Chapter 17 Lyrix
Lyrix
Itook quick steps down the stairs to get to the kitchen.
Grai was in there, putting away the groceries she’d just gone to buy for the house.
I rushed in and paused when I saw her bent over.
I lifted my fist to my mouth, trying to resist the urge to snatch her ass up. She knew leggings were my weakness.
I cleared my throat to gain her attention. “Your bitch ass baby daddy dropped the charges, Bubbles. I’m good,” I shared with her excitedly. I wasn’t sure how this shit was going to end. It felt good to know there wouldn’t be with any permanent consequences.
She smiled as she stood up. “So, he really did it,” she mumbled.
My smile fell from my face. “What do you mean?”
She sighed, avoiding eye contact. “I went to see him about getting them dropped.” She shrugged. “I guess he listened.”
I couldn’t control the jealousy I felt coursing through my veins. The thought of her being close to that nigga had me seeing red. What did they talk about? Had she promised him something? Were they going to get back together?”
“What did you say to him?” My voice was gravelly and low.
She went back to putting up groceries, paying my change in mood no attention. “The truth. I promised we’d leave him alone if he did the same. We know he doesn’t really want to be in the boys’ lives. No need to keep pretending and putting us all through misery.”
I heard what she was saying, but I couldn’t shake the thought of her going over there.
I put the pieces together and realized that must’ve been where she went during the middle of the night the other night.
I was in my shed, working on the boys’ updated keepsake boxes when I heard her come out of the house.
I watched her get in the car and leave. I figured she was taking a drive to clear her mind.
I never imagined she was going to pay that nigga a visit.
“Thank you, I guess. I’m about to go get this monitor taken off.”
She smiled happily. “Okay, hurry back. I’m going to whip up a celebratory dinner. Maybe even have a glass of champagne because I’m finally rid of his ass.” She clapped her hands giddily.
“Yeah,” I mumbled before turning to leave.
I clenched my fists, trying to process what I was feeling.
I mean, she’d done a good thing, but I would’ve rather she stayed the fuck away from him.
Anything could’ve happened. It just so happened to work in our favor this time.
And would he really stay away? I had so many questions, and it was impossible to even answer them all.
I huffed a sigh, grabbed the keys, and dipped. The only thing I needed to focus on for now was getting my monitor off. After that, I’d sort through the jealousy and possessiveness I felt toward my best friend and what I planned to do about that.
It felt like a weight lifted when I returned home without that tracker on. I no longer had any ties to a probation officer, nor was there anything documented about my time on probation. Now that I was able to get some fresh air, I had a clearer head.
I understood why Grai had gone to him. While I was gone, I thought about our conversation, and it was clear that she was done with him.
I guess I thought if she was talking to him, that meant she was willing to go back, but she’d reached out to him for me.
Now, that nigga was out of our lives, and we could move forward.
I was barely in the house before Grai came racing at me happily. I chuckled. “What is it?”
“It’s just a good day. Drey dropped the charges, you got your monitor off, and I just got an interview for a really good job.”
My body froze as her words slammed into me like a Mack truck. I didn’t even know she was looking for work. I gave her a half-hearted smile. “What? You been looking for places to stay too?” I jokingly asked.
She nodded proudly. “Actually, I have. Now that Drey is gone, I’m ready to figure out what’s next for me. I can’t live off you forever, Poppa. I need to find myself.”
Every word out of her mouth crawled beneath my skin and began picking at the muscle there.
What did she mean by figuring out what was next for her?
I thought life with me was next, but apparently, we had two different mindsets.
She skipped off, oblivious to the war going on in my heart because she was so excited for the future.
I should’ve been happy for her, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was kicking me to the curb.
That feeling that the future she envisioned didn’t include me.
Had she gotten all she needed from me? Was I only good enough to take care of her but never to be her man?
Would she ever see life with me as a possibility?
Because that was all I could fucking think about.
It hurt to know Grai wasn’t considering the same things as me.
Living under the same roof officially changed how I felt about her.
The thought of going backward made it hard to breathe.
Now, I was glad that I hadn’t acted on all my desires since that one time.
I would never be able to forget making love to her, and it angered me to think of another man having access to her like that.
She wasn’t supposed to end things with one fuck nigga to end up with another one.
But I couldn’t make her want the same things as me, and I needed to remember that.
Backing away slowly to the door, I knew I couldn’t be in this house with her right now. My hand landed on the doorknob when I heard Ace’s voice behind me. “We still playing Uno after dinner?”
I turned and glanced at him. I gulped, feeling guilty because I knew I was about to let him down. “We gotta raincheck on that one, okay?”
His lips pressed together in a tight line. He gave a simple nod, then walked off. I cursed under my breath before ripping open the door and storming out. I’d only made it to the bottom of the porch before Grai was running out onto the porch, out of breath.
“You’re leaving? I cooked dinner for you.”
I paused my retreat and sighed. There was nothing I wanted more in this world than to go back into that house, sit down, and have dinner with her and my boys.
But she’d fucked up my head, and now I was questioning everything.
I needed space to recalibrate to life in the friend zone because apparently that was where she loved for me to be.
“Yeah, I need to get some air. Don’t wait up,” I answered honestly.
I barely made it a step before she was hurtling down the steps to block my exit. “No, talk to me. What’s wrong? It’s a great day. We’re supposed to be celebrating, and you’re leaving! Why?”
I shook my head and figured since she wanted to talk, then we should. “It was a good day until I realized you’re planning a life without me.”
Her eyebrows dipped, and she froze. “What are you talking about?”
“Looking for a job and a place to stay . . . I obviously haven’t been clear enough with you, but I want you, Grai.
You telling me you planning all this shit sounds too much like shutting me out and moving on like you don’t know deep down in your soul that you belong to me.
” I didn’t even intend to close the distance between us, but I was pissed off.
“When I told you to let me take care of you, I always meant for the rest of your life.” I shook my head and dropped my chin to my chest. “I can’t handle seeing you with another nigga who doesn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as you, Bubbles. ”
Grai palmed my cheek. “Don’t leave, Lyrix.” She looked so innocent when she nibbled on her bottom lip. “I promise I was only doing those things because I was afraid of you waking up one day and truly seeing us as burdens. I felt like I needed independence.”
I leaned into her hand, feeling my heart rate finally begin to slow down. “I don’t need you to think for me, Grai. I love you and my boys. When I said y’all could never be burdens, I fucking meant that. I want you here forever.”
“You sure? There’s no coming back from this. We can never go back to what we used to be.”
I smiled and dug my fingers into her curly hair.
I tilted her head back a little so I could have the perfect view of her beauty.
“Good, because once I felt you, I knew there was no going back for me. I never want to go back to pretending you’re not who I want.
I never want to go back to restraining myself from showering you in the affection you deserve.
I never want to go back to just your friend. ”
All she could do was nod because I pressed my lips into hers.
She parted her lips to allow my tongue access to her mouth, and I had to have her.
Pulling my keys from my pocket, I unlocked the doors, then opened the back one.
I forced her into the back seat. I sat beside her and paused to allow her one more chance to halt the trajectory of what came next between us.
“If you want to be with me, then you need to tell me, Grai. I can’t be your temporary nigga until you feel like someone better comes along, because I’m telling you now, there ain’t a nigga out there better than me for you.”
Slowly, she turned her head to look at me.
I wished I could turn the expression on her face into poetry.
Her doe eyes were bright with tears. “Lyrix, you’re my forever nigga, literally the only one I want to do life with.
” The longing in her eyes had me ready to drop to my knees to serve her, to fill that void no other man could because it fucking belonged to me.
I was the ruler of her nation, and it was time she allowed me to take my rightful place.
I chuckled. “Prove it then.”
Nothing else needed to be said. I dug my fingers in her hair and yanked her pretty ass to me. Our lips collided in a beautiful symphony that calmed the raging waters of my soul. I was finally at peace. This was where I belonged. I inhaled her essence, then pulled her until she was on my lap.
I massaged her ass cheeks, allowing her to suck on my tongue.
Because of the dress she was wearing, I had easy access to her wet pussy.
I slid my fingers over her slippery folds, making her moan so beautifully.
My toes curled in anticipation. She pulled my dick from my basketball shorts and sank on it. In tandem, we sighed in relief.
“Fuck, you feel so good, Bubbles,” I admitted through a moan.
“So do you,” she cried. My arms wrapped around her waist until she was anchored to my chest. I loved the feel of her nipples sliding up and down my chest while I lifted my pelvis to fuck her from underneath.
She began to moan, and it sounded like the chorus to the beat her clapping ass cheeks made against my thighs.
When she began to wind her hips, I started to lose control of my body.
“I love you, Lyrix. I love you so fucking much.”
Her confession was euphoric. Her pussy wrapped around me was crack. She could say anything right now, and I’d bust inside of her. I slapped her on the ass. “You ready to let me in, Grai? You done running from what we both know is right? Is it me, you, and our boys until the fucking end?”
I continued to drill her while trying to hold onto my sanity. I felt her tightening around me, making me release her to suck on her neck. Every time she moaned, I swear her pussy got wetter. “Yes, oh my god, yessssssssss! You can have all of me, Poppa.”
I smiled, loving her sultry voice telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. “Cum for then, Bubbles. Mark your territory with your sweet pussy.”
Thunder shook the truck seconds before rain began to splatter on the windshield.
Grai held onto my shoulders, tossed her head back, and allowed herself to succumb to the pleasure.
I loved the faces she made when she came.
She was her most vulnerable, and I didn’t take that for granted. This was all I ever wanted.
I joined her on the other side of ecstasy.
Her lips found mine, and we shared a passionate kiss that left us both even more breathless.
I leaned back, and she fell on my chest. Her hair was sprawled everywhere, but I didn’t mind.
I smoothed it out of the way and placed a kiss on her third eye.
I smiled when I heard her snoring lightly while wrapped around me like she never wanted to let go.
It was cool with me because I wasn’t letting her ass go either.