Chapter 15 O’Shynn Royal
O’SHYNN ROYAL
When the pilot’s voice came over the speaker to tell me we were getting ready to land, I had already looked through my text thread with Malik enough times to make myself sick.
Only to see the same unanswered calls and the same messages sitting there looking stupid with the same little gray “Delivered” underneath my last text that had been there for almost two months now and all that one said was ‘Call me back’ and he still ignored it.
I sat in the black leather seat near the window with my legs crossed, my phone in my hand, and my purse sitting open beside me while the lights of Philly started glowing through the glass.
The cabin lights were low and soft, but I wasn’t paying attention to none of that because I had spent almost the entire flight staring at Malik’s name.
I should not have been on no damn plane.
That was the thought that kept running through my mind over and over again.
Me? O’Shynn Royal, flying somewhere for a man?
Not just any man either but man who had been ignoring me.
A man who had looked at my name lighting up his phone and still decided not to answer.
I should’ve stayed my ass in Miami. I should’ve let him be mad.
I should’ve let him wonder if I missed him but then I would think about those pictures again from the blogs with Malik leaving that restaurant in Philly with that girl yet another time and this time not hiding it.
I had zoomed in on those pictures so many times over time I almost hated myself for it.
I was looking at his face and looking at her hand on his arm.
Looking at how comfortable they looked walking side by side.
He had one of them little expensive jackets on with his expensive chains around his neck and that damn watch on his wrist with a fresh haircut and beard lined up looking too good for his own good.
Meanwhile, she had been smiling hard as hell and that part made me sick.
It wasn’t that I thought Malik owed me anything, but I knew I was the reason he was entertaining anybody else in the first place.
I had spent so much time pushing him away and acting like I didn’t care that I never stopped to think about what would happen if one day he got tired of it, and maybe he had.
That thought pissed me off with my damn self. The second the jet touched down, I looked at my phone one more time before I stood up knowing it still wouldn’t be anything from him. No “I miss you.” No “Where you at?” Nothing.
I slid my phone into my Chanel and stood up.
If Malik was going to look at me tonight, then he was going to really look.
I had changed before we landed into a money green-colored fitted jumpsuit with a camel coat over it and a pair of Chanel boots.
My hair was bone straight down my back, my makeup was soft, my lips were glossy kept the jewelry simple because I wasn’t trying to get robbed but I was ready to shoot if I had to.
The jet door opened, and the cold air hit me in the face so hard it almost made me stop. This was not Miami cold either. This was real cold. Like the cold that made your nose cold and your fingers stiff before you even got out the house good.
I pulled my coat tighter around my body while I walked down from the jet.
The Philly air smelled way different than Miami too.
The SUV was already waiting for me near the runway.
I climbed into the backseat and looked out the window while the driver pulled away from the airport.
The whole ride there, I kept checking my phone even though I already knew Malik still hadn’t called.
Outside, the city looked beautiful in that rich, dark kind of way.
The wet streets reflected lights from expensive restaurants and tall buildings.
People moved fast as they walked the sidewalks.
Everything about the city felt colder than Miami in itself, forget the weather.
However, this was Malik’s home, and he fit there so well.
By the time we pulled into his neighborhood, my stomach was in knots.
The houses out there looked ridiculous with big gates, long driveways, and perfect landscaping.
It was the kind of homes people bought when they wanted everybody to know they had money.
Malik’s house sat at the end of a curved driveway lined with little lights and tall hedges with dark stone, black trim, and huge windows glowing warm from inside.
He had three luxury cars in the driveway.
I sat there in the truck for a second staring at it through the tinted window. Then I looked at myself in the reflection and fixed my lip gloss. I used my hand to smooth down my hair which was already perfect and the pulled my coat straighter over my shoulders.
“Is everything okay?” the driver asked.
“No,” I said honestly. Then I got out.
The gravel crunched under my boots while I walked toward the front door.
Every step made my chest tighter and made me feel stupid.
I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears by the time I rang the bell and then I stood there waiting.
A few seconds later, I heard footsteps coming toward the door.
Then the door opened. The second I saw him, my stomach dropped.
Malik stood there with one hand still on the doorknob and the other holding a short glass with dark liquor in it.
He had on black sweatpants hanging low on his waist and a white t-shirt fitted across his chest. His chains were still on and his beard was fresh.
He smelled like cologne... just real refreshing and for a second he just stared at me like his brain stopped working.
His eyes moved over me slowly from my boots all the way up to my face and then back down again like he couldn’t help himself.
Like he couldn’t believe I was really standing there.
He frowned and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. “O’Shynn?”
I folded my arms across my chest because suddenly I didn’t know what else to do with them. “What?” I frowned. “You thought I was just gone let you ignore me forever?”
He still didn’t move, hell he still didn’t blink.
He actually looked like he forgot somebody else was even in the house.
Then I looked past him, and there she was.
The same girl from the blogs. She was standing near the kitchen island with a wine glass in her hand and one of Malik’s oversized shirts hanging off one shoulder.
Her bare legs were out, and her hair was pinned up with her makeup still intact…
she looked comfortable. Almost like she had been there for a while.
I noticed the takeout containers on the counter and the candle burning near the sink as well as the half-empty wine bottle and the half empty bottle of Don Julio.
The second glass sitting beside it. All of it irritated me and Malik saw me looking.
His jaws got so stiff. “O’Shynn…” he said again more irritated or simply just tired of what he thought was games.
“Who is she?” I questioned with my eyes locked in. He had no idea how serious I was right now, but he knew I wasn’t the one to play these games. She wasn’t a threat to me or else I wouldn’t have been here.
The girl looked up and down real slow and then smirked. “I could ask who you are.”
I stepped inside then real slow, calm, and unbothered. My boot clicked against the floor while I slipped my coat off one shoulder. “You can ask,” I said softly. “But I’m standing here, so I think my question matter more.”
It got quiet for a second after that and Malik just looked at me. Then at the girl and then back at me.
“She was just leaving,” he finally told me. Malik was a very smart dude and I loved that.
The girl looked at him so fast her face almost cracked. “Excuse me?!”
“She was leaving.” He told me again.
She pointed at me. “Because she popped up here?” She asked.
I looked around the room slowly and then back at the girl. “I’m not arguing with you,” I assured her in a calm tone. “Because I don’t know you enough to argue with you, but what you not gone do is stand here in one of his shirts acting like you belong somewhere that I decide I want to be.”
The girl’s face changed into defense mode. Malik looked down for a second and I could tell he was trying not to smile. “You should go Tracey,” Malik said. “Trust me, this ain’t the girl you wanna have problems with. I’ll call you.”
The girl stared at him another second before grabbing her purse off the counter. “Wow,” she snapped. “You serious?”
He nodded his head unapologetic. “Yeah.”
She got her shit, and a few seconds later, the garage door slammed and she was gone. She was so upset we could hear the tires screeching and the rubber burning when she pulled off.
Malik looked back at me and shook his head slowly. “You crazy as hell.”
“Maybe.” I smiled. I knew I missed him but being in his face made me realize how much. I never wanted to get close to him or no man for that matter, but it was something about him I just couldn’t shake.
He cocked his head to the side and licked his lips. “You flew all the way to Philly.”
“You stopped answering me.”
He set his drink down on the counter and walked toward me slowly. “You really missed me that bad?” He looped his strong arms around the small of my back and I didn’t stop him.
I swallowed hard instead taking in the smell of his house which smelled like food, and perfume and cologne mixed. Yet here I was standing there in the middle of it; I realized I fit there way more than I wanted to. “I missed you,” I admitted.
His face changed after that like he had been waiting to hear that. “You missed me?”
“Yes.” I told him and he pulled me closer.
“So, all this time I been feeling stupid over you and you really did care?”
I looked down for a second. “I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot of time to think and the way I handled you wasn’t right although I meant well.”
“So what you sorry for then?” He questioned and I could tell he was eating this up. O’Shynn Royal, the Cartel Princess, the sister to the Miami King himself apologizing?
“For making you feel like I ain’t care.” I told him being as honest as I could be.
“You did make me feel like that.”
“I know.” I admitted.
He moved even closer until I could smell the cologne on his skin and there was not even a small space between us.
“You had me feeling like some goofy ass nigga chasing behind you. I don’t chase no female O’Shynn and I don’t give a fuck about who you tied to.
I love you for you and I know what comes with that but I’m my own made man.
Putting me out of cars and shit like I’m not ‘that nigga’ in my own way… nah, I can’t go for that.”
The way he was talking had my pussy soaked.
I almost wanted to get a whip and have some fun with my freaky ass, which was a part of my life he knew nothing about, but I always said if I allowed someone to love me, I would give it up.
“You not no goofy Malik and far from that. I was wrong and I’m very dominant so it’s hard for me to submit and sometimes I just get in my own head. ”
He kissed my forehead. “I understand, it’s gone take some work,” then he chuckled. “I was acting like a goofy allowing that shit though.”
That made me smile a little. He reached up and touched the side of my face, brushing his thumb lightly against my cheek. “You really came all the way here for me?”
I nodded. “I absolutely came for you.”
That was all it took before he kissed me hard like he had been waiting on it.
Like he had been holding it in. His hands moved around my waist, pulling me closer against him while I wrapped my arms around his neck.
The kiss got deeper fast and messier too like we needed each other.
All the tension from the last few weeks came out in that kiss.
From the ignored calls, the missed texts, the jealousy, the pride, the wanting and everything else.
He backed me up against the kitchen island and kissed down my neck while I closed my eyes and grabbed the front of his shirt.
“You know how bad I missed you?” he asked against my skin.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough to be mad every time my phone ring, and I had to force myself not to pick up. Fuck I missed you, damn.” He admitted.
That made those little butterflies form in my stomach because I had done that.
I had made him feel that way. He lifted his head and looked at me for a second.
“You don’t got no idea what you do to me. ”
Before I could respond, my other phone started going off and I ignored it.
He ignored it too but then it went off again, and again, and again.
I sighed and reached into my purse for the second phone I had powered back on.
The second I looked at the screen, my stomach dropped.
I had missed calls, texts, and voicemails all from Carmen.
It was what the voicemail she left that had me going because I never heard her cry and I could tell she was terrified.
I prayed that nothing was wrong with the baby especially when she said they said she might have to have the baby. Even I knew that it was too early.
“Oh my God.” I gasped.
He looked at me intensely. “What?”
I looked up at him, with panic already all over my face. “Carmen in the hospital.”
His face changed instantly. “What happened?”
“She’s bleeding and my niece or nephew might come early. She can’t reach Dom and it’s not looking too good.” I looked back down at the phone. “They saying she might have to have the baby.”
He was quiet for a second. Then he stepped back and looked at me. “You gotta go then.”
I nodded my head fast. “I know.”
He stared at me for another second, with disappointment flashing across his face because he already knew the moment was over and I could see it. I saw that little part of him that felt like I was about to disappear on him all over again but not this time.
“If you don’t have nothing to do,” I said softly, “I have a family emergency… and I would love for you to come with me.”
He looked at me for a second. Then his face softened back up. “Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m coming.”
“You sure?”
“O, if it matter to you, it matter to me no matter what it is.”
That almost made me emotional all over again. Instead, I nodded. “Go get dressed.”
He kissed my forehead before heading toward the stairs. “I’ma always have yo’ back,” he said before disappearing upstairs. “No matter what.”