Chapter 14
I woke up feeling different. I was in the Same bed, looking at the same ceiling with the same city noise outside the windows, but my body wasn’t the same.
It wasn’t because I’d had sex for the first time in my life or because my thighs and lower back were a little sore from positions I definitely hadn’t trained for.
It was the after.
The way Sevyn had fallen asleep on my chest, leg thrown over my waist. The way my sheets smelled like her hair and her lotion. The way my muscles were loose instead of tight, my brain quiet for once instead of trying to optimize something.
I didn’t wake up with a list in my head this morning, I woke up in bliss.
I laid there for a minute staring at the ceiling, replaying flashes.
Her on top of me, breathless and cussing. The way she coached my hips like she was teaching a class. The look on her face when I slid my fingers between her thighs again after we cleaned up, determined to make sure she came one last time before we ever called it a night.
I still couldn’t believe she’d put her mouth on me like that, taking me deeper than I thought my sanity could handle.
“Okay,” I told myself out loud. “Focus.”
I rolled out of bed, hit the shower, put on a grey Nike Tech sweat suit and white my forces. Packed the cooler and snacks into the back of my truck. Then pulled out of the garage.
When I got back to my building lot after a coffee run, a small brown box was sitting against my door.
There was no logo, only a shipping label.
I frowned, picked it up, carried it inside and cut it open on the kitchen counter.
The second I saw what was inside, my soul left my body.
This nigga sent me a pocket pussy.
And a note on top in Wolf’s handwriting:
FOR PERFECT PRACTICE
I closed the box so fast I almost broke the lid.
My phone was already ringing before I could decide whether to burn it or ship it back with a pipe bomb.
“Take it back,” I said the second Wolf picked up.
He was already laughing. “You open it yet?”
“Yes,” I bit out. “You’re sick.”
“You gotta train in the off-season, my boy.”
“I do NOT need a pocket pussy delivered to my building,” I snapped. “What if Sevyn had come over first?”
“Then she’d know you committed to excellence,” he said. “Like Kobe.”
“I hate you.”
He wheezed. “Nah, for real though. Congrats.”
I paused.
“On what.”
“Don’t play dumb,” he said. “Batman finally got some. I see it in your text cadence.”
“I didn’t tell you anything.”
“You didn’t have to. You talkin’ with more confidence,” he said. “You a man now.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I was a man before last night.”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “You sound like ya nuts lighter. I’m happy for you.”
The sincerity under the jokes took some of the heat out of my irritation.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Don’t act shy now,” he said. “And throw that shit away if you not using it. I got it on Black Friday lat year but I don’t need it no more.”
“I’m hanging up.”
He was still laughing when I did.
I shoved the box deep into the trash bag under my sink, tied it, and carried it straight down the hall to the chute. No way in hell was I keeping that with kids coming in and out of my house on weekends.
When I got back upstairs, Kasey was already banging on my door.
“Open up, pervert,” she yelled.
I cracked it and glared. “Why are you like this.”
She pushed past me into the apartment, Kori trailing behind her in a Minnie Mouse T-shirt, hair in two puffs.
“You really got a training coochie delivered?” Kasey asked, cackling. “Wolf sent me the picture.”
“I threw it away.”
“You shoulda kept it,” she said. “Could’ve used it as a stress ball.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“You love me,” she said, then squinted at my face. “You look different.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do,” she said. “Your aura softer.”
Kori wrapped her arms around my leg. “Uncle Kase! We going to see princesses today?”
“Yeah,” I said, scooping her up. “You ready?”
“Yes!” she said. “Serenity said she wanna get on the teacups but she might throw up.”
“Sounds accurate,” I said.
Kasey’s eyes softened.
“Y’all be safe,” she said. “Text me when y’all get there and don’t lose my baby in a castle.”
“I won’t.”
She hugged my arm, kissed Kori’s cheek, then left us in the hall.
On the drive over to Sevyn’s, my mind kept flipping between two tracks. The logistics of the day—parking, lines, snack timings.
I parked outside her building and exhaled once before I got out.
When she opened her front door, I felt that instant tug at my heart. She wore biker shorts, an oversized vintage Disney tee tied at the waist, sneakers. Sunglasses pushed up on her curls. Serenity’s little hand was in hers, a sparkly backpack on her back, eyes bright.
“Hi Batman!” Serenity yelled. “We going to Disney!”
“Hey,” Sevyn said, smile soft. “You ready, coach?”
The private reference made heat creep up my neck.
“Yeah,” I said. “You?”
She locked the door behind her, handed me one of the tote bags. “Let’s go build core childhood memories.”
The second we walked under the big archway, both girls grabbed our hands and started vibrating.
“LOOK!” Serenity yelled. “It’s the castle!”
“I see it,” I said, even though her volume made sure the whole crowd saw it too.
Kori’s eyes were wide. “Mommy said Grandma took her one time when she was little,” she told Serenity.
“I’m so excited I could scream,” Serenity announced.
“You already screaming,” Sevyn said.
I watched the three of them in front of me—two little girls practically skipping, Sevyn in the middle, her head turning to take everything in, a real smile on her face despite how tired I knew she was from the last few weeks.
My heart fluttered.
This was my life now.
Two kids calling my name in a theme park.
“Batman,” Serenity said, looking up at me. “Can we get ears?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Whatever you want.”
“Don’t say that out loud,” Sevyn muttered, smiling. “She gon’ test your bank account.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
She looked at me, really looked, sunglasses sliding down just enough for me to see her eyes.
“You good?” she asked softly.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just…happy.”
She bumped her shoulder lightly into my arm. “Me too,” she said.