Chapter 13
“You think your friends will like it?” She asked.
“Man, what?! They’re going to love this! Can I try the VR game?”
“Yeah, go ahead. Your teammates should be here any minute,” she replied.
DJ took off, passing Nyair along the way. “Sup, Coach! You want to check out this game with me?”
“In a minute. I got to thank your mama for all this.”
Her heart raced nervously as he approached. Gucci suit fitting to perfection.
“Can I have a second of your time?” He asked. “In private.”
“You may,” she answered, red-faced as she followed him into the empty ballroom that had been sectioned off from the main event.
“I just want to thank you for this,” he said.
“You’re welcome. The way DJ lit up made it all worth it, and my other event is covered. The commission is split, but it was worth it. We spent a couple of days together, and it was what I didn’t even know I needed.”
Nyair ran his thumb across the side of his face and bit into his bottom lip.
“I’m not great at the walking light thing,” he said. “So I’ma come right out and say it.”
Her stomach did that thing it did when he was around. It disappeared.
“I want to get to know you, Lo,” Nyair started.
“Like, everything about you, and I know my position in the community makes that weird for you. Like you don’t know if you can be in public with the local pastor, don’t know if you can hold hands with a nigga, don’t know if you can get close, but my wants are my wants, Lo.
I just want to put it out there. I’d love to take you out some time. ”
She was speechless, not because she hadn’t expected it but because Nyair reminded her of her worth. Nyair made her feel like she still had it. Hell, like she had never lost it.
“You plan the date, and I’ll be there,” she replied.
“Yeah?” Nyair asked. She didn’t miss the wrinkles iron themselves out of his forehead.
“Yeah,” she answered softly, looking down at her feet. When she glanced back up, he filled her space, lifting her chin with one finger.
“I prayed on that yes,” Nyair answered. “The Homie answering prayers today.”
She beamed. She had been flirted with in many ways, but never in ways that involved prayers to God.
“Apparently, not every prayer because you haven’t kissed me yet.”
He obliged and Lauren literally melted. His lips were the softest place on earth, and he kissed like he learned the art in Paris under the Eiffel tower or some shit.
The way he used his tongue and controlled the pace by pinching her chin was mind-blowing.
These were the types of kisses that awoke Sleeping Beauty from her sleep.
She pulled back, and he pulled her into his body, his strong arms draping her waist.
“Are you sure this is okay?” She asked.
“I’m real sound in my mind, body, and spirit, Lo. I’m not the one who should be answering that question. Are you sure this is okay?”
“I’m not really sure of anything these days,” she answered.
“Then trust me to lead,” he answered.
She nodded, and he stepped back, holding his hand out for her to go first.
Instead, she grabbed his hand. “I want to hold the pastor’s hand in public.”
It was his turn to be flattered.
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Maybe we have a private conversation with DJ first,” Nyair suggested.
This whimsical flutter in her stomach and living in the moment had made her completely forget that her son didn’t know.
“Oh my god, yes, yes. You’re right,” she said, embarrassed.
“But when he knows, I’m with whatever you’re with, whatever speed, whatever level you want to explore this on.
In my experience, a slow burn lasts longer.
We don’t have to rush. I really do want to align with your spirit, Lo.
If that chemistry is right, the body gon’ follow, the people who love us gon’ follow.
Let’s make sure that’s right first, and that you’re healed first from your divorce. ”
She nodded and walked by him. He pulled her back suddenly, cupping her face and kissing her passionately before releasing her.
Lauren felt like a queen as she emerged from the room with Nyair following.
The team and their parents had begun filtering in, and as her eyes scanned the room, they landed on Demi.
His presence just made her feel like she was doing something wrong, but she had to remind herself that he wasn’t her husband anymore.
What she did was not his concern. She almost wished she could sit somewhere else but knew DJ would want them together. “Hey, Ma! Dad’s here!”
I see your rock-head-ass daddy, boy, Lauren thought.
“Enjoy your family,” Nyair whispered in her ear as he bypassed her.
It was the hand to the small of her back that made her soul move.
Her eyes followed him around the room as he did what she had always known him to do, politic.
He was a natural leader and the parents, both fathers, and mothers, gravitated toward him.
The kids on the team loved him. He was just a man that carried energy with him.
She wondered if it was the godliness in him or if he was just a man that commanded attention. Either way, he had; she was locked in.
She watched him greet his brother, Ethic, and his family, and her heart stopped when she saw Ethic walk over to Demi. The men spoke and then Ethic’s entire family sat at the table with Demi and her son, Nyair included.
Oh, bitch, you gon’ need your big girl panties for this.
Her Creed perfume left notes of vanilla behind her as she made her way to the group.
Her hair was weaved up and pulled off her face, middle-parted, and a long waist-length ponytail trailed her.
One thing about Lauren. She was going to switch up her style and step into a room like she owned it. She looked like the perfect host.
“Hey, everybody, so good to see you,” she greeted.
“Good to see you,” Ethic replied. “I’m assuming this all your work. Nyair ain’t putting nothing this elevated together. This has a woman’s touch all over it.”
“He chose some linens or something,” she said.
Ethic gave the faintest smile. “Your daughter is beautiful. Can I hold her?”
“This is my oldest, Mo,” Ethic said.
“Beautiful like the rest of your children,” Lauren complimented.
“Thank you,” Mo said as she handed over baby True. “Be careful, she just ate, and she’s bound to spit up.”
“Oh my goodness, she’s so precious,” Lauren said. “And who are these two?” Lauren asked as she bounced slightly while holding baby True. Her eyes went to the beautiful set of toddlers in Burberry print.
“My twins, Yara and Messari,” Morgan introduced. “And this is their father, Messiah.”
“Good to meet you,” Messiah greeted.
“And Eazy, it’s always good to see you. Did you check out the virtual reality game over there?”
“Can I, Dad?” Eazy asked.
Ethic nodded. “Knock yourself out, Big Man.” He turned to the last one of their bunch. “Bella, make sure he don’t tear nothing up over there.”
Lauren loved how large their family was. She wished DJ had that. She had tried to give him that, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She wondered if he envied kids like Eazy sometimes. Her eyes found Demi finally, and she immediately noticed his disposition.
“You got a minute?” Lauren asked.
Demi arose from the table. He was so damn fine. His suit was the color of the deepest plum, blood-red, with a white collared shirt and walnut-colored Prada loafers. He was handsome and debonair and grown. The boy she had met in college had turned into a grown-ass man.
Lauren handed the baby back to Mo and then glanced at Nyair before stepping off to speak with Demi.
“I see you came alone,” she said.
“I see you didn’t,” Demi replied.
“About that,” Lauren said.
Demi pulled back, surprised that she was admitting it.
“Unlike you, I want to be considerate and respectful about the way I handle men in your son’s life. What are the rules, Demi? What are you uncomfortable with?”
“All of it,” Demi said. “I’m uncomfortable with all that shit.”
“And that’s fair because I get it, I was yours for a long time, but you moved around me.
You chose something else, Demi, and I’ve had to watch you love another woman.
I’ve watched you love her better than you ever did me, and it hurts.
You go home to her, and I go home to an empty bed, and I cry… so I need you to let me move on.”
“With the fucking gangster pastor, man? I can’t even fucking get at that nigga like I want to cuz that mu’fucka on God team and shit,” Demi said, serious as hell and annoyingly charming.
Lauren laughed.
“I don’t know what that is, Demi. He might be the one. He might not. It’s probably just a phase, but it’s a phase I want to explore. I have to get back out there. I can’t be lonely and single forever,” she argued. “You can’t expect that of me.”
“Why the fuck not?” Demi asked.
“You’re jealous,” she accused, finding amusemet in his discontent.
“I’m…” he paused because he didn’t know exactly what it was he was feeling. “selfish.”
She nodded sadly. “You have been.”
“I’m sorry, Lo,” Demi said.
Her eyes fluttered up at him in surprise.
She scoffed. “That girl has changed you, Demi. She’s…
” she paused because it was hard for Lauren to give Charlie any kind of acknowledgment that didn’t include the words whore, bitch, or mistress.
But the man apologizing in front of her was not the same man that she had spent half her life with. He was warmer. “You’re just different.”
“Was I a bad husband to you, Lo? A bad father to DJ? Do I scare a woman away from that type of shit?” Demi asked.