Chapter 11
A ndres couldn’t help but get a little teary eyed.
He wasn’t going to let them fall, but the gesture made him feel appreciated.
Layla and Dior had fixed him dinner as thanks for all that he’d done with and for them over the past month, and the cake that Dior held with a bright smile was almost his undoing.
“Thank you, Dior.” He smiled softly.
“It’s so pretty I don’t want to eat it.”
“I will eat it,” she offered, turning quickly with the cake.
“Nah I’ma eat it,” Andres clarified before laughing.
“I will cut us all a slice after dinner.” Layla’s head shook as she grabbed three plates out of the cabinet.
“Dior don’t play about sweets.”
“I see.”
Andres took a few pictures of the cake and his plate once it was fixed.
It hadn’t registered in his brain that Layla was up to something when she asked what his favorite meal was.
Now, he couldn’t wait to dig into the meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, and fresh green beans.
Layla gasped when Dior set her plate on the dining room table between hers and his.
She looked over her plate, inspecting its contents, before heading back to the kitchen for something else.
As Layla covered her mouth her eyes watered.
“What’s wrong?” Andres asked, making his way over to her.
“She never eats at the dining room table. She always eats dinner by herself in her room.”
“For how long?”
Layla’s head shook as she blinked back her tears.
“It’s been years, Dre. I think since she was ten. That’s when it started getting harder for me and Carlos to fake the funk. Everything started changing around that time.”
Dior returned with a roll and set it on the edge of her plate before sitting down.
“Dior,” Layla called sweetly.
Hesitantly.
“Yes?”
“I’m really happy you’re eating dinner with us.” Dior’s head tilted as she stared at her mother.
“Can you tell me why?”
“When I eat dinner with you and daddy y’all make my stomach hurt. When I eat with Mr. Dre my stomach is happy.”
Andres smiled.
“The environment in which you eat your meals plays a big part in your digestion. If the vibe is off or the energy is negative around dinner time, it can not only effect you emotionally but physically as well. The heart may be the seat of our emotions, but the gut holds and stores our emotional experiences with other people. So it makes a lot of sense that she would be upset and finding it harder to enjoy and digest her meal if you and Carlos were tense or arguing during dinner.”
“Wow. I didn’t even… but that makes…” Layla’s head shook before she weakly plopped down in her seat.
Layla took Andres’s hand into hers and kissed it before thanking him quietly.
At his seat, Andres blessed the food, before they began to eat.
Conversation flowed effortlessly between them during dinner.
When it was over, they all had a piece of cake before Dior returned to her room.
Since Andres didn’t have any other plans for the evening, he stayed a little longer to help Layla start the process of cleaning her greenhouse.
Honestly, even if he did have something else planned, he would have canceled.
Andres enjoyed the time he spent with both Layla and Dior.
There wasn’t pressure or force with either of them.
The vibe was always genuine.
“This feels like the start of a new beginning,” Layla randomly acknowledged, dumping one of the plants into the large bin Andres had pulled to the backyard.
“Yeah?”
She nodded with a comfortable smile settled on her lips.
“I’m anxious to see what I will nurture and see grow in here, but I’m also in no rush because I want to enjoy the process. Same with… real life.” Layla chuckled softly.
“Ending things with him and seeing this new beginning for Dior.”
“I really think she’s going to be able to live on her own after college. You’ve done a great job with her development. She’s smart as hell, and she’s wise enough to not do things that aren’t comfortable for her. That’s a trait that a lot of people don’t have. If we can keep her from melting down when she’s in those situations, baby girl will be golden.”
“I knoooow,” Layla stressed before pouting.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with myself. She asked me to tell her about dating and college life the other day and had the nerve to ask me if she was going to be able to stay on campus.”
They both chuckled even though Layla frowned.
“You wouldn’t want her to?”
Her head shook.
“I don’t think so. I know I have to prepare to let her go, though. It would really just depend on how well she does in high school. I feel like my baby is growing up by the years every day. That’s scary, Dre.”
“She’s going to be okay, Layla. I promise. I’m not going to allow you to put her in a position that I don’t think she’s capable of handling. You trust that, right?”
Their eyes locked briefly before she picked up the next dead plant.
“I do. Honestly.”
“Good. The biggest thing is making sure she doesn’t get overwhelmed easily and that she learns how to self-manage and soothe. We have four years to do that. Dior is smart as hell and she understands what makes her different. Most importantly, she wants to learn how to engage with people without changing who she is at her core. She has you to thank for that.”
He’d made it a habit to compliment Layla in some way every time he did Dior, and it seemed to help keep her from feeling too bad about whatever she was anxious about in that moment.
“You plan to be around for the next four years?”
Andres hadn’t realized what he’d said until she repeated it.
He ran his tongue across his cheek before bobbing his head.
“Yeah. Is that cool with you?”
Layla tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as she smiled and nodded.
“Yes. I would like that.”
Their eyes remained locked for a few seconds before they returned to a comfortable silence as they continued to clean.
By the time they were done, the sun had set completely.
After they shared a CBD joint since Layla didn’t smoke weed, Layla and Dior painted a canvas while Andres watched a movie, and after that, Dior politely put Layla out so she could be alone before going to bed.
“I should probably head out,” Andres decided.
He didn’t want to leave, but the longer he stayed, the harder it would be for him to want to go.
“Okay,” Layla agreed softly, taking his hand into hers.
Andres closed the space between them, pushing her thick hair out of her face and off her shoulders to her back.
“Why do you always do that when you get close to me?” Layla wondered.
“You have a beautiful face. I like to see it all.”
Her head hung briefly, bashfully.
“Simple enough. You have a beautiful face too. I have to keep myself from kissing your freckles every time I see you.”
“You don’t have to. You can kiss every part of me that you want.”
A few seconds passed, as if she was thinking it over, before Layla removed his glasses and placed kisses from his nose and eyes to his cheeks and lips.
By the time she was done, his breathing had grown ragged as he gripped her ass to keep her close.
“Andres,” she almost whispered.
“Yes,” he granted, more than replied.
Because at this point it didn’t matter what she was going to ask…
Andres would give.
With no hesitation.
“Can you stay tonight?”
Instead of answering vocally, Andres took her by the hand and led her to her bedroom after cutting the light off in the living room.
She showered first, then Andres.
When he returned to her bedroom, he saw why she wanted him to go last.
The mood she’d set while he was in the bathroom had definitely made her intentions a bit clearer.
Still, Andres would want to hear her actually say what she wanted.
For consent, yes, but also because he wanted to know that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
She’d dimmed the lights and her blackout curtains were drawn.
Had it not been for the numerous candles and lamps strategically placed all around the room, Andres wouldn’t have been able to see her silhouette at all.
He made his way over to her as GIVēON played in the background.
The moment he was close enough, Andres’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her into his embrace.
“So we’re not spending the night watching Beverly Hills 90210 ?”
Layla chuckled.
After she’d watched the Harry Potter and Twilight series with him, he agreed to watch The Golden Girls and Beverly Hills 90210 with her.
“I had something a little more intimate in mind.”
“Like what? Paint me a picture.”
Her hands slid up and down his arms as she shifted in his embrace.
“You on top of me. Inside of me. Us cumming together quietly. Something like that.”
A quiet moan escaped his lips as he bit down on the bottom one.
Andres lifted her into the air and wrapped her legs around him, then carried her over to the bed for what he was sure would be a long, pleasurable night…