Chapter 16
No, noooo, come on, don’t do this right now!
” Charlie cried as she turned her key over in her ignition.
The engine sputtered and her entire car shook but it wouldn’t start.
“I’m already late.” Charlie sat in the parking lot of Target, stranded.
“I knew I should have left it running.” She had turned off her car to run in and grab a gift card for the occasion, only to come out to chaos.
She picked up her phone and dialed Stassi, only to be sent to voicemail.
“Come on, Stassi!” she said, sucking her teeth. Demi was her next call. She knew he was busy. She hoped she wasn’t crossing lines, but he had told her to call him first when she needed something. She prayed he meant it.
“Talk nice to me, Bird,” he answered.
She smiled. Only Demi could make her smile when she was completely overwhelmed.
“Hey, babe,” she greeted. “Are you busy?”
“A little but what up?” he replied.
“I’m stranded. My car died and I’m late to this family thing. I wasn’t gonna call you, but Stassi didn’t answer and...”
“Where you at?” he interrupted.
“Target, on Miller Road,” she said.
“I’m on my way,” he answered. That was all he needed to say for Charlie to feel saved.
If he said it, he did it and he didn’t do it halfway, so she knew the problem would be solved.
A man. Her man. She couldn’t believe it.
After everything she had been through, it was hard to trust in it because niggas had always led her astray.
It was the pace that made Charlie give into it.
It was happening too fast to be manipulative.
What they were doing was impulsive, it was passionate.
She loved it. She loved him. She didn’t care that it was what most would call “too soon.” She knew what she felt in her heart and that was enough.
When she saw Demi’s Cadillac pull into the parking lot a half hour later, she felt instant relief.
“I’m so sorry,” she said as she climbed from the car to greet him.
Demi commanded her chin between his fingertips, pulling her lips to his.
A quick peck, probably because he couldn’t give more without his soul dying a little, and then his face in the groove of her neck as he hugged her, picking her up.
He walked her to the passenger seat of the car, seeing her safely inside before going to the driver’s side.
“I missed you,” she said when he climbed inside. How? It had only been hours since being in his presence, but that didn’t make it any less true.
“Show, don’t tell, Bird,” he said. Charlie smiled mischievously as she reached for the seat of his denim.
“Slow down. You press go on that and you ain’t going to ya daddy’s little dinner,” Demi said.
Charlie pouted and faced forward in her seat.
“I’d never hear the end of it,” she said. “I really appreciate you dropping everything to come get me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ma have my little niggas take care of the car for you. Come ride with me.”
“I’m so late,” she complained.
“I’ll take you where you got to be,” he said.
Charlie showed up to her father’s house an hour late and she was practically shaking as she opened her door to get out.
“He’s going to be so mad,” she said. “I had one job. I’m always fucking shit up.”
Demi frowned. Seeing her rattled bothered him. She was frantic and he took a finger to her chin, causing her to take pause as he commanded her eyes.
“Relax,” he said. “This your family, Bird. You a little late. It’s not the end of the world. They better be lucky they getting a piece of you at all, cuz a nigga want to be real selfish with your time.”
She smiled, but there was something in her eyes that called to him. Something that said she needed him there.
“If you gon’ need a ride back, I might as well stay,” he said.
“Would you mind?” she asked.
“Come on. Guess I got to try to impress ya daddy and all that, huh? Young-ass.” He shook his head and scoffed because he couldn’t believe he was in a position where he was attempting to win over anybody. Demi was an IDGAF kind of nigga, but for Charlie, he had too many fucks to give.
His fingertip was still under her chin. She shook her head. “No, babe. He got to try to impress you,” she replied.
“You got my head fucked up, Bird,” Demi admitted. “I been thinking about how not to be crazy when it comes to you all day, but then I see you and a nigga just get crazier.”
“You’re not crazy, babe,” she whispered. He pulled her across the seat, stealing her lips and forcing her into his lap. They were so squished they honked the horn. The front door to the house opened and a man stepped out onto the porch. His face bent in irritation.
“Fuck you looking at?” Demi asked. “You ain’t never seen a nigga kiss his girl?”
Charlie laughed as she put her hands over his mouth.
“Shhh!” she snickered. “Demi! That’s my daddy.”
“He ain’t exempt. Interrupting my time with my baby. I got smoke for anybody getting between us, Bird,” he said, smiling lazily and moving his head because her hands over his lips made him want to rinse his whole face in bleach.
She couldn’t help but laugh harder. “Yeah?” she asked. “That’s how you feel?”
He laughed too. “Knock yo’ fucking daddy on his ass, Bird, no lie,” Demi said.
Charlie looked back to the porch and saw her father coming down the steps.
“Uh-oh, Bird, you in trouble,” he teased.
Her father knocked on the driver’s window and Charlie buried her face in Demi’s neck, laughing as Demi rolled down the window.
“Can I help you with something?”
It was the way he said it. The baritone of his voice. The challenge in his tone. Charlie had never been so turned on.
“I’m going to fuck you so good,” she whispered in his ear.
He tapped one finger on her ass and Charlie lifted her head, sheepishly smiling as she greeted her father with a flushed face.
She was still straddling Demi and his recklessness didn’t even allow for him to take his hand off her ass.
He was gripping it. Yeah, it was a new daddy in town.
“Hi, Daddy,” Charlie greeted. “This is my boyfriend, Demi.”
“I ain’t been a boy in a long time,” Demi said, biting her ear. Charlie was on cloud nine and couldn’t even compose herself in front of her father.
Unenthused, her father let uncomfortable silence linger for a few seconds.
“The photographer has been waiting long enough, Charlize,” her father said. He turned and walked back in the house.
“Guess he don’t like a nigga,” Demi said.
Charlie hollered. Charlie absolutely hated to visit her father.
Stassi ’s mom had never been the friendliest. Since her mother’s death, her father acted like she was a burden.
The only person in her family who had treated her well was Stassi.
The “step” had never meant much in stepsisters.
They were closer than blood could have made them.
Demi exited the car, wearing Charlie like she was a second skin.
Ass in his hands, her arms around his neck.
He carried Charlie like her feet didn’t work.
Spoiled. Charlize Woods was spoiled by a man named Demi Sky and she loved it.
When they got to the front door, he placed her on her feet.
“Thank you for staying, Demi,” she said. She pushed open the door.
“Finally! We can begin! Leave it to Charlie to make a day that’s not about her, about her,” Yvonne, her wicked stepmother, said.
“Nice to see you too,” Charlie replied. “Yvonne, this is Demi.”
“And this is a family event,” Yvonne responded.
“If he leaves, I’m right behind him,” Charlie said.
“You’ve shown up with worse, I suppose,” Yvonne focused on Demi. “Welcome. Might as well make yourself at home.”
Demi simply nodded. If he used words, shit would get ugly so he didn’t speak.
Yvonne held out her hand for them to walk ahead of her. When she placed a hand on Demi’s shoulder to guide him, his entire soul left his body.
“Don’t touch him,” Charlie said. She offered no explanation afterward and Yvonne jerked her neck back, offended. Charlie grabbed Demi’s hand and led him through the house.
When they entered the kitchen, Stassi frowned. “Charlie! Hey! What is... I’m surprised you brought a date. You know how Mommy and Daddy are,” Stassi paused. “Hi, Demi.” It was a dry greeting.
Another nod. Demi didn’t seem to be speaking at all today. Demi stared at Stassi for a beat, and in the time it took her to blink, an unspoken threat had been made. She didn’t know what it was, but the look in Demi’s eyes told her she didn’t want to find out.
“And they’re going to be that way regardless of who I show up with so...” Charlie shrugged.
“Well, let’s get you together so we can get these pictures over with,” Stassi said. “There is a makeup artist upstairs.”
Charlie nodded and turned to Demi.
“You don’t have to stay,” Charlie said.
“Go handle your business, Bird, I’m right here,” he said.
“It’ll give me a chance to see who you brought into my house.” Her father interjected, entering the kitchen from the hallway.
“Daddy...” Charlie’s tone was pleading, desperate almost, and Demi didn’t like it.
“Bird...” Demi said, eyes boring into hers. He hated that she looked like she wanted to cry. She feared what her father might say. What he might reveal. How he might offend. Her name on his lips seemed to freeze her. “We’re good.”
His confirmation told her that nothing could happen in this kitchen that would make him leave. She nodded and retreated, leaving Demi to fight the war downstairs.