Chapter 27
Vincent
“My mama didn’t give a fuck about me.”
Ari’s head pops up. She stares down at me, a frown on her face. “Why do you think that?”
I take a slow deep breath. “It’s true. Her and my dad split up when I was little.
I’m too young to remember that shit, really, but my older sister, she told me one day, my mama dropped me off at my daddy house.
We don’t have the same father,” I add. “She dropped me off and told him to deal with me. Those were her exact words. Here, you deal with him. I’m done. Then she left.”
Ari’s quiet. The only sound is the crackle of the fire.
“My dad…he was in and out of jail,” I continue. “My grandma took me for a while. She was tough, but she was good to me. When she died, my dad sent me to my aunt and uncle’s place. Crown’s parents.”
Her eyes widen. “The one who—“
I nod once. “Yeah. Him. We were like brothers. Grew up together. My aunt and uncle were good to me in their own way, I guess, but I could tell I wasn’t wanted.
They only took me so I wouldn’t go into the system.
They put clothes on my back and kept food on the table.
They kept me alive, but…I always felt like a visitor in my own home.
” I stare out into the flames. “My mama passed about five years ago. My dad calls me sometimes now. Mostly when he wants money.”
Ari puts a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “It’s whatever. Life goes on.”
There’s a pause, and I can tell she wants to say something, but she doesn’t. It leaves the air around us thick with what’s unspoken.
So I change the subject.
“I was thinking,” I say. “I wanna keep the animals away. I figure we gotta be hardcore about keeping all the food out of reach. Even if we gotta hang it high off the ground. And I’m gonna build a ring of rocks around our spot, and maybe sprinkle some ash or something that smells strong. Might make them bitches stay away.”
She nods. “Let me know if I can help.” She stares at the fire, her skin glowing orange in the light. “I hope it rains soon. I think I’m getting dehydrated. We should take it easy tomorrow.”
“I’ll try. But now that I been inside you…” I trail off with a smile. “I don’t know if I can.”
She rolls her eyes.
“I got a question,” I say. “If you as dehydrated as you claim, how was your pussy so wet?”
She bursts out laughing. “Stop. I’m serious. You can die from dehydration.”
That stops me. “I know that. I told you that, remember? But I’ma go out tomorrow and look for fresh water.”
“Hopefully you don’t have to.”
I nod, but I’m not sure. The sky’s been bone dry for days.
I stare into the fire, my eyes burning from the heat. “Tell me about your family. Where your people from?”
She smiles. “How far back are we talking? Because my daddy’s side goes back to Tallahassee. Generations. My mother’s people are from Detroit by way of Jackson, Mississippi.”
“That’s dope. You a country girl.”
“Yeah.”
“Y’all close?”
She nods, eyes fixed on the fire. “I’m closer to my mom than my dad. Not in a bad way. My daddy’s just…quiet. A hardworking man who takes care of his family, and not much else. My mom’s the outgoing one. And my sister…” she trails off. “You know how twins are. We’re almost the same person.”
“Why’d you hesitate?”
She shrugs. “Just…something I’ve been thinking about lately. Out here, there’s a lot of time for a lot of thinking.”
“You ain’t lyin’,” I agree. “What’d you come up with?”
“That I might be a little…jealous of her. Just a little.”
“For what?”
“She has everything,” she says. “A husband who loves her. Kids. A big pretty house. Meanwhile, I’m thirty-seven years old and living out of a suitcase. And don’t get me wrong, I love my life, but sometimes I wonder if I…missed my window.”
“It can still happen. I don’t think it’s ever too late. For anything. You goin’ back to school, right?”
“Maybe.” She sighs. “The thing is, I don’t really need to go back. I already have a master’s degree.”
“I’m confused.”
She chuckles. “There’s a segment of our community that collects degrees like trophies and goes back to school when we’re bored. I’m one of those, I fear.”
“What’s wrong with that? Sounds like you enjoy it.”
“I guess.” She sighs softly. “My life is so peaceful. I enjoy it, I really do. But sometimes…I get to thinking about what it would feel like to share it with somebody. Somebody genuine,” she adds.
“Well, maybe you’d meet somebody if you stopped flying all over the world. Sit down somewhere and look around. You might actually see somebody.”
She looks up at me. I don’t know who leans in first. Maybe both of us. But our lips meet. The kiss is slow and steady, at least in the beginning. Then she opens her mouth and lets me in. I taste her. Breathe her. Lose myself in her.
She pulls back. “I don’t think this platform can handle too much movement.”
“It’s all good,” I murmur, brushing my thumb along her jaw. “We ain’t gotta move.”
I turn her over, getting into spoon position, pressing my body against hers. She takes her panties off, opens her legs for me, and moans when I slide into her from behind.
I drape my arm over her, pressing my lips to the back of her neck. I taste sweat. Salt. I breathe her in.
We lay there for a long time, just like that, quiet, lost in the sound of the waves.
“What are you thinking about?” she finally says.
I’m kinda surprised. Nobody ever asks me what I’m thinking unless it’s about money or music.
“Nothin’, really. Just enjoying being here with you. Bein’ inside you.”
She exhales softly. “Same.”
Damn, I’m hard as a fuckin’ rock, but she was right. This little shit we layin’ on can’t handle everything I wanna do to her. I don’t know what I was thinking suggesting this, but maybe there’s a way to get us both off.
“Can I touch it?” I say against her ear.
She nods.
I ease my hand between her thighs and find her clit.
Since we got all the time in the fuckin’ world, I go slow, tickling and teasing her swollen bud until she whimpers. Every time she squirms against me, she moves a little bit, and that shit feels good as fuck.
“That feel good to you?”
She nods.
“Say it.”
“It feels good.”
“Yeah.” I grab her earlobe between my teeth. “You like when I play with it.”
“Yeah…” she breathes.
“Can you cum for me?”
“Mm hm.”
“Yeah?” I increase the pressure. “You gon’ do that for me?”
“Yesssss…”
Her hips start to move, just slightly.
“Nah, you can’t move, remember?”
“Fuck,” she grits. “I have to.”
“Nah. You stay still and let me work.” My tongue teases the shell of her ear. “I see why you be makin’ niggas wait. I know they be losin’ they minds behind this shit.”
She moans softly.
“Remember you told me you wouldn’t fuck me if I was the last man on earth?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. Now look at you.” My fingers work faster. “’Bout to nut all over my dick.”
“Mmmm…”
“I don’t give a fuck if they come save us tomorrow,” I say roughly. “I might as well be the last nigga on earth, cuz I’m gon' be the last nigga you fuck.”
Faster.
Faster.
“This pussy is mine. This fat muhfucka belongs to me.”
Her body tenses.
“A nigga had to kill a wild animal just to taste this pussy,” I murmur. “When you cum, I better hear you. Tell me it’s mine while you cum on my shit.”
“I’m…oh God…”
“Come on, baby. Give it to me. There you go.”
She grabs my hand as her body goes rigid, then jerks violently against me.
“Lemme hear that.”
“It’s yours,” she breathes. “Fuck…it’s yours. It’s…”
No more words from her, just moans. I close my eyes so I can feel it all, her walls squeezing and pulsing, her body trembling, her pussy leaking around me. She gon’ fuck around and make a stalker outta me. I can already see myself chasin’ her sexy ass around this island like a goddamn simp.
It be’s that way sometimes.
“Oh, shit.” My eyes pop open. She’s doing some shit right now. Her body is still, but her pussy is moving.
“That ain’t gon’ work,” I say. “I mean, it feels good, but—“
“Shhhh.” She lifts my hand and brings it to her mouth.
My eyes drift shut while she sucks her pussy juice off my fingers one by one. My dick starts throbbing, nut rising, heart pounding.
Okay, so maybe it is gon’ work.
Fuck. Her pussy is tugging my shit. She got a good little rhythm goin’, too. I bite my lip as it gets harder and harder to keep my composure. Ain’t never had no bitch make me nut like this. Ari is talented, for real.
“Damn, girl.” I fight the urge to move my hips. “You know what you doin’.”
“Mm hm.” She pops my fingers out, guiding my hand under her shirt and pressing it to her chest.
With my hand full of her titties and my dick getting jerked off by her pussy, I give up and let her work. At a certain point, I sink my teeth into her shoulder to keep from losing control.
But it’s no use.
I bust hard, shooting off deep inside her like I’m tryna make another me.
It lasts a long ass time, too.
“Fuck," I breathe. "You dangerous, girl.”
She gives me a little giggle and turns her head toward me, poking out her lips for a kiss.
And my pussywhipped ass is sitting here thinking some real dumb shit; that maybe being on this island ain’t so bad after all.