Chapter 18
“Man, I need to know everything Honey has done in the last six years,” I announced as I entered my cousin’s apartment.
Dayari lived by Hermann Park. The apartments were nice but expensive as hell. I told her she could get a house for the same price, but she preferred the luxury style apartments instead.
“You don’t knock?” Dayari asked from the kitchen. She drank from her wineglass as she looked at me with an uninterested expression on her face. She looked a lot like Aunt Dee, which made the face even funnier.
“I don’t.”
“You also don’t have any manners, walking into my shit without as much as a hi, hello, or how are you…” Dayari rolled her eyes in my direction.
“This is important. I can’t find her on any socials, so I figured she blocked me. I need to use your phone to look her up.”
“She blocked me too. I don’t have access to any of her personal pages. I’ve seen her business pages come across my feeds a few times, but I don’t know much. You didn’t try Google? You could find all of her information on Google.”
“I ain’t even think about that. You got some snacks?”
I walked into the kitchen and opened her pantry door. I grabbed a bag of Lays potato chips and made my way to the couch.
“Before I Google her, do you know anything?”
I pulled out my phone and opened the Google search bar. Dayari sat on the couch beside me and sighed.
“All I know is Honey’s been doing the damned thing in the culinary world. She’s opened a couple of locations around LA. She’s been on a few book tours. She’s dropped cookbooks and shit like that.”
I smiled. “I knew she’d be successful.”
Dayari resumed whatever reality television show she’d been watching prior to my arrival.
“Honey Hix.” I whispered the name as I typed it into the search.
The screen loaded onto a variety of articles, images, and pictures from over the years. She had a recent interview with a woman named LeAnn who had a daytime show based in Los Angeles. I clicked the link and turned my phone to watch the video full screen.
My lips pulled into a smile at the sight of Honey on the show. She looked so fucking beautiful. Her smile was out of this world. Her hair was styled nicely, and the clothes she wore hugged her curves in all the right places.
“Hey, Granny,” Honey said into the camera. I paused the video because this must have been before she got the news of her grandmother passing.
That was why she was in town. She had to plan a funeral for the woman who’d been her best friend her whole life. She must be going through a lot.
“Do you know if they have any funeral arrangements for Miss Janie?” I asked Dayari.
She shook her head. “Not yet. Mama said she’d tell me if they tell her anything.”
I nodded and resumed the video. LeAnn asked Honey a series of questions, and it was nice to get to know my woman again.
“Did you pass down the love of cooking on your son?” LeAnn’s question made me pause.
“What did she just say?” I asked more to myself than anyone else.
I continued the video.
Honey smiled as she answered the question. “Quis loves to eat, but he is not a fan of cooking with mommy. He’s more into coloring dinosaurs than making my famous roux.”
Quis.
Honey has a son, and his name is Quis. Did she name him after me because he’s mine? Nah… That can’t be it, can it?
“I know what you’re thinking, and you need to leave that woman alone, especially since she is grieving the loss of her grandmother. You don’t need to add no more drama to her life right now.”
“Man, fuck that. I’m finna go over there right now?—”
“Marquise, please don’t go over there and ruin that woman’s life again.”
“Ruin her life? Don’t play with me.”
“I’m dead the fuck serious, Marquise. You broke her heart getting caught up in shit and getting arrested. Are you even a changed man? If Chandler Kent walks up to you today, are you still going to take his life? Don’t go bothering that lady until you can promise her you not on no hood shit anymore.”
Dayari almost sounded good, but I wasn’t trying to hear any of that at the moment. I’d already decided. We’d already spent six years apart. I had to make shit right before she gave another mothafucka her heart.
“I’ll keep you updated, cousin.” I grinned as I kissed her cheek and stood up.
“This is why she blocked your whole family…”
“She didn’t move her folks away from me, so a part of her wanted me to come back into her life.”
“Oh, brother. You’re delusional.”
“I might be. I’m also taking these chips to go. Bye, ugly.”
“Bye, loser.”
She shook her head as I exited the apartment and went back into the parking garage. I had to make a couple of stops. I needed to grab flowers for Miss Janie. If I remembered correctly, her favorite color was yellow. I’d get a dozen yellow roses from the local flower shop. I would also pick up a dinosaur coloring book for Quis. If he was mine, I wanted to make a great first impression.
Was I mad at Honey for keeping my son away from me? Was the baby even mine?
“Nah, don’t even think like that. Honey would never give that pussy to another nigga, and she fa sho wouldn’t let another nigga nut in my pussy. She promised.”
My mind went back to one of the many times she’d uttered my favorite words.
“ Marquise, why are you doing this to me?” she asked as she bit down on her bottom lip.
I’d folded her up like a pretzel and put her legs against her chest—the perfect position to drill her wet ass pussy. Honey’s pussy fit around my dick like a glove.
“Because you need a fuckin’ attitude adjustment. I don’t know what’s gotten into your little feisty ass, but you been talking to me crazy. Don’t do that shit no fuckin’ more.”
“O-okay! I’m sorry, shit.” She hissed as I hit her spot repeatedly.
“You gon’ get some act right tonight?”
“Mmm… Yes…” She pulled me closer and nibbled on my earlobe. She knew how much that shit drove me crazy. I drilled into her repeatedly until I felt her walls tighten around me.
“Who does this pussy belong to, Honey?” I pulled out and left only the tip in as she whined.
“Marquise… Please…”
“Answer my question.”
“Y-yours. This pussy is yours forever and always!”
“That’s right. She said that. Forever and always. Her son had to be mine because I am the only man to ever have that pussy.” I chuckled to myself.
Maybe I was crazy…
* * *
Knock. Knock-knock-knock. Knock. Knock.
I did the signature beat on the door and stepped back. I assumed Mister or Missus Hix would answer the door, but a few moments later, Honey’s face graced my presence.
The smile she had on her face fell instantly. She froze as she’d did the other day when I’d ran into her at the grocery store. I prayed she didn’t run away this time. She motioned to close the door on me, but I stepped forward and pressed my free hand against the door.
“Please, don’t run from me, my love.” I pleaded with my eyes.
“Don’t call me that.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“My bad, Honey. I’m not here to cause any problems. I just want to talk to you for a minute. Please give me ten minutes, and if after that you don’t want to see me again, I’ll leave.”
She eyed me for a long time, her expression unreadable as I waited for her response. She let a sigh fall from her lips. She wore a simple outfit of black leggings and an off-the-shoulder sweater and a pair of brown slippers with the white fur on them. She had her hair pulled into a high ponytail.
Flashbacks of when I’d wrap those ponytails around my hand during back shots filled my mind. I missed the way she looked at me when I was digging deep into her wet ass pussy. I missed the way my entire being was calm in her presence. She could tame the beast in me. She was the only one who’d ever brought me peace. I wanted that back. I wanted her back.
“Okay. You’ve got only ten minutes to talk.”
“Hopefully, we’re kissing and making up in five.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up, dude.”
I chuckled. “Fine. I’ll make these ten minutes worth your time.”