10. Koi
Being in love wasn’t new to me, but being loved was a new experience. One that I took for granted in the past. The men that I loved were only in lust and only wanted someone whom they could control. My desire to fix someone or save someone only caused me to become the drowning victim in the end.
Classes should be taught about what true love felt and looked like.
Some of us had the concept twisted. It was bizarre how I had grown up in a home with two loving parents and an older brother and sister, who were fourteen and twelve years older than me and who were in loving marriages, yet I seemed to have missed the whole concept of love and being healed.
Alternatively, Salem grew up in a single-parent home where he and his mother struggled and did what was necessary to survive, yet he was full of love and knew how to give and receive it.
The night that Salem made love to me, he took care of my body and my soul.
I entrusted my heart to his care, and he had been good with it.
I had gone to him every night since then. It didn’t matter if I had an early morning class or not; the nights would find me in Salem’s bed. But during the day, we avoided each other like the plague.
That was why Thursday afternoon, I was so surprised to see him in my classroom when class was over. I was grabbing my bags and preparing to leave when I heard his voice.
“Hey, beautiful. You’re done for the day, right?” he asked.
Salem sat in the back row, in the last seat. His long legs were sprawled out in front of him, and his arms were casually draped over the backs of the chairs on either side of him.
“Hey! You scared me,” I replied, startled by his appearance.
“Didn’t mean to.”
I took a seat in front of him. “How long have you been here?”
“Since the start of class.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“You’ve been on that computer the entire time.”
“That’s because they were testing today. If you keep popping up and sitting in here like this, someone’s going to get suspicious.”
“Students drop in on certain classes around here all the time. I’m sure they didn’t think too much about it. I busied myself like I was working on something.”
“I’m not talking about the students. I’m talking about the cameras,” I replied with a slight nod in two directions.
“We’re not in their line of sight. This corner of the room is in a safe space.”
“Mm, you’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” I asked with a smile.
“Always got a plan, baby girl. You’re not holding business hours today, are you?”
I usually did not hold them on Thursdays, and only two Fridays of the month.
“No, I’m done for the day. I was heading home to relax for a while before coming to you.”
Salem reached out his hand and cupped my chin and slid his hand up to caress my face. I pressed into it, and my heart lurched. All I wanted to do was be held in his arms.
“How about you come to my place now? You can relax over there, baby.”
“Okay, but I’ll drive there separately. I don’t want anyone, . . . well, you know.”
He nodded. “You got it, ma. I’ll see you in about twenty?”
“Uhm, can we make it an hour?”
Salem leaned forward. “It’s gon’ cost ya.” He cupped the back of my head and covered my lips with his. The kiss was sweet and slow, but it slowly heated up as he slid his tongue into my mouth. He sucked on mine, and I melted against him. When he pulled back, Salem rested his forehead against mine.
“Cost me what?”
“You gotta sit that pretty pussy on this beard until I tap out.”
I smirked and nodded before I replied. “We’re being too careless, Salem.”
“You are a precious gem, Koi. I could never be careless with you.”
“Thank you, Salem.” I sighed. “You have no idea what a bright light in my life you’ve been after traveling a long, dark, and lonely road.”
“I’m here to guide you back into the light, beautiful.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you.”
“See ya in an hour. Stay here for a minute before you leave, a’ight?”
“Of course,” I replied sweetly.
I wanted time to return home first to shower and change. My cheeks grew warm at the thought of what I would do to him. I knew that I was wrong, but I just couldn’t help myself where Salem was concerned.
I rang the doorbell and waited anxiously for Salem to answer. I picked up birria tacos from a little restaurant that I loved on the way to his place. I called and let him know that I would be bringing dinner.
When he pulled the door open, he wore basketball shorts that hung low on his hips.
I could tell that he was fresh out of the shower from the scent that emanated from him and how wet his hair and beard were.
A few beads of water dotted the hairs that rose just above his waistband and made me want to lick them away.
“You hungry?” he teased when I licked my lips.
“Famished,” I replied in a sultry tone.
“Get ya li’l ass in here,” he commanded with a chuckle as he tugged my hand and pulled me inside.
I set the food up on the table as he headed into the kitchen to get silverware and drinks. When he returned and sat beside me, he said a prayer over our food and then tucked into his meal. After a while, Salem chewed his taco and reached out and ran a hand over my head.
“You seem to have something on your mind. What are you thinking about?” I asked.
He tilted my chin, leaned in, and then kissed my greasy lips.
“Listen, I don’t want this to be just sex between us.
I see something serious between you and me.
So we need to address that. Because after I graduate, I may be in a safe space, but you’re still at the school.
Eventually, people will find out about us, and they can’t do shit to me because I’ll be gone.
But you’ll still be in the line of fire, and I don’t like that shit.
I don’t want to be sneaking around to be with you, Koi.
For a long time, I thought that I had missed out on all the best things that life had to offer. ”
“You’re only twenty-five, Salem.”
“I lost three years of my life, and the next few, I worked my ass off to prove myself and to change my stars. When I met you, I was infatuated with your beauty and sexuality. But when I started taking your class, I saw the possibilities of what we could have from the start. All semester, all I wanted was you.”
“What made you break your promise about keeping it professional?”
“You saw me naked. All of me,” he teased, laughing.
“Most people mean that internally when they say that, but it was literal for you and me.”
“Right. But the semester was coming to an end, and I knew it was the best time to make my move. We didn’t have too long before I lost contact with you altogether, and we didn’t have so long that we had to wait until we could safely become involved with each other.
I’ve been a patient man, Koi. No more sneaking around. ”
“If you’re suggesting that we go out in public, you know that I can’t do that. It won’t keep people out of our business.”
“That may keep them out for now, but not for long. What kind of relationship is that to be sneaking around? That tells me that you only want something temporary. Baby, I’m not in a place to accept a temporary situation.
It feels like my ship has finally come in, and I’m not about to miss it this time.
I’m trying to set my life up for the future. This ain’t about sex with me.”
I set my food down, grabbed a napkin, and wiped my mouth with it. I climbed onto Salem and straddled him. Looping my arms around his neck, I muttered against his lips, “You sure it’s not about sex?”
I felt his dick press into my core as it thickened with arousal. A smirk took over my lips as I pressed them into the side of his neck. He tasted so sweet there. I gyrated on his crotch, grabbed his hands, and placed them on my hips.
After we had sex the first time after reuniting at the college, we shared our stats. We discussed that we were both comfortable with having sex in the future without protection, and we had. I was on birth control, so pregnancy was not an issue for us.
Salem’s hands reached around my back and slowly slid down to pull my short jean skirt up. His hands caressed my ass and slid through my crack.
“No panties?”
“No panties.”
“Fuck.”
I reached between us and slid my hand into his shorts.
I removed his long, thick dick, and shifted up.
Placing it at my entrance, I slowly circled my hips until he penetrated my opening.
Sliding down, I covered his lips with mine and sucked on his bottom lip until Salem took over the kiss.
His hands gripped my waist tightly, and he pulled me down, plunging me down his shaft.
I tried to scream at the way he penetrated me and stretched me, but his tongue and mouth swallowed my moans. Salem thrust up into me hard, shaking me up and driving me insane. It wasn’t long before I came on him with no shame. I felt horrible.
Salem lifted me, placed me on my knees, and turned me to face the couch.
He drummed into me from behind. He impaled me deeply, and I screamed out.
He fucked me hard, fast, and raw, with a blinding fury.
I could tell that he was upset, but about what, I wasn’t sure.
It wasn’t just in the way he fucked me but also in the energy that surrounded him. Our chemistry was off.
Although I racked my brain, I couldn’t, for the life of me, come up with a single thing. When he came inside of me and released my hips, Salem bit into my shoulder and turned me around to face him again. The mug on his face and the snarl in his voice made it clear that he was not happy with me.
“Nah, this shit ain’t about fucking. I can get a quick fuck anywhere. I told you that I was in it for more than that. Now get that shit through your thick ass head.”
“Salem, I’m sorry. I love you.”
He glared at me. “You don’t get to toy with my fucking feelings, Koi.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” I sobbed.
“Then you need to make up your fucking mind what you want. I ain’t got time for this wishy-washy shit.
One minute, you’re down for me, and the next, you’re not.
Just like a fucking Pisces, always swimming upstream and then down again.
Get ya shit together, li’l mama. ’Cause I’m tired of this rollercoaster ride you keep a nigga on. ”
I sat with pain in my heart and tears in my eyes as I watched him get up and stalk out of the living room.