~~~Chapter 17~~~
I always prided myself on having a mind of my own, so I hated how I had allowed my sister and cousin’s concerns to penetrate my confidence.
Even hours after they’d left, I was replaying the conversation in my head.
Then the hours seemed to pass slower, making it feel like Malice had been gone forever.
With the way I’d been wrapped into him, I began to feel foolish, as I realized that nothing was guaranteed.
Nigga didn’t even have to work for it. Hadn’t even whispered sweet nothings in my ear.
He was just present with his child, which was what he was supposed to do, and was granted unlimited access to the pussy.
That wasn’t to say that I hadn’t been enjoying myself, but I hadn’t been looking at the entire picture, neither.
I was casually having sex with a man who still had one foot in the door of another woman’s house.
With that realization, I told myself that I needed to do more to protect myself, and or at least readjust how I was moving.
Me and Malice could do us, but I needed to keep in mind that he wasn’t my man.
“Aye, aye,” he announced his arrival, as he strolled across the living room with a hefty bag of food in tow.
Usually, my greedy ass would already be on my feet, ready to sit at the kitchen’s nook to dig in. However, right then, I had an attitude, so I didn’t acknowledge him, as I gazed down at my phone.
“Big Baby, what’s up, girl?” He questioned, as he placed the bag of food on the kitchen island. “You aint talking, right now?”
I peeled my eyes off my phone, and glared at him. “What?”
“What?” He repeated. “Damn, did I do something? What’s the problem?”
I rolled my eyes, while opting to say nothing.
His eyes traveled to Khari who was napping next to me. “Did she give you a hard time without Ms. Shelia?”
I shook my head.
“Okay. So, what’s the problem? You hungry? You wanna sit down and break bread with me?”
Huffing, I eased off the couch. Without saying a word, I approached the island, before sifting through the bag of food.
He’d gotten gourmet seafood from somewhere, including grilled oysters on a half shell, and Caribbean lobster tails.
Knowing that this was right up my alley, I wasn’t mad enough not to eat.
So, I unpacked everything and transferred it to the table, before sitting down. Dragging a chair closer, Malice sat directly beside me, before draping his arm over the chair I was sitting in.
Gazing at me, he gripped my chin, before leaning in to kiss my lips. “What’s wrong?” He questioned softly. “Hmm?”
Sitting there…I felt like the lamest broad on the planet. Goosebumps peppered my skin, as I was awakened by his touch. The way something moved through the pit of my stomach, I knew right then that this was different. I felt something for Malice in this short time that I’d never felt for Zae.
Tucking my lips into my mouth, I decided that I wouldn’t hold back. “I feel some type of way,” I admitted.
He locked eyes with me, letting me know that I had his undivided attention. “Why is that?”
“Because—” I got out, before the ringing of his cell interrupted me.
He pulled the phone out of his pocket, and sighed.
Leaning over, I peeked at the screen and saw that Paisley was calling. “Answer it.”
He furrowed a brow.
“We keep it real, right? There’s nothing to hide…so answer it.”
Sighing, he shook his head, before answering the call. “Hello?”
Although the phone wasn’t on speaker, I was sitting close enough to clearly hear the entire conversation.
“Hey, where are you?” Paisley queried.
“Why? What’s up?” He questioned, while stroking his goatee.
“I’m ready to talk,” she claimed. “So, I’d like for you to come by the house tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll pull up.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, before ending the call.
Gliding my tongue across my teeth, the taste in my mouth had quickly turned bitter.
“So,” he breathed. “Are you gonna try the food?”
I shook my head.
“No?”
“Yep.” I nodded. “I think that it’s time for you to go.”
He leaned his head back. “Go?”
“Yep. Might as well get an early start on that visit tomorrow.”
He licked his lips. “So, I take it that you feel some type of way about that call?”
“Nah, not really. If anything, I’m glad that call came through. Now, I can put some shit into perspective.”
“Perspective?” He frowned. “You do realize that all my shit is still over there, right? My cars. My safes. Shit, my name is on the deed. So, me communicating with her is inevitable.”
I nodded. “Right. I get that. That’s also why I shouldn’t be fucking with you, right now. You have unfinished business to tend to.”
“Not in that type of way, though,” he claimed.
“Yeah, okay,” I responded sarcastically. “And what will you do if you go over there tomorrow, and she tells you that she wants you to come home?”
He exhaled, while shaking his head. “Ion know what you want me to say to that.”
Immediately, the back of my neck grew hot, as I snarled. “And that’s why you need to leave.”
“Leave?”
“Hell, yeah.” I angrily nodded.
“Man, you tripping. I came in, trying to kick it. I got this food. So, I’m trying to feed you, then we can go take a bath together—”
“Well, aint none of that happening. So, you can go grab that bag out of my closet, and move around.”
Obviously nixing me off, he focused on the food, opening one of the containers.
“Oh. You think I’m playing, huh?” I hopped up, and stomped into the kitchen.
I was fuming, as I went into one of the drawers, and grabbed a butcher’s knife.
“Mann,” he drawled, as I spun around, and stalked back to the table.
Venomously, I curled my lips, as I placed the knife to his throat. “Man, what? Huh?”
Malice sat there calmly, like I wasn’t an active threat, and proceeded to bite into a lobster tail.
“Oh, you think I’m fucking playing,” I growled, while pressing the knife deeper into his throat, until it broke his skin.
As he gave me the death stare, I realized that perhaps I’d gone too far. So, I backed up a tad.
“I see you on your bullshit,” he mentioned, sounding reserved. “But I know that you don’t do bullshit like I do bullshit. So, I’ma spare you, this time.” He rubbed his neck, before examining the blood that was now on his hand.
“Nigga, fuck you!” I lashed, while mushing his head.
“Alright.” He nodded, before standing to face me.
“Alright, what? You aint gon do shit—”
I was caught off guard, as he pounced on me, snatching the knife out of my hand, before I could react. Wasting no time, he tossed the knife into the sink, before snatching me up.
“Get cho bitch ass off me,” I gritted, while clucking him over the head.
Once again, he took me by surprise, as he grabbed my thighs, lifting me off my feet. I fought against him, as he carried me over to the opposite end of the sectional, and dropped me on my back.
I was still swinging, as he managed to grip my boy shorts, and peel them off my ass.
“Move!” I shoved his head back, as he was now between my thighs.
He stared at me, willing me to dial it back. “Jaylah, chill out.”
Inhaling, I allowed my back to rest on the couch, and seconds later, I could feel his tongue darting over my clit. I don’t know what type of black magic that nigga was dabbling in, but I swear that my soul left my body, as his tongue flicked at an unnatural pace.
I could hear the sound of my own juices, as he licked my pussy. With aggression, I gripped his dreads, while he was attempting to devour all the animosity out of me. Soon after, my back was arched, as my body intensely quaked. And right then, all that fight and resistance left my body.
***
“Can you get dressed for me?”
I rolled my naked body over in bed to face Malice. He’d just come out of the bathroom from taking a piss. Right before that, he was buried deep inside of me.
It had been three days since I’d pulled that knife on him, and he never did get out like I’d demanded. That also meant that he was a no-show for that talk Paisley wanted to have. And now, she'd been blowing his line up, and I was much too volatile for him to answer.
In my heart, I knew that I needed to give them the space to figure things out, but the selfish me was tired of doing the right thing.
That was why I’d kept my distance from jump.
I naturally had a takeover spirit, and wanted everything my way.
So, I knew that I would never just settle for mere fragments of Khamere.
I wanted it all. But perhaps he wasn’t available to that capacity, because he still loved her, and if that was the case…
it would soon reveal itself, because he was about to be put to the test. And didn’t even know it.
“For what?” I questioned. It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening and he hadn’t mentioned any plans beforehand.
He stared at me. “Can you just do what I asked you?”
“Okay.” I sat up. “Do I need to get Khari dressed?”
“Nah. She’s staying here with Ms. Shelia. And you aint gotta put on nothing too fancy. We just riding.”
“Oh. Okay,” I responded, before scooting out of bed.
I headed to the bathroom and he was right behind me. Together, we hopped in the shower, and washed the sex away. Naturally, after that, we brushed our teeth, I did my skin care routine, before sprucing up my hair, while wearing it down in its naturally curly state.
Since he told me that I didn’t have to do too much, I threw on a simple Alo cropped sleeveless top with the matching biker shorts, along with a Gucci scarf as a headband, with the matching sneakers and cross-body.
Meanwhile, that nigga had thrown on a Gucci tracksuit, which was kinda doing the most, if you asked me.
But I had to admit that a man had never worn Gucci better.
I had peeped early on that Malice was the type to dress fly daily. He honestly didn’t have super laid-back attire and I wasn’t mad at that. Because I definitely appreciated a man who could keep up with my level of drip.