9. Dorian
Dorian
sometime later…
Iwoke up with Reiana laying across me, and one of her legs tangled with mine.
Her hair was all over me and the pillow, and she was still knocked out like she didn’t have a care in the world.
I lay there for a minute before rubbing my hand down her back.
She shifted against me but didn’t wake up right away.
When she finally did, she groaned and buried her face deeper into my chest.
“I need to get up,” Reiana mumbled as she shifted against my chest.
“I can think of a few reasons why we need to stay right here,” I countered as I let my hands roam over her body.
“Rhyse is probably hungry,” Reiana said as she lifted her head and looked at me with sleepy eyes.
“That little nigga knows how to feed himself,” I joked as I rubbed my hand over her ass.
“Don’t call my baby no little nigga,” Reiana warned with a smirk.
“Aight, go get him together and I’ll take y’all to breakfast,” I offered as I reached down and grabbed my boxers from the floor.
“That’ll be nice. Let me go tell him so he can get dressed,” she offered as she headed to the bathroom.
“Aight,” I agreed as I sat back on the edge of the bed.
The second she disappeared into the hallway, I reached over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. I had been trying not to check that shit every five minutes, but with everything going on, it was hard not to. When I unlocked it, I had a message from Mello.
Mello: Still nothing new. I’m checking on some shit today.
I stared at the screen for a few seconds before checking everything else.
No missed calls. No messages from anybody I needed to worry about.
Cyrus was still quiet, and at this point, that shit bothered me more than if he was calling and making threats.
A nigga losing that much product and money didn’t just let shit go.
Me: Keep checking. Don’t make it obvious. Hit me when you hear something.
After I sent it, I deleted the messages and locked my phone. Reiana wasn’t the type to go through my shit, but I still wasn’t leaving anything lying around that could lead to questions I didn’t feel like answering. I set my phone down just as I heard her coming back down the hall.
Reiana walked into the bedroom and looked at me before heading toward her dresser. “He said he’ll go, but he wants pancakes.”
“That sounds about right,” I chuckled as I got up to join Reina in the bathroom.
To cut time down, we showered together, with her adamant about only showering since Rhyse was up and waiting.
After successfully convincing her, I was able to dick her down in the shower before we got out.
Once we were done and dressed, I grabbed my keys, phone, and wallet and followed behind her as she led the way out of her room.
When we got downstairs, Rhyse was already dressed and waiting with his tablet on his hands and his eyes glued to it.
“You ready, Boosie?” Reiana asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled, side-eyeing me.
After Reiana locked up, we loaded into my truck and headed to Butter & Batter since that was Rhyse’s favorite place for pancakes.
It took about twenty minutes to get there, and we were seated as soon as we arrived.
We were seated in a booth with Reiana beside me and Rhyse across from us.
He had been studying the menu even though we knew he would be getting the pancakes.
“You done figured it out yet?” I asked as I leaned back against the booth and looked across the table at him.
“Yeah,” Rhyse answered without looking up from the menu. “Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and potatoes.”
“That’s a lot of food for somebody your size,” I commented as I reached for my water.
“I can eat it,” Rhyse assured me as he finally looked up. “And if I don’t, I can take it home.”
“Aight, little man.” I nodded.
When the waitress came, Rhyse gave her his order first then I gave mine and Reiana’s. When she left, I figured I would start a conversation with Rhyse.
“Say, Rhyse. You enjoying your summer? It’s almost over and school is about to start. You ready for that?” I asked.
He looked at me with a slight frown before he answered me. “You ask a lot of questions and all at the same time. My Uncle Q said if a nigga asks a lot of questions, they must be the police,” he stated, shocking me and his mama.
“Rhyse Alexander, watch your mouth before I pop you in it. Now apologize…now,” Reiana fussed.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s cool,” I countered smirk. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore about the shit that this little nigga lets come out of his mouth.
There was an awkward silence surrounding us, so when our food came, nobody wasted time digging in.
Rhyse started on his pancakes while Reina tasted her omelet.
I had ordered steak, eggs and potatoes, but I spent half my time watching her steal potatoes off my plate after claiming she didn’t want any when she ordered.
“You could’ve ordered your own,” I pointed out as she reached over for another one.
“I didn’t want a whole order,” Reiana responded as she took it, anyway. “I just wanted a few.”
“You got a whole plate of food,” I reminded her as I laughed and pushed it back within her reach.
“And now I have potatoes. Problem?” She sassed.
“Nah, baby… you got it,” I chuckled as she took a few more potatoes off my plate.
For the first time in a minute, shit actually felt good between us.
She wasn’t questioning me, and I wasn’t worried about whether my phone was going to ring with some more bullshit.
Sitting there with her and Rhyse made me think about what I had been trying to build with her for the last two years.
Maybe that was why the words came out before I really thought about it.
“You know I’ma make you my wife, right?” I asked as I peered down at her.
“What?” Reiana asked as her eyebrows bunched together.
“I said eventually,” I clarified as I looked between her and Rhyse. “I’ain saying tomorrow.”
Rhyse looked at his mama before turning his attention back to me. “I’on need no daddy so I hope that’s not why you tryna marry my mama.” He frowned.
“Boosie,” Reiana called his name as she gave him a look.
“Ain’t like I’m lying.” He shrugged.
“That’s my last telling you to watch your mouth before we have a problem. Now eat your food and stay out of grown people’s business,” she chastised him before looking at me. “And we’ll talk about this later.”
I could tell by her face that later didn’t mean she was excited to continue the conversation. She wasn’t mad exactly, but the calm demeanor she had five minutes ago was gone.
“Aight,” I agreed as I picked my fork back up.
The rest of breakfast wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the same either.
The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like I was trying to corner her into marrying me.
I just wanted to know that everything I had been putting into us was actually leading somewhere.
Once we finished eating and I handled the bill, we walked outside toward my truck.
“Y’all wanna do something else?” I asked as I unlocked the truck and opened Reiana’s door.
“Nah, I’m good,” Rhyse answered as he climbed into the back seat. “I wanna go home.”
“Same,” Reiana agreed as she stepped closer to me. “I got some stuff I need to do around the house anyway.”
“Aight,” I replied as I nodded and helped her into the truck.
The ride back was quiet for the most part. I knew Reina was thinking about what I said about marriage, but I wanted her to know what my intentions were.
When I pulled into her driveway, Rhyse was out of the truck almost as soon as I put it in park and headed to the front door before his mother. Getting out, I went to the passenger side to help Reiana out.
“You good?” I asked as I stood in front of her.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Reiana answered as she looked up at me. “I just wasn’t expecting you to bring up marriage at breakfast.”
“Yeah, I probably could’ve picked a better time, but I wanted you to know my intentions baby,” I admitted as I rubbed my hand across the back of my neck.
“We’ll talk about it,” Reiana assured me. “Just not right now.”
I reached for her waist and pulled her closer. “I love you, Ree. You know that, right?”
Reiana’s expression softened some as she rested her hand against my chest. “I know.”
It wasn’t an ‘I love you too’, and I noticed that shit just like I always did. She never said she loved me back, and I thought it was because she was keeping her guard up, but I’on think that’s the case.
“Aight,” I murmured before leaning down and kissing her.
She kissed me back, and I held her there for a few seconds before letting her go.
I watched her walk toward the house and waited until she made it inside before getting back into my truck.
I loved that woman. I just needed to figure out how to make sure loving me back was enough for her to want the same future I did.
***
Later that afternoon…
I met Mello at the warehouse in Mason Yard.
After dropping Reiana and Rhyse off, I rode around for a little while before heading over there.
Between the shit with Cyrus and the way breakfast ended, my mind had been going nonstop.
I could deal with Reiana later because at least I knew where we stood for the most part.
This situation with Cyrus was different.
I didn’t know what the fuck that nigga knew, what he was doing, or why everything surrounding him had suddenly gone quiet.
Mello was already inside when I got there, sitting at the table toward the back with his phone in his hand.
He glanced up when I walked in before putting the phone down.
“You hear anything else?” I asked as I pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.
“Not much, and that’s the problem,” Mello answered as he leaned back in his chair. “I been asking around without making it obvious, but everybody saying the same shit. Cyrus ain’t really been making no noise about what happened. Ain’t nobody heard about him looking for you or pressing the issue.”