Chapter 18 Shoreline
Chapter eighteen
Shoreline
London had a whole itinerary planned leading up to the wedding Sunday.
Today was our first full day in Tulum, and we were headed to the cenotes.
I knew I needed to wake Nique up so we could get moving, but as I watched her laying there beside me, looking soft and beautiful in the morning light, I couldn't help myself.
I started waking her up with kisses, pressing my lips to the side of her face and down the curve of her neck.
I figured she’d swat me away or groan about her head, but she just moaned a little, and that sound was all the permission I needed. I let my kisses trail lower, dragging my mouth over her skin until I was positioned between her thighs, staring down at her juicy pussy.
“What you doing?” she asked me, her voice thick and groggy with sleep.
I looked up at her, catching the hazy look in her eyes. “We missed breakfast, so now I gotta eat you.”
I didn't wait for an answer. I leaned in, my tongue finding her immediately, and the way she arched her back told me the hangover wasn't nearly as strong as the tension we’d spent all night ignoring. I handled my business until she was shaking under me, her breath hitching as she hit her peak. Once she settled, I popped her thigh and sat up. “Get up and let’s shower.”
She looked at me, her hair a mess and her eyes still heavy. “Do I get the dick in the shower?”
I studied her face. The alcohol was long gone and she was fully awake, which made the question land with even more weight. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Dex, why you acting brand new?” she snapped, sitting up and pulling the sheets with her. “Do my pussy stank or something? What is it?”
I let out a short laugh, shaking my head. “You think I would have ate stank puss?”
“You acting real funny with the dick,” she pressed, narrowing her eyes at me. “You got a new girlfriend or something?”
I laughed again, standing up and reaching for my bag. “Unless you finally agreeing to be my girl, then no.”
“I’ll be your girlfriend while we’re in Tulum if I can get some dick,” she countered.
I burst out laughing and she couldn’t hold hers either. The girl was absolutely relentless. “You ovulating or something?”
She actually grabbed her phone and checked her app. “Damn. I am.”
“I knew it,” I said, checking the time. “Get up so we won’t be late for the cenotes. We already missed breakfast.”
“You had breakfast,” she muttered.
“Touché.”
I grabbed my toothbrush and my clothes out of my bag. Nique didn't move; she just sat there on the edge of the bed staring at me like she was trying to solve a puzzle. As I started brushing my teeth, I caught her reflection in the mirror. “Go shower, Nique.”
“I thought we were showering together,” she said.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I told her around a mouthful of foam. “But you still ain’t getting no dick.”
She rolled her eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck, and I just laughed.
Deep down, I wanted to dick her down properly.
I wanted to pin her against that shower wall and remind her exactly who I was.
But our situation since Jamaica had been a cycle: fuck, argue, and don’t speak for years.
Miami was the same thing: fuck, argue, and don’t speak for years.
I was tired of the cycle. I needed more. I needed forever, and I was done letting the sex be meaningless. If I was going to give it to her this time, it was going to be because she was mine, not just because she was horny in Mexico.
The air was thick with the scent of her coconut wash and the damp earth of the villa's private garden. Nique stood under the rainfall showerhead, her back to me, looking out at the greenery like she was suddenly fascinated by a palm branch. She was giving me the silent treatment.
I didn’t say anything at first. I just reached for the net sponge, lathered it up, and started on her shoulders, working my way down her spine, massaging the tension out until I felt her finally start to release it.
Her shoulders dropped. Her head fell forward.
The water moved over us both and disappeared into the stones at our feet.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I said, keeping my hands moving and my voice steady.
“It’s that every time we let it happen, we end up not speaking for years afterward.
I’m tired of that being the pattern. Even if we never get to everything I want for us, I miss my friend.
I need you to forgive me enough to at least give me that back.
Sex has been complicating things between us for too long. ”
I rinsed the suds away slowly, my hands lingering on her wet skin.
“I need whatever we are when we get back to Mobile to last longer than the flight home.”
Nique was quiet for a long time. Just the water and the sound of the jungle around us. Then she let out a long shaky breath and leaned her head back against my shoulder.
“I miss my friend too, Dex,” she said, her voice barely above the sound of the water. “But you are a real asshole for making me be mature when I’m this damn horny.”
I laughed into her wet hair and kissed the top of her head. “I know. Now move over so we can get to these cenotes before London sends a search party.”
Moments later, I was sitting there, just waiting on her to finish getting dressed. I watched as she slipped into a leopard one-piece swimsuit that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. She twisted around, showing me a view that made my pulse jump, and asked me to tie the back.
“Man, all your ass out?” I fussed, the words coming out more like a growl than I intended.
“It’s a thong,” she said, looking at me like I was the slow one.
“Don’t play with me, Nique. You already had me ready to knock Eli’s homeboy out yesterday. Don’t make me go to jail in Tulum.”
“Boy, just tie me up. I got shorts to put over it,” she said, rolling her eyes.
I reluctantly tied the strings, my fingers brushing against her warm skin. “Where the shorts at?”
“In my bag,” she huffed, reaching for her things.
“Put them on, and you better not take them off.”
“Yes, daddy,” she purred, throwing a look over her shoulder that was pure sin. I couldn't help it. I smacked her ass, the sound echoing in the villa. I was seriously starting to rethink this no-sex plan.
She looked at me, a playful but sharp glint in her eyes. “You know, if we’re going to be friends, you can’t be jealous when other men flirt with me.”
“Girl, put the shorts on and move your ass before your cousin—”
I was interrupted by a heavy knock at the door. Nique wiggled into her shorts real quick before heading over to answer it.
“Girl, come on before you—” Nel stopped short the second he walked in and saw me sitting there. He looked at me, then at Nique, and a massive grin spread across his face. “I want a niece.”
“Boy, what you came here to say?” Nique asked, completely ignoring his comment.
“London told me to see if you were still coming,” Nel said, still smirking.
“Yeah, just let me grab my beach bag.”
“Umm-hmm. Be sure to grab a Plan B, too,” he teased her.
“I thought you wanted a niece?” I chimed in, leaning back.
“I do, but my sister is not Amina. She’s going to need a ring first.”
With that mic drop, Nel turned on his heels and walked out of the villa. I caught Nique's eye, and for a second, the word ring hung in the air between us. I winked at her because that was exactly the type of time I was on.
“Come on, Dex,” She rolled her eyes, breaking the silence.
We walked out and headed down the trail toward the main lobby, hand in hand. We bumped right into the sea of nosey friends and family, and I could feel everyone’s eyes zooming in on our laced fingers. The surprise on their faces was loud.
Amina was the first to break the huddle, marching over to us with her face set in a scowl. “Can I speak to you for a minute, Dexter?” she asked harshly.
“Can it wait?” I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I was finally on a good page with Nique, and the last thing I wanted was Amina's drama.
“Really, Dex?” Amina started getting loud, her voice drawing even more attention from the group.
Nique actually took the high road, which surprised me. She squeezed my hand and let go. “Go ahead. I'ma go see if I can get a quick bite to eat before the vans get here.”
“Aight,” I reluctantly agreed. I watched her walk toward the breakfast area before I turned back to Amina. I followed her to a more private spot near the palms, my patience already wearing thin.
“What is it, Amina?”
“I just have one question,” she said, her eyes boring into mine. “Is Nique the type of woman you’d want Demi to grow up to be one day?”
I felt the words land before I could brace for them. “Excuse me?”
“You set the example for our daughter,” she continued, her voice dropping low and precise.
“You’re the blueprint for how she’s going to see the world and the men in it.
Do you really want a bisexual woman with unresolved mommy issues to be what your daughter looks up to?
Someone who can’t even keep a stable relationship? Is that the standard you want to set?”
I felt the heat rise in my chest, my jaw locking so tight it ached. “Amina, you’re foul for that.”
I didn’t even give her the satisfaction of an argument. I turned to walk away, but her voice trailed after me, cutting through the humid air.
“You don’t have to choose me Dex. Just choose better for your daughter’s sake.”
I kept walking. I knew what Amina was doing. She had aimed carefully, and fired at the one thing she knew I couldn’t easily dismiss. Not my feelings. Not her pride. Demi.
And the worst part was that some small corner of my mind had caught it.
I’d just bailed Nique out of jail. She’d been shot at eighteen.
She was still navigating a life that had never been smooth or simple or safe.
I wanted peace for my daughter. I wanted her to see stability modeled in front of her.
I knew Amina was being calculating and cruel. I knew she’d taken real things and twisted them into a weapon. But a seed planted in the right soil doesn’t care who planted it or why.
I spotted Nique across the courtyard, laughing at something Nel had said, her curls loose in the Tulum humidity, looking like everything I had wanted for sixteen years. But wants and needs were two different things.
I started walking toward the vans, carrying the weight of a question I hadn’t asked for and wasn’t sure I knew how to put down.