Luxe
The sun peeked at me through the curtains.
I stirred in bed and rolled over to find that Ghost wasn’t there.
The night before, that man fucked the shit out of me.
He was on a mission to show me that he was a grown man, and I must admit, he wasn’t wrong at all.
It was some of the best sex that I’d ever had in my life.
I knew given better circumstances, he probably would’ve fucked me harder than that.
It was sad to see that he wasn’t in bed with me. I wasn’t sure if last night was a onetime thing or what. When I sat up in bed, I noticed a note on the nightstand.
I had to run off somewhere. I shouldn’t be gone too long. I got two men outside the door in case you need them.
At least I knew that he got up and left for a reason and I hadn’t run him off. Whenever he made it back, I needed to pry his mind and see where things were going from here.
Getting up from bed, I went into the bathroom just to find that the water was still in the tub from the night before.
I never made it in there to take a bath.
After Ghost put it on me last night, I went straight to sleep and slept like a baby.
That was some of the best sleep that I’d gotten in a while.
I let the water out the tub and then turned on the shower before going over to wash my face and brush my teeth. As I stared at my reflection, thoughts of Ghost slipped right back into my mind. Damn, now I saw why that girl Chris didn’t want to leave his house. That man was slinging some dick.
Stepping over into the shower, I cleaned myself and hummed the first song that came to mind. The mood I was in, I just knew nobody would be able to destroy it.
Once I was done with my shower, I dried off and went into the bedroom to find something to toss on. Since I worked so much the day before, I decided that I wasn’t going to go into the office today. Grabbing my phone, I dialed Brielle’s number.
“Yes, ma’am?” She answered the phone on the second ring.
“I’m not coming into the office today. If anyone is looking for me, tell them I’m unavailable.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ending the call, I found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to toss on. Being at home was great because I could dress down and not have to worry about my appearance. Wearing suits and dresses all the time was exhausting, but I did it for my image.
Exiting the bedroom, I headed for the kitchen to fix me some breakfast. I had to start the day with food. It didn’t matter if I planned on doing something today or not.
As I grabbed the stuff from the refrigerator, I heard the front door.
“I didn’t think you were going to get back so—” My words caught in my throat when I saw a woman standing there.
She stood about five feet four with jet-black hair that was cut into a bob that stopped at her shoulders.
She looked like she was about in her late forties or early fifties. “You’re not Ghost.”
“And neither are you.” She signed as she spoke. That was when it dawned on me. That must be how he knew ASL.
“I’m Luxe,” I signed back to let her know that I knew it as well.
“Are you his girlfriend? He hasn’t told me that he was dating anyone.”
My cheeks reddened. “No, ma’am. He’s just protecting me right now.”
Her eyes wandered my frame. Suddenly, I felt naked all over again. I was sure she knew that something was going on between us. I was standing in his kitchen in these little ass shorts and cooking breakfast. Certainly, she wasn’t a fool.
“Uh-huh,” she said as she fully entered the kitchen. “Do you know where he went?”
“Uh, he didn’t say,” I told her and continued to move around the kitchen to grab everything that I needed to make this breakfast. My stomach was rumbling, and I didn’t have time to keep standing around wasting time. I could multitask—talk to her while I cooked if that was what she wanted.
“I was hoping that I’d be able to catch him. His friend Chris told me that he was back in town. He didn’t even bother to let his own mama know he was back home.”
I frowned at the sound of Chris’s name. She had no business going around telling that man’s business.
“Well, he’s been kind of busy with me lately. I’m sure he was going to eventually let you know that he was here. I have been kind of a handful for him. Sorry.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll just sit here with you and wait for him to come back.”
She placed her purse onto the counter and eased onto the barstool.
“I don’t mind the company. Do you want some breakfast?”
“As long as you know how to cook.” She snickered, but she wasn’t wrong for that comment. There were a lot of people who couldn’t boil water, but that didn’t stop them from getting in the kitchen and fucking up some shit, then got mad when people didn’t want to eat the mess they made.
“Oh, I throws down in the kitchen,” I told her.
I cooked us both breakfast and then sat down on the stool next to her. We ate our food, and somehow, she ended up showing me pictures of Ghost that she had in her phone. He was such a cute little boy, growing up. I could see how he turned into such a handsome man.
He and his mama seemed close. I didn’t understand why he hadn’t mentioned that she was deaf. Honestly, he hadn’t told me much of nothing when it came to his life. Trying to get stuff out of that man was like pulling teeth.
The door opened, and Ghost entered the house. He stopped when he noticed his mama sitting at the table with me.
“Why you didn’t tell me that you were in the drama club?” I asked him, and he turned his attention back to his mama.
“Ma, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I came to see with my own eyes. Chris told me that you were back when I ran into her at the hospital.”
I snickered when she said that because I knew I was the reason why she was there. Mrs. Devereaux glanced back at me. Probably was trying to figure out what I was laughing for.
“She talks too much. I’ve been working a job. I didn’t come over there because I wanted to keep you safe. Once the job was over, I was going to come and see you before I leave.”
“Leave?”
I couldn’t help myself.
“Ghost doesn’t stay here anymore,” Mrs. Devereaux said.
As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, now I had to worry about Ghost up and leaving my ass once the mission was over with. He stared at me with this sympathetic expression on his face. Sighing, he turned back to his mama.
“I’m sorry I didn’t let you know as soon as I made it back.”
“It’s okay.” She went over and pulled him in for a hug.
I stormed down the hallway to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. Though it would’ve been nice to talk with her a bit more, I had to process my feelings.
I’d been in my bedroom for hours before I heard a knock at my door. I slipped my hearing aids out because I knew he was about to come in, even though I hadn’t given him permission to. Whatever he was about to say, I didn’t want to hear it.
Ghost entered my bedroom and stopped at the foot of the bed. His eyes landed on my hearing aids on the nightstand, so he began to sign.
“I know you’re mad.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned over in the bed where I didn’t have to look at him. He could sign all he wanted, but I didn’t have to watch.
Ghost rounded the bed where I was looking at him, so I closed my eyes on his ass.
If I ignored him long enough, he’d leave the fucking room.
Hopefully, he’d get the picture. I was wrong because I felt the bed dip.
He wasn’t going anywhere until I talked to him.
We could sit in silence for the rest of the night if he wanted to.
Ghost was just like the rest of these men. He fucked me and now he was about to disappear on my ass. I expected more from him. I wasn’t sure why, but I did.
I just lay there with my eyes closed in pure silence. Goosebumps coursed my body when I felt his fingertip against my arm. I scooted back from him where he wouldn’t be able to touch me anymore. We lay there in that bed for what felt like hours.
My eyes shot open, and I stared over at him. He sat there with his head resting against the headboard.
“You just don’t give up, do you?”
Grabbing my hearing aids, I placed them back into my ears.
“I understand your frustration, but you can’t be mad at me about something that I haven’t had the chance to tell you about. We just had sex last night. It’s not like I planned any of this. Yes, I don’t stay here anymore, but I still keep the apartment for just in case purposes.”
“So you just plan on fucking me and then disappearing once the job is over?”
“Yeah, well, no . . . I don’t know what I was going to do. I don’t even know what this even means for us. You keep screaming that I’m too young for you. Are you telling me that I’m not now? That you want to see where shit can go between us?”
I nipped my lower lip. “Would I be wrong for wanting to see where things can go?”
“How about we cross that bridge when we get there?”
“I’m not the just go with the flow type of woman. I need direction.”
Ghost cupped me by the chin, forcing me to stare him in the eyes. “I got this. Just let go and trust me.”
I chewed on the inside of my jaw. His lips covered mine, and of course, I lost my train of thought.