14. Hammer
HAMMER
One Month Later
August
I couldn’t stop smiling at the pictures Merci had sent me.
She’d hosted two events Friday and had two parties that she’d planned yesterday, so I treated her to a spa day today.
The pictures she’d sent me were of her bare-faced in her robe, relaxed after being pampered for hours.
The last attachment she sent was a video, and since it was so loud outside, I went into the house to watch it.
“Hey, Mr. Freeman. In case I don’t get to see you tonight, thank you for my spa day. It was everything I needed and more. I’m going to sleep so good tonight, and I’m sure I’ll be dreaming of you. Muah!”
Instead of replying to her text, I called her, and she answered with, “Hey, bae.”
“Wait up for me. I ain’t gon’ be here too much longer.”
Merci giggled as she snuggled deeper under her sheets and comforter. I could tell by how lazy her eyes were that it would be a miracle for her to be awake by the time I left.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Hammer. I’m going to go to sleep. If you come over, I’ll wake up. I’ll text you my code to get in the door. You might as well get my extra garage opener too.”
“Aight, sweetheart. That’s cool. I probably won’t wake you up, but I do want you in my arms tonight.”
“That sounds good to me.”
At the sight of Gordon, I ended the FaceTime quicker than I wanted to.
The only reason I’d even pulled up was because my grandma begged Cujo and me.
It was her birthday, and she said all she wanted was for her family to get together.
When she started talking about us having a family reunion before she got out of here, I knew I wasn’t going to stay for too much longer.
As I made my way back outside, I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
Cujo tried to hand me the blunt, but I declined it.
If I was going to spend the night with Merci, I didn’t need anything making me sleep harder than I already did with her.
It was crazy how I went from tossing and turning and being a light sleeper to sleeping through my alarm when I was with her.
It didn’t matter how much it buzzed; the only thing that would wake me up was feeling her kisses on my face.
“I’m ’bout to go,” I informed my brother, laughing as Terry tried to convince the OGs to let him play spades with them. It wasn’t that he couldn’t play; he could, he just cheated a lot. They took the game too seriously for his bullshit, while all he cared about was winning by any means.
“I’ma head out when you do, so that’s cool,” Cujo replied, handing his blunt to Aunt Rachel, Terry’s mother.
“Y’all finna leave me already?” she asked with a pout, standing to give us both hugs.
“Yes, ma’am, but I’ll see you soon,” I replied. “Soon as you fix me a sweet potato pie, I’ma come get it.”
She laughed and playfully hit me in the stomach. “Oh, so I gotta bribe my own nephew with a pie to come see me, huh?”
“Nah. I’ll come see you for your love, but the pie can be my bonus.”
Giving me a second hug, Aunt Rachel laughed again and told me she’d hold me to that.
We went and said goodbye to Grandma Charlene, who, of course, didn’t want us to go.
She knew how awkward it was for us to be around Pops’ side of the family, so she didn’t ask us to stay any longer than we wanted to.
After making us both promise to call her in a couple of days, she released us, and I couldn’t wait to leave so I could get to my baby.
The moment I stepped back into the house and saw Gordon grinning at me, I knew he was about to be on some bullshit.
Even with that being the case, I wasn’t expecting him to say, “I saw you out tricking on the enemy’s daughter.
You setting her up to get to her daddy? If you wanted to get back in the family business, why didn’t you just say that? ”
Cujo laughed as I closed the distance between me and Gordon. A lot of shit that came out of his mouth I let slide off the strength of us being blood, but Merci was one thing, one person, I’d never let a nigga joke about or play with.
“Cuz—”
Me pushing him into the wall made him groan and stop talking.
“I know you ain’t pay attention when Grandma had us in church, so let me share a scripture wit’chu.
The bible says, if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away.
It’s better to lose one part of your body than to have the whole thing thrown into hell.
” Tightening my grip on his neck, I made clear, “You ain’t see shit, and even if you did see shit, it’ll be better for you to go blind than utter a word to anyone about what you saw and sin against me.
If you do, I will kill yo’ ass with no hesitation. Do you fucking understand me?”
“Hammer, I—”
“Do you understand me?” I gritted, pushing his head into the wall so hard it bounced.
“Yeah, nigga, damn.” He pushed my arm down, and the only reason I put space between us was because Cujo grabbed me and pulled me toward him.
“Granny coming. Go home to ya gal,” Cujo directed, patting my back softly.
“Y’all still here?” Grandma asked, and her sweet voice softened me enough to pull my eyes off Gordon.
“Yeah, but I’m heading out. I’ll call you Tuesday, Grandma,” I said, dropping a quick kiss to her cheek.
As I stormed out of her house, I hated that I’d come over and hated that I didn’t hit that blunt even more.
I didn’t realize how deep in my thoughts I was until Merci called me out on it.
She was asleep when I arrived, but by the time I’d showered and climbed into her bed, she’d woken up.
Even with me telling her I didn’t mind her going to sleep, she insisted on dimming the lights and putting on a movie that I was sure she was going to crash on.
Her thumb brushed the space between my eyebrows, causing me to relax them and the frown that was on my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, voice dripping with concern.
I didn’t want to lie and say nothing, but I also couldn’t tell her I was thinking about my cousin running his mouth and telling my family that he’d seen me out with her.
The past month and a half with her had been better than I thought it would be.
Neither of us was in a rush to do the meet-the-family thing, and while we weren’t necessarily hiding each other, we hadn’t run into anyone we knew while out in public.
So far, only Cujo, Ariel, and her brother’s girl knew about us, and I wanted to continue to keep it that way.
“Family shit,” I grumbled, figuring a half-truth was better than a lie. I might not have been completely transparent with her about the situation, but I’d always be honest.
“What do you need?”
Smiling softly, I turned slightly on my side so I could face her. “Everything I need is right here,” I declared, wrapping my arm around her.
Merci smiled and tossed her leg over me. “While that’s sweet, are you sure? Just like you protect me, I want to protect you. I might not be able to protect you physically, but I can protect your mind. Your emotions. Your heart.”
A low hum escaped me as I lowered my hand to her ass and gave it a squeeze. “My heart, huh? You finally acknowledging that you a nigga rib?”
Her laughter was sweet as she snuggled against me. “Maybe.”
Appreciating the sentiment, I caressed her cheek with my thumb before giving her a kiss. “Just being in your presence is more than enough, Ms. Merci. I meant it when I said you’re all I need.”
Merci wrapped her arm around my neck and brushed her nose against mine. That small gesture was enough to soothe my nervous system. She might not have believed she was all I needed, but she truly brought a nigga peace.
“I’m here, bae,” she whispered against my lips before kissing them sweetly.
“Promise you won’t leave.”
“Promise you won’t switch up on me.”
“I won’t.”
“Then I won’t leave.”
With that declaration, I cut the TV and lights off and pulled her onto my chest. After placing a kiss on the top of her head, I released a long exhale and finally felt calm enough to go to sleep.
When I climbed back into bed after I showered, I wasn’t expecting my baby to swallow my dick.
If her sloppy, deep throat was my reward for having a slower start to my day, I’d get up early every day for the rest of my life.
She had my body jerking and toes curling while I moaned without my damn permission.
I put my hands behind my head as she climbed on top of me, ready to enjoy the show.
My laidback mood quickly turned into awe the longer I watched her bounce on my dick.
The visual of her beauty, body, and leaking pussy had me moaning and singing her praises as my hands touched every part of her body they could grab.
She alternated between bouncing on her feet to her knees, and by the time she leaned forward and bounced while feeding me her nipples and thumbing mine, I was a goner.
I fucked her back and shot my seeds as deep as I could in her pussy before flipping her over and putting her ankles by her ears so I could fuck her deep.
Yeah.
She couldn’t go nowhere.
Ever.
I knew sex with her would be good, but Merci’s pussy was the best I’d ever had. And it wasn’t just about the sex. It was about our connection. Our intimacy. Our compatibility. The vulnerability. The nastiness. She was turning me into a fiend, and I kept coming back for more.
The more her pussy tightened, pulsed, and leaked, the weaker for her I became.
Her pussy felt like home, and I had never experienced that before.
I slowed my movements, connected our lips, and made her cum twice more before I emptied myself in her completely.
We took a quick shower before she dressed and rushed out, reminding me to lock up before I left.
Instead of getting back in bed, I fixed the step on her stairway that was loose and cut her grass before going back home, and I had to laugh at myself because Merci had the kind of pussy that made a nigga want to work so she’d never take that shit away.