Chapter 6
Before he even opened his eyes, Moolah knew it had to be late morning or early afternoon.
His body definitely needed that rest. The way he and Iskyiah went at it last night, he planned to stay in bed with her for the rest of their time there.
Not so they could have more sex but so they could rest. It shocked him that even he felt sore as he rolled onto his back and stretched.
He stilled mid-stretch though. Something was wrong. Immediately, his mind homed in on what.
Iskyiah wasn’t beside him, up under him, or on top of him.
“The fuck?” He looked around the room and at the mess they had made last night.
They went a few rounds at the planetarium and finished all the food after working up an appetite, before they came back to the bnb and caught their second wind.
They had sex in every damn room in the place.
Moolah knew for sure he would need to buy this house because he and Iskyiah had blessed it with their love to the fullest, and he didn’t want to give that energy to someone else.
As far as he was concerned, this house was theirs now.
Their little love nest. He slowly got out of bed and looked around again. “The hell this girl go?”
His eyes landed on the pillow next to where he had just been sleeping, and they narrowed. He snatched the piece of paper up and read.
Moolah,
Last night was beautiful, but I don’t think I can do this. Charles did more than hurt me. He broke me. The love I have for you is too precious to destroy. We’ve already broken what could have been a happily ever after. The last thing I want is to do more damage.
Please know I love you. I always will. But I can’t get hurt again. Please understand.
-Iskyiah
Moolah snorted at her audacity. The last thing he would ever do was understand that bullshit.
It was clear to him that Iskyiah was afraid.
He understood that because he was too. Shit, Iskyiah Nathans scared the absolute shit out of him because she was the only person on the planet with the ability to completely break him.
His parents couldn’t do it, but she absolutely could.
That wasn’t about to stop him from creating forever with her, though, so shorty would just have to get with the damn program.
Moolah snatched his phone up from the nightstand and dialed Teyanna. He needed help, and once again, his best friend was the only one who could do it. He made a mental note to send her to the spa or some shit soon. She deserved it for putting up with him all these years.
“Tey, I need you to find out where Iskyiah lives,” Moolah barked as soon as she answered the phone.
“I know you fuckin’ lyin’—”
“Just do it, Tey. I ain’t got time for the back-and-forth.
” He knew if anyone could get him that information, it was her.
He and Teyanna went from being lil niggas in the streets, nickel and dimin’ shit, to big dawgs makin’ billions.
Teyanna had her own little team who could find out just about anything.
Those niggas had helped them come up by helping them take out the competition.
Now, they only used them for little shit if the occasion arose, like money going missing or Moolah needing the drop on the love of his life. Slight shit.
“Who the fuck pissed in your Cheerios . . . oh. She ran, didn’t she? What did you do, Mo?” Teyanna snickered as she put two and two together.
Moolah frowned. “Ain’t shit funny right now. Can you hit up ya peoples and get me this information or not?”
“You know, I always expected you to ask me for this information a long time ago. She was always findable, Mo.”
Moolah knew that, but he refrained from infringing on Iskyiah’s life.
She’d made her decision, and he allowed her to do that .
. . before. Now, he’d just spent the whole night and well into the morning droppin’ dick off in her and promising her the world, and she had the audacity to leave him a damn note and run?
Nah. Shit wasn’t about to go down like that.
“Just text me when you have the info, Tey. I’m about to hop on this flight home.”
Before she could respond, Moolah hung up. He didn’t really feel like talking to anyone at the moment unless it was Iskyiah, and he had a feeling her stubborn ass wouldn’t allow their next conversation to go the way he wanted it to go.
Moolah glowered at the modest home. This place wasn’t fit for his girls.
They deserved to live like the queen and princess they were.
Still, his heart swelled with pride because Iskyiah had made it out in this cold ass world without him.
His baby was dope for that, for real. Life threw a lot of shit at her, but that never kept her down.
With a closed fist, he pounded on the door.
He peeped a black car in the small driveway that he assumed was Iskyiah’s.
He scanned the quaint neighborhood and noticed several cars parked on the street too.
He didn’t like that too much. He preferred Iskyiah live in a more secluded area and out the way.
Who was he kidding? He preferred her ass lived with him.
The door finally swung open, and a pretty light-skinned woman with short hair stood in front of him. He frowned. “Iskyiah here?”
Her brows pulled in as she took him in. “Who are you?” Moolah didn’t respond. He simply stared at her until the woman called out over her shoulder. “Iskyiah, a fine ass nigga’s here for you.”
Moolah and the woman stared each other down until Iskyiah appeared in the doorway. That was when Moolah broke eye contact. He glared at the woman who held his heart as she stared at him with wide eyes.
“Moolah, what are you doing here? How did you—”
“Let me ask you somethin’, Sky. You think I deserved that shit you just pulled?”
Moolah wasn’t in the mood for a whole lot of conversation.
He was still tired as hell from the night before, and the day had gotten away from him completely after he packed all his things and contacted the Airbnb host and threatened them not to allow anyone else to stay there until he reached back out.
By the time the jet landed, it was already dipping into evening time.
He was hungry, tired, and frustrated, and all he needed at the moment were answers from Iskyiah.
“Oop. I’ll leave y’all to it.”
“Really, Sophie?”
Sophie looked at her friend sympathetically. “Really, girl. You ain’t tell me the man was that fine. You fucked up.”
Moolah decided he liked the woman. When she disappeared inside the house, he asked, “Friend?”
“Best friend,” she muttered as she looked at her feet.
“Look at me.” Once her eyes were on his, he continued. “Why you leave me, Sky? I thought I asked you not to run. You know how that shit made me feel?”
“I tried to explain it the best I could,” she muttered.
Moolah pulled the letter out of his hoodie pocket. “With this bullshit?”
“It’s not bullshit,” she argued.
“It ain’t nothin’ but bullshit.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her into him. “You ain’t broken. And I’m not gonna hurt you, so what’s your excuse, my baby?”
As mad as Moolah had been, he couldn’t really get in her ass like he wanted with her looking at him like she lost her favorite teddy bear.
“What if I hurt you? All I’ve ever known is toxicity.”
Moolah considered it. Finally, he shook his head. “You ain’t gonna hurt me unless you keep running from me.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know, my baby. You gonna trust me, or you gonna keep makin’ me chase you?”
“How can I trust you when the last time I opened myself up to you, you shut me out?”
That stung. He didn’t realize that one decision would cause so much pain, but he saw it in her eyes as he looked down at her.
“Because I’m grown now, and I ain’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice, especially not when it comes to you.”
Iskyiah peered up at him and then sighed. “You aren’t going to let up, are you?”
“You want me to?”
“I’m scared,” she said instead of responding to his question.
He pulled her closer. When her head hit his chest, he rubbed her back. “You ain’t gotta be scared of me. Let me handle everything, okay? You ain’t gotta do shit but be a good mother and look pretty. I’ll handle everything else.”
“Okay.” Her voice was so faint, if Moolah wasn’t so in tune with her, he wouldn’t have heard it.
“Gimme a kiss. Least you can do,” he grumbled, which pulled a slight giggle from her. His heart did a lil dancey dance.
She gazed up at him. “I’m sorry.”
And then she pressed her lips to his. He sank into the kiss. This woman drove him absolutely insane, but that was okay with him. If he had it his way, he would never be sane again.
“Ohhh, Mama! You got a boyfriend!” a small voice squealed.
Iskyiah jumped and pulled away from the kiss. She tried to pull away from him, but Moolah kept her planted in place as his eyes found the pretty girl standing just inside the house.
“You must be Brooke. How you doin’, lil mama?” Moolah asked.
Her eyes sparkled. “I’m good. Are you my mama’s new boyfriend?”
“I’m her hus—”
“Yeah, baby. He’s my boyfriend.” Iskyiah turned in his embrace and elbowed him in the abdomen.
Moolah didn’t flinch. In fact, his heart hummed at hearing her call him her boyfriend. He kept it cool, though. He looked down at her and shrugged. If she wanted to pretend in front of lil mama like they weren’t about to get married, he would let her live . . . for now.
“Why didn’t you tell me the other day, Mommy?” Brooke hugged her mother around the waist happily.
Iskyiah looked nervous. “It all happened kind of fast. Brooke, I want you to meet Moolah. He’s an old friend of mine.” She hesitated before she said, “Actually, I named you after him. His name is Moolah Brooks.”
Brooke’s eyes widened. Moolah couldn’t help but notice how much she looked like Charles, but she was so much cuter. She somehow made that bitch ass nigga’s features look adorable.
“You’ve known him that long?” Brooke asked, her smile bright. Moolah could tell this little girl was about to have him wrapped around his damn finger.
“I’ve known him since I was younger than you,” Iskyiah said.
“You knew my Daddy?” Brooke asked.
Moolah frowned. “Nope.” The last thing he was about to do was talk about Charles.
He didn’t have anything good to say about that nigga.
That reminded him, though. He needed to ask Teyanna to find out where the nigga was buried so he could pay homie a visit.
Not only did he want to piss on his grave, but he also wanted to dig up the bones or ashes and find someone to build them into a custom toilet.
He would use that toilet for every shit he had for the rest of his life, with a fat ass smile on his face.
That was how much he disliked the nigga. “Y’all go ’head and pack a bag.”
Iskyiah’s brows rose. “Wait, what—”
“Ohhh, are we going on a vacation?”
Nah. Y’all are moving up out of here. “We gonna spend a few days at my place.”
“Wait—”
“Yay!” Brooke’s squeals silenced Iskyiah. They watched her scurry away before Iskyiah turned to glare at him.
“Moolah, you can’t just do that.”
“Why not?” He was genuinely confused.
“We have to ease her into this. She’s a kid. It isn’t just me I have to worry about.”
“Aye, what I just tell you? All you need to worry about is being a good mother and being pretty. I got the rest.”
“This is a part of being a good mother, Lah,” she whined.
Moolah shook his head. “Stop blockin’ ya blessings, my baby.” Iskyiah’s mouth hung open. “And close that pretty mouth before I put somethin’ in it.”
Iskyiah’s mouth snapped shut. She sighed. “Fine, Lah. Fine. Come in so I can pack and make sure Brooke gets everything she needs.”
Moolah grinned for the first time all day.
He happily stepped inside Iskyiah’s tidy home, happy she didn’t put up too much of a fight.
He would have won either way, but he was glad to know she could listen to him occasionally.
That, to him, was a real good sign. The sooner she got on board with their relationship, the sooner he could marry her ass.