Chapter 16
A few weeks later
“Thank you for coming with me,” I said to Diamond as we drove to Koda’s brother’s house.
“Of course.” Diamond smirked, and I had a feeling she wanted to see if Jacoby would be there.
It was the birthday party of Koda’s niece, and we thought it would be a good time for our families to meet. My family only consisted of Diamond and my father. My dad had something to do, so I gave him the address, and he would meet us there.
Koda and I spent the day before getting gifts for Karisma.
He had gotten way more than he should have, considering she was only turning a year old, but he said he wanted his baby to have everything.
I didn’t even bother with arguing with him, because it was his money, not mine.
I didn’t want to put my name on Koda’s gifts, so I picked out a couple of outfits and sneakers to go with them.
To me, it was never too early to start a child’s shoe collection.
“You met his family, right?”
“Yeah, but not as his . . .” I let my sentence trail off because I wasn’t sure what I was to Koda.
We hadn’t established a title, but I was okay with that.
I hadn’t had a single complaint about what we were doing.
Since this was his first time taking a situation seriously, I wanted him to take his time before he solidified anything.
I was confident in the fact that he was only dealing with me, because we spent pretty much all of our free time together.
On any given day, Koda would pop up at my office to bring me breakfast or lunch, along with flowers.
Usually, it was tulips. He’d even gone with me to shop for things for my clients.
By now, the people at the party supply store knew his name the same way they did mine.
Every time we were together, we had such good times.
There were plenty of conversations about life, but there were plenty of laughs as well.
“Whatever it is, I’m glad you actually gave him a chance. It’s been a long time since you walked around with a smile on your face. You look happy again. You even stopped wearing so much black, and I love that.”
It had been a while since I wore all black like I used to. For the party, I decided to go with a burnt orange maxi dress with some sneakers since the party was in the backyard. I didn’t want to have to walk through the grass with heels or sandals on.
“Koda has definitely brought the color back into my life, but it was time anyway. I couldn’t continue to live my life in mourning. Miles wouldn’t want that for me.”
“Exactly. And I’m sure his family will love you,” she said as we pulled up to the house.
Pink-and-white balloons hung in front of the house, and there were some on a gate that led to the backyard, so once I grabbed the gifts and made sure I looked okay, Diamond and I headed in that direction.
As soon as I pushed the gate open, my eyes landed on Koda as he was talking to his brother. He smiled widely when he saw me, then swaggered his way toward me.
My eyes perused his frame as butterflies came to life in my belly. I was overly attracted to him in every way.
“Hey, Ava.” Koda greeted me, then pulled me into his arms.
I inhaled the scent of his cologne and relaxed against him.
“Hey, Koda.” I pulled back to look at him. “You remember Diamond, right?”
“I do. What’s up, Diamond?”
“Hey, Koda.”
Koda released me, then grabbed my hand. “Let’s put the gifts on the table, and I’ll introduce y’all to everyone. Where’s your pops?”
“He should be here soon.”
Koda nodded, and we walked over to the gift table. The table was full of gifts, and next to it was a table with snacks and candy.
Our first stop was to the grill, where his father was flipping burgers as his mother stood nearby.
“Mom, Dad, this is my lady, Avalon. Ava, these are my parents, Mia and Knight Bishop.”
Mrs. Bishop turned around with the biggest smile on her face and opened her arms toward me.
Koda looked more like his dad even down to the glasses.
I noticed his eyes were the same color as his father’s, while his sister and brother’s were more like their mother’s.
It wasn’t hard to see the resemblance in all of them.
“Hi, Avalon. It’s so good to officially meet you. You did such a great job on the party.” She leaned closer and whispered, “I’ve never seen my son as happy as he’s been since he started dating you. And thank you for taming his wild ass.” She laughed, and I did as well.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Koda cut in.
Mrs. Bishop popped Koda on his arm. “It’s true. I was worried about you for a bit.”
“Anyway.” Koda playfully rolled his eyes. “This is her cousin Diamond, and Jacoby likes her.”
My phone vibrated, so I pulled it out and saw it was my father letting me know that he’d arrived.
“Oh, Lord. I don’t know about that one there. I love him like a son, but he’s going to take a lot of patience,” Mrs. Bishop added.
I told Koda I was going to get my dad from the front while Mrs. Bishop tried to get Diamond to give Jacoby a chance.
When I got to the gate, my dad stood on the other side with a box of cigars and some flowers in his hand.
“Hey, Daddy. You didn’t have to bring them anything,” I told him as I hugged him.
“Can’t go to a person’s house empty-handed. Plus, the way you’ve been around here floating, I have a feeling our families will be spending a lot of time together.”
“Whatever. Come on.”
My father and I went through the backyard and went over to the grill so I could introduce him to Koda’s parents first. I made the formal introductions, and Mr. Bishop was excited about the cigars, and Mrs. Bishop smiled when my dad passed her the flowers.
When my dad and Mr. Bishop started talking about smoking ribs, Mrs. Bishop excused herself to check on something in the house, and Koda took Diamond and me around the yard to meet everyone else.
“Girl, this dress looks good on you,” Mycah complimented when she approached.
“She do look good, don’t she,” Koda said as his gaze fell on me. Heat soared through my body when he licked his lips. I almost shivered just thinking about how the night would end. We already established that he would stay the night at my house, and I couldn’t wait.
“There’s children out here.” Kairo joked as he approached with Karisma in his arms.
As soon as she spotted Koda, she tried to jump out of her father’s arms. When Koda got a hold of her, he kissed all over her face, making her giggle. Watching him with her made me wonder how he would be with our own children one day.
“I know that, but I’m not going to hide my attraction to her either.” Koda winked.
“Whatever you do, don’t try no shit in my house,” Kairo said, making Mycah groan and heat to flood my face.
I would never disrespect their house like that, no matter how bad I wanted Koda.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I informed him.
“Girl, don’t pay him any mind. Kairo acts like we haven’t done some stuff where we shouldn’t have.
” She giggled. “I’m glad you are here. There is plenty of food, and we do have some drinks.
” Mycah grabbed my hand, then grabbed Diamond’s.
“Let’s go have some girl talk, because you two are a special breed. ” She giggled.
I wasn’t sure why she included Diamond in that, but I was sure we would find out. Koda grabbed my face and planted a juicy kiss on my lips, before he sent me away with the girls.
As soon as we sat down, Koda’s sister came in, followed behind a guy who had reddish hair with a beard to match, and his face was full of freckles.
I wasn’t sure who he was, but he looked at her like he wanted to lay her on a platter.
I wasn’t sure if she was even aware of it, because she made a beeline to her father.
The guy schooled his features when he realized we were watching them.
She made her way around the yard, then left the guy with the men before she made her way toward us.
“Is that her boyfriend?” Diamond asked Mycah before I could.
“Nope. That’s Asiah, her best friend, but I think he wants more, but I don’t know because he has some girl hanging around. Karma acts like she’s oblivious, but I think she likes him too.” She whispered the last part because Karma had reached our area.
“Hey, y’all,” she greeted as she kissed Mycah’s cheek.
“Hey.” I stood to hug her, then introduced her to Diamond.
Karma’s face split into a wide grin as she sat down next to her.
“So you’re the one that has Jacoby acting like he has some sense,” Karma said.
That was news to me because, as far as I knew, Jacoby and Diamond hadn’t had any conversations since the night of the party.
“Chile, I haven’t seen or talked to Jacoby since the day we met.”
“That may be true, but I do know for a fact he’s interested. Be careful with that one, though,” Karma warned.
“I’m not worried about him. If anything, he should be worried about me.”
“I know that’s right.” Karma held her hand up, and Diamond slapped fives with her.
The girls and I gossiped for a little longer until the food was done.
Mycah questioned Karma about her best friend and his girlfriend, and she rolled her eyes.
Apparently, she didn’t care for the girl.
I wasn’t sure if the girl was just not good for him, or because she had underlying feelings for him.
It was obvious he had some type of feelings for her because of the way he looked at her.
I could see how they might not have wanted to cross that line, though, because friends-to-lovers’ relationships could be tricky, but they also could be a beautiful thing.
I wasn’t sure if anything would happen between Diamond and Jacoby.
I could tell Diamond was attracted to him, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she had sex with him, but I figured that was where it would end.
Just like Karma and her best friend, only time would tell.
At some point, Jacoby arrived, and he made sure he sat next to Diamond.
“You good?” Koda asked me as we sat next to each other. He made my plate for me, but he kept stealing my food instead of eating what was on his plate.
“I’m great. Karisma looks like she’s having a ball,” I said as I looked over to the bouncy house. There weren’t that many kids here, but the ones that were seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were definitely more adults than kids.
“She is.” He leaned over and placed his hand on my leg underneath the table. “Are you going to plan our babies’ birthday parties?” he whispered.
“Oh, we having babies?”
“Hell yeah. Not yet, though, but soon.”
It was a wonder I wasn’t pregnant already because of the amount of sex Koda and I had whenever we were around each other. I figured it just wasn’t the right time.
“So, Koda, Avalon tells me that you run the Bishop Sunrise Hotel. How is that going?” my father asked.
Koda sat up straight and told my father about the hotel and even told him about some of the ideas I presented him with. He also talked about expanding one day, but he wasn’t sure where he wanted to go yet.
Everyone gave suggestions on where they thought he should go, but at the end of the day, it was up to him. Regardless of what he did, I would support him.
The party went on for a few hours, even after Karisma fell asleep. She ran around so much and had so much cake and ice cream that she couldn’t keep her eyes open.
My father and Mr. Bishop exchanged numbers so they could hang out sometimes.
Everyone helped Kairo and Mycah clean up the yard and returned it to its natural state.
Since Diamond rode with me, she drove my car to my house while I rode with Koda. Jacoby asked her to hang out with him, but she declined.
“I’m glad everyone got along well,” I told Koda as we lay in my bed.
“I knew they would. I have a feeling Diamond is going to break my boy’s heart.” He chuckled.
“It’s possible, but maybe he needs that.”
Koda shrugged, then rolled over on top of me. He leaned down and kissed me.
“As long as you don’t hurt my feelings, we’re good,” he said at the same time he slipped himself inside of me.
Koda didn’t have to worry about me hurting him, because I wasn’t that type of person, and as long as he treated me well, I would always do the same.