6. Belle
WEE HOURS OF NEXT MORNING…
“Aht, aht. You was talkin’ all that shit about being a suck master, but you’re gagging. My dick ain’t even that big, Belle, baby. Get it together.” Gunner taunted the hell out of me.
Yes, I told him that I was a suck master, and yes, his dick wasn’t uber big.
It was the damn curve that was fucking me up.
Gunner’s dick had a deeper curve than I ever thought was physically possible.
You would think the shit was broken.
On top of the curve, it had the nerve to be thick as fuck.
The first time we had sex, I dropped a tear in the pillow when he was hitting it from the back.
I took in a breath through my nose.
Get it together. I pulled back to suck on his head for a few seconds, closed my eyes, then I took him throat deep.
This time, I held my thumb tightly in the center of my palm to control my gag reflex.
My other hand felt his abs constrict.
“Oh, shit! Yeah, just like that,” he commended.
He grabbed the sides of my face before he began to fuck my mouth.
“Damn, this throat feels good. I hope you’re thirsty.”
This was my first time sucking his dick.
Over the time that we had been fucking, I’d fallen more and more in like with Gunner.
I never saw this shit coming.
Holden Gunner Beckett Jr.’s sexiness could never be denied.
His body was tatted and well taken care of.
The caesar cut and full beard was just everything.
On top of that, I knew that he looked just as good without the beard from pictures around his house.
Our drunken night of sex turned into many sober nights of fucking.
I felt like an idiot just finding out what he did for a living.
It was like I never thought to ask because that conversation wasn’t germane to us fucking.
The fact that he made a lucrative, successful profession from something that almost every country boy around here did was impressive.
“Here it comes. Drink all that nut,” he demanded.
Seconds later, his warm cum coated my throat.
His groans turned me on to the point of an orgasm.
This man controlled my damn body.
After he was drained, I released him from the hold of my mouth, wiped the corners of it, then stood up.
We had already had three sex sessions that included him devouring my pussy with his monster tongue.
My head was the finale.
His eyes were locked on me.
I felt uncomfortable under his stare.
“Let’s get in the shower.”
“How long have you been professionally fishing and stuff? Do you like it?” I asked him as we lay in bed next to each other.
He shifted his body to accommodate mine laying on him.
“I been a professional angler since I was eighteen years old, but I didn’t get a name until I was twenty-six. Yeah, I love it. I love showing them white boys that they’re not the best to ever do it. I win championships that some of those white boys wish they could win. I get endorsements that they want.”
“Can I see your trophies and the stuff that you use?” I was truly intrigued.
I’d fished when I was younger with my grandmother, but in my pre-teens.
Gunner looked down at me.
I couldn’t read his expression.
“Let me ask you a question. Are you interested in what I do or what I make? If it’s the latter, we don’t have to do all the fake interest in my shit. I can just let you know that I’m paid.”
I wanted to be offended, but how could I?
Did I feel judged? Of course.
I knew that he judged me based on the fruit that I made available when I first arrived.
My mind drifted to Matthew 7:17-18: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” When I first came back to Newsome, my attitude was shit.
I feel comfortable enough to say that now.
I lived in the world that I created for myself, but it was far from the real reality that I lived in.
Well, I got knocked out of that false world and I was bitter as hell.
It was funny that my father knew what I needed.
I never wanted to own a pet because I felt it was too much responsibility.
That push on my responsibility led to the softening of my spirit.
There were nights that my babies snuggled with me when I would break down at the reality what was now my life.
Animals were empathic.
“I understand why you asked me that. I promise that I’m really interested in what you do.” I gazed up at him with softened eyes.
“I mean, you having money never hurt,” I said with a titter.
There was a moment of silence before he told me to get up.
He got up after I did, then grabbed my hand.
He brought me to a closed door that was at the end of the hallway.
Before he opened the door, he peeked at me over his shoulder.
My mouth fell open when I stepped in.
On one wall in the office, there were shelves with numerous trophies.
On another wall, there were plaques.
“Wow! You weren’t lying about being a champion,” I mumbled.
My feet took me over to his plaque wall first. There were plaques from as far back as fifteen years.
I turned to him after I pointed at a plaque.
“Is this where you started getting your name out there?”
He smiled.
“Yeah, it is. I was so proud of that third-place acknowledgment.” He came over to stand near me.
“When I got that, I wanted to know what it felt like to get the first-place trophy.”
His pride was loud in the room.
“How long did it take you to get a first-place win?”
My interest in all of this surprised me.
When I was with Carson, I had no idea what he did because I didn’t give a damn; I still had no idea.
He never asked me about any of my interests either.
When we first got together, I was creating my jewelry.
I wore a piece that I made, he asked me where I got my cheap jewelry from, then gave me money to buy something real.
I stopped making jewelry that day and leaned into spending his money.
Gunner’s arm wrapped around my waist. He pulled me across the room to his trophy wall.
On the top shelf, there was only one trophy that he pointed out.
“It took me three years. My first endorsement deal came with that win. St. Croix Rod signed me on a three-year fishing rod deal. I’ve been signed ever since and only use their fishing rods.”
My smile widened.
“Do they have good rods? I used to fish when I was like twelve, but we used Walmart rods.” The thought made me laugh.
He chuckled, then said, “Walmart rods can catch fish just as well as the more expensive ones. That’s interesting that you’ve fished before. You definitely don’t look like the type that would ever touch bait.” When I told him that I wasn’t scared because they had plastic bait, he chortled.
“Belle, those are lures, not bait. Bait is the edible food for the fish, and lures are the plastic ones.”
My mouth formed an ‘O’.
“How was I supposed to know that? All I know is that we caught fish with them.”
He smacked my ass.
“You good. I’ll make sure to teach you. For your question, yes. St. Croix rods are great, and the quality has improved over the years. I’m also an ambassador for Bass Pro Shop and just landed one for the beer I drink.”
Before I could stop myself, my thoughts came out of my mouth.
“I would love to see you fish. Like be in your element.” What the fuck, Belle?
His head bucked back.
“Oh, really now? Well, I can make that shit happen.”
For the next hour, he showed me rods, lures, bait, and guns.
It was all so intriguing and sexy that I ended up bent over his desk with a dick in me.
Was I turning into someone that I didn’t know, or was I turning into the person that I was originally supposed to be?
A SHORT TIME LATER…
“Belle, I don’t know what there is to think about. I already told you that I’m going too,” Gabrielle fussed.
“You’re being difficult for no damn reason at this point.”
We were on a video call while she packed up her apartment.
Last week, she agreed to move here to be with Toolie.
You could have bought me for a penny when she told me.
I was shocked but ecstatic to have her close again.
Toolie hired her as his CPA for all of his businesses with a salary that was fifteen thousand dollars more than she currently made.
Seventy thousand dollars a year sounded like a lot of money, but it wasn’t shit in California.
She lived in the upper hood.
I huffed. “I know, I know. I guess I’m just shocked that he asked me to come with him. Like, I looked it up. Gabrielle, this competition is going to be on ESPN! Like, that’s big time, and we’re going to be on the damn boat.”
Her face stoned over.
“Okay, and? Are you ashamed to be with a country nigga or something? I don’t give a damn how country Toolie is. That man is fine as wine, protective, caring, sweet, attentive, and is a dick master. If that man wanted to take me to the mountaintop to claim me as his woman, I’d be right there wishing a bitch would. My foot is ‘ this is Sparta’ strong.”
I burst out laughing.
“Bitch, what? You gonna kick hos off the mountaintop?”
“With vigor and love because who the fuck you playin’ with? Out of the men that I’ve experienced, I’ve never met anyone like him. It’s like he’s country, street, unhinged, unbothered, and most importantly, mine. It’s all about me with him, which makes it easy for it to be all about him with me.”
One thing about my best friend, when she fell for a guy, she fell hard.
I knew an hour after they met that she would be all in with him.
One thing I admired about Gabrielle was her ability not to harden her heart to love, even after getting hurt.
She went into new relationships with clean slates.
“Gabrielle, I’m not ashamed. I just want to be careful this go around. I was with a man for over a century, and look how that played out.” I wasn’t sure if I could get hurt like I did with my ex again.
The bitterness that I initially had in my heart consumed me almost to madness.
Her expression eased to show her empathy.
“Best friend, every man is not like Carson. Gunner doesn’t even seem like that type. You can’t punish him for what your ex did. Plus, as mean as your ass was when you first got there, you should be thanking God that Gunner was able to see past that. I would have just fucked on you and let you be mean by your damn self.”
My mouth fell open, and my brows furrowed.
“Really! Damn, was I really that bad? I know I was bitchy, but?—”
“If you have to ask, you already know you were with the bullshit. I knew there was a shift in you when you and Tink sat down to clear the air. Never in the past would I think you would clear the air with a bitch. I love you, best friend, but this country life is maturing you in the best ways.” Her words made me feel a shimmer in my soul.
Once again, I couldn’t be offended.
Self-reflection was a bitch.
“I’m going to say, thank you. I’m going to go, since you are.”
“Nah, you better say you want to go to be with your man,” she teased.
I waved her off because, whatever.
Gunner was not my man.
I glanced down at my babies, who lay at my feet, sleeping.
“I don’t want to leave my babies. Nadine and Tink are going to stay at Gunner’s house to take care of the dogs. I’m going to miss my babies.”
I’d become dependent on My Boy and Stitch for my emotional support.
They loved being with me.
What I thought they loved most was going to their Memaw and Pop-pop’s house.
My parents spoiled them rotten.
Just the mention of their names would have my babies waking up out of their sleep.
“When are you coming in?” I asked Gabrielle.
She wasn’t bringing any of her furniture.
Toolie told her if she wanted to redecorate his house, she could.
“I’ll be there by the end of the week. My car gets shipped the day before I leave. My landlord was tripping about me breaking the lease, but I told him oh damn well. I was going to not pay him, but Toolie gave me the money to do it so it wouldn’t mess up my credit.”
Gabrielle and I talked for a couple more hours while she packed.
Caught off guard didn’t describe how I felt when Gunner asked—no, told me that I would go with him on his trip.
All I did was tell the man that I wanted to see him in his element, and he damn sure called my bluff.
There was no telling what a week with Gunner would hold, but we were going to find out.
THE RIGHT TIDE OR NOT…
The way these fishing people put up their contestants was one hell of an incentive to want to compete.
Since Gunner was the defending champion, they pretty much gave him what he wanted within reason.
That meant that when he asked for a two-bedroom suite, they gave it to him.
The competition was in Texas.
We’d been here since Sunday, and it’d been great.
The competition started tomorrow; however, the participants and their co-anglers always came in days before the competition to get acclimated to the boat that they would be using.
The fishing boats that were used in this competition were nothing like I expected them to be.
These boats were huge.
Before we got here, Gunner and Toolie had Gabrielle and me on a boat every day to learn different things to help out.
At first, the people over the competition were hesitant about allowing us to be on the boat with Gunner and Toolie because it was out of the norm for that many people to be on the boat in a competition.
It was the competition branding and marketing team that thought it was a good idea.
It further promoted the image of family and love to have the girlfriend of the champion on the boat as an assistant to him.
The fact that we were Black was an added incentive for the industry as far as equality was concerned.
It was something that never happened before.
I wanted to buck the whole his girlfriend thing, but I thought better of it.
I didn’t understand what a co-angler was until Gunner explained it to me.