Chapter 10
KAREEM
“Who’s the woman that got you acting brand new?” Mama asked as she dished some red beans and rice onto my plate.
My brows pulled in as I looked at her from across the table.
I was at my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.
It had been a few weeks since the family got together due to everyone’s schedules.
Well, really, for me it was because I’d spent the past couple of weeks up under Arielle, but Mama didn’t know that.
Or maybe she did, judging by the question and the knowing look in her eyes.
“I don’t know what you talkin’ ’bout, Ma,” I lied.
I didn’t really want to get into the logistics of my and Arielle’s relationship for a couple of reasons.
First, I knew the shit was moving fast as hell.
I didn’t care, but I knew others would have opinions about it.
I didn’t really care too much about that, either, but I knew Arielle might.
It was weird as hell for me to consider someone else’s feelings as I moved through life, but Mermaid had me moving differently.
Ever since I showed up at her job wildin’ out, I sat my ass down and realized I couldn’t just do what I wanted anymore with no consideration of her, at the very least.
The other reason I didn’t want to say anything was because my family would be all up in my business.
Every single one of us was nosy as hell.
If it was Denise who was in a new relationship, I would have already gotten the nigga’s address and social security number and ran several background checks.
I’d done it before. Nobody else was as extreme as me, so Arielle’s privacy wasn’t at stake, not at that level at least, but they would 100 percent ask a million questions.
I took a long sip of my lemonade, already knowing my reasoning for wanting to keep Arielle to myself a little longer didn’t hold a chance against Gloria Spivy. Her spidey senses were going off, and I would have to appease her.
“Her name is Arielle,” I finally said.
I continued to eat my food and focus on my plate. Everyone’s eyeballs were on me. I could feel it, but I wasn’t about to make this shit easy on them. If they wanted to know something, then they needed to ask.
“Like the mermaid?” Pops asked.
I snickered. My mermaid.
“Yup.”
Silence surrounded me once again, and I continued to eat. These niggas better start eating before their food got cold.
“Damnit, Reem. Tell us about her,” Denise finally snapped.
She slapped me on the back of my head, but I ignored her. Her little ass didn’t scare me. She might be older, but she knew who big dawg was. I heard her kiss her teeth, and I fought back a chuckle. Driving her crazy was my favorite thing to do.
“Where did you meet her, Son?” Mama finally asked. I could hear the intrigue in her tone, and my gaze slowly peeled off my plate and onto her.
“At the resort y’all sent me to.”
Mama gasped. “You been knowing her all this time and ain’t say nothing?”
“Correct,” I replied before biting the chicken wing.
Mama knew she could throw down. That thought made me think of Arielle.
I had never met someone who could hold a candle to Mama, but she could.
She’d been keeping me fed. That thought made me grin like a wild man.
Fed with food and that sweet ass pussy. My mouth drooled, and it was no longer because of the spread in front of me.
“Look at that boy. He’s in love,” Pops declared.
My smile faltered. “Fuck you say?”
Everyone in my family knew I cursed. Mama used to beat my ass for it, but she’d grown tired of it. I did my best to keep my mouth in check around her, but I wasn’t perfect. She cut her eyes at me, and I shrugged before giving my father my attention again.
“Love, Son. You got it written all over you.”
Love?
Snax had said I caught the love bug back when Arielle entered my office a month ago.
I hadn’t really thought about that word before I met Arielle.
I knew I loved my family, but that was the extent of it.
I felt deeply for Arielle, but I’d never loved a woman before, so how was I supposed to know if it was love?
The confusion must have been written all over my face because my mama smiled softly at me and reached across the glass table and patted my hand.
“You think about her all the time?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“You find yourself smiling when you think about her?”
More than I cared to admit. “Yeah.”
“You find yourself wanting to do things for her? Things you’ve never done before?”
My mind flashed to all the things we’d done together over the past few weeks.
I took her on dates, laid up with her, watched girly TV shows .
. . just the fact that she kicked it at my house was something I never thought I would allow.
That house was my sanctuary, my safety zone, but suddenly, it didn’t feel so safe or comfortable if she wasn’t there.
“Yes.”
“You thinking about the future with her in it?” Pops chimed in.
I grinned. “Yeah.”
The amount of times I thought about us living together or her having my babies . . . proposing . . .
Duh, nigga, you ain’t ’bout to propose to someone you ain’t in love wit’.
My face mugged up.
“You in love,” Pops said as Mama clapped her hands in excitement. Denise rubbed my back lovingly while I digested this information.
“Man, how am I in love and I ain’t know that shit?” I asked.
They laughed like it was a dumb question, but I was dead ass serious.
“Sometimes you fall and don’t realize it, baby.
Love has a way of sneaking up on you,” Mama said.
I swear I saw tears in her eyes, and I groaned.
She’d been after me and Denise for a long time to give her some grandbabies.
I was positive she saw that in her near future, now that I confirmed I was in love.
Damn, a nigga was in love.
My heart beat a little different at that thought, and I realized I felt good as hell, like I didn’t have a single reason to frown or bully someone ever again. Arielle Nichols had me feeling like I was on top of the world, and suddenly, I wanted to be up under her.
Abruptly, I stood up. “I gotta go.”
“But wait. I want to hear about her—”
“I’ll call you later, Mama,” I said as I waved at everyone and exited the dining room.
I heard my mama and Denise fussing, but I was suddenly on a mission.
I exited my parents’ home and hopped into my car.
The entire ride to Arielle’s apartment was completely silent.
My heart soared as I thought about the words I was about to confess to her.
It was all I could think about. This moment was special to me, and it would be the only moment I would ever get like this.
I thought about stopping for flowers but quickly discarded that idea.
I would get her some later. The thought of making a pit stop on this mission had my nerves going haywire.
When I pulled up to her building, I parked quickly and went inside. The elevator wasn’t moving fast enough for me as I jammed my finger into the call button. A man stood next to me looking like he was on the brink of laughing. I mugged him but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t about to blow my high.
As soon as we got into the elevator, I pressed the number for Arielle’s floor. The man went to press a button that would have caused the elevator to stop before I could get to Arielle’s floor.
“Go ’head and take the stairs, homie,” I said as I stuck my arm out to stop the elevator doors from closing.
“What?” he asked with wide eyes.
Losing patience, I inclined my head toward the lobby of the apartment. “Take the stairs. You holding me up.”
“But—”
With one arm, I scooted the little white man out of the elevator and pressed the button to make the doors close in his stupid ass face. He was lucky I didn’t evict his slow ass.
So much for not bullying people. Maybe love wouldn’t change me all that much after all.
As soon as the elevator doors opened again, I rushed toward her door with my keys in my hand. I had yet to walk into her house without knocking, but baby would just have to understand. I had to get these words out of me before I exploded.
I unlocked her door and made a beeline for her bedroom.
I knew her ass wasn’t doing nothing but lying in bed.
She swore up and down the hours at her job weren’t fucking with her, but I knew that had to be the lie of the century because she was always exhausted and falling asleep at the drop of a dime.
The smile that plastered on my goofy ass face when I saw her should have been illegal. I knew I looked like a mad man right now, but I didn’t care about none of that.
“Kareem, you scared the shit out of me,” Arielle said with her blanket pulled up to her chin.
I didn’t mean to scare her. Trying to be calmer, I inched over to her bed and kneeled beside her. I took her hands, and suddenly, a lump formed in my throat as I looked into her confused eyes.
Unable to wait a moment longer, I blurted out, “You are loved!”
Her brows pulled in, and I frowned. That wasn’t what I meant to say.
“I’m . . . loved?” she asked.
“Uh . . . yeah. By me,” I clarified.
She stared at me for a moment, and my heart sank. This was not how I wanted this moment to go.
“I . . . Kareem . . . thank you?” she muttered.
Wow. Thank you?
I stood up abruptly and looked around her room. I’d never been a nervous or awkward nigga in my life, but at this moment, I wished the Earth would swallow me whole.
“Anyway, you good? Do you need anything?” I asked, wanting more than anything to get out of there. I felt humiliated.
“What? No, baby, I’m good, but don’t you think we should talk—”
I grabbed the back of my neck as I backpedaled toward the door. “Nah, we good. I’ll call you later.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned and took quick strides toward the door. The happiness I felt seconds ago had completely disappeared, and all I felt now was like a damn fool.