20. Reiana
Reiana
some time later…
Ihad been home a little over an hour before I finally decided I was going to cook.
I wasn’t really in the mood for it, but I had already taken chicken out, and Rhyse would be hungry when he got home from camp.
I had just started pulling everything together when I heard the front door open, followed by Rhyse yelling like he always did when he walked in.
“Ma, we’re home,” Rhyse called as he came around the corner with his backpack hanging off one shoulder.
I looked over at him while I reached for the seasoning on the counter and asked how camp was.
“It was good,” he answered as he dropped his backpack beside one of the chairs.
“We played basketball, and I made two threes. Malik said I fouled him, but I didn’t. ”
I watched as Lennox swaggered in after him dressed in all black like a sniper. He gave me a smoldering look that made me reminisce on our night together. He leaned down and kissed me making Rhyse gag.
“Y’all nasty.” He frowned. “Ma, what you cooking?” He asked as Lennox laughed.
“Don’t be a hater, son.” Lennox smirked before putting his attention back on me. “Put that stuff up,” Lennox said as he reached for the ground beef. I frowned and asked why, and he opened the refrigerator before answering. “Because I’m taking y’all to dinner. You can cook this tomorrow.”
“You could’ve told me that before y’all got here,” I fussed.
“You gone stand there and complain or go get ready so I can take y’all out?” Lennox asked as he closed the refrigerator. Instead of arguing, I did as he asked as Rhyse did the same.
I headed upstairs with Lennox following close behind. When we reached my room, he turned me toward him and kissed me again.
“You aight?” He asked as he peered down at me.
“I’m fine,” I sighed. “I’ve just been thinking about everything. Things are different now and it’s just taking some getting used to that’s all,” I admitted.
“You want me to back off some?” Lennox asked, and I shook my head.
“No… no, that’s not what I’m saying,” I told him.
“I’m used to doing everything with Rhyse by myself.
Even when Dorian was around, he wasn’t doing what you’re doing.
I handled whatever he needed unless I asked Mona, Quentin or Tay.
Now I look up and you’re getting him from camp, telling him to go take a bath, and it’s just… different,” I spoke honestly.
“I hope it’s different in a good way. I mean, I’on wanna overstep but I also want to do my part. I’ve always been active with Lennyn, and I want the same for Rhyse,” he confessed.
“I get it, and I appreciate it and love the relationship y’all have. Sometimes I never thought it would ever happen,” I mentioned.
“Well, you’on have to worry about that now because I’m here and I’m not going anywhere… aight?”
I nodded.
Instead of responding, he leaned down and kissed me. It started slow, but his hand moved to my butt and pulled me closer while mine slid up around his neck. We seemed to be lost in the moment before I finally pulled away when he started running his hands up the back of my shirt.
“Let me go shower and change so we can go,” I simpered.
“Let me come help you.” He smirked.
“No, thank you. Go make sure your son is okay while I get myself together,” I instructed and he did not like that.
“Ree…” Lennox groaned as he grabbed himself.
“You’ll be alright. Go get your son together and I might see what I can do when we get back.” I winked.
I guess that’s all it took for him to give me one last kiss and squeeze to my butt before he left and headed toward Rhyse’s room.
By the time I came back out, Lennox and Rhyse were already downstairs waiting for me. Rhyse was stretched across the couch with his tablet while Lennox stood near the front door looking at his phone. The second he saw me, his eyes left the screen and slowly moved over me.
“You look good,” he complimented with a kiss.
“Thank you.” I pulled away and grabbed my purse from the table.
“Can I get a steak?” Rhyse asked he jumped up from the couch.
“You gone eat it?” Lennox asked him as we headed to his truck.
“I might.” Rhyse shrugged.
All I did was shake my head because I knew Lennox was going to get that steak and Rhyse was going to play over it.
Dinner was easy, and I liked that more than I wanted to admit. Nobody was forcing conversation or trying to make more of it than it was. Rhyse naturally did enough talking for all three of us, complaining about some boy named Malik.
“He cheat,” Rhyse announced before stuffing a fry into his mouth.
“Cheats,” I corrected.
“That too.” He shrugged.
“How is he cheating?” Lennox asked with a chuckle.
“He be stepping over the line before they pass the ball,” Rhyse said.
“That ain’t cheating if nobody’s calling it, son,” Lennox explained.
“They called it!” Rhyse argued. “He just kept doing it.”
“So what you mad for?” Lennox asked. “You playing defense, ain’t you?”
“Yeah.” Rhyse nodded in confirmation.
“Then stop his ass… problem solved.” Lennox smirked as he stuck his fist out for Rhyse to dap with his own.
“Please don’t have my child going back to camp tomorrow tackling people,” I said as I pointed my fork at Lennox.
“He ain’t gone tackle nobody, Ree. It’s basketball… not football,” Lennox laughed.
I looked between both of them and shook my head. “Okay. When I get a call tomorrow, I’m giving them your daddy’s number.”
“Give it to ’em. I won’t have a problem going to straighten some shit out if need be,” Lennox replied before taking a drink.
Rhyse laughed and went back to eating while I watched the two of them.
That was happening more lately. I would catch myself watching without even realizing I was doing it.
They hadn’t had enough time together for their relationship to feel as comfortable as it already did, but somehow it was.
Lennox wasn’t overdoing the father thing, and Rhyse wasn’t treating him like somebody he had just met.
They joked, argued, and talked like they were figuring each other out without making a big production out of it.
The years Lennox had missed still bothered me if I let myself think about it for too long. Seven years was a long time. Neither of us could fix that, though. All Lennox could do was be here now, and so far, he was doing exactly that.
“You staring,” Lennox acknowledged, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“I was not,” I lied.
“You were, but it’s all good. I be doing the same shit.” He smirked.
By the time we finished eating, Rhyse had somehow convinced Lennox to let him order cheesecake after I had already told him he was too full for dessert. Four bites later, he pushed the plate away like I knew he would.
“I’m full,” he announced.
“I told you not to get it because you’d already had enough, but I see you neither or your father know how to listen.” I rolled my eyes.
Lennox reached across the table and pulled the plate toward himself and picked up the fork. “I got it,” he said as he started eating the cheesecake.
I laughed and shook my head as he finished the cheesecake in an attempt to save Rhyse. I thought it was cute, but he better not try that shit again.
It was close to nine by the time we left, and all that energy Rhyse had at dinner disappeared before we made it halfway home. I turned around when the back seat got too quiet and found him asleep with his head tilted against the window.
“All that mouth finally wore him out,” I said.
“You gone get up off my boy, Ree,” Lennox laughed.
“Your boy is a handful,” I countered.
Lennox smiled as he glanced in the rearview mirror. A few minutes later his hand settled on my thigh, and I looked down at it before placing mine over his. I didn’t think about what it meant or what we were doing. I just left it there for the rest of the ride.
When we got home, Lennox carried Rhyse upstairs while I grabbed our things from the car and locked up. By the time I made it to Rhyse’s room, Lennox had him sitting on the edge of the bed half asleep while helping him out of his clothes.
“Come on, man. Help me out,” Lennox told him as he pulled his shirt over his head.
“I’m tired,” Rhyse mumbled as he held his arms up.
“I can see that,” Lennox laughed as he undressed him.
Rhyse lifted his arms so Lennox could finish getting him changed before he immediately tried to climb under the covers.
“I’ll brush my teeth in the morning,” he mumbled.
“Absolutely not. Get up,” I fussed as he groaned.
“Ma…” he groaned.
“Don’t Ma me. You ate steak, fries, cheesecake, and drank lemonade. You are not going to bed with a nasty mouth,” I fussed.
“Aye, man. Come on. I’ll go with you,” Lennox offered as he ushered Rhyse across the hall to the bathroom
That was apparently all it took because he dragged himself out of bed and followed Lennox into the bathroom without another complaint. I stood there shaking my head because somehow his daddy had gotten more cooperation in a few weeks than I had gotten in years.
A little while later, Rhyse was finally asleep and I was in my bedroom taking off my jewelry when Lennox came in. He closed the door behind him and walked over to where I stood at my dresser, sliding his arms around my waist from behind.
“You enjoyed yourself tonight?” He asked before kissing the side of my neck.
“I did,” I simpered.
“Me too,” he agreed with another kiss.
I looked at him through the mirror as he kissed me again, but something from dinner had been sitting in the back of my mind since we left the restaurant. “You know what else I noticed tonight?”
“What’s that?” He asked.
“That you kept looking at your phone,” I pointed out. I was not about to go through this bullshit again.
“It was business,” he said before trailing another kiss on my skin.