Fervor

Chapter 14

W e had been here a little over a week and had enjoyed shopping, touring the waterfalls along with the rest of the tourist attractions, and mingled among the locals in the markets. I could stay here with her forever. We were in our own bubble and didn’t have to worry about bullshit. No one knew us here, and we didn’t know them. We only had each other without outside influences.

I had been inside of her more times than I could count, and each time was better than the last. Yunique Mott was everything I knew she would be, and I could tell that I was just who she needed. She was so happy. Seeing her smiling nonstop was good for my soul. We were lying on a hammock, enjoying the evening breeze in silence.

We would be leaving in a couple of days, and neither of us were ready. The closer it got to that day, the quieter we’d become. I pulled her on top of me, and she rested her head on my bare chest. I could see myself falling in love with her. However, the true test would be how we got along once we were at the place we didn’t want to go back to, home.

“So what’s on the agenda tomorrow?” she asked softly.

“Massages, facials, just a relaxing day to prepare us for the long flight day after tomorrow.”

“Mm. Sounds good. Do we have to go back?”

“Woman, my sentiments exactly.”

She chuckled softly and lifted her head and puckered her lips. I kissed her softly, allowing it to linger a bit. In such a short amount of time, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. She was my baby, and I wanted to always make sure she was good… that she had everything she needed and wanted.

As we lay here enjoying one another’s company, there was a knock on the door. I frowned slightly, trying to figure out who in the hell would be knocking on our door. Yunique stood and I followed suit, making my way to the door. I discreetly peeked out the window and saw it was a man I had seen at the market. He’d followed us?

I turned to Yunique, gesturing for her to come to me. I could see the fear in her eyes. When she got close, I said quietly in her ear, “I need you to quietly make sure all the windows and doors are closed and locked. Don’t worry. I got us, okay?”

I could see the terror in her eyes as she left to do what I said, going to the back door first. I watched her close and lock it as the guy knocked again. While we were at the market, I had noticed him staring at us, but I didn’t make a big deal out of it, because I didn’t want to frighten Yunique. I’d given him the look of death, daring him to run up on us, and he’d averted his gaze elsewhere.

I made my way to the door as Yunique closed and locked the last window. “Go to the shower area and get on the floor.”

Her eyes widened, and she wrapped her arms around me. “Go!” I whispered harshly in her ear.

I couldn’t be too careful because we were in an unknown place and had been followed. I opened the door, coming face to face with the man. He frowned slightly then reached into his pocket. He said, “la Orana.”

I didn’t have the slightest clue what he’d said, but I was bracing for the worst. When he waved at me in a manner that said he was speaking, I nodded. When his hand came out of his pocket, it was a business card. It was in English, thank God. He was a photographer. When I looked back up at him, he smiled.

“Lady…” he said, then gestured like he was taking pictures.

I didn’t trust his ass, because he could have stopped us in the market, not followed us to our hut. Plus, there wasn’t a camera in sight. I gave the card back to him and said, “No, thank you.”

I shook my head, indicating I said no in case he didn’t understand. He nodded, and I closed the door, then checked the window to see him sit on the step. I frowned as I watched him slide the card in his pocket, then take off his shoe and shake it. A rock fell out, and he put it back on and left. I took a deep breath, thanking God that things didn’t get out of hand.

I went to the bathroom to find Yunique still on the floor balled up in the fetal position, facing the wall. “Baby,” I said as I went to my knees.

Seeing her afraid was hard, but it was my job to protect her. I couldn’t risk being too free and this man attacking us. She turned to me and quickly scrambled out of the shower. I hugged her tightly. “You okay?”

“Yes. What did he want?” she asked.

Her heart was beating so fast. I sat on the floor and pulled her onto my lap. “He wanted to take pictures of you.”

She lifted her head and frowned. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Why were you being so cautious?”

“Because we’re tourists. He had to follow us here. I remembered his face from the market we went to for fruit. I take my role of protector very seriously. If he wanted something other than that, he was gonna have to go through me to get it.”

She nodded and let out a deep sigh. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for doing what I’m supposed to do.”

She smiled slightly, then stood. I stood, too, and followed her back to the hammock. We got back in the position we were previously in, but neither of us felt comfortable opening anything. Thankfully, it wasn’t hot. The weather was nice, in the low seventies. I knew eventually we’d have to crack something open to get air circulating through here.

When Yunique lay on top of me, I could feel her heart still beating fast as hell. I gently rubbed her back, doing my best to calm her spirit. I kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay, baby. Everything’s okay.”

She nodded, and I could feel her relaxing a bit. I was relaxed myself, and I found myself drifting off to sleep.

“Noooo! Please stop! I’m gonna tell my daddy!”

I was awakened by Yunique’s tossing and turning, then I felt hot liquid. She jumped awake, sitting straight up, before I could say anything. She hopped up from the bed, and said, “Oh my God! Oh shit!”

She was pacing back and forth, and I could see her skin glistening in the dark. I turned the lamp on and saw a huge wet spot in the bed. Did she piss in the bed? I looked up at her, and her body was completely wet. Her silk gown was sticking to her. Her breathing seemed labored. “Yunique? Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I… had a… nightmare. Oh shit!”

I stood from the bed and felt the wetness on my leg. When I looked down at it, she yelled, “Fuck! I’m… so… sorry.”

She ran to the shower and got in, drenching herself with cold water. She’d indeed pissed on herself during her nightmare. I pulled off my drawers and went to the shower with her. It seemed she was struggling to breathe. The water was freezing because it hadn’t had time to warm up just yet. I wrapped my arms around her. “Baby, it’s okay. I got’chu.”

I couldn’t tell her that I knew what her nightmare was probably about, but I did know, from what she’d told me, that it stemmed from her childhood. I lifted her arms in the air and kissed her head. “Take deep breaths if you can. Think about how much I care for you… nothing else. Think about how happy we are to be married.”

She leaned back against me as I felt her relaxing a bit. Her breathing was evening out and becoming less ragged. Turning to me, she rested her forehead against my shoulder. I gently caressed her back for a moment then grabbed her loofah to wash her up. We remained quiet as I washed her body, taking the time to kiss her in various spots.

When I was done washing her, she left the shower and started running water in the sink, stopping it up with a towel. She didn’t bother drying her body as she soaped another towel and headed to the bed as I washed up. She stripped it and began scrubbing the mattress. I could hear her sobs over the running water, and the sound of that hit me right in the gut.

After I cleaned up, I got out of the shower and joined her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when I touched her. I took a step back with my hands lifted. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I’m sorry, Harlem. Can we talk when I finish?”

“Yeah. Let me help you.”

She nodded as I took the towel from her and took it to the sink to rinse it out. I closed my eyes for a moment, wishing she didn’t have to go through this. This shit was all Mo’s fault, and knowing that I was connected to his memory only made me feel sick. I was related to her trauma. I felt like I was keeping a huge secret from her… like I was deceiving her, and I didn’t like the way that shit felt.

However, I knew I couldn’t tell her here… not unless she said his name. If she said his name, I had a feeling she would leave me. We would be done, and there wouldn’t be a thing I could do to change her mind. I would still fight until the bitter end though. I refused to lose this angel.

When I went back to the bed, I cleaned the mattress, doing my best to get all the soap out of it. Because she was so embarrassed, she’d put an abundance of soap on it. There was no way I would get it all out, but I knew I could get most of it out if I kept rinsing the towel. Going back to the sink, I released the water and rinsed the towel again.

I repeated that three more times, then came back with a large towel to put over the wet spot. I glanced up at her as she watched me with tears streaming down her cheeks. Going to her, I pulled her in my arms. That seemed to release the floodgates all over again. She wrapped her arms around me as I held her close.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m here. Let’s make this bed so we can lay back down.”

She pulled away from me and nodded, then got the fitted sheet from the cedar chest. We made the bed in no time, and she lay down with a huff. When I got in bed, she turned to me and gently caressed my cheek, then slid her fingers through my beard.

“My dad used to work for Jungle’s dad. That’s how I knew who he and Vegas were. Yonkers took care of us like you wouldn’t believe. He was the ultimate protector. I was their only child for nearly eight years. I’m not sure why they waited so long to get pregnant again, but Keke was welcomed by all of us. She was so beautiful. She looked like a little chocolate doll.”

She smiled slightly, and I did too. “I’m sure you looked the same way as a baby,” I said.

She shook her head. “I had eczema as a kid. My skin was horrible. My mama tried everything she could until she found the product that worked for my skin. I still use it to this day.”

She took a deep breath as I played with her hair, nervously waiting for her to continue. “No one in the Patterson organization knew what I looked like, because that was just how protective my daddy was of us. The same was for Keke. Only Ice and a couple of people in Ice’s firing squad knew what we looked like. Vegas’s father was one of those men.”

I nodded. She took a deep breath, and I pulled her closer to me. I had a sinking feeling in my chest. I was going to have to reveal this shit to her after this; I felt it in my soul. I wanted to fucking cry. I knew what had happened earlier with that man showing up here had triggered this shit. I wished I wouldn’t have been so cautious, but I knew no other way to be, concerning people I cared about.

“One day, one of the guys was at the house. Mama was cooking, I was playing with my dolls, and Keke was in her bed sleeping. She was only about ten months or so at the time. As I played, Dad’s friend came inside to use the restroom. I really didn’t like him. He looked scary, and my mama seemed to be scared of him too. I couldn’t understand why my daddy allowed him to come around. No one else really came around like that, because they respected Yonkers and how he protected his family. It was obvious that nigga didn’t.”

She took a deep breath, and I felt her body tremble. “I could hear Keke crying. It wasn’t loud though. I thought I would help my mama and go see about her. I always did that because I loved my baby sister. She may as well had been my baby. When I opened the door to her room, Mo was in there at her crib.”

There it was. She said his name. I closed my eyes, trying to control my breathing so she could finish saying what she needed to say.

“When I walked in further, I could see he had a hand over her mouth, and his fingers were in her diaper. When he saw me standing there and I told him I was going to tell my daddy, he pointed his gun at me. I peed on myself. He told me that if I told, he would kill all of us.”

I wrapped my arms around her tightly as a fucking tear slid down my cheek. She pulled away from me with a frown on her beautiful face. “What’s wrong, Harlem?”

I swallowed hard as I sat up in the bed. “What did you say his name was?”

“Who? My daddy?”

“No. The man that abused Keke and threatened you.”

“Mo. You knew him?”

“Yeah.” I slid my hand over my face as her eyes remained on me, wide with curiosity. “He was my father.”