Chapter 3 #3
Najee moved through the house in silence, eyes scanning for anything that felt out of place. But it wasn’t what was there, it was what was missing. It was as if all traces of him had been erased except a few pictures in frames scattered about.
He ventured into the kitchen, noticing the fridge didn’t have his favorite juices that she claimed to love too. She had cooked breakfast but clearly didn’t have time to wash the dishes. Another red flag that he tried not to let throw him off.
Renae didn’t let dishes sit except for a cup here or there.
Pots, pans, and plates with food scraps would get cleaned before she left the kitchen.
There were a few new appliances, added magnets on the fridge, and even a different cereal he didn’t recall her liking in the pantry.
Taking everything in, Najee felt like he had stepped into a version of his life that kept on going without him.
And it had, but damn . This was yet another reality check.
A sense of belongingness washed over him when he made it to the bedroom.
The bed was made, and his clothes were still inside the dresser.
They were in the closet, too, but the space still felt empty.
Like he wasn’t supposed to be there. Tilting his head backward, Najee stared at the ceiling like there were answers up there.
Like God would lean down and whisper what he was looking for.
Honestly, Najee wasn’t even sure. What he did know was that he felt like a visitor in his own home.
After plugging his personal and work phones into the charger that was still on the side of his bed, Najee peeled off his clothes.
Even the laundry basket where he discarded his threads was new.
He turned the shower on before using the toilet.
It felt like forever since he had the luxury of pissing and taking a shit in peace.
He stepped inside the shower, let the hot water run over his head, and closed his eyes.
Steam clouded the bathroom, mimicking his thoughts.
This wasn’t how he pictured coming home.
Tucked away in his cell, he dreamed of Renae welcoming him with hugs, kisses, happy tears, some sloppy ass head, tight pussy, and a home-cooked meal.
All he received was silence and contemplation. Regret damn near settled as well.
By the time he stepped out, drying off and wrapping the towel around his waist, over an hour had passed. It felt good to be on no one’s time but his own. After putting on lotion, brushing his teeth, flossing, and cleaning his ears, Najee threw on a fresh white tee and sweat shorts.
With a growling stomach, he grabbed his personal phone and headed back downstairs. He took a seat on the couch and yawned. The lockscreen was flooded with notifications that he didn’t bother checking. Unlocking it, he was about to make a call when he heard the garage open.
Najee sat up on the couch, and his heart began to beat a little quicker. He smiled, hearing Renae yap on the phone, missing the sound of her voice that wasn’t through a jail call.
“Girl, yes. I’m about to take a nap and be of no use for the rest of the day,” she said, entering the garage door.
When she stepped into the living room, Renae looked like she’d seen a ghost. Not in a fearful way, but more like her soul... her heart, had returned to her body. He’d taken both when he left. Mouth ajar, she dropped her purse and her phone where she stood and ran to where Najee was sitting.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, falling into him.
Najee tried standing, but she’d rushed him so quickly, they fell onto the couch. Renae threw her arms around his neck and straddled his lap, eliminating the space between them.
“Baby,” she cried, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
“Shh. It’s okay. I’m home,” Najee soothed, rubbing her back.
“I missed you so much,” she whispered against his shoulder. “I missed you so much,” she repeated herself, hugging him tighter.
Her body molded to his like it was meant to be.
He held her, arms wrapping tightly around her waist, and grounding them both.
He felt her heartbeat against his solid chest, rapid and steady all at once.
She needed this hug more than he did. The thing was, Najee didn’t know what he needed right now. He was conflicted in the worst way.
The scent he dreamed of smelling on her skin didn’t hit him like he thought it would. She was wearing something new. It wasn’t unpleasant... just not anything he was familiar with.
She kissed his neck and face before pulling back to look at him.
Her eyes were glossy with tears of joy. The real kind that you get when someone you love walks back into your life after making it through a season of uncertainty.
Najee smiled, running his hands up and down her body.
She’d gotten much thicker, but he wasn’t complaining.
“You look good, baby,” he complimented, wiping a lone tear from her cheek.
“You do too,” she said quietly, voice a little hoarse. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”
Najee swallowed, searching for the politically correct words to say. It was only day one of being out, and he didn’t want to argue, but his spirit was disturbed. So, he went with the safest answer.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
She gave a soft laugh and ran her thumb over his untamed brow. “Well, you did. Got me crying, looking a mess.”
“Crying like somebody died,” he tried to joke, but it fell flat somewhere.
Renae’s eyes misted again, and she smiled but not as brightly. “It felt like a part of me did.”
That made Najee pause.
He studied her. How her eyes bounced across his face, searching, longing, and apologizing without words.
She was beautiful, no doubt. Pecan-colored skin, brown eyes, a short but shapely frame, and the most adorable laugh drew Najee in all those years ago.
He knew as much as he could learn and know about a person over the course of five years.
Something in her expression didn’t sit right.
It wasn’t the kind of guilt she had when she spent too much money on unnecessary shit at the mall.
Or when she fell asleep while waiting up for him to come home.
It was more layered, like she was trying to remember the rehearsed lines she’d say during their reunion but had been given a new script last minute.
Najee’s presence had caught her off guard. Knocked her off her square.
“You good?” he finally asked.
Renae nodded fast. Almost too fast. “Yeah. I just...I didn’t know when exactly you’d be out. I was gonna be here, I swear. I just ran to grab something real quick, and?—”
“I didn’t ask all that,” Najee cut in, gently but firmly. “I just asked if you were good.”
She blinked, lips parting like she had to reroute her whole answer and rewire her brain. “Yeah,” she said again, quieter this time. “I’m good. Just… trying to wrap my head around you being here.”
Najee’s first instinct was to nod his head, but he didn’t.
“You’d tell me if something were wrong, right? I ain’t coming home to no bullshit, am I?”
“No, baby. I promise you’re not. Nothing is wrong now that you’re home. I’ve just been all over the place, missing you and going through some stuff at work.”
“Speaking of work... don’t you work on Fridays?” Najee asked.
“I took a sick day.”
His brow raised. “For what? You sick?”
He palmed her forehead, trying to gauge her temperature. Renae laughed.
“No. I wanted to sleep in. That job stressed me out all week. Then, I met my sister for breakfast, and we went to TJ Maxx before her shift,” she explained.
Najee nodded. It wasn’t unlike her to call off from work and link up with her sister. The only reason he was tripping was because of how she’d been moving the last few months.
“A’ight,” he said, kissing her lips.
He squeezed her ass and massaged it as their kiss deepened. Renae moaned against his lips and smirked when she felt him harden even more underneath her.
“Mmm, someone missed me,” she mumbled against his mouth.
Najee was trying to get into it, and clearly his dick was, but his mind was elsewhere. The thought of her fucking another nigga while he was locked up hit him out of nowhere, and he pulled back.
Renae’s eyes shot open. “What’s wrong?”
Najee leaned back and laced his fingers together in front of him, with eyes locked on hers. “I was locked down for over a year. You know what you do with all that time? You think. And the more I thought… the more things started feeling off between us.”
“Off like what?” she asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper, like she didn’t want the answer.
“Off like you barely answering my calls. Sounding like you got an attitude when you do pick up. Our calls got shorter. A couple of visits got missed. Little shit that ain’t ever been us.
I told myself that you were busy, overwhelmed with work and shit, but I don’t know, baby.
I ain’t been feeling the love you say you got for a nigga. ”
He wasn’t going to throw Nyesha into the mix. She confided in him on the strength of being her brother, and he needed to be put up on game. What she told him only added to how he had already been feeling.
Renae’s brows pulled together, her lips twitching like she was about to cry again. “All because of a few missed calls and visits? You know I love you. I didn’t even know I made you feel that way. I was going through a lot, too.”
“And you could’ve told me that.”
She scoffed. “So you could’ve worried even more about me while you’re in there and be stressed out? No. That’s not fair to either of us.”
“Fuck fair,” Najee said firmly, sitting up straighter. “You’re my woman. I can handle whatever you send my way. Shutting down on me and going cold while in the situation I was in had my head fucked up.”
Renae’s throat bobbed as she swallowed her onset of tears. “I’m sorry. I know you must’ve been thinking the worst.”
Najee’s nostrils flared. “Like a mothafucka. I ain’t expect you to be perfect, but I ain’t expect you to damn near ghost a nigga either. We’re better than that.”
His hand clasped around the back of her neck, pulling her face to his. Renae’s breathing accelerated, and her pussy thumped.
“Don’t do that shit again,” he said against her lips before kissing her and spanking her ass cheek. “You know how I get.”
Renae grinned. “I won’t because there won’t be a next time. I love you,” she cooed, running her hand across his thick hair.
He looked good in his gruffy, untamed style, and knew once he got groomed, he was going to be fine as hell.
“I love you, too,” he said, kissing her neck. “I know you probably wanna tell me about your morning, and you can later on, but right now I need you to ride this dick.”
Renae moaned as his hand slid inside the gray leggings she had on, and he toyed with her pussy from the back.
“Can you do that for me, baby?” Najee asked.
He knew she could, but he knew asking her turned her on more.
“Yes,” she answered, before climbing out of his lap. She wore a devious grin before lowering to her knees in front of him. “Let me taste him first.”
Najee lifted to lower his shorts and licked his lips. “I don’t want nothing but throat. Swallow this mothafucka and show me how much you missed me.”
Renae’s pussy got even wetter by his words and the feel of him in her hand.
She missed it and him. Doing as she was told, she played no games and took his impressive length and width into her mouth.
Najee let out a hiss and let his head fall back against the couch as her juicy lips and warmth wrapped around him.
Whatever doubts he had in his mind about them, Renae was trying her best to suck them all away.
Najee didn’t say it out loud, but he was going to let bygones be bygones.
A little misunderstanding and lack of communication weren’t grounds to hold a grudge.
That wasn’t his style. If Renae had been up to no good, time would tell.
One thing was for sure, though... he wasn’t going back to jail, so he hoped she had kept it solid.