5. Malik
T wo weeks had passed since I started working with Samaj, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Sametra.
We’d only texted about appointments and progress updates, never veering too far off the professional track.
But even in those dry-ass messages, I’d catch myself staring too long at her name, rereading the way she said ‘thank you.’ Like I was trying to find something between the lines.
I didn’t know the rules because I’d never even imagined crossing this line before.
But she made me want to say fuck the rules and do my big one.
“Come on Maj, take a break,” I said, checking the time on my watch. We’d been going at this for forty-five minutes straight, and even though the kid was tough as hell, I could see the fatigue setting in.
“Five more minutes, Dr. Holloway. I feel like I’m getting somewhere,” Samaj said, gripping the parallel bars with determination.
It was a good sign. He needed to understand what it meant to work for something.
The way I was training his mind through recovery, MiMi would never have another attitude problem from him. He’d understand what she’d sacrificed.
“Nah, we’re done for today. You pushed hard, and I’m proud of you, but overdoing it ain’t gonna help nothing.” I moved to spot him as he settled back into his wheelchair. “Your body needs time to recover between sessions.”
“Man, you sound just like my mom.”
“Your mom’s a smart woman. You should listen to her more often.”
Samaj shot me a look. “Speaking of my mom...you like her, don’t you?”
I kept my expression neutral while I cleaned the equipment. “Your mom’s a good woman. Strong. Got her priorities straight. What’s not to like?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Smart-ass kid. Wonder where he got that from.
“Your mom and I are focused on getting you better. That’s what matters right now.” He stared at me, still not appreciating my dodging his question. But I wanted him to ask me what he really wanted to know, man to man.
“But after I’m better...I’m saying if you do like her, I’m cool with it. Just so you know.”
“She’s gonna kill you for trying to play matchmaker.”
“Good. Now, can you go find her? She’s probably in the cafeteria stress-eating those cookies they got down there.”
“Yeah, I need to holler at her anyway. Good work today, Samaj for real.”
I left Samaj and found her exactly where Samaj said she’d be, sitting alone at a corner table with a strawberry smoothie in her hand, staring out the window while massaging her neck.
You could tell her mind was somewhere else.
Even with that distant look on her face, she was gorgeous, a sight to see.
Every time I was around Sametra, I felt a warm sensation take over me.
My heart beat a little faster, and my hands itched to touch, rub, and soothe.
“So, the rumors are true,” Moniece's voice cut through my thoughts as she stepped into my path, blocking my view of Sametra. If I wasn’t a gentleman, I would have pushed Moneice to the side by the head. She was getting on my damn nerves pressing me like I was her nigga or ever would be.
“She’s why you won’t give me the time of day, huh?”
I didn’t even look at her fully, my eyes already moving back to Sametra.
The last thing I wanted was for Sametra to see her talking to me and think we were a thing.
I had a feeling she already had thought I was sleeping with everything moving.
Even though I wasn’t I didn’t want to add any fuel to her trust issues.
“Moniece, you hard of hearing?”
“I see how you look at her. You never looked at me like that.” There was something bitter in her tone that made me finally focus on her.
“Because it was never like that with us. You know that.” I kept my voice low, professional. “Excuse me.”
I stepped around her without another word, but I could feel her watching as I made my way to Sametra's table.
She looked up when I approached, and that smile I was starting to become infatuated with spread across her face, but it was as full as I’d seen it.
I loved her brave front, but she didn’t need to do that with me.
My entire existence was about meeting people at their lowest and encouraging them back to the top.
“Hey. How’d he do today?”
“See for yourself,” I said, sitting down across from her without being invited. “You avoiding me?”
“What? Why would I do that? How can I do that?” she rattled off, letting me know she was absolutely avoiding me.
She’d been finding any way not to be around me since our phone call, and I wasn’t with it anymore.
She’d drop Samaj off early and disappear before I came in. But she couldn’t avoid me today.
“When you’re lying your ass off, you start rambling. You don’t gotta avoid me or lie to me. What’s up?”
“It’s not you. It’s just...my mind is all over the place.
I really want to go back to work, but I also got accepted into school.
I haven’t even told Samaj yet. I don’t know if right now the right time is, but it feels like the right time, you know?
” she massaged her neck and continued as I watched her perfect lips move at rapid speed.
“I feel like I wanna get my life started right now. No more waiting. Maybe take some time off until I start school. Travel. Fall in love. I don’t know.
..bills, medical expenses, baseball camp. ”
“LT, hey, thank you for sharing that with me, but you gotta chill, all you want is coming to you, and it will work out. You been massaging that neck since I sat down. You in pain?”
“Just uncomfortable sometimes, especially when it’s going to rain.” She stretched again and looked out the window. “I imagine it’ll feel like this forever, now.”
“C’mere,” I urged, standing to my feet. I extended my hand, and she reluctantly took it. I led Sametra down a hallway and into the chapel, which was the closest private space I could find. I didn’t want nosey ass people taking what I was about to do out of context.
“What are you doing?” she asked as I moved closer and placed my warm hands on the sides of her neck, running my palms up the sides. The room was dimly lit, but I could see the sparkle in her eyes and the gloss on her lips. God, she was so fucking beautiful to me.
“Shh, just trust me. Inhale.”
I knew the exact spots I needed to touch to give her some relief.
The whiplash from the accident had left her with acute muscle spasms in her cervical spine.
I could feel the tension radiating from her suboccipital muscles down through her trapezius.
These were the kinds of injuries that lingered, the ones that flared up with stress and lack of proper sleep.
“You not sleeping, Sametra. I can tell.”
“I’m trying. It’s hard sometimes.”
I stood in front of her, inhaling her scent, touching her soft skin, feeling the brush of her hair against my palms. Her chest was rising and falling to the rhythm of my hands massaging.
I applied gentle pressure to the trigger points where the trauma had settled, feeling the tight muscle fibers that had been guarding against pain for weeks.
“Exhale,” I murmured, working along the areas where the seatbelt had yanked against her neck during impact. This was more than stress, this was her body still protecting itself from a trauma it couldn’t forget.
Her soft moan told me I’d found exactly where she’d been hurting. I wanted this to be her whole body, but I had to chill. I was thankful I didn’t have her too close, she’d know for sure how happy I was to see her.
“Again, inhale.”
“Shit,” she moaned softly. “That feels so good.”
I stopped and lifted her chin, just enough to make her look at me. Her eyes fluttered open. “Why’d you stop?” she asked dazed. I laughed a little.
“You know why I stopped,” I said, licking my lips.
I wanted to kiss her so damn bad. She grinned but her eyes dropped to my lips, then flicked away.
For a second, I thought she was going to pull back, say something slick, fold into that hard shell again.
But she didn’t. She stayed right there, heart in her throat.
There was something about the way her eyes closed slowly, innocent. Every breath that passed between us felt like the beginning of something neither one of us could stop.
And I didn’t want to stop. Not now. Not ever.
I leaned in slowly, giving her time to stop me.
She didn’t. Instead, she grabbed my neck and kissed me like she’d been waiting all damn week.
I didn’t hesitate. My hand slid to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss.
She tasted like strawberries and yogurt, sweet and addictive.
Sametra melted into me like she’d been holding her breath since the accident.
When she finally exhaled into me, I lost it.
She’d crossed the line, exchanged energy with me, and I wasn’t going to let up.
I pushed her back against the wall, my hands finding her hips, pulling her into me. She moaned again, so soft, so perfect, and that sound went straight through me like a drug.
I had no business kissing her fine ass back, but I’d been dying to.
I wanted her to cross the line first, not me.
But now that she had all that falling-back bullshit was dead.
As a man, there was no way I was letting her slip through my fingers.
From the second I saw her, I knew, before it was all said and done, I’d have her, her time and attention.
MISSION ONE: ACCOMPLISHED.
She pulled back, lips parted, trying to catch her breath. I stepped away, jaw tight, dick hard as hell.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She didn't mean to, but her hand drifted to my beard, testing the softness. Her fingers lingered longer than they should have. Neither of us spoke, but everything shifted.
“Let me take you out,” I said, voice low and ragged. “Fuck the other shit I said about being patient.”
“Watch it,” she whispered, a breathless laugh escaping. “We’re in the chapel.”