Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Let Me Love You
“Hey, have y’all seen Lorielle?” Benny asked as he stuck his head out the door of the screened-in porch.
“They’re having a top-secret meeting in the study,” his mother answered.
She and Bernard Sr. were sitting out there enjoying the scenery, talking with Trey’s parents. He wanted to take a walk with Lorielle before hot cocoa by the fire, but she was nowhere to be found. Now he knew why.
Everyone else had gone home, so he knew they meant Lorielle and Gavin. He wondered what they had to talk about secretly.
“Her and Gavin?” he asked for clarity. If she was huddled up when anyone else, he would be furious.
“Yep,” his father confirmed, before putting an arm around his mother, pulling her close.
“Cool.” Benny reversed back into the kitchen, then marched down the hall to the study. He didn’t bother knocking, but the lock on the door stopped him from barging in. That annoyed him. He beat twice on the door.
“Who is it?” Gavin called out.
“Benny, fool. Open the door.” He jiggled the handle. Knowing Lorielle was behind the door and he didn’t have access to her was driving him mad. He was seconds from ripping the door off the hinges when it was pulled open. He stalked in, looking around.
Lorielle was leaned against the massive oak desk, looking at him with a curious brow raised. She was probably wondering why he barged in like that, but she had no idea what she did to him.
“What y’all in here doing?” he asked.
Lorielle looked at Gavin and he looked at her.
Benny added. “And it better be a good enough reason to lock the door.”
“Stop it, Benny.” She straightened, smoothing her hand down her sweater.
Lorielle wore a cream colored, two-piece knit sweater set. She wore sneakers with a variety of browns in them. Her straight hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head. She looked cute and comfortable. It was the red lipstick she wore that was sinful. It had him thinking naughty thoughts.
“You’re demanding all these answers and not even listening.” Gavin pulled his attention to him.
He was right. Benny hadn’t heard a word he said.
“Yeah, Benny. Why are you not listening?” Lorielle teased, as she walked to the couch that was placed to the right of him. Gavin was on his left, sitting in a chair by the bookcase.
“What did you say?” Benny asked for the information he had apparently missed when he was journeying over Lorielle’s body.
“I said I was practicing.” Gavin lifted his guitar from the floor beside the chair. “You know Mama wants to hear me sing.”
“Oh, and you needed an audience?” His eyes moved to Lorielle, who playfully rolled her eyes at him. Damn, she is so pretty. “You look nice.” He let his thought escape, and he wasn’t sorry about it. He loved complimenting her.
“Thank you.” She patted the space beside her on the couch. “Come sit down.”
Benny looked at Lorielle and Gavin. Something was going on. She was being too playful with him, and Gavin hadn’t said one funny thing or annoy him by flirting with Lorielle. “Is something going on between you two? He’s only eighteen, Elle.”
He knew they weren’t messing around, but they were hiding something.
“Funny.” Her brows dented in a deep frown. “Don’t make me hurt you. I’m almost twenty years older than him. Just come have a seat.”
“But there is something that y’all are not telling me,” Benny said as he made his way over to the couch. When he sat, Lorielle moved closer to his side. Her breast rubbed against his arm, and he had to quickly remind himself that his little brother was in the room with them.
“Gavin wants to talk to you.” Lorielle interlocked their fingers then crossed her legs, bringing them as close as they could be while sitting beside each other. He wasn’t complaining, but a little worried about what the news could be.
“Spit it out. Whatever it is. I don’t like the dramatics.”
“I don’t want to come work with you,” Gavin blurted out.
Well, damn. Benny didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t that.
“What?”
Cup of Jo was the family business. It was like a rite of passage to work there.
Hearing Gavin say he didn’t want to work there was like a knife in his heart.
He immediately thought about all the things he had done that may have pushed his brother away from the idea of being in the business, but he stopped himself.
He had to hear his brother out and not assume.
That was what he stayed fussing at Elle about.
“Are you mad?” Gavin asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. “I mean, it’s not like no forever, just not next year.”
Gavin had graduated early, so he had a little over six months to do whatever he wanted until college in the fall.
“What do you plan to do instead?” His parents were going to ask. Or did they know already? Benny asked that as well.
“They know and I want to do this…” He patted his guitar. “There’re these guys that asked me to be a part of their group.”
It had started. Playing the guitar was officially no longer a hobby.
Hell, he was going to college for arts in music.
Gavin wanted to be a musician. It wasn’t ideal, but he wouldn’t kill his brother’s dreams. He would support him like he always did.
He would pray that his brother wouldn’t fall victim to the dark ways of the industry.
“Benny, say something.”
He realized Gavin was silently seeking his approval. Pride swelled in his chest. Benny reminded himself he had someone looking up to him. Someone who valued his opinion.
Benny rose to his feet. So did Lorielle. He walked over to Gavin and extended his hand. “Congratulations.”
Gavin took his hand, standing and pulling his brother in for a hug. They patted each other’s back. Emotions flowed between them, but they kept it together.
“I’m a little hurt that I won’t be bossing you around, but I love that you’re going to explore your options and do what you love to do.
” Benny gripped Gavin’s shoulder before moving back to Elle.
She was waiting for him with a warm smile.
He reached for her hand, and she slipped it to him, locking their fingers easily like they had been doing it for years.
“Whew, I knew I waited till the right time! Good look, Elle. You have to stick around. You see how calm he is?”
Now his ass wants to be funny.
“So, Elle’s the reason I embraced you?”
“Man, if I would have told you this a few weeks ago, you would’ve hit the fan. Sometimes you are worser than our parents.”
Benny couldn’t help but laugh. It was the truth. At first, he would have been pissed and maybe said some things he didn’t mean, but later he would have come back respectfully. “Whatever. Tell me more about this group. What’s the name of it?”
“Midnight. My first show is in February. We’re going to do something for Valentine’s Day, then we’ll kick off a tour for spring and summer. Then in the fall, I’ll start school and only perform on the weekends and breaks.”
Benny nodded. “Sounds like you have a plan.” It was all good as long as he stuck with his plan.
“I do, Benny. I just need y’all to believe in me.”
They slapped palms and Benny pulled him in for a half hug. “We believe in you. You got this.” He patted his brother’s bird chest. Benny wasn’t bulked up, but he wasn’t skinny either. “You need to put some meat on your bones.”
“Your girl loves it. Ain’t that right, Lorielle?”
She shook her head, laughing. “Leave me out of it.”
“Yeah, okay.” Benny and Gavin playfully shuffled before Gavin grabbed his guitar, saying he was going to leave them alone.
Benny appreciated that. He hadn’t seen her since that morning, and he was craving some alone time with her.
Gavin moved to Lorielle, pulling her in for a hug. “Thank you, sis.”
She kissed his cheek. “Anytime.”
When Gavin left out, he pulled Lorielle fully against him, his arms locking around her waist.
“Are you okay?” she asked, staring up at him. A soft hand caressed the back of his neck as the other held on to his bicep.
“I’m nervous, but Gavin’s a smart kid. I just pray he doesn’t get caught up in that lifestyle. I don’t want him on drugs and fucking on all those girls—”
“Shhh.” She put a finger to his lips. “He won’t. You said it yourself. He’s a smart kid, and he had you and Mr. B to look up to his whole life. He’ll be fine.”
He nodded his head. “Thanks for saying that.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled brightly. “I’m proud of you.”
He lowered his head. “Show me how much,” he murmured over her lips.
She released a slight chuckle. “You’re horrible.”
She said that, but leaned up, pressing her lips fully against his.
Benny controlled the kiss, not wanting it to get too hot and heavy. Someone would be looking for them soon. Their time would come.
“Meet me back here after cocoa by the fire.”
They still had family activities planned, though the sole reason for them coming out was for Jo and Trey.
Elle threw her hand on her hip. “Are you asking or telling?”
He stole a kiss. “I’m asking very nicely.”
Benny wasn’t sure she would be there, but he had high hopes. Yes, she was being affectionate now, but that could change in an instant. Get Lorielle alone with her thoughts and she could do a complete one-eighty.
Benny’s phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it out to see it was Jo calling.
“We made it,” Jo said once he answered the phone. “I tried to call Elle, but she didn’t answer.”
He put his phone on speaker. “Here she is.”
“Of course you have her held up. What are y’all doing?”
Elle laughed before responding. “Gavin was in here as well. He was telling Benny about the group.”
“Whew, thank God!” Jo released a heavy sigh. “I was tired of keeping it a secret.”
Benny frowned. “Everyone knew besides me?”
“Benny, you’ve been talking about Gavin coming to work with you since he started high school. We all knew how you would feel when he told you he didn’t want to.”
“He did good though, girl.” Elle spoke up.
“What!” Jo yelled. “Little brother, you feeling okay?”