Prologue #2
“Gosh,” I gasped. “You interrupted my train of thought.”
Claiming that Kason had scared me would’ve been a lie. Because even stripped down to nothing, no one in the building was a threat. Not even the doorman with the Glock on his waistline.
“Was it about me?”
“No,” I admitted.
It hardly ever was. Kason and every other man I dated was scarcely on my mind when out of my sight. Though he was more promising than the other bachelors, it simply wasn’t a privilege I had to give.
“Just break my heart, then, huh?”
He pushed my hair behind my neck and planted a kiss. I shuddered from his touch, but was simultaneously reminded of the task at hand. My body slipped from his grasp. I opened the fridge and pushed the rim against the dispenser.
Filtered water flowed inside the glass. Once half-full, I closed the fridge and placed it at my lips. I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that my audience had grown by at least one. Kason’s eyes were on me as if he hadn’t just been inside me.
I allowed his eyes to wander as I cleared the glass. Sip by sip.
“You’re unreal, you know.”
I lowered the glass with a nod of my head. Hydration was complete.
“Mmhm.”
I wasn’t hearing anything my mother or father or brother or sisters or lovers hadn’t told me before.
“I don’t think there’s an hour of the day that I couldn’t have you for dessert.”
I could think of so many, especially those that didn’t align with his schedule.
“The sheets–” I questioned, placing the glass in the sink.
“New sheets have been put on the bed.”
Kason moved swiftly after my departure. His mission to redress the bed became my mission to rehydrate my body.
“You’re quick.”
“When it counts,” he teased, chopping away at the distance between us.
When his body was next to mine again, he lifted a hand to my chin. Our lips touched.
“I’ve enjoyed you tonight. All night.”
“I’m tired,” I admitted.
My shoulders lowered as the words left my mouth.
“Then let’s get to bed.”
I waited beside the counter, watching as Kason used the glass I had just lowered into the sink. He filled it with water and tossed his head back. Within seconds, the glass was nearly empty. He dropped it inside the sink gently and took me by the hand.
Our bodies moved slowly. Kason matched my stride.
His long, brown legs only moved when mine did.
Secretly, I marveled at their beauty. Hair was plentiful.
However, there was hardly any evidence to prove he had an active childhood or a park near his home.
His skin was flawless underneath the strands.
“After you,” he cleared his throat as he lifted the comforter for me to climb underneath.
I cozied up against the pillow on the side of the bed I frequented. Though Kason and I were a couple, I still hadn’t claimed it as my own.
I often pondered the relevance of my undiagnosed, undertreated trauma concerning my belief that all things were temporary.
Except family. Family was forever, in every lifetime.
But not a side of my lover’s bed. Or a space in his closet that I refused to occupy.
Or whatever we had between each other. Or my happiness–forged or real.
Nothing felt forever.
Nothing.
Everything was temporary.
Feelings. Spaces. Situations. People. Cases. Pain. Pleasure.
Kason pulled my body across the dry sheets. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his breath against my neck. The white musk and vanilla that had left their traces on his skin were the perfect match.
Exhaustion plagued me. A yawn pulled my mouth apart. Tears rolled down the side of my face and onto the pillow, where they’d soon dry. The day had been long.
Muah.
Kason’s lips lulled me to a quieter place.
“I love you, Range,” he declared, barely above a whisper.
My entire frame tensed within his grasp. But as the seconds passed, I began to release the tension he’d summoned with his words. Slowly, silently, I drifted into a slumber.
Sunlight toasted my limbs through the near-endless glass surrounding the condo. The brightness was uncompromising. Demanding. Loud. Haughty. Yellow. Warm.
I stretched my limbs until my bones murmured their grievances. The day had started without me. I was repulsed by the idea.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t have any immediate business on my schedule or that there wasn’t a true need for me to be awake at the moment; sleeping in late was never an option.
I rolled over, running my hand across the coolness that was once filled with Kason’s limbs. Somehow, someway, the emptiness was gratifying and hollowing and dreadful and peaceful. Naturally, my layers began to peel backward to reveal the truest version of myself.
Bzzz.
Bzzz.
My vibrating phone alerted me to an incoming call. Without haste, I shifted my body in the opposite direction. After retrieval, I pressed the green button on my screen.
“Good morning,” groggily, I greeted one of the most precious souls our Maker had ever created. The other was only three miles down the road from her.
“Range,” she sighed, disappointment likely gripping her heartstrings and pulling as if she wasn’t suffering enough from the pain of the world.
“Yes, baby?”
It didn’t matter that she was the oldest of the girls. She was our baby.
Gentle.
Fragile.
Sensible.
Soft.
Thoughtful.
Nurturing.
“I’m calling to inform you of my cancellation for tonight’s dinner. I’ve been assigned a new task.”
There it was. Her reason why. Because there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d cancel on dinner with me willingly. Teddy had given her a new assignment. One she would complete without flaw.
“I understand. Another time, huh?”
“Yes. I apolog–”
“Hey. We’re not going there. Now, change of subject, alright.”
“Yes,” she replied, but I could still hear the regret in her tone.
“Is he fine, at least?”
Chuckling, she groaned. “I don’t know. He will be here in the next thirty minutes. But, even if he is–”
“Don’t do the help.” I laughed, reciting the pact we’d made since returning to Clarke.
It only complicated the relationship, working and romantic.
“Don’t do the help,” she recited.
I inhaled deeply and tossed my legs on the side of the bed.
“You sound like you were still sleeping. It’s near ten.”
“Shame on me, Ro. I have been in this man’s bed as if life doesn’t exist outside of it. I’m getting up now. I woke up right before you called.”
“You can rest sometimes, Range.”
“I know. Just not here and not on a Monday. It’s the start of the week. The tone setter. The foundation. And, right now, it’s looking like I’m going to be dragging my feet through this one.”
I tiptoed through the bedroom and into the bathroom, where I rested my butt on the toilet. My bladder released all it had been storing. My spine curled as it did so, overly satisfied with the relief it supplied.
“Sundays are rest days for me,” Roaman informed me as if our entire family wasn’t aware of her strict list of boundaries surrounding her sacred day.
“They’re sacred.”
“They are.”
I cleaned myself and stood, still stretching and getting rid of the stiffness in my joints.
“I’m going to get myself together, Ro. I’ll talk to you later, baby.”
“Talk to you later. I love you.”
“In every lifetime, babes. Promise to wait for me.”
“Promise to find me.”
I ended the call with an overflowing heart. She had a special way of filling cups to the brim or forcing their overflow.
Effortlessly.
Without many words.
Without much fight.
She had that much love to give. Just like an older sibling. Just like the oldest girl.
Roaman wasn’t a mother but she mothered us all at some level. Her nurturing spirit wouldn’t allow her to ignore it.
I stepped out of the toilet room in pursuit of the sink. My feet halted at the sight of white roses.
On the countertop. Inside the sink. Cream balloons clung to a white bag that was lined in black with a single word in the middle. A folded note was taped to the mirror, slightly swaying from the AC pushing through the vent above it.
I tugged at the paper, careful not to tear it. Kason’s handwriting greeted me as I unfolded it. A tightness passed through my midsection, stopping at my pussy where I throbbed uncontrollably.
Range,
Tonight makes six months since you’ve been in my world. It makes three months since you agreed to have me as your man. I think that’s worth a celebration. Dinner at eight. I’ll see you soon, my love.
Kason
Most days, it was hard to get Kason on the phone due to his busy schedule. Other days, he was exhausted from the day’s work. However, for the last two days, his availability has been at my fingertips.
Because I’d grown accustomed to his absence, his presence felt more like a gift that I’d never expected. And, truthfully, didn’t know how to receive it.
The paper crumbled against my chest as the corners of my mouth turned upward. I inhaled deeply. Roaman’s call came to mind. She’d cancelled plans, but Kason had already made plans.
It’s funny how life works.
Just as I lowered my body to peek inside the bag that most likely held a new bag of some sort, my cell vibrated.
Bzzz.
Bzzz.
I was quickly reminded to activate the ringer.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, beautiful.”
I tucked my bottom lip into my mouth as I smoothed my hair down. My nipples hardened. The throbbing in my center intensified. My reflection in the mirror took note of my feelings.
“Morning, Kason.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Like a baby.”
“Good. Good. That’s what I like to hear.”
“So– dinner at eight?”
“Calling to confirm.” He chuckled, sounding like a slice of heaven.
“I can swing it.”
“I was hoping you could.”
It had been two weeks since he’d made dinner plans. It had also been two weeks since he’d cancelled dinner plans.
“Me?” I laughed. “I think you’d better be sure your schedule is clear.”
“It’s clear, Range, and I’m still beating myself up about canceling for our last date.”
“You don’t have to. I think you’ve redeemed yourself a few times.”