16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Kasha
sometime later…
To say things with Jackson were going good were an understatement.
After we had our talk, we’ve been one accord and slowly building our foundation back up.
We agreed to leave what happened in the past there, and focus on what’s to come.
I left my parent’s house and came back to mine.
It wasn’t like I was there much, anyway.
I still spent a lot of time at Jackson’s townhouse if he wasn’t at my place.
Like now, I was at his place getting dressed to go hang out with Nic and Mel.
We’ve become real close, and by me not having any siblings, I looked at them as the little sisters I never had.
After styling my Malibu locs, I sprayed myself with my Burberry Goddess perfume before sliding my feet into my Gucci denim wedges and grabbed the matching bag from the chair.
Satisfied with my look, I grabbed my phone, dropped it inside my purse before grabbing my shades and keys.
When I made it downstairs, I heard Stacks’ voice coming from the kitchen.
The closer I got, I could tell he was talking to Buck.
When his eyes landed on me, a frown etched his handsome face.
“Man, you got me fucked up,” he drawled.
“The fuck is you talkin’ about?” I heard Buck ask.
“Nah. I’ain talkin’ to you. Kasha just brought her ass downstairs like she’s going to the fuckin’ club,” he revealed. “I thought y’all were going to brunch?” He directed the conversation to me.
“We are, so could you not?” I thought it was cute that he was jealous, but he had no reason to be.
“Aye, what Nic got on?” he asked his brother.
“Nigga, I’ll shoot you in yo’ muthafuckin’ face if you ever ask me what the fuck my girl has on again,” Buck spat. “The fuck you on?” I couldn’t contain my laughter if I wanted to, because these two were a comical duo.
“Fuck what you talkin’. Go see what she has on because Kash over here got me ready to go upside her shit for playing in my face right now.” He never took his eyes off of me and all I could do was simper. A few seconds later, I heard Buck’s loud ass mouth again.
“Goldie, I swear to Mary’s baby daddy, I’m gone knock yo’ head in the damn toilet if you’on take that shit off, bro. The fuck you think you going looking like you ain’t got no nigga and baby at home? You can’t be for real right now?”
I couldn’t hold my laughter if I wanted to.
I knew exactly what she had on because we planned to wear denim on our outing today.
While I had on a short denim shirt dress that buttoned up the front and had slits on the side.
I still had a pair of blue biker shorts underneath.
Nic’s outfit was a denim romper that had her entire back out with a hood attached to it.
I’m pretty sure if Kilo saw what Mel was wearing, he’d break out just to show her how much she had him fucked up.
“Lincoln, please get out my face. I have on clothes, so stop being dramatic. Now give me a kiss so I can go.” I heard Nic say.
“I’ma give you more than that.” Jackson hung the phone up because we both know how that was about to go.
Jace was over there with Keenan, so I’m pretty sure they would be entertaining Benny if he wasn’t already asleep.
Jackson still hadn’t moved out the spot he was.
His eyes were still fixated on me. Walking closer to him, he met me and closed the space between us.
“You tryna get fucked before you leave?” His voice dropped an octave, and his eyes were set low.
He had his hand around the front of my throat as he peered down at me.
The way he was looking at me almost had me about to bend over the counter and let him do just that.
My phone ringing in my purse broke me out of my trance.
Pulling it out, I saw it was Nic calling.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Aht…aht. Leave Stacks’ ass right there and come on. If I can turn down the dick so can you.” I cackled because I was two seconds away from letting my man do whatever he wanted.
“Damn, sis. That’s fucked up.” Jackson pouted, and I thought it was cute. Not cute enough, though.
“I’m leaving now.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up, I looked at Jackson, who was still frowning. I pulled his face down to mine and placed a kiss on his lips. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Man, don’t be gone all day and don’t get too drunk. I got something planned for us tonight.” I blushed because I loved when he planned things for us. It displayed his romantic side, and I loved it. I kissed my man once more before leaving to meet the girls. Had I not, I would’ve never left.
***
“Look who finally made it,” Mel commented with a smirk on her face.
“Don’t do that. I’m pretty sure Nic just got here, and that’s only because she drives like a bat out of hell.” I took my seat at the table just as the server came up to take our order. We ordered a pitcher of passionfruit mimosas, along with an order of ham and cheese sliders and fruit.
“So,” Mel started. “How are things with you and Stacks?”
Blushing, I responded. “They’re better. I didn’t think we would ever get to this place, but here we are.” It felt good to be with someone who loved and appreciated me as much as I did them. Lance only cared about himself.
“I’m happy for the both of you. You can tell he really loves you,” Nic added.
“And I love him, even after I tried so hard not to,” I confessed.
“Was it because of his age?” Mel asked as the server came back and placed our drinks on the table.
“I mean, at first it was. When Jackson started flirting with me, he was twenty-three years old. I was thirty, with a ten-year-old son. I thought, what could he possibly offer me? I had too much going on at the time to be involving myself with my boss’ baby brother.” I took a sip of my mimosa.
“You couldn’t resist that DeLuca charm, huh?” Mel instigated with a smirk on her face.
“You’re the last one to talk.” Nic pointed her finger in her sister’s direction. “You’ve been fuckin’ on this nigga for years and no one knew, so I’m gone need you to be quiet.” I still couldn’t believe Mel and Kilo were a thing. I don’t think nobody did.
“How did that even happen?” I questioned. Hell, I needed to know.
Before she spoke, she refilled her glass.
Once she took a sip, she explained she started messing with Kilo while they were still in high school.
Even though they went to different high schools, everyone knew the DeLuca brothers.
Both she and Kilo were seniors, while Buck’s menacing ass was a sophomore but hung out with his older brother a lot.
She let us know he approached her one day while she was at the mall.
He introduced his self and asked for her number.
Damn near star-struck, she rambled off her number, and they started seeing each other on the low.
It was on the low at the time because he had a girlfriend.
That didn’t stop him from spending time with Mel, though.
When he got locked up, they lost touch until she started working at the prison a few years later.
“So, you didn’t know he was at that prison when started working there?” I asked. She shook her head no. “Well, damn. Talk about the Universe working overtime.” I took a sip of my mimosa because this story was getting better than an urban fiction novel.
“Yeah, that’s how that happened. I didn’t say anything then because I was young and didn’t know any better. Now I’m quiet because my job could be at stake.” She shrugged.
“You’on even care about that job like that. You know Kilo got you. Hell, this whole time I was thinking you were some well-kept side chick. Who time you fuckin’ the leader of the pack.” Nic was never gone let her sister live that down.
“Girl, hush. You got the most ignorant one, so you need to chill,” Mel shot back.
“I still don’t know how you did that,” I joked. “When he called and asked for your information, I knew my boy had it bad.” I laughed at the thought of how desperate Buck sounded when he called me for Nic’s address and phone number.
“He should have. Acting like I was some hoe he could play with. I told that nigga to kiss my ass one time, and he been on me since.” She stuck her tongue out and twerked in her seat.
“Whatever, hoe. Back to you.” Mel pointed her finger at me. “You ain’t off the hook. Spill it.”
“Anyway.” I playfully rolled my eyes. “He was persistent and showed me he was wise beyond his years. He let me know he was serious about being with me. I figured he was calling bullshit, so I had him call every bitch he was fucking on and tell them it was a wrap. He did.” I simpered.
“Knowing that he was young and his hormones were raging, I purposely didn’t sleep with him again.
Not only did I torture myself, he’d proved himself worthy. ”
“He not only proved to me he wanted a relationship with me, but with my son, too. Even when I wasn’t sleeping with him, he’d come play the game with him or take him to the barbershop to get his hair cut. I couldn’t help but fall in love with his young ass.”
“Then why you played him like that?” Nic asked. Yes, me and her were close, but she and Jackson were as well. They were closer in age, so they really did have that brother-sister dynamic.
“I really thought I was protecting him.”
“Did he show you he needed protecting, though?” Mel chimed in.
I sat and listened to them and by the time brunch was over, they had convinced me I needed to go home and apologize to my man…again.
Once we were done, we each went our separate way.
The entire ride home I was in my head about me and Jackson.
He had every right to feel the way that he did because I left him no choice.
He showed and proved that he was more than man enough to take care of me and Jace as well as protect us, and I put us at risk by not believing in him.
I definitely had to make it better. By the time I made it back home, I had made up in my mind that I was done doubting Jackson and let him do his thing.
After I let myself in, I didn’t see him downstairs, so I ventured up the stairs.
When I made it to the room, I heard music playing.
Opening the door, I was taken aback by the display in front of me.
The floor was littered with rose petals leading up to the bed.
Next to the bed was a tray with champagne and strawberries. I simpered at the gesture.
“You like it?” I jumped at the sound of Jackson’s deep voice coming from behind me. I didn’t see him downstairs, so I assumed he was up here.
“Where did you come from?” I asked as he neared me.
“Garage. I was tryna get rid of these boxes before you got back.” He pulled me into his arms once he crossed the room. “You ain’t answer my question. Do you like it?”
“I do, but what’s all this for? I thought we were going out?”
“Change of plans, baby.” I frowned. “And before you start, it ain’t got shit to do with us not going out. I wanted to do some intimate shit for you. You know, to show how I’m feeling and shit.” he smirked.
I scanned the room and simpered. He really did put in a lot of effort. “Who helped you with this?”
Rearing his head back, he looked offended.
“How you figure I’ain do this shit myself,” he countered, causing me to give him a ‘okay, nigga’ look.
“Aight,” he chuckled. “Buck helped me with the shit.” My eyes damn near popped out my head at the mention of Buck helping him.
“Don’t look like that. The nigga ain’t that bad. ”
“I’m not saying that. I’m just…baffled.”
“Don’t be.” He pulled me closer to him. “As bad as I wanted to take you out and show you off, I wanted to get back to us more. I wanted to remind you why you gave a nigga a chance in the first place.” He placed a kiss on my lips that damn near took my breath away.
“That’s not all,” he asserted. “I want you and Jace to move in with me. I know we’re damn near inseparable now, but I want that shit every day.
I want to fall asleep between them thick ass thighs and wake up the same way.
I even wanna use my best stepdaddy voice when Jace gets out of line.
” We both laughed at that statement because the few times he tried to be tough with Jace, it hurt him more than anything.
“You really want me to move in with you?” I asked.
He nodded. “I do.”
I searched his eyes to see if I could find any hint of doubt, and I couldn’t find one.
“This seems to work perfect with what I had in mind for when I got back.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that, mama?” He was now backing me up toward the bed. I knew I had all of ten seconds to tell him what I had on my mind, or it would be null and void.
“I was coming home to show you how much I appreciate the man that you are for me and Jace.” His brow hiked.
“Oh, yeah?” He lowered me to the bed and hovered over me.
I nodded.
“Shit. Come, show me then.” He placed the most sensual kiss on my lips that ignited every nerve in my body. That night seemed to be the start of our new beginning, and I had not one single complaint about it either.