Chapter 11
I flipped three pancakes onto the plate in my hand, spun, and slid it across the table toward Drake.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome.” I surveyed the table, making sure everyone had a plate and utensils. “Anyone need anything else while I’m still standing?”
“Can you get me apple juice?” Leann batted her eyelashes at me.
“Yeah. I got you. Anybody else?”
“I’ll take more milk,” Joss stated.
I nodded, walked to the fridge, got their drinks, and brought them back. Then I plucked Junie up so Leann could eat uninterrupted.
Baby Junie wasn’t a morning person and never had been one, so she wrapped her little arms around me and buried her face into my chest. I rubbed her back while I nursed my coffee, having already eaten my breakfast.
When everyone finished breakfast, Drake headed out for the day while Joss and Xy got to work cleaning the kitchen.
Leann took Junie from me and I made sure everybody was good before I headed out to the mechanic shop.
I’d already taken Selle’s car apart. I just needed to put the new gasket in and put it back together.
I’d gotten the shop where I worked to reserve space in the garage, so I was good to go as soon as Kiano showed up with the part.
It had been on backorder but it was supposed to be delivered sometime today.
I did a few oil changes, swapped tires out, and changed a starter while I killed time. Kiano showed after more than half of my shift had gone by. I wiped my hands on my uniform pants and held one up to block the sunlight pouring in as I closed the distance between us.
“What’s up?” I dapped him once he was close and accepted the box.
“What’s up?” His eyes trailed over me and for a brief second it made me nervous.
Over the past week we’d texted back and forth every day, sometimes mentioning what we’d seen on the cameras in Selle’s house and others just to talk about what she’d posted on her cam site since I wasn’t subscribed.
He was funny, and honestly, I liked talking to him.
Every once in a while I thought about the night he, Selle, and I had shared but I didn’t bring it up and didn’t let myself think about it for too long either.
I couldn’t lie. The more I got to know Kiano, the better he looked to me. At least that was what I thought now, face to face with him. We hadn’t seen each other in nearly a week, and for some reason, looking at him today wasn’t the same thing as looking at him several days ago.
He took half a step back then another.
“You can stick around,” I blurted.
A smile crossed his face. “Can I?”
“Yeah. If you want to.”
“That could be fun. I’m down.”
“Alright. Come on.”
I rattled off instructions he would have to abide by in the garage and he readily agreed. Then I led him toward Selle’s car and immediately got to work. I was about twenty minutes in when I realized I’d zoned into my work and neither of us was speaking.
“You going to help or stand there and look pretty all day?” I asked.
“So you think I’m pretty?” Kiano teased.
“You a’ight.”
Kiano laughed immediately.
“You know it’s not illegal to like men as a man anymore, right?” he asked.
“Yeah?” I set the tool I was using down and rubbed my hands on my pants before turning toward him.
“What are you so afraid of, Stone?” he asked.
“I’m not scared of shit. If I liked men I’d say I liked men. I don’t.” I exhaled. “I just… kind of like you, I guess.”
“Well that’s something to unpack, huh?”
“Not really.” I crossed my arms and leaned against Selle’s car. “I want to be with Jiselle and we both know that. Just because I think you’re attractive and you sucked my soul out through my dick that one time doesn’t mean I’d ever throw that away.”
“Let’s be serious, Stone. Why would I ask you to throw that away?”
That question sat with me. He was right. He wanted Selle almost as much as me. There was no way he would give her up, whether he liked me or not.
“So, what are you saying, Kiano?”
“That we can just let this truce remain in place indefinitely. I won’t try to get Jiselle to dub you. You won’t try to get her to get rid of me. We’ll coexist, and if we happen to mess around every now and again, she’d—and we’d—love that,” he said simply.
“That sounds like a win all the way around to me,” I admitted. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
“There’s always a catch,” I mumbled as I looked beneath Selle’s hood. “You know tools?”
“I know a little.”
“A’ight. You’re my assistant then.”
“Alright.”
We jumped into working again and I was easily back in my flow, having Kiano hand me things or adjust the light above while I worked. It took me a second to realize he was talking to me about an hour into us working together.
“What?” My eyebrows knitted and I glanced at him.
“Siblings,” he repeated. “Do you only have the three?”
“Nah. I have five actually. One older and four younger.”
“Damn.”
I chuckled. “What about you?”
“The one and only.”
I nodded. “I can see it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged and got back to work.
“Yeah, okay.” Kiano exhaled. “For someone who said they like me, you suck at showing it.”
“You’re going to really dig into that statement, aren’t you?”
“You put it out there.”
“I know.” I nudged my head to the right and he automatically shifted the light. “Maybe I’m just hard to read.”
“Well, that’s bullshit and we both know it,” Kiano accused. “You don’t have an issue telling Jiselle how you feel about her.”
“I’ve also known her for two years.”
“So you have issues letting people in?”
“I liked you a little bit more when your mouth was full,” I deadpanned.
Kiano laughed and the sound made me chuckle.
“Look, man, I like the way shit has been going and if it doesn’t have to change, cool, but I’m not…” I paused while I tried to put my thoughts into words.
How did I say I wasn’t trying to commit to anything, even knowing this was very obviously a commitment. We were going to be together through Selle, whether we wanted to or not. It was evident we both wanted to, but that didn’t mean…
I exhaled.
“Nobody’s asking you to come out of the closet or something, Stone. Fuck. Breathe.”
“The same way Jiselle isn’t in a rush to label shit, neither am I. If it comes up, cool, but until then…” I shrugged.
“Until then you’re cool with fucking my throat but you draw the line at holding my hand?”
I dropped the tool I was using and faced Kiano. He was slightly shorter than me but met my gaze. I hated how I could tell he was reading me like a fucking book.
“Is that what you want? For me to hold your hand when I hold Jiselle’s hand?
” I asked seriously. “Huh?” I reached over and grabbed his hands.
He cut his eyes at me. “Obviously I’m fine spending time with you when you aren’t…
” I paused, closed my eyes, and exhaled again.
“Look, I said this shit before but I’m going to say it again.
I don’t like men. I just like you. That’s it.
Trust me. I’ve been doing the fucking research. ”
“Oh yeah?” Kiano lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head.
I didn’t feed into it.
“Are we good or not?”
“We’re good.” He nodded once.
“Good.” I let his hands go and he reached forward and ran his hands along my shirt, wiping away the dirt I’d gotten on them.
I looked at the trail he’d just created and took a deep breath because I hadn’t been lying.
Kiano had an effect that no other man ever had on me.
I’d checked out gay porn. It hadn’t done anything for me.
Even just imagining shit while I stroked myself didn’t do it for me when I thought about random men. It was only Kiano.
I didn’t know what that meant for me or my sexuality but part of me didn’t care. Shit. Selle didn’t, and honestly, her opinion was the only one that mattered.
My brothers would love me no matter what or who I did.
There was a chance my father would be a homophobic piece of shit but that nigga was locked up and had bigger fish to fry.
Shit. I wish I would let a nigga who’d gotten a crackhead pregnant and was now serving federal time ever criticize my mothafuckin’ decision making skills, especially knowing I was raising his kids.
“If I have to share Jiselle with anyone, I’m glad it’s you.” Kiano’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
We smiled almost in sync and I immediately felt the pull between us. Kiano’s eyes jumped down to my lips and back. I automatically repeated the move.
“Stop thinking about it and just kiss me.”
I chuckled but I couldn’t lie, he was right. I was thinking about it.
Having a man who Selle had made drop to his knees in the middle of a bar and consistently called a “good boy” hoe me was a lil crazy.
My hand lifted and I thought about grabbing his face but paused when I realized how dirty my hand was. I let it fall back to my side. Kiano took a step closer then took the lead. He gripped me by the neck and I tilted my head so our lips met.
Shit. It was our first kiss.
I was kissing a man… and I liked it.
I liked Kiano.
He grabbed my face while we kissed and I shoved my tongue into his mouth. My hands went to his waist and I pulled me closer. I could feel his dick getting harder against mine and that realization had mine getting harder in return.
Kiano pulled back first.
“That give you any clarity?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “You’re going to end up being mine just as much as Selle is,” I said simply.
He chuckled. “You believe that?”
“I know it,” I said. “I already have y’all.”
“You always this cocky?”
“Always. When you’re one of six kids, you learn real quick to hold on to the shit you care about real tight before somebody else gets to it.”
“So you care about me?”
“I mean, there’s gotta be some shit there if you’re the only nigga who can…” I shrugged but didn’t finish the thought. “What time is your date with Jiselle?”
“I’m picking her up at eight.”
“You nervous?”
“As fuck,” Kiano admitted.