Chapter 9 Valleigh
VALLEIGH
The sunlight streaming through my curtains woke me from my deep slumber.
As my body powered on, I became alarmingly aware of a presence beside me.
A soft snore reminded me that I’d fallen asleep in Sym’s arms last night.
After posting that picture, he’d done things to my body I didn’t even know were possible.
Sleep was the only option after making my body succumb to immense waves of pleasure.
I gently lifted his arm from around me so that I could hurry to the bathroom to relieve my bladder.
Once I was finished in the bathroom, I went to the kitchen to make us some breakfast. I knew Sym enjoyed black coffee, so I got a pot started for him.
I turned on my music but kept the volume low so I wouldn’t disturb his sleep.
I was finishing up the eggs when I felt his lips on my cheek. I was too lost in the beautiful voice of Sade as she sang “Ordinary Love” to notice he’d come into the kitchen. I smiled while turning in his arms.
“Good morning,” I greeted him bashfully.
“Good morning, beautiful. All of this for little ol’ me?” he teased.
I nodded. “Indeed, it is. Sit down. You’re actually right on time.”
While he went to sit down, I got started on his plate. I piled it with French toast, eggs, bacon, and sausage, then I poured him a glass of orange juice. After making my plate, I joined him at my island. I turned the music down, then we held hands for grace.
“What’s on your agenda for the day?” I asked him.
He shook his head with the glass of juice to his lips.
After taking a sip, he set it down. “Nothing really. I’m going to go by to check on Iylah and Rhap just to be sure they’re good.
I was supposed to take them some dinner last night.
” He hooked my chin then gestured for me to come closer.
My body moved of its own accord. Heat flushed through my veins when his lips touched mine. “But someone was holding me hostage.”
I giggled. “Oh, please. You could’ve left at any time.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think you understand. Your pussy has one hell of a grip. Wasn’t no getting out of that.” I busted out laughing while pushing him gently. He chuckled, blessing me with his smile. He leaned over and smooched his lips. “One more.”
I obliged without hesitation before we went back to chatting mindlessly and enjoying our breakfast. I stood, gathering our plates in my hands, and took them to the sink. Sym came up behind me, gently moving my hair from my shoulder to my back so he could nuzzle my neck.
“I am about to head out, but can I see you later on?”
I nodded. “Yes, you can.”
I knew he was smiling by the tone of his voice. “I was coming back either way, but happy to know you’re on the same page.” I gently bumped into him, trying to push him away, but instead, I was greeted by the hardness of him. “Don’t do that. I’m easy as hell.”
I picked up my dish towel and started beating him with it. “I do not want to hear about you being easy, Symphony. Gon’ before you piss me off.” I folded my arms over my chest with a mug.
He was standing in front of me, laughing as if something was funny.
“I meant I’m easy for you.” He closed the distance between us, pressing me into the counter.
He placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up.
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Squirt.
My heart and my dick is yours. It’s only you, baby. ”
The kiss he placed on my lips relaxed me, and I felt a little silly for getting jealous at the thought of anyone else having access to him.
Symphony had my nose wide open; there was no coming back for me.
That was the thing I feared in the first place, but there we were.
There was nothing to do but walk through it while praying that the ending I hoped for came true.
“Okay, good,” I replied. “Hurry back.”
He nodded with a wink as he stepped back.
I watched his retreating frame, feeling so giddy inside.
The music flowing from my speaker paused because of a notification.
I picked up my phone to see that I had a text message from Tau.
There were screenshots of some comments from Sym’s post last night.
My eyes browsed over them before I scoffed in amusement.
@MiyukiTheBeautiful: She definitely posted this. Sym doesn’t let hoes even touch his jewelry. Let alone wear it. We know he sleep in the bedroom and he’s going to be pissed when he sees this girl lol
I slapped a hand over my mouth, smothering my laugh, when I saw Sym’s response to her comment.
@SymSinclaire: You’re right. I don’t let hoes touch my jewelry. That’s my baby tho so I even let her wear it while I fucked her to sleep last night. Stop trying to compete where you don’t compare. This shit is embarrassing af
Tau sent damn near a hundred laughing emojis after that. My phone was ringing seconds later, and I picked it up without hesitation. I glanced up as Sym came back into the kitchen fully dressed. He placed a kiss on my cheek.
“I’m gone. Call me if you need something.”
I nodded once, allowing him to leave. I waited until I heard the door close to address Tau. I knew her nosy ass was listening. “Hey, best friend,” I greeted her.
“Bitchhhhh! Hos is real-life hating on you!” She immediately began addressing the mess.
I chuckled. “Um, yeah, I see that. I was cracking up at his response. Why would he say that to her?” I joked.
“Why would she come on his post, embarrassing herself? If he never let you wear his chain, just say that ho! She can’t even applaud a real bitch, ’cause she too busy hatin’.
You should see the rest of the comments; they are eating her the fuck up.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she deleted her comment by now. ”
I placed the phone on speaker while going onto Instagram to see the post for myself.
My eyes bulged when I saw the post had a million likes with thousands of comments.
Tau was right when she said they were dragging Muyuki.
I shook my head, feeling no remorse. Nobody told her to comment on his post, trying to be funny for a second time.
“I told that ho we don’t relate when we were at Dreamz. She ain’t want to listen.” I giggled because Sym was letting it be known that she and I were not on the same level.
Tau chuckled, living for this. “And did. Girl, Symphony on you real bad.”
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “I know. He showed up over here yesterday and put me in my place. I think I’m in love, girl.”
She hummed. “I knew it was coming. You told him?”
I shook my head as if she could see me. “No. I don’t want to scare him away. I’m pretty sure it’s too soon for big words like that.”
She sucked her teeth. “Girl, please. If you tell him you love him, he’s likely to get down on one knee and ask you to marry him.
I don’t think you understand how obsessed with you that he is.
Plus, y’all have history. He’s your first love and vice versa.
Hell y’all probably never stopped loving each other. ”
I sighed, not wanting to let my head get too far gone in the clouds. “He hasn’t even officially asked me to be his girlfriend. Trust me. Things are not that serious between us.”
“Mhm, we’ll see about that. Like be for real, he already posted you on his page of his own free will. How much you want to bet it’s only a matter of time?”
I shrugged, figuring I had nothing to lose by this friendly competition. “A free meal on me from your place of choice.”
“Ooh, you might as well go ’head and make the reservations because I promise it’s coming sooner than you think.”
Bending down to sweep the pile of dirt into my dustpan, I stood gently to dump it safely in the trash can. My ringing phone distracted me from the last of my cleaning. I smiled when I saw it was Sym. He hadn’t been gone very long. I guess he already missed me.
“Hey, babe,” I answered quickly. I moved on to wiping down my counters.
I paused when Sym’s panicked voice came through the line. “Valleigh, Iylah is missing. I can’t find her anywhere.”
He didn’t need to say anything else before I was racing through the house to throw on some clothes. I told him to stay put until I got there; that way, we could search for her together. I prayed the entire time I got dressed and drove over to Rhap’s home on the Northside.
Symphony was on the sidewalk, pacing back and forth. I rolled down my window, yelling to get his attention. “Come on!” His head popped up when he heard my voice. He took big steps over to my car. I unlocked the doors so he could get inside. “Hey, baby, what’s going on?”
He shook his head, running his hands down his face.
“I stopped to pick up some food before I came. When I got here, Rhap opened the door for me, all smiles and good vibes. I didn’t think anything was wrong until I called out for Iylah to come eat.
When I asked him where she was, he started asking me, who is Iylah?
” He blew out a frustrated breath. “The neighbor said she saw Rhap and Doodle leaving not too long ago, heading toward the main street.”
He sounded so troubled, and I understood why. This was a very serious situation. “Did you call the police?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to see if I could find her first. I don’t want to risk her getting picked up by child services.”
I placed my hand on top of his hand that rested on his knee. He slowly turned to look at me.
“We’re going to find her,” I assured him.
He stared at me for a second longer before nodding. For the first time, I didn’t see Sym, the superstar. I saw the little boy I knew, the one who was always responsible for more than he felt he could handle.
I bit my lip as I pulled away from Rhap’s home. Something was going on with him that needed to be addressed. I tried not to worry myself too much because Sym was doing enough of it for the both of us. My head was on a swivel as I searched each and every block we passed, looking for Iylah.
“I knew better than to leave her alone with him. I knew something wasn’t right,” he spoke lowly.
I squeezed his hand. “Hey, don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. Whatever is going on with your brother is not your fault.”
His voice was so small when he spoke again. “It feels like it.”
I was about to respond when I noticed Iylah sitting on a bus stop bench. She was crying hysterically, looking up and down the street, clearly confused about where she was. There was an older woman sitting beside her on the bench with a phone pressed up to her ear.
“Look, babe! There she is!” I hollered.
His head snapped up to see where I was pointing toward the bus stop. I barely had the car stopped when he hopped out and raced over toward her. I turned the corner, parked, and threw on my hazards before following suit. He was already cradling Iylah to his chest by the time I walked up.
I placed a hand on Iylah’s back. She was still pretty torn up, and I couldn’t blame her. She was too young to be out on the streets on her own. Not to mention, her little glasses were missing. That broke my heart further, knowing she was out there, winging it.
I turned to the woman when I heard her speak into the phone. “Actually, I think someone just came for her.”
I nodded, moving toward her. “Did you find her here?”
She shook her head. “No, we were like a block down. She almost walked straight into the street. I just stopped here for her to sit and rest herself. I don’t know how long she was walking.”
I pointed to Sym. “That’s her uncle. Her father accidentally lost sight of her earlier. Thank you for keeping her safe. We’ve got her from here.”
She nodded, hanging up the phone call. Turning to Sym, I took his hand in mine, then walked us all to the car.
He didn’t want to let her go, so he got in the backseat with her.
It was quiet, apart from Iylah’s sniffles and Sym assuring her that she was safe.
I could barely contain my own tears on the drive back to my house.
I knew he wouldn’t want to face his brother, but at some point, we would.
Whatever was happening would only get worse.
For Iylah’s sake, we had to get him some help.
Iylah was passed out asleep by the time we made it to my house. The poor baby was exhausted. I opened the door to help them out, then held hands with Sym on the way to the door. I unlocked it, then flipped the light switch in the living room on as we entered.
“You can lay her in the spare bedroom for now,” I whispered to him.
He nodded before heading in that direction. I followed behind him, standing at the door, admiring how gentle he was with her. He sat on the side of the bed, watching her sleep. Eventually, he got up and walked over to me. We kept the door open before walking to my bedroom.
Sym sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. I crawled on the bed behind him to wrap my arms around him. “She’s safe, baby,” I reminded him.
“I know, but it could’ve been so much worse.” His voice was strained and heavy with emotion. When he dropped his hands to look at me, I saw the tears in his eyes. All he had to do was blink once for them to be heavy enough to fall.
I climbed off the bed to bend down in front of him. I palmed his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. “Rhapsody needs help,” I mumbled.
He nodded, dropping his chin to his chest. “I know. I thought it would go away, but I see that it’s too serious to go untreated. Iylah can’t be with him right now.”
I smiled. “Well, good thing she has you.”
He took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips.
He brought me closer and sat me on his lap.
His arms went around my waist while his head lay on my chest. I cradled him in my bosom, offering him all the love and support he needed.
I squealed when he lay back on the bed. He positioned us so that I was resting on his chest while he stared up at the ceiling.
I began drawing circles on his midsection, falling in love with his even breaths.
I couldn’t help but smile when he began to sing softly.
I got an immediate case of nostalgia, remembering the many times he’d done so when we were younger.
When life was hectic with his mother, he would ask me to lay on his chest while he sang to me.
That night, he was singing “The Closer I Get to You” by Luther Vandross.
I sank deeper into his body, falling in love with his melodic voice. Sym could sing birds into submission. I could never get tired of his voice. He hugged me tighter to his body, and I knew that, no matter what came next, I would have his back. He wouldn’t have to walk through this alone.