Zoya
I would never admit this to Goo, because I was scared he would try and make us stay with his grandparents again.
Between Gerald and his grandfather, they led a symphony that neither were aware of.
I held onto his chest as he snored like it was him calling the whales home through a shell horn.
Eventually I was able to get to sleep and didn’t remember anything else until I felt him move to pee in the morning.
By the time he was ready to drive back into the city to the resort, I was ready.
I nearly beat him into the Jeep while he kissed his grandmother and aunt bye.
His grandmother agreed to come to the resort for dinner but refused to stay.
This was important to him and as much as I was ready to hike down that hill back to the city, I wanted to support him.
He was so excited and at peace showing me his grandparents’ home and land.
I smiled each time he pointed to a particular childhood memory that he remembered.
He brought me here because this was a piece of who he was.
While I had fallen in love with the man who was deep in the streets and fine as hell, he wanted me to experience the man that grew up in the countryside of Jamaica and loved it.
The man whose family owned acres and acres of land in Jamaica that would one day belong to him. Although I didn’t think his grandmother liked me much, I was grateful she allowed me to stay in her home and fed me.
When we checked into our room, I was completely blown away. Goo spared no expense for us to have a good time here. Wrapping the towel around my body, I stepped out of the bathroom and right into the most beautiful view I had ever seen.
I lied.
The views from Won island were competing with this view right now.
I didn’t think I could ever experience another sunset or sunrise like those, but I was wrong again.
The bedroom had large doors that opened right up to the ocean.
There wasn’t a balcony or wall separating us from the bedroom to the ocean and beach.
The white sand acted like nature’s carpet once you stepped out of the room.
During the day, the staff turned the air conditioning off and opened up the doors completely, allowing the warm air to circulate throughout the room.
The bed sat low against the floor in crisped white linen with red draped throw across the foot of the bed.
A long wooden bench stretched in front of it, stacked with the candles that were lit when we first arrived.
We had been here for a few days and that was about how long it was taking Goo to convince his grandmother to come to the resort. I could have told him that she was just telling him anything. From the way she hugged and kissed his face, I knew she wasn’t leaving from her house.
I leaned in the doorway of the bathroom and took in the wooden lounges that sat directly outside the room, facing the water.
A small table with another candle on it separated the two.
The terrace spilled directly into an infinity pool, the edge of it invisible.
The sound of the water going over the edge of the pool was tranquil.
At night, between the ocean and the sound of the pool, it was nature’s sound machine.
Normally I struggled with falling asleep, but after swimming and taking a shower while listening to the sounds outside, I was knocked out while convincing Goo that I was listening to him.
The room was intimate and intentional, which was Gerald to his core. It was private, so the only people that came by this way were staff. His family was in the other building on the other side of the resort.
When he said that he wanted us to spend time together, he meant every word.
For the past few days, it hadn’t been about sex.
It had been about us just being with one another.
I pulled out cards and that was what we found ourselves playing.
We sat in the back in the lounge chair with our cards and mocktails and were both so happy to be with each other.
The shit talking between the both of us was my favorite.
I could say the most off the wall shit and he would meet me where I had him fucked up at, and we would laugh.
I hated a sensitive man that couldn’t handle my mouth.
It was nice to talk about his time living here and how much of an impact it made on his life.
I tried to bring up Robinson, and he didn’t want to talk about it. Truthfully, I didn’t think he was going to bring it up to his mother, either. He feared it would upset her and he didn’t want to do that to her.
At the same time, it needed a conversation. Unlike my situation, I couldn’t just pull up a chair, snatch the doll, and tell her what up? She didn’t have the mental capacity to tell me what happened or piece any parts of my life together. Maverick could, but he only knew so much.
The only person that could fill those blanks in was Constance and she was dead. My biological father, assuming he was alive, was the only other person that could explain things. Even then, I would have wanted to stab him in the throat for hurting her in the way that he did.
Gerald had the chance to get answers and understand things about his father.
It wasn’t like Sharon tried to keep him away or hide him.
His father had always been hiding in plain sight and Goo just never knew who he was.
I knew who Kevin Robinson was because he had come to the office a few times and had meetings with George.
We were never privy to these meetings, and I was introduced to him, but he always cleaned it up by saying they played golf together.
Even Teddy wasn’t allowed in the room when Robinson and his father were in his office.
The curtains were always drawn, and they remained in that room for over an hour.
He didn’t visit the office often, but the few times that he did I had been there.
One of those times we had happened to be coming in at the same time.
We made small talk, but nothing more than that.
Even in his youth, you couldn’t deny that man wasn’t handsome.
I could see why Sharon was all over that and then doubled it with a second child.
Sometimes toxic dick was too good to let ago. You had to spin the block on it and get the hell out of there. Women often sat on it and stayed, then were mad when they were heartbroken all over again. Ride that shit and then ride your car out that man’s life.
I didn’t have to worry about that because Gerald’s dick was good and he wasn’t toxic. In the case that he decided to turn toxic, I’d have his dick in my Birkin. I’d be damned if he gave another woman what he had been giving me.
This morning he had woke me up and kissed me on the lips and left. He was driving to pick his grandparents and aunt up since his grandmother continued to refuse to leave. He was determined to have her here, and since she wasn’t staying, we were doing dinner tonight.
I bet if she knew her oldest daughter was here, she would have hiked that hill herself.
Tonight was going to be a nice dinner on the beach, and I was excited to see his family all together.
Inez was still in a snappy mood, and Khaos was still not sparing her a second.
With the way my mouth was, it was hard to try and keep quiet.
Inez would be hung from her bed with the words I would use, and I didn’t want to go there. My mouth was vicious when I felt disrespected and this was his cousin. If I proceeded like the way she was baiting me, I knew there would be no coming back for a relationship.
Gerald needed to stop babying her and actually hold her accountable. She could be a mother in mourning, but at what point do you dust yourself off and live a life your son would be proud of?
I refused to believe that she just started doing drugs when her son was killed. Heroine was a hard drug, and you didn’t just go straight to that. It wasn’t my place to speak on that, so I kept my mouth shut.
Tonight, I settled on a coral sheer off the shoulder dress for dinner.
I put on my favorite shape wear that matched my skin tone to hide my panties and bra.
If this was one of those trips, I would have worn my matching thong and skipped the shapewear.
We were around his family, so I wanted to be respectful.
I grabbed my trusty YSL gold padlock strappy heels.
They hurt like a bitch, but made every outfit come together.
Capri sprinted around with these for sport.
I heard a light tap at the door while I was buckling my shoe. This was the part I hated the most about these damn shoes. Then Gerald wanted to be driving up in heels and shit.
“Come in!”
The door slowly opened and Khaos popped his head in. “You decent in here?”
“Got my whole entire ass out, Khaos.”
He chuckled as he came into the room. I continued to struggle with my shoe as he remained in the foyer area of the room.
“I wanted to apologize about the way Inez been acting towards you.”
I paused on messing with my shoe. “Not your place to apologize for her.”
“Acting like my brother, huh?”
I nodded. “Very much.”
He walked further into the room and sat in one of the chairs near the bed.
I could tell that his cousins choices messed with him bad.
It wasn’t his place to apologize for her.
If she felt like ever apologizing, she knew where to find me.
Until then, I was going to keep ignoring her like I had been doing.
“You ever held a secret that you knew would fuck your family up and the relationship with one of them?”
I turned slowly in his direction. “I’ve been the person the secret was withheld from.”
“And how did you act?”
“Not good.”
“You seem decent with your family though.” I loved that Khaos was around but wasn’t really around.