Chapter 58 Vincent
Vincent
The exam room is cold as fuck.
Bright, too.
Ari’s on the table with her feet in the stirrups. I’m next to her, waiting. Nervous. Her bouncing knee tells me she’s nervous, too.
She ain’t said much since I picked her up.
Shit, she feels just as cold as this room.
Finally, Dr. Ellery comes in. As soon as I see that she's an older black woman, my mind is at ease.
She does her thing, then smiles warmly after she takes her seat. “Everything looks great. Baby’s healthy.”
We both let out shaky breaths.
“How far along am I?”
“Well, it’s not exact, but judging by my measurement of the baby’s size and fundal height, I’d say between 32 and 34 weeks.”
Ari nods, but she’s still got worry all over her face. And I can’t shake the thought of how she didn’t eat as much as she should have on the island.
“So the baby got what she needed? Cuz we ain’t have a lot of food out there.”
Dr. Ellery nods. “The human body is interesting. Fetuses are remarkably resilient. They get what they need, even when you don’t. Your baby’s weight, heartbeat, and movements are all right where they should be.”
Finally, I smile at that. First good news I done had since I’ve been back.
Now, I relax, listening while Doc talks to us about vitamins, exercise, diet, and what Ari should expect.
After we set the next appointment, I lead Ari to the door. The moment we step out, there’s a fuckin’ camera in our face.
“Fuck!” I step in front of her. “Go back inside. I’ll bring the car around.”
She moves behind me. Once the door is closed, I push through the first man only to see a good ten or fifteen more behind him, cameras flashing, voices projecting a million questions.
I dodge them and speed off, driving my Mercedes around the side of the building, hoping they leave us the fuck alone.
I hop out and help Ari in, buckling her up, my eyes darting back and forth. It’s clear back here.
I close my door, then turn to her. “Sorry about that.”
“How’d they even know we were here?”
“Shit. Somebody in the office, probably.” I put my hand on her belly. “Happens all the time. People gon’ do shit like that when they can get a quick five-hundred out of it.”
“Dollars?” she says, her eyes wide.
“Yeah. Fuckin’ leeches.” I look around, making sure we’re still alone back here. “How you holdin’ up?”
She turns her head, looking out her window. “I’m not.”
The baby kicks just then, and I rub the spot, hoping she can feel how much her daddy loves her already.
“You saw that post.”
She nods. “I know in my head that it’s hard for you, but being away from you right now…it’s breaking my fucking heart.”
Damn.
I wasn’t expecting her to say that.
“Fuck. I’m sorry.”
“I’m hurt,” she says with a shrug. “I wish I could turn if off, but I can’t.”
I bring my hand to her chin, turning her head so that she’s looking at me.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I’d do anything to take your pain away.”
A tear streams down her cheek.
“I couldn’t exactly tell that nosy ass blogger that I wasn’t happy to see my family again, right?” I swipe her tear away with my thumb. “What, you wanted me to be like, ‘yeah, I’m happy to see my son, but fuck his hoe ass mama'?”
She tries to stop it, but the laugh breaks through, along with a smile. “Don’t call her a hoe. Only I can call her a hoe.”
I laugh at that. “How ‘bout nobody calls her a hoe, and you tell me what you need from me. Right now. What can I do to ease your pain?”
She sighs. “Right now, I’m hungry.”
“Aight. I can fix that. What you got a taste for?”
“Meat,” she says with no hesitation. “Heavy meat. I wanna still be digesting it tomorrow.”
I smile looking at her face. Damn, I missed looking at her. Being around her, just us.
I kiss the back of her hand, then give her a wink. “I know a place.”
Benny’s is the kind of hole in the wall that makes you feel like you need a shower after you leave, but it happens to have the best barbecue in all of Atlanta.
Besides, Benny is a family friend. Served in the military with my daddy before he went off the fuckin’ rails.
When he spots me at the door, his face breaks into a grin. “Oh, shit! Look at this zombie muhfucka! Come here, boy.”
He grabs me into a hug and won’t let me go. He smells like smoke and meat, but I don’t mind.
When he pulls away, he extends a hand to Ari. “Pleasure to meet you, beautiful. Congratulations.”
She smiles and shakes. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“I’m Benny, an old family friend. Emphasis on old,” he jokes. “I’ve known this boy since he was just a nut.”
“Aye!” I screw up my face. “Watch how you talk around my lady.”
“My bad,” he laughs, holding up his hands. “I got a potty mouth. Excuse the fuck outta me.”
She laughs. “Benny, I don’t care what you say. I just need you to feed me.”
“I like her,” he says, pointing to the dining room. “Yall go siddown. I’ll bring you the special.”
Once we’re seated, she leans over to ask, “What’s the special?”
“Whatever the hell he feels like cooking,” I say. “Just go with it.”
I glance over at the bar. “Mind if I get a drink?”
She frowns. “Why would I mind?”
“I don’t wanna drink in front of you if you want a drink and can’t have one.”
She tilts her head. “You’re sweet. No, get whatever you want. I’m fine.”
“That, you are,” I say as I stand. “Be right back.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re chowing down on barbecue ribs, smoked brisket, fried catfish, and all the mac and cheese, baked beans, and collard greens we can handle.
“Oh my God,” she moans between bites. “This is the best meal I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Better than my crabs? I’m offended.”
She giggles at that. “You’ll be alright.”
“I will. Now that I’m with you.”
She ignores that, but it’s all good. I’m in a good fucking mood. Starting to feel like myself again, like life is good again.
Benny slides up to our table and smiles at all the carnage. “That’s a huge compliment,” he says of our dirty ass table.
“No it ain’t,” I say. “She’s pregnant. She’ll eat anything.”
“Kiss my ass, little boy.” He smiles at Ari. “Can I steal him for a minute, sweetheart?”
“Mm hm. Steal him. Keep him. Whatever you want.”
I point a teasing finger at her as I follow behind Benny. I already know where I’m going, and I know what he wants. But he’s family, so here we go.
As soon as we pass the kitchen door…
“The fuck are you doing?” he says.
“What you mean?”
“Bringin’ her here! Paradin’ ya pregnant sidepiece around a family business.”
I burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious.”
“Dead fuckin’ serious, boy.”
My smile falls. “Is that the way you see that shit? You think I cheated?”
He makes a face like that should be obvious.
“Nah, fuck that.” I step towards him, my body tense. “You don’t know what the fuck I was goin’ through out there. Not knowin’ if I was gon’ live or die every fuckin’ day.”
He don’t even flinch. “You talkin’ to a nigga that was in Vietnam.”
“Okay, but that’s different.”
“Not really,” he says. “Niggas was cheatin’ there, too. They just didn’t think to bring the bitch back home.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “Judge me all you want, Unc, but you woulda did the same fuckin’ thing. You know you would.”
He smiles. “Well, we’ll never know, will we? Benny don’t fly no goddamn where.”
“Cuz yo ass is scary.”
“And I got good reason to be. Look what happened to you.”
I get serious for a minute, lowering my voice. “You talked to my dad?”
His face softens. “Nah. Not since last time he went in.”
“He gotta know I’m alive by now, right?”
“Not if he’s back using.”
I shake my head. “It don’t even matter. It’s whatever.”
Benny looks out the kitchen window into the dining room, chuckling to himself. “Damn. That girl can eat.”
“Probably makin’ up for lost time,” I say. “Plus, she got my seed in there.”
“She’s older than you, right?”
I nod. “Ten years.”
A sly grin spreads across his face. “Think you can handle that?”
“She pregnant, ain’t she?”
He bursts out laughing. “My nigga. Aye, come on, tell me what y’all want in these to-go boxes.”
As we’re leaving, Ari hugs Benny and thanks him for the meal. When he hugs me, he holds me tight, then says, “You’re doin’ good, son. I see the change in you. Keep it up. Proud of you.”
And even though Benny is full of shit half the time, I believe him about this.
Because I see the change, too.
In the car on the way to take Ari home, I get to thinking. Maybe it’s Summer Walker coming through the speakers, or her perfume, or that it’s a fuckin’ Wednesday, I don’t know, but a nigga is horny as hell right now.
“I miss you,” I mumble. “You miss me?”
Her shrug stings me. “Maybe.”
I wave at the gate guard and pass through, finally pulling up in the driveway.
“You don’t miss me at all?”
She rolls her eyes. “I said maybe.”
“I’m sayin’ though.” My voice drops as I lean closer to her, staring at them juicy ass lips. “It’s been a minute.”
“For me or for you?”
I sit back in my seat. “Nah. Don’t do that. I ain’t touched that girl since I been home.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“The most we did was kiss, and that was when she first saw me. She thought I was dead.”
Her eyes snap to mine. “My parents are at my house, and your fiancée is at yours, so…”
I put a hand on her thigh. “Don’t be like that.”
“It’s true.”
“What about a hotel?”
Her lips curl up at that suggestion. “If you wanna play house with me, it’s gotta be at a house where it’s just me and you. And right now, no such house exists.”
I inch my fingers up her thigh, stopping just short of her hip. “Remember how it was on the beach? With the waves in the background?”
Her chest rises and falls as her gaze intensifies.
“Me touching you.”
She bites her lip.
“Kissing you. Right there,” I say, tapping her bottom lip.
“Right there and there.” I touch her nipples.
“And down there.” I ease my hand between her thighs, touching her over her leggings. “Remember how I used to eat it from the back?”
She nods.
“Remember how you used to cum on my tongue? And how much you loved it when I—“
“Stop.” She blows out a shaky breath, pressing her hand to her heart. “Don’t do that.”
“Come here,” I say, leaning closer. “Lemme taste them lips again.”
“Noooo…” she whines, leaning as far away as she can. She doesn’t get far with the door behind her.
“Baby, don’t be like that. Come here.”
She shakes her head.
“One kiss. Please. You got a nigga feenin for you, Ari. One kiss.”
She bats them eyelashes at me. “One kiss. No tongue.”
“Whatever. Come ‘ere.”
She moves about two inches in my direction. Okay, she still mad at me, but if she’d quit playin’ around, we could both be happy and satisfied.
I close the distance and press my lips to hers, shivering when my dick rocks up instantly. Now that I think about it, it’s the first time I been hard since I got back. Been sleeping next to Shemari’s fine ass for a week now and nothing.
Crazy.
Just like Ari’s lips.
So damn soft. And warm. I kiss her over and over, aching to slide my tongue in, but careful to respect her boundaries.
Then she grabs my chin.
And runs her goddamn fingers through my beard.
She knows what she’s doing. She always knows what she’s doing.
So I slip my tongue past her lips, and we start going in. I steal all her breaths, swallow all her moans, and lose all self control, easing my hand past the waistband of her leggings and into her panties. Which are wet as fuck.
“Shit.” Her pussy feels so good. Hot and wet, just like I remember it. “Need that,” I murmur against her lips. “Lemme have you. Can I have you?”
“Mm mm,” she hums, moaning when I touch her clit. “Just…do that.”
“Play wit it?”
She spreads her legs for me. “Yeah.”
“Like that?”
She can’t answer with her tongue back down my throat.
It only takes a minute or two of me playing with her pussy for her to cum all over my hand. That ain’t unusual. I shock the hell out of myself though when I feel my nut rising. That shit snuck up on me quick, and I can’t stop it.
“Fuck,” I grunt as I cum in my pants. I throw my head back and close my eyes. I wanna feel this shit. Might not get this again, at least not with Ari.
And that would be a shame, cuz this shit right here is elite. The final boss of orgasms.
And she didn’t even touch me.
My heart pounds in my chest. I can hardly catch my damn breath.
“Alright, bye.”
“Wait.” My heavy ass eyelids are hard to open, but I do, staring at her as she puts her hand on the door.
“Why you leavin’?”
“You got what you wanted and I got what I needed. So, bye.”
I grin. “Oh you needed that?”
“Shut up.”
I take a deep breath. “Damn, Ari. Just touchin’ your pussy got me fucked up.”
She shrugs and grabs my wrist, pulling my hand out of her panties. She watches as I bring it to my mouth and suck her off my fingers.
“Still sweet,” I say. “Next time I want it straight from the tap.”
“If there’s a next time.”
“Ari. My love. You was suckin' and fuckin' on me every fuckin’ day when we were on the island. Ain’t shit changed.”
“Everything’s changed.”
I see the pain on her face. I open my mouth to reassure her, but something stops me. Ari isn’t the kind of woman you make promises to. She’s the kind of woman you do shit for.
“Lemme walk you to the door.”
It’s chilly out. Air kinda crispy. I wrap an arm around her and lead her to the door, my other hand full of Benny’s food.
“Tell your mama ‘nem I said hey.”
“I will.”
I peck her lips one more time, hand her the bags, then crouch down to kiss my baby. She disappears into the house without another word, but that’s okay. I saw what I needed to see. Her shoulders were less tense. Her step was a little lighter.
Us being apart was the problem. We’re better together. Happier. I damn near skip to my car now that I’ve seen that woman.
I ain’t ashamed to say it: I need her and I love her. Fuck what anybody else thinks.
I just have to tell Shemari what’s up.
She won’t like it, but I can’t live a lie with her. I don’t love her, and that makes this all very simple.
It feels good to come to terms with that. I feel at peace with it. It’s up.
So it’s perfect fuckin’ timing that as soon as I pull up to my place, I see it—my clothes, shoes, and game consoles scattered all over my fucking lawn.
I step out, staring in disbelief.
Tyrell comes running out the house, his phone in his hand. “I was gon’ call you.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“Only reason I ain’t call you was cuz I knew you were with Ariana,” he explains breathlessly. “Bruh, Shemari’s pissed.”
“About what?”
“Somebody got a pic of you and Ariana leaving the doctor. It’s on all the blogs. Look.”
He shoves his phone in my face, and there it is.
I scrub a hand down my face. “Alright. Book me a room. Now. Then get all my shit off the lawn and pack it up.”
He nods, his face a mask of worry. I stare at the mess and shake my head.
But that’s Shemari. She does shit like this. Instead of opening her fuckin’ mouth, she acts out.
I can’t believe there was a time I thought this shit was cute.