Chapter 23
It was almost four in the morning, and she was wide awake, curled in the weighted blanket on the couch. She’d been here since she ate the takeout alone and stared at her phone. It was almost pitiful how she asked for something, and when she got it, she loathed every second.
She yawned, watching the Mahogany Channel. Movie after movie of black love personified. Each movie was full of hope, love, and redemption. It was almost mind-altering, making her believe she could have that too. Some noble man to sweep her off her feet and swipe away the scars of her past.
Reign scoffed and spoke out loud as if someone were there to reply. “You’re tripping. No one is coming to save you. No matter what it seems like.”
That was years upon years of trauma. The prayer she prayed was answered long before she’d prayed it.
It wasn’t some valiant knight on a horse who’d been sent.
He was a flawed man, littered in tattoos with goons and guns at his disposal.
Everything she needed was in front of her if she only turned around.
“I’m not watching this anymore,” she spoke to herself again. She started to change the channel before freezing. There was a sound at the front door. A jiggle of the knob.
Snatching her phone off the coffee table, she maneuvered to the app he showed her nights ago. She pulled up the camera for the front door, finding Markus outside. Reign dropped her head back and groaned. “I can’t get rid of him.”
She didn’t want to get rid of him. Her brain attempted to pump her full of logic, but that damaged heart of hers was beating again. Whether it was need or irritation, she fought to get out of the blanket and stomp to the front door. She disarmed the alarm, unlocked, and yanked the door open.
“Are you trying to break into a house you own?” she sassed just above a whisper.
“I own the house, not the woman inside. Technically, it’s not breaking in either. I know the code, I just can’t see shit,” he huffed. “Left my damn glasses in the truck.”
Reign looked at him oddly for a few seconds before asking. “Why are you here? At four in the damn morning?”
“Why are you up at four in the damn morning?”
She crossed her hands over her chest. “I asked you first.”
“It seems you’re the only thing that keeps me from not taking pills,” he shared. “And I’m not proud that it’s got to this point. Now answer my question.”
“I don’t sleep without nightmares. I just stay up until I can’t.”
“That’s every night?”
She chewed her lip. “Not the last three.” She stepped back, allowing him to roam inside. “I’m not getting rid of you, I see.”
“You would if you wanted to. You don’t want to, Speechless.”
“Would you stop calling me that?” she huffed, walking toward the hall closet.
“Nah. It’s got meaning.”
Reign grabbed a blanket and tossed it at him. “It doesn’t.”
Markus caught the blanket, removed his shoes, and ambled into the living room.
When Reign joined him, she returned to her blanket on the other side of the couch.
Lowly, she watched as he removed the gun, placing it on the coffee table, and his zip-up hoodie.
Nothing underneath but tattooed muscles and a white tank.
He propped himself up, getting comfortable. “It does actually.”
“And what is that?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you, the way you keep trying to run from me.”
Reign turned her attention from his large body on the other end of the couch to the security app. Resetting the alarm and locking the door, she got comfortable again.
“And you keep popping up like a bad case of herpes or something,” she sassed.
“Damn, you refer to me as herpes, meanwhile you got a nigga too fuckin’ stunned to speak, so I got to say smart shit all the time.”
“You are a liar,” Reign shared. “We established this earlier. That’s why all those girls at the salon can’t stand me because you were whispering sweet little nothings.”
“I don’t whisper sweet little nothings. I fucked them and I moved around. And I’m not lying to you.”
“Oh no? So this isn’t game you’re trying to run on me, so I can be in the number of delusional bitches?” she posed.
He laughed tiredly, looking over at her in satin pajamas and a bonnet. “Nah. I don’t have time to run game if I ain’t getting shit out of it. I definitely ain’t catching another body if pussy is my only goal.”
“Excuse me?” Reign spoke, lifting her head to fully look at his face. “Caught a body for me?”
“Three to be exact. Those niggas at Sunset and your nigga, KC,” Markus stated.
“He was never a nigga of mine,” she shared.
“But he wanted to be. I saw that look in his eyes before I put him out of his misery. One day, when you’re comfortable, you can share the real shit with me.
Tonight, this morning, whatever,” he said, reaching under her blanket to pull her foot out to hold.
“We’re going to sleep. Close your eyes and stop staring at me like that. ”
“Were you going to tell me you killed him?”
“No. I’ll never tell you I slayed your dragons. All you got to know is the muhfuckas are always handled.”
Reign didn’t pull her foot out of his hand. The warmth of his hand and the cool of the space were welcomed. The soft caress of his thumb over her foot lulled her deeper into relaxation without worry. Safety. Protection. Care.
“Speechless. Go to sleep,” he grumbled. “Please.”
She smirked to herself, letting her body fully relax and the sounds from the TV offer background noise as she drifted to sleep.
When she woke up, the spot Markus had taken up hours ago was empty, and the blanket was gone.
She wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked around.
If it weren’t for the noise coming from the kitchen, she would’ve thought he slipped out before she could wake up.
Reign started to sit up, not feeling the ache in her body or fatigue.
Before she could sit up, Markus roamed out of the kitchen into the living room, a plate of fruit in his hand and his tank top completely gone.
The sweats hung low around his waist, showing the top of his boxer briefs.
The glasses on his face only enhanced his features.
He didn’t have any business looking this good in the morning.
“What time is it?” she asked, thankful for the yawn so she could divert her attention elsewhere.
“Twelve thirty-five. You were knocked out.”
“Told you I don’t sleep. Haven’t slept like that in a long time.”
“Me neither. If you’re up to it, I want to take you somewhere today. That’s if you got time for me or you going to give me your ass to kiss?” he quipped.
“Depends if there is going to be a plus one, two, or three,” she shot back. “Or is it four now?”
“You got Motrin in there. I assumed it was for your headache, so I took one of those. I heard when you said you wasn’t fucking with me ‘cause of the pills.”
“Mm. Don’t base your journey on what I say. What I say doesn’t matter.”
“What you say seems to be the only thing that matters.”
“You full of shit, Markus.”
“Say what you want. Your smart mouth don’t change none of it. Eat. That’ll hold you over until we get to where we’re going.”
“So if I said no…”
“You weren’t going to,” he shared.
“And you know that how?”
“You called me Emilliano and moaned in my mouth. Shit different now.”
Reign rolled her eyes. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going so I know what to put on?”
“Dress warm. Wear flats. That’s all you need to know.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“You’re never in danger with me. You should know that by now. Eat.”
“Please has got to find its way to your vocabulary,” she grumbled, picking up the plate.
He leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “Please eat. Please get dressed. Please be ready in an hour.”
“Too many demands. I just woke up and I’m thinking about putting you out.”
“Then I’ll have to break in this muhfucka. That ain’t what you want, Speechless.”
“Whatever you say, Money.”
“Don’t call me that shit. I ain’t Money when I’m with you.”
Reign looked up at him, finding the speck of darkness in his eyes.
“Money is a nigga I pray you never see.”
Choosing to lighten whatever moment this was between them, Reign questioned, “You pray?”
“I’m figuring out my way around,” he said, not biting her bait. “You?”
“Figuring out my way around,” she replied, stuffing her mouth full of grapes to keep from saying anything else.
Markus studied her with a scowl. “You trying to choke and get mouth-to-mouth?”
She frowned and said with a mouth full. “No.”
“Then cut it out. You’ll choke, and then I got to hit you with a few pumps and some mouth-to-mouth, and I’m not trying to go out like that,” he joked.
Reign grabbed the pillow and swatted him with it. “Leave me alone.”
“Oh, she laughs and smiles. I gotta give Svyn another band, I was sure your face was going to crack if you did.”
“Boy, leave me alone,” Reign said, quieting her laughter.
He stole a few pieces of fruit off her plate and sat down, leaving only inches of space between them. “Nah, you’ll miss me.”
“Oh my God, please,” she huffed, standing up. “I’m going to get ready, keep your ass down here.”
“Damn, you think I’m a creep?” he asked with a stupid smirk on his face.
Reign cut him a look. “I think you’re a lot of things.”
Markus reached over the couch to grab her, and she scooted away. “Girl.”
“Got to be faster than that,” she teased, walking away.
Showering, doing her new skin routine, and putting on just enough makeup to cover up the mostly faded bruise, Reign studied herself. She felt lighter. Her spirit wasn’t stirring with constant anxiousness, despair, and fright. It’d been years since she saw an actual unmanufactured smile on her face.
After dabbing the special oil blend Aunt G gave her over the bruise, she followed it with color corrector, liquid foundation, and just enough highlighter to emphasize her high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Dare she say it, she felt – pretty.