Chapter 5
CHRISTIAN
Ididn’t know why I was in my feelings. I was stupid. She would have willingly fucked me. I already knew that. I just wanted to treat her like she was more than a fuck though. Maybe if she could see how much I was really feeling her, she would give serious thought to having more with me. I was sitting here staring at the words in her book, but I wasn’t reading to retain shit.
I was watching her fidget… shift in the bed like she couldn’t get comfortable. Instead of trying to force conversation with me, she decided to try to go to sleep. As she turned again, there was a knock on the door, then it opened. The nurse walked in, pushing her machine to probably check her vitals. She smiled politely at me. “Hello.”
I nodded.
“Hey, Miss Ceasar. How are you feeling?”
“I’m just in a little pain. Can I get something?”
“Of course. Let me check your vitals.”
Mya turned to her back and accepted the thermometer under her tongue, and the nurse situated the blood pressure cuff around her arm. When the thermometer beeped, I glanced at the monitor to see she had a low-grade fever. Her temp was ninety-nine point nine. The nurse frowned slightly, but she didn’t say anything. When the machine was done checking her blood pressure, it was slightly elevated as well.
“Are you sure you feel okay, Miss Ceasar, other than the little pain? Your temp is a little high and so is your blood pressure.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“The blood pressure could be because you’re in pain, but your temp shouldn’t be up. I’m gonna call the head nurse and let her know. Most likely, they’ll wait to see if it goes down on its own. When we check again, if it’s still up, they’ll probably take blood and put you on an antibiotic.”
“Okay.”
“Do you need anything other than your pain meds?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Okay. Take your pain meds, baby. Don’t wait until you’re hurting. Stay ahead of it.”
She nodded as the nurse left out of the room. I was quiet for a moment, wondering if I had her worked up by my proposal. I was so fucking insensitive. The woman was in the hospital. I slid my hand over my face and stood from my seat. “I’m sorry, Mya. I didn’t mean to irritate you. I’m gonna go so you can get some rest.”
“You didn’t irritate me, and I don’t want you to go. I’m sorry I can’t be what you want.”
I rubbed my hand over her head and stared into her eyes. After giving her a soft smile, I kissed her hand and sat back in my seat. I was probably just trying to move too fast. We’d just met yesterday, technically early this morning, and I was already trying to pressure her into something similar to a relationship.
I supposed I was just ready. My brothers were both happy and now fathers. I craved that and thought I would have it with Janay. It felt like life was being cruel and torturing the fuck out of me. I wasn’t meant to be single and ho-ing around like this. With a woman, I was affectionate and soft… just like Rylan and Jakari. I couldn’t tease them, because with Janay, I was the same way. I constantly touched her and kissed her. Damn, I missed her.
“You okay over there?”
I lifted my head to see Mya staring at me. “Yeah. But how are you? Do you feel lightheaded or anything?”
“No. Can you help me to the bathroom?”
“Yeah. Do they have one of those things to catch the urine in case they need a sample?”
“Yeah, there’s one in there,” she said as I stood.
She sat up and turned her body to where her feet were hanging off the bed. When she did, I noticed the blood in the bed. It wasn’t a lot, but there shouldn’t have been any, at least not to my knowledge.
“There’s blood in the bed.”
She slowly nodded. “Yeah, and now that I’m sitting up, I do feel lightheaded. Maybe I should lay back down until the nurse comes.”
“That’s probably best if you can hold it.”
“Yeah.”
She lay back in bed, and I walked back to my seat. My phone chimed, so I pulled it from my pocket. Courtney was texting me already. I’d left my business card there, and she’d texted me so I could have her number. I didn’t know why she was texting again so soon. Opening the message, I saw exactly why. What time are you heading back? Can you stop by?
I slightly rolled my eyes. The sex was good, but I didn’t feel anything beyond that for Courtney. I surely didn’t want her to think I did because I was breaking her off whenever she wanted it. But shit, I wanted it. She knew from earlier that I’d knock the lining out that box. Right now, until I found the right one, I was just like Mya. I was a playa and all about my paper.
Taking a deep breath, I messaged her back. I’ll message you when I’m on my way home.
I looked up to see Mya staring at me. Before I could ask her what was up, the nurse came back in to give her the pain meds. She told her she was lightheaded and that she needed to use the restroom. So after injecting her pain meds through her IV, she helped her to the bathroom. I really felt like Mya was the one, but she wasn’t feeling that shit right now, and I had no choice but to be okay with that and possibly move on.
When they came back from the bathroom, another nurse came in to take blood and change her bedding. I watched her intently, and she looked like she was about to pass out at any minute. “Mya, you good?”
She was blinking slowly but nodded. As soon as the nurse was done, they helped her to the bed and took her temperature again. It had climbed to 101 that quickly. “Let me get those antibiotics. It has to be an infection of some kind. At least we can start that until they figure out what’s going on.”
One nurse quickly left out while the other stayed here to watch Mya. She seemed so out of it all of a sudden. I stood from my seat and went to her bedside and grabbed her hand. “Baby girl, you look like you about to pass out.”
“I feel so weak. Plus, I had the pain shot. It’s about to take me out.”
I chuckled. I’d forgotten that quickly she’d gotten something for pain. Within seconds, she was out. The light snore that left her made me chuckle again. I sat in the chair and just watched her sleep. I didn’t know why this woman had me acting like this, but I supposed I’d better get over it.
They came back in and took blood, and Mya barely opened her eyes. “What did y’all give her for pain?”
“Dilaudid,” one of the nurses said and giggled.
“That must be some good stuff. Man!”
After they took blood and collected her urine from the bathroom, they left us alone. Mya was so out of it. There was no sense in staying and watching her sleep. Angel was still here and would probably be going home tonight or tomorrow morning. I never thought they would release a mother and her newborn baby at night, but I was wrong. When they did that to Jess, I was in shock. She had plenty shit to say too.
I grabbed my phone and stood, wishing I would have had more time with Mya. I had a feeling they would be releasing her soon. Who knew when I would see her after that? I slid my phone in my pocket and went to her bedside and kissed her head. Before I could pull away, I felt her hand at the back of my neck. I stared into her eyes as she pulled my face to hers. I kissed her thick lips, and that shit practically catapulted me to heaven.
“I beeeen wanting to see how your lips felt,” she said then giggled.
She was so damn high and out of it. I chuckled then lowered my head and kissed her lips again. “I’m gonna go so you can rest.”
She poked her lip out. “Christian, you’re soooo damn fine. You may be the man to make me say to hell with my mantra.”
I licked my lips. “What mantra is that?”
“Niggas ain’t shit.”
She laughed loudly as I smirked. I wanted to take advantage of her and get all sorts of information out of her, but I chose to do the opposite. “I want a relationship with you, Mya. I don’t know why, but you’re going to be mine.”
She brought her hand to her chest. “Aww, that’s so sweet. As soon as my heaux phase is over, you got me, country boy. Can I have another kiss?”
I smiled slightly and leaned over to kiss her. She kissed me slowly, and her tongue eased into my mouth. Everything in me was wanting to yank her out that bed and drop her on all this dick. She had me hard as shit. I pulled away because this was getting way too heated. Mya stared into my eyes and said, “I’m all yours.”
“Mm hmm. You won’t remember none of this shit tomorrow. That’s okay though. One day, you will be mine. I’m gonna have your heart and that shit gon’ be wide open… your legs too.”
She bit her bottom lip, revealing her dimples and spread her legs. I chuckled. “Take yo’ high ass back to sleep, girl.”
She giggled and said, “One more kiss? Please?”
I slowly shook my head and gave her what she asked for. That shit felt so good too. When I pulled away, she stroked my cheek with her fingertips. “Bye, Christian.”
“Okay, baby girl. I’ll text you later.”
“Okay.”
I walked out of her room, although it was hard as hell to leave after that. The state she was in was more appealing. I wanted to believe this was how she really felt but was suppressing it. It scared her because it happened so fast. Less than twenty-four hours after meeting her, my tongue was down her throat. Had she not been in the hospital, my dick would have been in her guts too. Her eyes held so much promise, and I needed what she had to offer.
When I got down the hallway to Angel’s room, I knocked and went inside. Before I could round the corner, my mama said, “Hold on, baby. She’s breastfeeding.”
I nodded and held my position until they got her situated. When my mama gave me the okay to proceed, I went to her first and kissed her cheek as she kissed mine. She gently wiped the lipstick off with her thumb. Chrissy Henderson was my life. In my eyes, she was so perfect. The way she loved Avery and then LaKeith was admirable, even after Avery was convicted. She forgave him and kept him informed about how we were doing for at least a year.
I didn’t know how she was so forgiving and sweet. I’d never really seen her angry until that bullshit with Decaurey and Rylan. We all wanted to fuck that nigga up. Lucky for him, everything worked out. I didn’t want his ass in my presence after that shit he did to my brother. I didn’t know how Jakari could still hold conversations with him when Rylan left. Fuck that. I wanted to fuck him up. My mama was the one who kept me in pocket. She was probably the only one who could.
The Henderson in me was strong at that point, and had Uncle Storm known how I was feeling, he would have coaxed that shit right out of me until I would have knocked Decaurey the fuck out. That was one of the reasons why I changed my name to Henderson instead of Douglas like Pop’s name. I was more like the Henderson side of my family and looked like them too. Jakari looked just like Avery, and Rylan was a perfect mix of Avery and Mama. I was all Mama.
I slapped Rylan’s hand and gave him half a hug. “How’s everything, man?”
“Good. Lil man like to eat.”
“Well, he didn’t steal that shit. Hey, Angel.”
She looked up from the baby and smiled. “Hey, Christian. How are you?”
“I’m okay, but you look tired.”
“I am. He’s always eating. I may have to alternate between breastfeeding and a bottle because I’ll never sleep like this.”
I gave her a slight smile. “You’ll figure it out, sis.”
I sat next to my mama, and she patted my leg. “Storm said you were helping a young lady to her room last night. He said you looked smitten.”
“I know he didn’t say smitten.”
She chuckled. “No. He said sprung. He said you were looking all sprung before you had a taste.”
She rolled her eyes and slowly shook her head as I chuckled. “He gets on my nerves.”
“Well, who is she?”
“Her name is Mya Ceasar. She’s from Houston and still lives there, and she’s a romance author.”
“A romance author? Wow! Did she seem nice?”
“Yes, ma’am. She seemed really nice. She’s not looking for anything serious right now though. She made that clear. I accepted that and chose to remain her friend. I just left her room.”
She frowned slightly and grabbed my hand. “You sure that’s the right move, baby? I can tell that you’re feeling sensitive about her. Your feelings may get even more involved if you remain close to her. What if her feelings don’t change?”
I slid my hand down the back of my head as I mulled over her words. “Then that will be something I did to myself. I have to try though. She’s so beautiful and seems fun to be around.”
My mama gave me a soft smile. “Why is she in the hospital?”
I glanced at Rylan and Angel to see they weren’t paying us the least bit of attention then looked back at my mama. “She had a tubal pregnancy.”
My mama looked away. “Oh. Umm… was she in a relationship?”
“No. It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not, son. She was having fun and got caught up. Don’t make me seem like I’m so old I wouldn’t understand that.”
I chuckled. I supposed she was right. “Sorry, Ma. You right. That was exactly what happened.”
“Okay. Give her time. Her hormones are probably all over the place.”
“Yeah… probably.”