Chapter 36
“Speechless,” Markus muttered into the lingering fog of the bathroom. His voice, a rumble, and his shoulders, tight, as she oiled his back down. “I can hear your thoughts. I thought we agreed to let it go.”
They did in the steam of the shower as they washed each other, stealing soft kisses and glances, they whispered an agreement – whatever happened in their past, they would let it go for the sake of moving on.
However, each wore weight and each wanted to exchange it – trading the weight of what was for what could be.
She stopped briefly and watched him turn to her. “That’s not what I’m thinking about.”
“What are you thinking about?” he posed, studying her. Ringlets of hair slowly dripping water over her bare shoulders, the towel wrapped around her and tucked under her arms, her eyes free of secrets.
“My mother. The prayers she whispered when she thought I wasn’t listening. All her warnings of what life would be if I weren’t under her roof. And while she chose that man over me, she wasn’t wrong. I just…I want more, you know?”
“More like?” he quizzed as he swiped a wet coil from her face.
“More than what I was given and more than what was taken from me. I’ve never felt like this before. Secure. Seen. Respected. This is real, right? The way I feel is real? You’re not going to build me back up and drop me, are you?”
Markus closed the small space between them and tenderly cupped her face. “Nah. You like sunshine. Warmth on a niggas face reminding me that life ain’t so cold. You got me making all my plans around you. Two days away from you felt like I was unraveling.”
Reign rose to her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his.
In one swift move, Markus picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Compared to how he entered hours ago, Reign was anticipating his force, silently telling herself that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.
As he handled her like a gem, she knew his words were the truth.
She was his sunshine, the light he couldn’t capture in a bottle but could marvel over.
And he did. Every kiss, touch, lick, and thrust was one of care of rooted emotions – beyond the physical connection they had.
She whimpered in his ear, pulling the subtle sweetness of her yoni from his tongue and lips. “So good, Emilliano.”
The croon of his name made his strokes heavier, combating the rising tide of her ocean and the grind of her hips against him.
He moaned into her mouth, pushing her leg up so he could watch her body squeeze and cover him.
Reign’s hands glided over his body and hers, finding herself slipping into the abyss without fear or worry.
“Speechless,” he groaned. “Eyes up.”
She fought to open her eyes.
“You’re mine,” he declared with a shuddered breath. “I’m yours. Ain’t nobody taking you from me, and a nigga ain’t coming off of you. Hear me?”
“Yes,” she breathed. “I hear you.”
Reign reached up and pulled him back down by his chains, nipping at his lips. “It’s us.”
“It’s us,” he groaned as she used her legs to change their positions. Now riding him, she looked down into the cognac hues of his eyes and chuckled through the ecstasy of their forming soul tie.
“Look at you, glowing and shit. Wrapped around me and blooming. You so fuckin’ beautiful, Reign,” Markus declared.
“You are, too.”
They rose and fell together, tangled in the sheets, listening to their pants morph into even, relaxed breaths. The pads of Markus’ fingers lightly caressed her bare skin, hers tracing over his scars and tattoos.
“My mother used to pray, too. Sometimes that shit haunts me in my sleep, and it shouldn’t.
It’s like my demons warring with the angels she summoned from heaven to protect me,” Markus shared, and Reign was sure to take in every word.
“Got to be because there’s no other reason I’m not in a grave yet.
I never slept a full night without liquor, weed, and then the pills before you.
I see every face of every soul I snatched from niggas bodies. ”
“Does it make you rethink all of this?” Reign asked in a raspy tone. “Make you reconsider the space you’re in.”
“I’ve been doing this shit for a long time.
It’s the first one – my pops. The rage, like I was watching it happen outside of my body.
All the blood, Nia’s cries. It echoes and then, like a chant, that prayer.
Protect my children, God please,” he paused to still himself.
“It’s like the spirit of her is my warrior.
You remind me of her. Soft, quiet but not weak.
To answer your question, no. I’ve never known anything but this.
Hustling will always be in my blood. I’m a product of it.
It’s just time not to be so close to the front line. ”
“You can still be a leader from the back,” Reign spoke.
“You really think we can make this something untouchable?”
“As long as you’re smart about it and you trust yourself.
And you keep letting those whispered prayers guide you.
It’s not about how you start, Emilliano.
It’s how you finish. And when you’re old and gray and you’re looking at your children – if you want them – and your legacy and you know that you gave it your all, that’s all that matters. ”
Markus looked down his nose at her. She hadn’t moved from her position – head on his chest, leg over his, fingers tracing over his skin. “Why’d you say it like those won’t be our kids and our legacy?”
“Because I’m no longer in the business of believing in fairytales,” Reign shared, prompting him to kiss the top of her head.
“Let me restore that shit. You’re ghetto black knight type shit.”
Reign giggled and rolled out of his hold. He rolled over behind her, wrapping her up in his arms.
“You giggling, and I’m for real. Dare I believe in fairytales too? This is our shit, though. We write the story how we want, but in the end, it’s us standing looking at our legacy.”
“Ohh, ladies, I think he likes us,” Reign joked, settling into his arms.
“You know what this is, act like it.”
Reign drifted to sleep like she’d been deprived of it while he was away. It was surreal how he uncoiled her from the pits of trauma and wrapped her in this. She wouldn’t call it love, she’d call it the beginning of something she would hold close. As close as possible to protect it.
When morning came, Reign was greeted by her favorite sight – Markus bare-chested in the kitchen making breakfast. A pleasant smile settled across his face before he looked up at her. She was clad in his t-shirt, her hair a large nest of curls due to her not putting her bonnet on.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Something about you first thing in the morning got me thinkin’ about cancelling everything and laying up with you,” Markus admitted.
“You have far too much to handle to be laid up in here with me. Plus, Aunt G texted me and I’m due at the Majestic Club for a girls’ lunch.”
Markus raised his brow and then buzzed. “You know now you can’t run away from me. The whole family will be out to find you.”
“I am very aware of that, and Nia will lead the charge. Cyn might kill me, though, and help you look for me.” Reign said it as a joke, but the truth was underlying.
“What you mean by that? The Cyn shit.”
Reign shrugged and stood by him, arms crossed, foot propped atop the other. “She doesn’t like me. Hasn’t liked me. When I’m around, she acts like I don’t belong in her space. The two times I was around her were enough for me. Doesn’t bother me, though. I’ve just had my fill of women like her.”
“Women like her?”
“Insecure and desperate. Those are the types that’ll burn your house down and play the victim, knowing they set it on fire.”
“She someone I should watch?”
“I think Nia has a good eye on her. But I wouldn’t put anything past her and Brantley. Unloyal people tend to fly together. I wouldn’t let B out of your sight either – not unless that’s the plan?”
“No business at breakfast. But it is. I want Javi to think he has one up on me.” Markus plucked a few grapes off the vine and motioned for her to open her mouth. “No more business at breakfast.”
“Ohh, rules. You’re running a strict program,” Reign joked.
“Following the leader,” he returned.
“Oh, I’m the leader now?”
“Been the leader, a nigga had to adjust to get you. Chasin’ your ass all over the city.”
“I mean, you’re good at it. I should run off right now.” Reign smirked as she looked up at him. “How do you plan on keeping me?”
“You play too much. Adjusting, stretching. Being sure to make room so I can hold all that you are. All that you’ll bless me with.” There was a light in him she hadn’t seen before. “Got me counting my blessings. That’s an adjustment.”
“You deserve to feel the blessings of adjustment.”
He leaned over to quickly kiss her lips. “You do too, and don’t forget that shit.”
“I won’t.”
Reign pulled her skirt over her hips as Markus watched from the ottoman.
“All of this food,” she huffed.
Markus chuckled. “It’s the food. It’s the dick. It’s the care.”
“You had to hype yourself up, huh?” Reign toyed. “It is all of those things. I’m going to have to go up a size. Never thought I’d say that again.”
“You gon keep sayin’ it too. And a whole lot more shit too. Aunt G is sending a car, or do you want me to drop you off?”
“She’s sending a car, but I was thinking. I have a little savings now. I can get a car.”
Markus groaned. “I don’t know about that.”
Reign spun around to look at him. “Because…”
“Not for control or no shit like that. I like our rides. I like you to my right, outside of that, I go all day without you. I’m not saying I won’t get you a car. I’m just expressing I like you with me.”
“I didn’t ask you to get me a car, though. I can afford a Honda, Emilliano.”
He erupted in laughter and pulled her down onto his lap. “You’ll never drive a Honda. We’ll find you something this weekend. But I am curious about your lunch with my Aunt. It’s more than a girls’ lunch.”
Reign giggled and kissed his lips. “It might be. I’ll let you know how it goes over dinner?”
“Noodles?”
“Please. Corner booth, SuQuan’s?”
“Whatever you want, baby. Whatever you want. Give me another kiss, I need something sweet before I have to deal with these niggas.”
Reign straddled his lap and kissed his lips slowly, her hips lightly grinding against his lap. Her motion coaxed his fingers to find her center and slip into her depths. She moaned.
“You asked for a kiss.”
“I changed my mind. I’m allowed to do that?” Markus asked, nipping her lip, chin, then kissing her neck. “If I smell you during the day, it keeps me cool.”
A giggle fused with a moan left her lips. “You know that’s not true. You’re just greedy.”
“I am,” he admitted.
“I can’t keep your aunt waiting,” Reign attempted to muffle her moan to no avail.
“Just a taste.”
“Uh uh. You said just a taste after breakfast, and I ended up holding on to the counter. I’m not complaining, we just don’t have the time,” she moaned, trying to get her hips to stop moving. “Milli, baby. I got to go.”
“I got to go, too. Tell your pussy to let me go,” he groaned, lifting her sweater up so he could suck her breasts.
“Shit,” Reign huffed, reaching between them to free him from his sweats. “Five minutes. You have five minutes.”
Markus removed his fingers from her depths, pushed them into her mouth as she eased her wetness around him. Markus hooked her leg, placing it over his shoulder. He pumped upward, ushering them both into another release before the doorbell chimed and their phones started ringing.
Reign panted. “I told you.”
“I lose myself in you,” Markus admitted, kissing her neck as he lifted her for one last pump.
Reign cupped his face before removing her body from his lap. “You do this on purpose. You want to be leaking out of me and have me feeling you every time I move?”
Before Markus could answer, Reign had his dick in her mouth, sucking their juices from it. Right before they got caught up again, she kissed the tip and stood up. As she duck walked to the bathroom, she huffed, “There’s not enough time in the day. Why do I want to be in your skin?”
Markus trailed her into the bathroom. “Yeah, the same way I need to smell you.”
Reign buzzed as she cleaned herself up. “You sound like a man lost in the sauce.”
Markus lightly tapped her ass as she pulled herself back together, kissing her cheek. “And don’t forget it. Tell my annoying ass sister all she has to do is ring the bell once. Anything more is going to get her fingers broke.”
Reign laughed. “You won’t touch a hair on her head.”
Markus chuckled. “Yeah, you right. And I don’t want no smoke off my nigga about her either.”