Chapter 5
The plush blankets and pillows felt as soft and silky as her dress.
Iskyiah had never worn anything so expensive before, and she wasn’t sure she should be on the ground and eating with such extravagant threads.
When she glanced over at Moolah, who wore a white button-up rolled up to his elbows with black slacks and a black vest, she realized he didn’t seem to care about his designer clothes.
She wasn’t sure she could be so indifferent.
Iskyiah delicately perched on the blankets with her legs to the right side of her while she put her weight on her left arm.
Her eyes grazed the finger foods placed on the long side of the blankets they sat on.
“This looks so great,” she commented, but the longer she eyed the snacks, the more she realized they were all her childhood favorites. She picked up a large bag of Hot Cheetos. “Really?”
She giggled, which made him grin in response.
“I know my girl, that is, unless your tastebuds have changed.”
“They haven’t, but I do try to tone down on the junk food these days. I gain weight a lot easier now than I did when I was a teenager.”
Not for the first time that night, his eyes slowly scanned her body, which caused her to squirm.
She wasn’t uncomfortable. It was actually quite the opposite.
Being in Moolah’s presence had awoken something in her.
Something that had been dormant for a very long time, and she wasn’t really sure how to navigate it.
Something told her she didn’t need to know.
Moolah had everything under control, as he always did.
“A few extra pounds or not, you still gonna be the baddest thing walkin’.”
Iskyiah’s cheeks warmed. “Thanks,” she murmured as she lifted the lid off a beautiful charcuterie board. It had the typical meats, cheeses, and fruits, but there were also some chicken and steak skewers, roasted potatoes, and spreads. “Oh, now this looks good.”
“I figured I’d throw some actual food in there too. I wanted to make sure you had enough to eat.”
“You’ve always been so attentive to me . . . Why?” She busied herself with opening the Hot Cheetos and the Little Debbie Cakes so she didn’t have to look him in the eye. It took her a moment to realize he hadn’t responded, so she glanced up at him.
“If you gon’ ask me a question, Sky, I want you to look me in the eye when I respond.”
A chill ran down her spine. The issue with his request was she found it hard to look into those coal black eyes for long.
Not only was he so damn fine, but he also looked at her as if he could see right into her very core.
As if he understood her deepest fears and desires and like he was ready to tackle them all at once just so she could be happy.
She swallowed the cheese she had absentmindedly popped into her mouth and did her best to look into his eyes. When he seemed satisfied with her brown eyes on his, he responded.
“Because I love you. I always have, and I always will. I take care of the people and things I love. It’s that simple.”
Iskyiah gaped at him. Her heart galloped in her chest. How long had she wanted to hear such meaningful words from a man?
Not just any man. Him.
After they made love when they were too young to even know what making love really meant, Iskyiah had dreamed up a world where she and Moolah would be together.
She was so certain that as soon as he came back to Desmore Bay, they would make things official.
It hadn’t even been a concern to her that she would have to break up with Charles.
What she felt for Moolah was beyond what she could ever feel for Charles, or any other boy, as far as she had been concerned.
So, when those moments never came, Iskyiah spiraled.
She went through a rebellious phase, much to her grandmother’s dismay.
She stayed with Charles because it was easy.
At least she knew what she was getting into when it came to him.
She graduated high school, barely, and then went to college, and then she got pregnant.
She just kept trudging on, but pain went with her wherever she went.
Her tender, young heart had broken completely, and it had yet to be fixed.
As hard as she tried to put Moolah out of her mind, he stayed there like a pillar.
Not only had he stayed in her mind, but he also stayed in her heart, refusing to budge.
Tears misted her eyes, but she focused on not looking away from him as she spoke. “You hurt me.”
He nodded solemnly. “I know. I been wanting to make up for that, my baby. I was just waiting for you to let me. Will you let me?”
This time, she broke eye contact. She looked behind him and took in the sky. It calmed her enough to gaze back at him after a few moments. “I can try.”
“Just don’t run from me.”
She saw vulnerability dance across his face, and she heard it in his tone. Her heart broke because she had to be honest with him. “I can’t promise that, Lah. I been through a lot . . .”
“I want to hear all about it. It’s the point of tonight.
I need you to tell me about you, Iskyiah.
Let me learn you again.” Moolah didn’t even seem to be bothered that she couldn’t promise him not to run.
Instead of harping on that, he grabbed a bottle of wine, opened it, and poured them each a glass. “I’m listening.”
So, she told him. Talking to Moolah had always been easy. She caught him up on the mundane things like her rebellious phase after he left, college, and becoming a flight attendant. She danced around the heavier topics, but Moolah wasn’t going for that.
“Tell me about Brooke. What’s baby girl like?”
Iskyiah’s face lit up when she thought about Brooke. She’d spoken to her daughter briefly earlier to let her know her trip was extended. Brooke didn’t care one bit, because at that point, she was getting spoiled by Sophie.
“A mini-me. She’s a girly girl and sassy.
I know my grandma is looking down and getting a good kick out of how I’m getting paid back for all the hell I gave her.
Brooke is special, though. I never knew I could love someone so much.
” That was a lie. She loved Moolah a whole damn lot, just in a completely different way.
She eyed him and cleared her throat before she continued.
“She loves to shop and get her nails done, and she’s a creative little thing.
Always drawing or doing some kind of arts and crafts. ”
Moolah seemed to take in everything she said. “She look like you?”
Iskyiah grinned. “A mini-me in personality, but she looks just like Charles, unfortunately.”
Moolah frowned deeply and grunted. “Was you wit’ that nigga when he died?”
Iskyiah looked away from him as she responded. She didn’t care if he called himself scolding her about it either. She needed not to look at him if she was going to be honest.
“We were, but I wanted to get away. For a long time, at that point, I wanted to get away.”
Iskyiah could practically feel his sour face expression, since she still wasn’t looking at him.
“Why didn’t you? You was always free to leave that bum nigga. I always told you that.”
She shook her head. “After high school, it wasn’t that easy. He . . . he got abusive.”
“Look at me, Iskyiah.” She knew he was serious because of the use of her full name, so she chanced a glance up at him.
The anger she saw lacing his features made her cringe.
“That nigga was putting his hands on you?” She nodded slowly.
A tear trickled down her cheek. She didn’t even care about the memories that flashed through her mind of Charles hitting her.
What she cared about was disappointing Moolah. “Where’s he buried?”
“What?” That was the last thing she thought he would ask.
Moolah didn’t repeat himself. He simply stared at her.
She could tell he barely contained his anger, and that scared her.
She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid for him.
An angry teenaged Moolah was terrifying for many reasons.
An angry grown ass Moolah was surely deadly.
She briefly wondered if he had, in fact, ever killed anyone. “I’m not telling you.”
She’d made up her mind about that as soon as the question slipped past his lips.
Charles was already dead, and good riddance to him, so it wasn’t like Moolah could harm the man.
But destruction of a grave was a prison sentence.
She had no idea what Moolah thought he was about to do, but she wasn’t about to help him.
Moolah snorted. “Don’t matter. I’ll find out. Come here.”
Iskyiah didn’t even want to know what he had planned for Charles’s grave. She pushed those horrific thoughts to the back of her mind and carefully crawled over to him. Once she settled in front of him, he helped her sink into his body, securely wrapping his arms around her.
“You ain’t ever gonna go through no shit like that again. You hear me?”
“Trust me, I know. I haven’t dated since Charles died, and I don’t plan to—”
“You dating me.”
Iskyiah stifled a giggle because this man was truly bizarre. “You can’t just insist that we go together, Moolah. You have to ask me. You haven’t ever asked a woman to be your girl?”
She twisted in his embrace so she could look up at him. His face frowned up even more as he looked down at her.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
Her eyes bucked. “Seriously, Lah? You’ve never been in a relationship before?”
“What the fuck for? None of those birds was gonna be my wife. Let me ask you somethin’. You think I couldn’t have gotten some pussy before you?”
Her eyes almost fell out of her head by this point because of how wide they were. Moolah was always so blunt. She had to get used to that again.
“You one thousand percent could have.”