hours of sleep and was late for work, but Kemba already knew what was up. Although I was on cloud nine, I wasn’t going to let that get in the way of the first task at hand.

My first stop was my parent’s condo. It was a little after eight, so I knew they’d be up. The only thing on my mind was finding out what my dad said to Elle last night. He’d been acting weird since he walked up on me and Elle at the fair. For the sake of not driving myself crazy, I chalked that one up to him just walking up and catching us smiling at each other. When he popped up in Elle’s tent, I knew something was off. Through the rest of the festival and then dinner, I caught him randomly staring at me. I wasn’t going to say anything until I’d caught him outside talking to Elle. I was pissed off at him for approaching her, and also at her because she wouldn’t tell me what he said. If I hadn’t caught them, she wouldn’t have said anything at all. That’s why I ignored her text when she told me not to come over. Him intervening into my life was going to end today.

I took a deep breath before I knocked on the door. I didn’t have a single thought past asking him what he said to Elle, so I didn’t know how our conversation would play out. I’d pulled my phone out of my pocket to call one of them when my mom pulled the door open, looking confused.

“Good morning, Declan. What are you doing here so early?”

She opened the door wider, letting me in.

“Where’s Dad?”

She put her hands on her hips. “I said good morning, Declan.”

“Sorry, Mom. Good morning.” I hugged her. “Where’s Dad?”

“He went to the office with your brothers. What do you need? Can I help?”

“No. I need to talk to Dad. I’ll see you later.”

I started out of the door when she grabbed my arm.

“Yeah, Ma.”

She looked me up and down. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, why?”

She looked me up and down again, sighing. “No, reason. Well, yes, there is reason. Something seems off with you lately. You’re not about to fight with your brothers, are you? Do you need more medication?”

“No, Ma. I’m fine, I promise. I’ll see you later.”

I hugged her again and kissed her temple before I walked out of the door. Since Dad was in the city, I would have to go home and get my Slingshot. I hoped Winter was gone because I didn’t have time for her shit. After Donovan went to sleep last night, I showered and went to Elle’s. Since Winter said that bullshit about me being gay, I’d barely had two words for her, and she knew it too. The only time we tried to make conversation was when Donovan was around us, and even then, it was hard to pretend because that wasn’t something we could just move on from.

Approaching my house, I tapped my fob to let the garage up, and Winter’s car was still parked. Any other day, over the last couple of months, I would have had to beg her to spend time with me or be at home. Ironically, she’d been at home more since she proposed the open relationship. I got out of my Wolverine and went to my slingshot and started pulling off the car cover off. Before pulling it all the way off, I checked the weather, hoping it was good because I didn’t want to ask Winter to borrow her car. When the weather checked out, I finished pulling the cover off.

The door in the garage came open and Winter came out, slamming the door behind her. She stalked down the stairs toward me.

“You have some fucking nerves!” she hissed.

I looked at her before gathering the cover and taking it to the corner of the garage with her right behind me. When I turned around, she was right there with her arms folded across her chest.

“What’s up, Winter?”

“What’s up? What’s up? You come in here, put our son to sleep, and leave while I’m in the shower without saying one fucking word to me, and then didn’t come home!”

“I sent you a text.”

She tilted her head. “Sent me a text?”

“Sent you a text. Watch out.”

I tried to walk around her, but she moved in front of me.

“You’re not going to come in the house and say anything to your son? You get a little piece of ass and now you’re getting beside yourself. Did you forget that you’re a dad?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but then shook my head and started laughing. She was trying to get under my skin. That comment didn’t strike as big of a nerve because at least she was still in the dark about Elle. As pissed off as I was about the shit she’d said to me, I still wanted to respect her, only because she was the mother of my child. Little did she know, she was skating on thin ice.

“He didn’t go over to Quinci’s?”

“No!”

“Okay.” I tried to walk around her, and she moved in front of me again. “Watch out, Winter.” When she didn’t budge, I took a step back from her. “Okay, Winter. What do you want? Ask me any question, but not anything dealing with the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ portion of our relationship that you created.”

She stared at me silently while running her tongue back and forth across the top row of her teeth.

“Thought so,” I murmured.

I moved by her and walked in the house, down the hall to Donovan’s room. I tapped on the door a couple times and waited for him to tell me to come in. I looked down the hall to see Winter had come in from the garage.

“It’s open.”

I walked in the room and saw him sitting at his desk reading, and immediately, everything his stupid ass mother said to me was pushed to the back of my mind. He was the smartest kid I’d ever met and reminded me of myself. Going into the fourth grade, he was already reading on a seventh grade reading level, and his grades proved that. He spent most of his time reading and watching YouTube videos of other children playing when he wasn’t outside himself.

He looked up at me. “What’s up, Dad? You taking your lunch break already?”

“I’m about to go see your uncles and grandfather at their office. Why you in here? You know it’s the last weekend before school start.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just reading.”

The way he said it, I could tell something else was going on.

I leaned against his desk. “What’s up, Son?”

“Nothing.”

“Donovan, I’m your father and can tell when something is going on with you, right?”

He nodded and looked up at me. “Well, all my friends are going to the beach, and I wanted to go, but Mom already said no. I called Grandma and she said she would come get me, and when I told Mom, she snapped at me and told me not to go behind her back because she’d already said no. Dad, I didn’t think I was going behind her back. I just thought she didn’t want to be out there with the other parents… because you know how she is.”

I looked at my watch and it was almost nine.

“What time are they going to be out there?”

“They will be out there from eleven to three, maybe longer.”

I nodded. “Oh, okay. Well, you can start getting dressed. You’re going.”

He perked up. “You’re going to take me?”

I shook my head. “No. Your mother is going to take you.”

His shoulders dropped. “Dad, she’s not going to listen to you.”

“Well, let’s see,” I said, smiling while trying to keep my cool. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay, Dad. Good luck,” he said, laughing.

Enraged, I rushed out of the room in search of Winter and found her in the dining room eating. Before she could breathe a word, I grabbed her by the back of her neck, forcing her to her feet and guiding her to our bedroom.

“Dec—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I growled in her ear before turning around and making sure Donovan hadn’t stuck his head out of his bedroom.

When we walked in the room, I released her and closed the door. She rushed across the room, planting herself in the corner with her fists clenched like I was about to square up with her.

“Don’t be silly,” I said.

“Declan, what the fuck is your problem!” she shouted.

I crossed the room and towered over her. “Winter, you are going to get dressed and you are going to take our son to the beach to hang with his friends. That is the—”

“But—” she started.

“That… is the nicest fucking way I am going to say it,” I spoke calmly.

I could tell she was getting mad because her chest had started heaving up and down.

“I don’t give a flying fuck if you have to text every nigga you fuck with to keep you entertained while you out there. If I hear a mothafuckin’ peep about you acting stupid with those parents down there, you’re going to see another side of me, Winter.”

“But—”

“Do not say but to me again. I have been letting you continuously skate by with this cold shoulder bullshit you’ve been doing to this town when nobody here has been anything but accommodating to you and our family. That ends today. You’re going. Do you understand, yes or no?”

She was preparing to respond when I held up my finger. “Yes or no, Winter?”

She stared at me, probably debating on if I was playing or not. In her eyes, I could tell she was nervous because I’d never directed this much vitriol at her before. Shit I was surprising myself. It had to have come from the fact that my son was noticing his mother didn’t listen to me. It was taking her too long to answer, so I turned my head and leaned my ear toward her mouth.

“Yeah, I understand,” she mumbled.

I nodded. “Thank you.”

I left her in the room standing in the corner and went back to Donovan’s room. He was still sitting in the same spot, so I tapped on the door to get his attention. He looked up at me, wide eyed and waiting for a response. I simply winked at him.

“She said yeah?”

“She said yeah. Just like I told you she would.”

He jumped up and hugged me. “Thank you, Dad. I’ll see you later.”

“You’re more than welcome, Kid. I’ll see you later,” I said and kissed the top of his head.

When I left his door, I headed back toward the garage and saw Winter standing at the kitchen sink staring out the window.

“Have fun today, Winter,” I said, though she tried to ignore me. “Winter. I said have fun today.”

She cut her eyes to me. “Okay,” she hissed.

I smiled and walked away. For some odd reason, that felt pretty good. I chuckled, thinking about Elle saying I needed to tell people I’d beat their ass. What I’d just done wasn’t quite that, but it was close. I felt good, but I’d have to wait and see if I’d done it in vain or not, because Winter always had tricks up her sleeve. In the garage, I grabbed the keys off the wall and hopped in my Slingshot and turned the engine on. It had been a while since I turned it on, so I let the engine run for a few minutes. Just as I’d started backing out, Winter appeared at the door.

“Declan, where are you going?”

“To see a man about a horse.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking.” I continued backing out enough for me to let the garage door down, watching as she scrunched her face.

Pulling out, I noticed my sisters sitting on the porch with Quinci and my nieces. I honked the horn and kept going. If I had of stopped, Metri would have cornered me and made me answer questions I didn’t want to. I’d been avoiding her since I’d admitted to having sex with another woman. I would continue to evade her as long as I could.

I sat outside my brother’s office space, deep breathing. The forty-five-minute trip seemed like it was fifteen minutes because my mind was filled thoughts of what I was going to say to my father and different responses to what I felt he might say. I took one more deep breath before getting out and walking inside. Dad sat at their part-time assistant’s desk while on the computer. The doors to both Dymon and Diesel’s offices were closed, so I assumed they were working.

“Son…” He stood to greet me and smiled, but I stood on the other side of the desk.

“What did you say to Elle last night?” I asked.

His smile slowly faded into a raised eyebrow. I knew that look—the stalling look he gave whenever he was surprised I knew things and needed time to wiggle out of explaining it.

“Dad, tell me what you said to Elle last night?” I spoke through gritted teeth.

He stared at me for a moment before he sat back in the seat.

“I told her the truth,” he said, typing.

“And what is the truth, Dad?”

“You know the truth,” he said, still typing on the keyboard and looking at me.

My heart thumped and my chest tightened. I cleared my throat to try and disrupt the feeling, but I didn’t know how much longer I was going to last.

“I wouldn’t be asking you if I did, Dad,” I said, calmly.

He cut his eyes to me and then back to the screen. He knew just like everyone else knew I hated to be ignored. The more he tapped on the keyboard, the madder I got. Before I could stop myself, I snatched up the keyboard and launched it to the wall behind him, breaking it into several pieces.

He jumped up from the chair so fast that he knocked it over. “Are you out of your fucking mind, boy!”

“I asked you what the fuck did you say to Elle!”

His eyes nearly popped out of his head just as Diesel and Dymon’s door flew open.

“What the fuck is going—” Dymon started.

“Dad. Declan. What happened?” Diesel asked.

I ignored them, keeping my eyes trained on Dad.

He waved his hand out toward the wall. “This. This is what I told her, Declan. You’re impulsive. You’re reckless. You do not like change. I did you a favor.”

“Told who, what?” Dymon queried.

“Did me a favor! How do you feel like you did me a favor! Please, explain.”

Diesel walked over to us. “Y’all what is going on? I was on a very important call.”

“Oh, they don’t know?” He asked with a smirk on his face, and it set me off again.

“I’ve had it up to here with you trying to run my fucking life!” I roared, and Diesel grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t fucking touch me, Diesel,” I hissed, not looking at him. He backed away with his hands raised. “I have been having a really, really tough time lately, and the very, small, little bit of fucking happiness I get, you try to take it away from me!” The back of my throat started to burn, and it was getting hard to talk. I took a few deep breaths, trying to remain calm.

When he noticed me trying to keep it together with tears filling my eyes, his facial expression changed, and his eyebrows went together. As I blinked, water fell from my eyes. I swiped my tears away with the back of my hand.

“Declan, what the fuck, Bro?” Dymon asked with a confused look on his face.

“Winter is…” I swallowed and took a deep breath. “Was…. cheating on me.”

My dad dropped his head and then looked at me, shaking his head.

Dymon punched his hand. “That bitch. How do you know?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” I snapped and looked at Diesel. “Both of y’all.”

“Why would we know that Declan?” Dymon asked.

I scoffed and shook my head.

“I’m-I’m-I’m-Oof!” He clasped his hands together and sighed into them, dramatically. “You’re upset, so I want to cut you some slack, but don’t make me get on yo’ ass. I-we…” He motioned between them three. “Don’t know shit, but what you tell us. You think I wouldn’t have said nothing to you if I knew that bitch was out here running around on you.”

“Dymon, be quiet,” Diesel ordered him and looked at me. “I didn’t know, Declan. I’m truly sorry to hear that. How are you doing?”

When he asked me that, a fresh set of tears dropped from my eyes, and I shrugged. I didn’t expect to cry. Shit. I’d been so happy with Elle that I thought I would have been over this shit.

“Do you need to sit down?”

I shook my head. “I’m not… I wasn’t taking it well at all. Everything had been happening so fast. I caught her cheating. She lied about it at first and then proposed an open relationship. I-I had no choice but to agree, right? I did, but I wasn’t taking it well at all. I followed her on a couple dates and then one night…” I paused, hating what I was about to do. “Elle—”

“Elle!” Diesel and Dymon shouted.

“Elle… who?” Diesel asked, with that goofy ass smirk on his face.

I ignored them pretending like they didn’t know what Elle I was talking about. “We been kicking it. A lot. A whole lot. A whole, whole lot. It was innocent at first. Next thing we know… yeah.”

It was so quiet; I could hear a stick pin drop. Everybody wore a different shocked expression on their faces. Dymon’s mouth was open, Diesel’s eyes were about to pop out of his head, and my dad’s face was a combination of both.

“I…” Diesel paused and shook his head.

“It was never supposed to be like this between me and Elle, I swear. I was just going to continue and let Winter do her until the three months was up. I didn’t have any intention on being with another woman throughout this. I was embarrassed to say anything. Honestly, I thought Kemba would have told Quinci and… yeah.”

“Ah! So, that’s why Kemba knocked dude out. Now, see, Quinci told me about that, but she said Kemba told her the dude was being disrespectful to the bartender. She said nothing about your girl being with him. See. Do you see how you got niggas riding for you, and you think you in this shit by yourself? That we are against you.”

“Dymon.” Diesel shot him a look, shaking his head. “Not now.”

“No.” When he started around the desk, Diesel and my dad followed him up to my face. “I’m going to say this, and I’m going to be done. I don’t give a shit what happens after this either. I thought we had moved on from this fake ass sibling rivalry competition with only one person in it: you. We have already established I’m better than everybody in this family, but it doesn’t mean I think you some bum ass nigga who don’t deserve the last name Danger. I think you are smart and capable. I get under your skin because I know when you are doing something out of spite, especially on my behalf, it is done perfectly. It may make you better, but you still won’t be better than me, though.”

I shook my head, trying not to smile at his dumb ass. He wasn’t wrong, and I slightly hated it because there were times I worked my ass off on a specific thing just to prove him wrong.

He grabbed my shoulders. “I’m hard on you, Declan, and you hate that I’m hard on you because I’m your baby brother. You have to get over that. I’m going to be hard on you until we give this shit to our kids. That’s just business. Personally, I don’t want to see you hurt. Or I don’t care that you… cry or whatever you think I might care about. Am I going to mock you? Absolutely, and I’m never going to stop that. So, today, I want you to tell me what you need from me to put this to bed.”

“It’s more than that.”

I moved out of his grip and walked over to the couch and sat down. Diesel sat on the other side of the couch and Dymon pulled up a chair. My dad went around the desk and started picking up the pieces of the keyboard.

“What’s up, Dec?” Diesel asked.

I sighed. “Please don’t say anything to your wives, but Elle is a Domme. I know. Full circle, huh?”

“That little ass girl,” Dymon said.

I nodded. “That little ass girl. I didn’t believe it at first either, but I saw her in action.”

“What!” They both shouted.

Even our dad turned around.

“Wait.” Diesel pointed at me. “You…?”

“We… switch. She lets me do whatever I want to her, but none of that is neither here nor there.”

“Shitt, hold on, yes, it is,” Dymon said, grinning and rubbing his hands together.

“No, it’s not, but it’s been quite embarrassing to enjoy this because of how hard I judged y’all about it. Plus, y’all know how I feel about hearing ‘I told you so’ from y’all about anything. It’s why I’d been secretly visiting the San Fran chapter of Chokers. Winter’s not into it, or so I thought. She claimed I didn’t really want her; I just didn’t want y’all picking on me if y’all found out she was cheating because that was yet another thing I let fail. That was why I agreed, and… she didn’t lie. At the end, she promised to marry me and give me another child. I want to be married. I want more kids. Before me and Elle spent hours at the Juke Box talking, I never looked at her like that. But now, it’s different. I look at Winter different. I like Elle a lot. I don’t know what I’m going to do at the end of the three months. And that’s why I wanted to know what Dad told Elle. She let me spend the night last night, but I don’t know if she’s going to pull away from me. Sorry about being all over the place, but…”

I took a deep breath and laid back against the couch. Being completely honest and open with my brothers wasn’t something I ever saw myself doing, but the more I talked, the better I felt, even if it didn’t make sense to them.

“Winter knows you’re seeing Elle,” Diesel asked.

I shook my head.

“Oh, it’s like a don’t ask, don’t tell, thing,” Dymon added.

I nodded. “However, she thinks I’m sewing my oats with a man.”

“I’m sorry?” Diesel responded.

“I saved Elle’s name as Junior in my phone as a joke because her name is Della the second. Apparently, Winter can’t take what she dishes out and went through my phone and seen a very intimate message from Elle.”

“I’m sorry, son. Sorry for what Winter has put you through, but my point on you and Elle destroying the dynamic of this family stands.”

We all looked at him.

“That’s what you told her! That she would destroy the dynamic of this family?” I questioned.

“I did. I don’t regret it. I apologized to her if I offended her, but you do know what that girl is going to do when she finds out you’re fucking Elle. She’s going to take that boy back to New York and you’re never going to see him.”

The thought of never seeing my son had me out of my seat and across the room in his face within seconds. My brothers instantly got between us.

“Declan, I have never physically hurt you, but you are well on your way. I don’t give a damn how mad you are, and that is the truth. You do not know that girl past getting your dick wet. You don’t know if she sees her friend with a rich husband and thinking she wants that for herself. Just like I told you twenty years ago about Winter. It’s the same thing; she sees a sucker that wants to get licked.”

I lunged at him, but Diesel grabbed me just in time and pulled me back.

“And now, because you’re pissed, you’re going to force yourself to like her even more out of spite. That’s the impulsiveness in you. Get over whatever this is with Elle and fix your family.”

I snatched away from Diesel and started pacing to calm down.

“Fix my family? Fix my family. Why you suddenly want me to fix my family, so I can be miserable like you are right now? Mom’s still dating David and stringing you alone.”

It was his turn to lunge at me. It took Dymon and Diesel to hold him back.

I stretched my arms. “Let him go. What you think Mom is going to say if I tell her you hurt me? You know I’m my momma’s baby. At least that’s what you think, right? At least that’s what you still treat me like. I tell her you hurt me, and those separation papers will easily become divorce papers.”

“Ohh, no, Declan. I’m not letting you pull that card no more. You and your mother might want to have a different conversation than continuously talking about our marriage because that is never going to change. That I can promise you, baby boy.”

I waved him off. “You’re not going to be happy until I take off from this family like Dymon did. He seemed so much happier when he was away from you,” I snapped.

“Declan, take a break,” Diesel urged.

“See! This is what I’m talking about. One conversation doesn’t go your way, and now you want to move away. You’re not seeing the long-term consequences of your actions.”

“No! This is what I’m talking about with you always wanting to run my life!”

“If protecting you from yourself is running your life, then goddamn it, that’s what it is. I have been doing that since the day you were born, and I am not going to stop today.”

My throat felt like it was getting ready to close. We kept our eyes on each other, neither of us backing down.

“Dec, man, chill out. Go outside, right quick.” Dymon said.

“You know what Winter told me the other day? She said she wishes I had of told her I was gay. That she could always tell that something was off with me. She would be my beard at a heavy cost. She was almost ecstatic at the thought of using me for my money and that’s what you’re telling me to fix? How can you protect me from that, Dad? What would be the difference between her and Elle then?”

He didn’t say anything, but I saw the muscles in his jaws working overtime. There weren’t many moments where I had Duncan Danger speechless, so I took my win and walked out of the door. Instead of getting in my Slingshot, I circled it a few times to calm down before I went to the back of it and sat on the ground. I was only staring out at the streets for a few minutes before I heard footsteps next to my car.

“There you are,” Diesel said. “Thought you had collapsed or something.”

He eased down next to me and stared out at the street with me. For a split moment, it reminded me back when we were kids.

“If you coming out here to take his side. Save it. I don’t want to hear that right now.”

“I was only going to ask you if you was okay?”

“I’m good.”

“You sure?”

I nodded slowly.

“I’m proud of you, though.”

I cut my eyes to him. “For what?”

“For finally standing up for yourself and saying what’s on your mind. He’s pissed, but you gained his respect. Did it change his mind? I don’t know, but you got what you needed to say off your chest. How you feel?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m thinking about how Elle told me sometimes I needed to tell people I’d beat their ass and I’d feel better.”

He laughed. “Sounds like her.”

He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a blunt and a lighter, and lit it.

“You really didn’t know?” I asked.

He pulled on it a couple times and handed it to me. “You got me this time, bro. We knew about the deal though, of course.”

“Why y’all ain’t say nothing then? And what was that shit Dymon was doing at the table?”

I pulled on the blunt and inhaled the smoke deep in my lungs before releasing it.

“Dec, you know we try to give you your space and let you tell us stuff. If we had of mentioned it to you, you would have been like ‘why you checkin’ up on me? And you know Dymon is going to get in your ass just because.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m being stupid again.”

“Nope. Just human. It’s all good, bro. Now… Elle, though?”

All I could do was shake my head slowly while pulling on the blunt again.

“It’s like that? Damn.”

I handed the blunt back to him. “Better. She’s amazing. Funny. Smart. Very bossy. She doesn’t let me off the hook. We’ve talked a lot about my family, and she’s hardly taken my side, telling me a lot of my shit is self-inflicted.”

“Did you agree?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Good. Because it is,” Dymon said, coming around the back and joining us on the ground.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“In there salty, but he’ll get over it. Y’all crybabies done with the sentimental shit? Pass me that.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, Dymon.”

“Good. Because I want to get down to the nitty gritty. In there, you said you saw Elle in action. What that meant?”

I handed him the blunt and watched him pull on it.

“Well, she has subs, and she invited me and his wife to watch. I’m lowkey scared of her.”

They laughed.

“Dead ass. I don’t think she’s fully unleashed herself on me. This morning after she attacked me, she had the nerve to tell me I was lucky she had to leave. In my head, I was like lucky for what? I already can’t move. What more can you do to me?”

“Pussy. Be a man, Declan. She’s a little person compared to you,” Dymon joked.

“Yeah, like you can handle that stallion.”

“We ain’t talking about me, but I’m man enough to stand in mine, though.”

I laughed. “But yeah, Elle has a sub that pays her very well. So, I don’t know what Dad is talking about regarding money.

“And she makes good money from her hair ventures, but I’m hearing so many things in this conversation. You really like her, even though she does all of that. You would be okay with that? Honestly. Long term?”

“I don’t mind watching.”

I stared out at the road, pretending I didn’t see them looking upside my head.

“You don’t have to say no more. Freaky ass nigga,” Dymon said, and handed me the blunt. “And we taking you out tonight, so we could celebrate you the Danger way.”

I knew that meant we were going to have several blunts and a lot of drinks in rotation, and honestly, I needed it.

That Night…

The waitress had come over to the table with another round of shots and set them on the table and left.

Dymon slid one in front of me. “You tapping out yet?”

“Oh, I’m good, Lil’ Nigga. You need to be checking on Grandpa next to me,” I said, and looked at Diesel.

He waved me off. “Nigga, please. Pick it up.”

We picked up our shot glasses, tapped rims, and threw them back. That was our fourth round, and I was feeling good.

Me and my brothers were sitting on the deck of the Juke Box lit as fuck. We’d been together since I popped up at their office, only separating to shower, and come up here. Drinks and shots were on a tab, and a platter of wings and other finger foods on the table. The place was packed, and the live music had everybody vibing.

“I’m about to go to the bathroom,” Dymon said and left the table.

Diesel looked at me. “You good?”

“Hell yeah.”

I pulled my vibrating phone out of my pocket to see a text from Junior. Since Winter started being nosy, and at Elle’s request, I’d put a lock on my messages. I was eager to hear from her because we hadn’t communicated since I’d left her house. When I didn’t get a response after I’d sent flowers to her shop, I thought that she was running from me again. If that was the case, I was planning on popping up on her tomorrow.

I opened the message.

Junior: Daddy.

My lips curved into a smirk.

“Uh-oh,” Diesel said. “Let me see what type of game you got. Respond.”

I typed, yes, Baby girl, and sent it.

He nudged me with his shoulder. “Okay, I see you.”

A message popped up.

Junior: Where are you?

Me: Out. Me and my brothers at the Juke Box.

A photo came through. It was a picture of her freshly done orange toes next to her new bouquet of flowers.

“Oh, you one of those freaky ass niggas too,” Diesel said, grinning.

“Fuck you, nigga,” I joked.

I typed ‘So, beautiful. You want me to empty my account, don’t you?’ and hit send.

“You’re sicker than I thought.”

I chuckled.

Another text came through.

Junior: lol. always. Come wake me up with it when you’re done being “out.”

Me: Wake you up with it?

“Oh my God. Do I have to teach you everything?”

“Teach him what?” Dymon asked, dropping back down in the seat.

“Ms. Elle just told him to come wake her up with it and he acting like he doesn’t know what that means.”

Dymon stared across the table at me like I had two heads on my shoulders.

Another message came through.

Junior: Dick. Come wake me up with your dick. You know where the key is. If I wake up, I wake up. If I don’t, I don’t.

Me: I don’t follow. What do you mean, if you don’t, you don’t?

Diesel sighed and shook his head before he picked up his drink and gulped some down.

I looked at him. “What?”

“Do you really need clarification on what she’s saying?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I really don’t know.”

Junior: Are you drunk?

Me: A lil.

Junior: Ah. So, I’ll excuse you acting goofy. When you’re done with your brothers, I’ll be sleep. Come into my room, pull the covers off me, and fuck me.

Me: You own a sawed-off and are not afraid to use it. You might forget. I’m scared, lol.

Diesel palmed his forehead. “You’re making my head hurt. This fool—wait, what you mean she not afraid to use it?”

“See, nigga. Talking shit. She used the butt of it and hit her sub’s wife in the nose. That’s another story for another day.”

Junior: LMAO. Not you still on that. Daddy, if you prefer me on my knees when you get here, that’s where I’ll be, but I want to be sleep. Please.

Me: Okay, Sleepy girl.

“This girl is going to be the death of me. I want to do everything she says. Literally, everything. I really don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s over.”

Dymon and Diesel laughed, but I was dead serious.

“That’s love,” Dymon laughed. “You think I want to do everything Princess says. No. My brain just does it. It’s this town.”

“Well. I guess I can be the only man in the Danger family with a big set of—”

“You should be the last person to speak because only one of us went on a college campus and acted a fool about a woman at your elderly age.”

I chortled.

“Oh, yeah, that’s where you taking it? Only one of us paid over five hundred grand for some pussy, and it would have gone higher if ol’ boy hadn’t run out of money.”

Dymon tapped his chest. “You cut me deep, Diesel,” he said, and then looked at me. “And I don’t know what you laughing about. Your time is coming and I’m going to be laughing just like you are right now.”

“What you mean? The girl that’s giving me hell not even my girlfriend.”

“And that’s why I’m going to be laughing even harder because a girl, that’s not even your girl, is going to have you crazy out here.”

I thought about it for a moment.

“You know what… touché.”

A Couple Hours Later…

Dymon came to a stop in front of Elle’s house and put his car in park.

“We waiting on you, right?” Dymon asked.

“Yeah.”

Before I opened the door, Diesel turned the lights on inside the car and turned around.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

I looked at him. “What’s up, Bro?”

“How drunk are you?”

“I could pass a sobriety test.”

He squinted at me. “You sure?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just trying to make sure you’re not too drunk to misread anything.”

“Oh, nah, nah. I’m straight. If I misread anything, she sleeps with a gun in her room. Thank you for looking out, Bro.”

“It’s my job.”

I got out and staggered up to her door. The weed and alcohol in my system was the only thing keeping my heart beating normally. I opened her mailbox and grabbed her spare key out, making a mental note to tell her to find another spot for it. After letting myself in, I kicked my shoes off before creeping down the hall to her room. Her door wasn’t closed all the way, so I pushed it open slowly to see her laying on her stomach, in the spot she’d just sucked and rode my dick this morning. She’d left the lamp on for me and was sleeping so peacefully that I almost didn’t want to disturb her.

My heart started beating hard as I walked over to the bed and stood over her. I hooked my index finger under the covers and slowly pulled them down, revealing her naked body. The blood that had my heart pumping extra hard started flowing down to my dick. Elle was so fucking pretty to me. Everything about her turned me on, and if I didn’t pull it together, I’d nut before I even touched her. I kneeled at the foot of her bed, staring at the curve of her ass, down to her thick thighs and toned calves, and then her pretty ass feet with her perfectly painted orange toes. I placed kisses on the bottom of both of her feet and then her ankles, kissing from calf to calf before climbing on the bed between her legs. Gently, I pushed her right leg up, giving myself access to her pussy. The slight moisture gathered at her hole smelled and looked heavenly. I sucked her pussy in my mouth and flicked my tongue against her flesh as she fought to stay still. When her clit started to harden in my mouth, I brushed the flat of my tongue across it. She inhaled sharply, but remained as still as she could. The faster I brushed, the harder her clit got, so I knew she was close. If she nutted, I was definitely going to nut and be no good, so I pulled away and nibbled on both of her ass cheeks, before running my tongue down the center of it. The very low whimper she let out told me I’d done the right thing. Spreading her cheeks, I made small circles around the rim of her asshole until she let out a low moan. I moved back down to her pussy and more moisture had formed around her hole. I licked it away before getting out of bed and taking my pants and briefs off.

I pressed a knee on the outside of her left thigh and left my other foot on the floor for more leverage. Lining my dick up with her pussy, I pushed the tip in, and her walls immediately pushed me out.

“Fuck, that’s tight, girl,” I whispered.

I pushed back in and moved the head in and out of her until her walls allowed more of me inside her.

“Yes, that’s it, baby. Let me in.”

I thrust in and out of her as much as her pussy would allow until her body told me it wanted more.

“Fuckk, that’s so fucking tight. Ooh, Shit, Ella.”

When her body finally allowed me all the way in, I long stroked her slowly. Her pussy sounded and felt like a wet suction cup, and I was trying to think of anything to not let my nut build up. I looked at Elle’s face and she’d pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth, but she was remaining as still as she possibly could until she arched her back slightly, allowing me to go deeper until my balls rested against her pussy.

“Ooh,” she whimpered.

“Ella, baby, please don’t arch. I won’t—Ella…”

She grabbed the edge of the mattress and started meeting my strokes harder.

“Baby girl. Shit.”

I looked down at my dick as she creamed on my dick, making me even harder.

“Grab my wrists and fuck me, Declan,” she commanded.

I did as I was told and pumped in and out of her harder.

“Yess, Daddy. This yo’ fucking pussy. Fuck me.”

“Fuckk. You were supposed to be…ooh shit.”

She brought her leg down, closing her pussy around my dick, adding more suction. My grip on her wrists tightened as I continued pounding her. Every single nerve ending in the head of my dick vibrated at the same time before I could stop myself.

“Ella, baby, Daddy cummin, baby. Shit,” I groaned.

“Fuck me through it, baby. Fuck me through it, Declan, please,” she panted.

I kept fucking her until she sunk her teeth into my arm and released the sexiest moan, ever as I felt her nutting over my dick. I slowed my strokes when she released my arm and dropped her face into the pillow. I released her wrists and leaned over and placed kisses on her shoulder.

“Fuck, Ella. Fuck,” I mumbled into her shoulder. When she sniffed, I looked at her. “Ella? Are you okay? Look at me.”

She looked at me, her face wet, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“No, I’m fine, baby. That was perfect. Ask me when the last time I had an orgasm that made me cry? Never. I hope you feel good about yourself, Declan Danger.”

I chuckled. “I guess I do. Score one for Declan Danger.”

“Get out of me. Slow, too.”

The puckering sound her pussy made when I pulled out of her made me shake my head.

“Hell nah. That was… man.”

I got up and started fixing the covers back over her.

“Did you like it?”

I kissed my teeth and looked at her. “You don’t have to ask that. I loved that. If you ever let me do that again, I need a heads up, so I will be sober. I didn’t want to nut that fast. I’m quite embarrassed.”

She laughed. “My pussy is good. You were going to nut fast anyway. You don’t have to go get a towel. I want to sleep with you inside of me.”

I smirked.

“And stop looking at me with that sneaky little smirk, before I make you stay with me tonight.”

“My brothers outside.”

“They don’t know their way home?”

We both laughed.

“You are such a bossy lil’ some. You think you run me, don’t you?”

“I do. Give me your wallet.”

I grabbed my pants, and pulled my wallet out, and handed it to her. “You need something?”

“I don’t know yet.”

While she rifled through my wallet, I put on my briefs and my pants. She pulled out my Centurion card and did a little dance.

“That’s the one you want?”

“Declan, you are not about to let me keep this black card.”

“You pulled it out, so you must want it.”

She blushed. “No, I don’t want anything, Declan.”

“Well, keep it until you do.”

She bit the corner of her lip. “Okay.”

“Oh, here.” I pulled her key out of my pocket. “Put this somewhere different.”

“You keep it.”

“Oh, yeah? Like that?” I said and put her key back in my pocket.

She playfully rolled her eyes.

“Your dad good?”

“Uh-huh. They let released him late this evening after all the tests came back. He was just a little dehydrated and had an elevated blood pressure. Other than that, he’s fine. I’m going to go hang out with him tomorrow.”

“See, and what I did I tell you? Everything was going to work out.”

“Well, yeah, you my man, you supposed to say that.”

“I’m your man? “I leaned over and kissed her cheek, and then her forehead. “I love the sound of that.”

“Mhmm. I love you,” she whispered, almost realizing what she said. “Ooh, no, no, no. That was a—”

“You can’t take it back.”

“Oh my Goddd,” she sighed.

“I fucked you that good?”

“Yes, no, yes. Get out, Declan Danger.”

“Goodnight, Della Mae,” I said, backing out the room.

She gasped. “See, didn’t I tell you niggas start acting up once they know you feeling them. I wanna cut my tongue out of my mouth.”

I laughed. “Oh, no, Baby girl, I need that tongue. I’m closing the door now.”

I blew her a kiss before pulling the door closed. Just like earlier, I walked out of her house on cloud nine. On top of her letting me experience something I’d never done before, she told me she loved me. I didn’t know if she meant it or not, but it sounded sincere, and she looked terrified she’d said it. When I made it to the car, I opened the door and fell in the backseat. I closed the door and Dymon pulled off.

“That fucking girl,” I sighed.

After a few moments, Diesel turned the light on and looked back at me, shaking his head.

“What?”

He kept shaking his head.

“Your baby brother swore you wasn’t going to last ten minutes, and I bet him five hundred dollars you would, because you my twin, and we got the stamina of our astrology sign, a bull. But you went in there and prove me wrong as fuck.”

“I was in there longer than ten minutes.”

“Yeah, but…” He held his phone up and my name and picture were on the screen. “Luckily, you called me first and not our parents, or… worse, your girl.”

Dymon laughed while I was fishing for my phone out of my pocket. On my screen was my brother’s name and picture with the time being twenty minutes and counting. I ended the call and went to my call log to see if I’d called someone else, and I hadn’t.

“Man, that is crazy.”

“And from what I just heard; your moment is coming soon. Luckily, you already live here,” Dymon said, laughing.

“That’s not funny. I’m already embarrassed. Let’s just say it was the alcohol.”

They laughed even louder.

“Look, it happens to the best of us, Bro. Be a man next time,” Diesel said.

“Fuck you.”

“Uh-huh. I need to ask if I can say something to Greysen? In all seriousness, though, Grey been tripping like something happened between them that she doesn’t know about and the whole time, Elle just getting dick. Why she ain’t told Grey?”

“Funny thing is, bro, I don’t know why she hadn’t told her either. I was surprised when she told me that she ain’t told her. You know they be cackling like hens about every damn thing, so I don’t know. What you want me to do? Tell her to tell her friend?”

“Ehh, I don’t know. I think I look crazy in this if I know and don’t say nothing.”

“And I don’t want Elle to be mad at me if I told you to tell Grey and she didn’t want to tell her yet.”

“Fuck that. That’s not y’all business. Stay out of women business. When Elle wants her friend to know, she’ll tell her. That’s your wife, Diesel, but you still have a loyalty obligation to your brother,” Dymon chimed in.

“Well—” Diesel started.

“And you know I love my princess to death, but I’m never telling her anything y’all don’t want me to tell. Hell, I didn’t even tell her why you were about to knock Dad’s head off. I just told her it was business and she understood. Goddamn, do y’all know what putting your foot down means?”

“But—” Diesel started again.

“What is Grey going to do when she finds out? Not like she going to leave you. She and her friend will talk it out, build a bridge, and then get over it. She will appreciate you for not being a chatty patty ass nigga.”

“Goddamn, nigga, you blowing my high and my post nut clarity,” I sniped, playfully. “I’ll talk to Elle. Fake ass, Dr. Phil.”

“Don’t say I ain’t never tried to help you,” Dymon said as he stopped in front of my house. “A’ight bro.”

“Bet. See y’all tomorrow.”

“I love you,” Diesel mocked Elle, and laughed.

“Nevermind, I probably won’t see y’all tomorrow,” I said, getting out the car while they were bursting a gut laughing.

Walking in my house, my first stop was down the hall to peek in Donovan’s room. When I came home to get changed, he was already sleep because he’d worn himself out at the beach. I peeked in his room and saw his head buried in between his pillows. Since I’d left, he’d gotten up and put his durag on. I pulled his door closed and walked down the hall to my room. I was shocked to see Winter on her side of the bed. If I had to guess, she’d realized that her little stunts weren’t getting to me how they used to. I kicked my shoes off before walking in the bathroom. I started the shower before moving to the sink and picking up my toothbrush. I’d grabbed the toothpaste and covered the bristles when there were a few knocks on the door.

“Yeah,” I called out, before I started brushing my teeth.

Winter eased inside and closed the door. She leaned against the sink and stared at me. I raised my eyebrows, inquiring what she wanted.

“Earlier, Declan…” She moved closer to me. “When you grabbed me and drug me to the room, I’d never been so turned on in my life.”

I cut my eyes to her. It caught me off guard because I’d never heard her say anything like that before.

“I wished you would have pinned me against the wall and started fucking me into submission.”

I spit the toothpaste in the sink and grabbed the mouthwash to rinse my mouth.

“I wished that I knew how to communicate this before,” she added.

She got on her knees and hooked her fingers in the waistband of my pants, but I grabbed her wrists and stopped her. Even though she’d been pissing me off lately, I’d never disrespect her by letting her put her mouth on me when I had another woman’s juices on me.

“Declan, are you not sexually attracted to me anymore?”

I spit the mouthwash out.

“Nah. Well, no. It’s not that.”

Her eyes went to the very fresh bite mark on my forearm; she snatched out of my grasp and stood.

“I thought you said you were going out with your brothers.”

“I did.”

“And you left from hanging out with your brothers to go fuck some nigga?”

I blinked slowly. “Sure.”

I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it in the hamper.

“And you smell like perfume.”

“Okay?”

“Are you—”

I held up my hand up, stopping her. “I feel like you’re about to teeter along the lines of your ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.”

I pushed my pants and briefs off and dropped them in the hamper. I didn’t have to look in the mirror to see the evidence of Elle around my dick. She looked at my dick and then back at me.

“Well, I’m asking now. Who are you having sex with?”

“Is that how it works? Now that you’ve asked, I’m supposed to just tell.”

She folded her arms across her chest.

“Winter, I’m not going to fight with you tonight. I’m about to shower and then get in the bed. Will you be in there when I get out?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”

“Okay, then.”

I got in the shower and stood under the sprout, letting the water run over my head. Elle and Winter’s revelations had me spinning. My thoughts drifted to how my dad used to run between my mother and his long-time mistress. I’d always wondered how he could love two women at the same time. I never thought anything like that was possible, but here I was, loving Winter and loving Elle at the same time. Maybe that was what my dad was talking about; being impulsive and reckless, because how could I have the same feelings for Elle, who I’d only been intimate with less than a month, as I did Winter, who I’d been with for twenty years?

When I finished showering, I got out, wrapped my towel around my waist, and walked into the bedroom.

“Declan,” Winter called me.

I looked at her. “Yeah.”

“Can you come to bed like that, minus the towel?”

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

“A’ight.”

I finished drying off and got in the bed how she asked me to. She’d shed her pajamas and scooted under me. We hadn’t slept like this in so long that it almost felt weird when I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her closer to me.

“I love you, Declan.”

“I love you too, Winter.”

That was true. I did love her. That would never change, but the air between us was different now, especially since I knew how she really felt about me. I’d never forget how she spoke to me when she called herself snooping through my phone, and we’d never be able to move forward until we talked about it. I understood that was a double-edged sword. Yeah, we could discuss her feelings about me being gay, but I wasn’t gay, and when it was time for that to come to the light, I knew she wouldn’t stop until she found out who I was sleeping with. I knew all hell was going to break loose when she found out about Elle.

Shit. Maybe my father was right.