Creed-
From my bedroom, leaning against the cool windowpane, my gaze was stuck to the scene below my window.
My parents were the life of the party they were hosting.
They were drunk, grinding on each other and singing at the top of their lungs, entertaining everyone.
To the outsiders who had been invited to celebrate the Fourth of July with us, it was the epitome of rock-and-roll heaven. To me, it was just another night, like every other holiday.
I had learned a long time ago that our home wasn’t for family bonding.
Family gatherings were never just that—gatherings of family.
We never spent time together, just us.
Holidays were just an excuse for another wild party, another photo op. Another venue for Troy and Scarlett Rose to put their love on display. My family would be different. I wanted kids I spent quiet weekends at home with.
Being my parents’ child was exhausting, and I was tired.
I had shown my face for the five obligatory hours my momma demanded; now I was leaving.
A quiet hotel room was calling my name, since I knew I wouldn’t find peace at home for at least the next three days.
I was thinking about moving out again, but my momma would have a fit.
Just as I decided to leave, a set of teeth sank into my neck.
I whirled around, meeting Noah's gaze.
His eyes twinkled.
Noah’s eyes didn’t usually twinkle—not before Ashley. It had been two weeks since they’d met on the beach during Maine's graduation week, but according to Maine, Noah and Ashley had been spending their days together.
Whatever.
He smelled like Tom Ford and cocoa butter.
Wearing a white polo shirt and khaki shorts, he was giving off preppy white-boy vibes, but he still looked good enough to make my body react.
He must have just arrived at the celebration since I hadn’t seen him outside.
“You just bit me?”
I asked, arching an eyebrow at his audacity.
He smirked.
“Yes.
I was feeling nostalgic.
And you’ve been avoiding me.”
I had been avoiding him.
After everything that went down at Maine graduation trip, I’d created a careful distance between us before I fucked around And hurt my own feelings.
“I wasn’t avoiding you.”
He leaned in closer, his voice turning serious.
“Yes, you were.
We need to talk about what happened.”
A knot twisted in my stomach.
I shook my head.
“It was fun, Noah.
That’s all it was. And now, it’s over.”
His eyes held mine, refusing to let go.
“Is it, though, Creed? Or are you just running away?”
Noah watched me, waiting for an answer, his eyes narrowed slightly.
“Fine.
I’ll be truthful.
I can’t keep having sex with you.
If one or both of us catches feelings, it’ll get messy. It’ll make our lives messy. Despite the fact that we aren’t blood-related, Maine is both of our siblings, and you’re the son of the woman who caused a worldwide scandal between my parents and sexually assaulted my dad. The moment somebody finds out about us, my parents’ fame will make sure it’s plastered all over the media. The last thing I want is to be splashed across the internet, especially with Troy and Scarlett being step-siblings. The jokes write themselves.”
Noah ran his hand across his head, looking like he was processing what I’d said.
Before I could react, he closed the gap between us.
My back hit the wall next to my window, his body pressing into mine, leaving no room for denial or escape.
His fingers dug into my waist.
“What if I tell you I don’t care?”
“You should,”
I barely managed to whisper.
I was so turned on.
My breathing was a mess.
Without warning, he leaned in, sliding his tongue into my mouth.
He kissed me so vulgarly it nearly made me cum.
I froze for a second, startled by my body’s reaction.
Why did he feel so good to me? This was so wrong.
I stopped thinking when he slid his hand down the waistband of the biker shorts I’d worn.
He pressed his thumb to my clit and gave it a stroke.
It was already swollen, so the feeling was amplified.
Despite knowing this would end badly, my body loved every second. Every nerve in me surged to life as he glided two fingers between my pussy lips.
I groaned as his fingers slid inside me.
It felt so good.
My free hand found his shoulder as began moving, in and then out.
He finger fucked me while, using the palm of his hand to apply delicious pressure to my clit. I sank into the sensation, forgetting my anger and fear.
His lips left my mouth and peppered my neck with stinging bites that made my breathing hitch.
“You gonna cum for me, Creed?”
“Yes-s,”
I stuttered.
Noah hissed.
“Then cum.
Give me what I earned.”
My legs shook, and the muscles in my stomach seized tight, but somehow the rest of my body went limp.
He waited until my quivering stopped to pull his fingers away from my pussy.
He lifted them, wet and shining, and pressed them to my lips, watching as I took them into my mouth, tasting myself.
Then he leaned in and kissed me, deep.
Right on cue, my phone rang in my hand.
We both jumped, startled by the sudden noise.
On instinct, I raised it to see who was calling.
Devon’s name lit up the screen. Fuck, I had forgotten I’d invited him over. I needed someone to entertain me. I peeked out the window, and Devon was sitting next to Maine. She was talking to him, and he was looking around. I ducked back so he wouldn’t see me. Noah removed my phone from my hand.
“Let’s go, Creed.”
It was my turn to frown.
“Where to?”
“Does it matter? I could see it on your pretty face that you were ready to pull one of your disappearing acts.
Might as well be with me.”
“I don’t want to talk about anything concerning what we’re doing, Noah,”
I said, putting my foot down.
“Let’s just leave it as we're having fun.”
Noah shook his head.
“No.
We’re going to talk—after I fuck you until I’ve had my fill.”
He was staring me dead in the eyes when he said it, low and filthy.
I folded, biting down hard enough on my lip to almost draw blood.
I was gone. “Okay.”
Like a puppet, I did what he said and followed him out.
We snuck down the stairs and out the front door.
I guess we weren’t done and over, yet.
"Mhmm, your mouth feels so good, baby," Noah groaned in a deep voice.
His validation had my panties slippery and wet, but I was concentrating on getting him off, not myself.
I continued bobbing my head up and down, slowly building up his nut until I saw his stomach muscles contracting and his thighs beginning to shake.
He was almost there.
I reached up raked my nails over the inked skin on his abs.
Gripping a handful of my hair, he wrapped it in his fist and used it to guide my head, shoving himself into the back of my throat, forcing me to breathe through my nose.
I cut my eyes to his face.
I watched his features twist as he floated through his own orgasm.
"Shit, Creed, I’m going to come.
Fuc-!" I sucked hard until I felt him explode in my throat, his dick throbbing.
As soon as I swallowed, I pried his hand out of my hair and took my place next to him in his bed.
"Now tell me about her," I rushed out.
Noah blinked, staring up at the ceiling.
"You're blowing the fuck out of my high."
I shook my head and said, "I don’t care.
You said if I blew you, you’d tell me about your mothers’ friend."
He took a deep breath, his fingers absentmindedly toying with the edge of the sweat-slickened sheet that lay under us.
"She...
she was my babysitter first, Mrs.
Morgan, Lydia.
I stayed with her sometimes for weeks to keep myself from feeling like I was intruding on your parents.
Nothing happened then." he said, swallowing hard, like telling the story left a bitter taste in his mouth.
" When I was nineteen, I saw her one day at this coffee shop.
She was...
forty-two." The age gap meant nothing to me.
She was hot with big tits.
She was the first woman to pay me attention.
She was beautiful, confident, and knew exactly what to say to make my attention-deprived ass feel special.
We fucked for almost two years, then she tried to ghost me.
"I thought...
I thought I was in love with her.
I thought she was in love with me," he said, his voice laced with self-loathing, as if he were the culprit of some grand deception he plotted out and not the victim of some cougar his mom should have been watching with her child.
"Being with her felt electrifying.
Exciting, dirty.
I...
I fixated on her," he confessed.
"I called her twenty times a day when I wasn't with her.
I started following her.
She said I was stalking her and got a restraining order against me so her husband wouldn't find out.
The husband I didn't even know she had."
"Wow, what a fucking creep-ass bitch, fucking child-molesting manipulator," I said, and his head snapped in my direction.
"Is that what you call your professor?" he snapped back.
I shook my head adamantly.
"No.
I seduced him.
Damn near begged him to take the pussy. He resisted, and I was persistent. I'm not saying my professor isn't fucked up for fucking a student, but he didn't manipulate a fucking student he babysat into fucking him."
Before we could say more, our cell phones both went off at the same time, which meant our sibling group chat.
We both grabbed our phones, running away from the tension.
I read the message and cursed.
"Mommy's birthday is in three days.
We gotta meet Maine at the mall in an hour to go shopping.
I don't know how I forgot." I did know. I'd spent four days laid up with Noah, fucking, arguing, watching TV, and eating. I was in bliss. I wasn't thinking about my parents.
He sighed.
"Fine, but we're coming right back here." The way he said it brooked no argument.
"Fine."
Two hours later we were in the mall.
And yet again my patience were being worn thin.
“I’ll be back,”
cutting into the middle of Maines rant.
I turned and walked in the direction opposite of them.
"Where are you going, Creed?" Maine yelled behind me.
I heard Noah say, "Leave her alone for a while."
I picked up my pace, walking away from Maine, Ashley, and Noah.
I didn't want to hear Maine's mouth anymore, talking about what my parents thought or how I should be more considerate.
I was grown, and if I wanted to leave the house, I could.
"Fuck them," I muttered to myself.
I had already planned on getting matching Jordans for myself and Mommy.
That was our thing.
When I was younger, randomly we’d pick a day and we'd wear matching outfits and she'd take me to get ice cream all by myself.
She said it was so I didn't feel like the neglected younger child. Somehow, I still ended up feeling that way. But I didn’t harbor any resentment towards my momma. She was being pulled into so many directions. I understood I could not be the center of attention all the time.
I wandered through the nearly deserted mall in search of a Foot Locker.
When I found it, I headed straight for the Jordans they had on display.
My browsing was interrupted by the scent of someone's cologne and I immediately thought about how good it might smell on Noah’s skin.
I looked to my right and found an older man, about thirty, with dark skin and brown eyes, standing about twenty feet away from me.
Being me, I decided to ask him what cologne he was wearing. I liked the fragrance and thought I might wear it myself.
"Excuse me," I said, putting on my fake friendly smile.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what cologne are you wearing? You smell good."
The man looked surprised by being approached, then all his thirty-two pearly white teeth went on full display.
"It's called Midnight Noir by Blackfire Fragrances," he replied.
Just as I was about to thank him and return to my shoe shopping, a voice interrupted from behind him.
"Seriously? Are you flirting with my man right in front of me?"
Flirting?
I turned to see a woman—I guessed it was the man's girlfriend.
Her arms were crossed, and her face was all frowned up.
"Oh, no, not at all.
I was just asking about the cologne he's wearing," I explained.
"Don't play fucking innocent with me.
I saw you looking at me.
You Black bitches stay hating," the woman accused.
My face flushed with embarrassment.
Everybody in the store was looking at us now.
"Hating for what, lady? I don’t want him.
" I retorted, letting my attitude seep into my tone.
The woman had clearly lost her mind.
She was a heavy set girl with a cute face and blond hair, but her piercing blue eyes held nothing but hostility.
"Save your lies," the woman sneered, clearly not believing me.
"You Black bitches can't stand to see a Black man with a white woman."
The situation was escalating too quickly for me to stay in my right mind.
I snapped, "Bitch, are you out of your mind? My daddy's a whole-ass white man.
I don't give a fuck about who you're fucking.
Move the fuck around and let me buy my fucking shoes," I shot back, ready to punch her in her mouth.
Her boyfriend tried to calm her and usher her out of the store, but she wanted to keep going.
We kept yelling back and forth, and the space between us closed.
My fist was balled at my side.
I was ready to swing.
"Creed, what's going on here?" Noah stepped in between us, his voice firm with concern.
Ashley and Maine were standing next to him.
"She called me a fucking Black bitch," I said.
Noah shot a look at the woman.
"You called her a Black bitch?" The anger in his voice calmed me down a little.
Maine stepped in.
"Maybe she didn't mean it like that." Ashley cosigned her bullshit.
I lost it.
"What the fuck do you mean she didn't mean it like that? A Black woman raised your ass.
You know what the fuck she meant and should be just as angry."
Maine sneered at me.
“You’re just playing the victim yet again,”
she accused.
What did that even mean? She had been talking a lot of nonsense recently.
Before I could respond the lady that started the entire thing chimed in again.
"I mean what the fuck I said.
She's a hating Black bitch," she declared.
I saw red.
My fists clenched, nails biting into my palms as I lunged forward.
Just as my fist was about to connect with her face, I felt a strong grip wrap around my waist, yanking me back.
Noah’s arms locked around me, holding me inches from her.
Two Black girls, who looked like sisters with long braids and petite figures, stepped up in my defense.
They had pretty faces, and were a shade or two darker than me.
One looked my age, and the other was about fourteen or fifteen.
"Get your fucking hands off her," the older girl barked to Noah.
Stepping in between us, forcing him to let me go.
She then turned to me and said, "Calm down, lil sis.
That bitch, like everybody else here, knows who your momma and daddy are. She is trying to get a payday. You hit her and she’ll sue you.”
She turned to the man that was with the woman and said, "Luther, you know my daddy.
If I beat this bitch's ass for playing in this girl's face, you know there won't be any lawsuit money, and she might come up missing."
I didn’t know a Black man could turn white.
He left with the woman without saying a word.
I wanted to know who these girls were.
As if reading my mind, the older girl introduced herself. "My name is Tempest. This is my lil cousin, Ava. Your daddy knows my daddy, Demarco."
I nodded, knowing exactly who she was talking about.
Last year, Demarco tried to hire my momma to perform a burlesque-type show at his club.
Some Vegas-type shit, for a lot of money, but Daddy had nearly blown a fuse.
He decided to confront the man, and it was the first time I ever saw Daddy back down. He didn’t even talk about him anymore.
A man stepped through the crowd.
He was light-skinned, mixed race, about six feet two inches tall, two hundred pounds, with an athletic build, and low waves in his hair.
He was gorgeous, like really fucking gorgeous.
He gave me a once-over before dismissing me, turning his head to look down at Tempest.
"What are you into now?"
"Somebody was fucking with my friend, so I helped." She wrapped her arm around me.
He frowned.
"Tempest, you don't know her."
Their dynamic was giving off serious grumpy-and-sunshine boyfriend-girlfriend vibes.
I liked that for Tempest, even though I didn’t know her well.
Tempest rolled her eyes.
"This is Creed, Scarlett Rose's daughter.
In my mind, she's been my friend since I was five and she was six."
I laughed, despite all that had happened.
"Do you want a ride, Creed? AJ will take you wherever you want to go, and nobody will fuck with you."
The gorgeous one, AJ, nodded.
I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Something told me that meeting Tempest, AJ, and Ava was going to change my life for the better.
Maine stepped up.
"You're just leaving? With strangers?"
I narrowed my eyes on her.
"Yes.
You're looking mighty unfamiliar right now.
I don’t feel like being around you with your ‘she didn’t mean it that way’ ass."
Noah went to step forward, but I shook my head slightly, stopping him.
I wasn't in the mood to be around them.
Noah ignored me.
Reaching out, gripping my arm.
"Creed, you can’t just walk off with them." His voice was tight.
"You’re not thinking straight."
I yanked my arm away, my patience already worn thin, but before I could say a word, AJ stepped forward, planting himself between me and Noah.
He didn’t say anything at first, just fixed Noah with a cold, unblinking stare.
AJ was calm, too calm—the kind of calm that was scary.
Noah didn’t seem affected, he scoffed, glancing at AJ like he was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
"Move.
This is a family thing."
AJ’s jaw tightened, and his voice went dangerously low.
"Seems she doesn’t feel like being around ‘family’ right now.
Let her go, or we’re gonna have a problem."
The look that flashed in Noah’s eyes, like he wanted all the problems, had me stepping forward.
“I’m good, Noah,”
I said, my voice firm.
“Just...let it go.
I’ll call you tonight.”
I turned and left Noah, Ashley, and Maine standing in the middle of the shoe store, gawking after me.
my new friends on my heels.
Just as we stepped out of the mall, my cell rang.
It was one of the numbers associated with my godfather.
I never ignored his calls.
As I stood at the valet with Tempest, I answered.
"Hello?"
The news I got hit me like a ton of bricks.
I didn’t even realize my knees had given out until AJ caught me before I hit the ground.