Chapter 20 Khloe
Khloe
I hung up the phone and just sat there for a second.
Before I could spiral, the driver door opened. Stacks slid into the seat and handed me a small white box.
“Emergency kit,” he said.
“What is this?”
“Fried chicken,” he answered simply.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I opened the box and the smell alone made my stomach growl. It was still hot.
He looked over at me. “What’s wrong?”
I sighed, already reaching for a piece. “Kennedi did some dumb shit. Snuck off to see some boy when she’s supposed to be at her friend’s house.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I repeated. “Okay? She’s fifteen, Stacks.”
“Almost sixteen,” he corrected gently.
“Kairo says he has it handled,” I continued. “But I know he doesn’t. I need to go get her. I shouldn’t even be out right now.”
“Let me ask you something.”
“What.”
“Is that not his child too?”
I frowned. “Of course she is.”
“Then if that man says he got it… why don’t you let him have it?”
I stared at him.
“You don’t have to carry everything,” he continued. “You’re not Atlas. The world don’t sit on your shoulders just because you’re strong enough to hold it.”
“I know you want to fix everything,” he said. “But that’s why you’re exhausted. You want to be the mom, the wife, the attorney, the peacekeeper, the savior. That’s too many jobs for one woman.”
“She’s my baby,” I said, eating my chicken.
“And she’s his too.”
“You can’t control everything,” he added. “And the more you try, the more it controls you. If that man says he got it, let him have it.”
“I just…” I shook my head. “I just wanted one night.”
“And you got it,” he said softly. “Don’t let guilt steal it.”
“Take a break, Khloe,” he said gently. “The world will still be there tomorrow.”
I took another bite of chicken. It was so good I closed my eyes without realizing it.
Stacks laughed. “What?” I asked, opening one eye.
“You eating like you ain’t ate in days.”
I looked down at the bone in my hand and started laughing too. “Shut up.”
“No, I’m serious,” he said, grinning. “You over there moaning at this chicken.”
“I am not.”
“You definitely are.”
We turned down his street. He parked and got out before I could even reach for the door handle. I barely had time to look up before he was opening my door.
“Come here,” he said.
“I can walk.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
Before I could argue, he scooped me up.
“My feet work!” I laughed.
“Not tonight,” he said. “Tonight you are not responsible for anything.”
As soon as we stepped inside, he kicked the door shut behind us and carried me straight to the couch. My heart was already racing, but when he sat me down gently and dropped to his knees in front of me to unlace my sneakers my body started reacting sexually.
The liquor had settled deep in my veins by then. My body felt warm and loose, like I’d been unbuttoned from the inside out.
He looked up at me from between my knees, hands resting lightly on my thighs.
“You good?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He stood slowly. “You know what I like about you?”
My stomach tightened. “What?”
“You have no idea how fine you are when you let yourself breathe,” he said.
My face burned. He touched me like I was something new, and I was discovering myself. His fingers traced down my arms, over my waist, along my hips. He bent and pressed a slow kiss just below my collarbone, and my body responded instantly. My back arched before I could stop it.
“There she is.” He kissed against my skin.
The liquor made me brave. I reached for him.
He caught my hands gently. “Slow,” he whispered. “Tonight ain’t about rushing.”
He guided me to stand.. His fingers slid along the waist of my jeans before easing them down my hips. The entire time he kept talking.
“You think too much,” he said. “Even now. You’re trying to figure out if this is wrong. If you deserve this. If you gon’ regret it.”
He was right.
“I’m not thinking,” I lied.
“Your brain is loud as hell, Khloe.”
His mouth brushed mine. And when I kissed him back, fireworks weren’t the right word. It felt like something I’d locked away years ago had just been handed the key.
His mouth traveled down my neck again. I felt so free. I wasn’t a teenager fumbling in the dark. I was a grown woman realizing she’d skipped chapters.
He walked me backward slowly until my knees hit the couch again and eased me down.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
“You’re not late,” he said. “You right on time.”
My fingers slid into his locs. I’d heard women talk about chemistry before, how it made you stupid, how it made you forget your name and I finally understood.
He didn’t rush to undress me. He took his time and the way his hands moved over my skin made it feel okay.
“You good?” he asked again.
“Yes,” I breathed. “I’m… good.”
“Say stop if you ever feel different, LoLo. At any point. I don’t care how far in we are.”
Then there was no more talking for a while. He ate my pussy for so long that I was begging for penetration. When he entered me, he looked me in my eyes like it was the best feeling that he’d discovered.
“You’re so amazing. You feel beyond amazing,” he said to me as he fucked me harder and harder.
He kissed every place that ever felt overlooked. Spots I didn’t even realize were sensitive. He traced me like a map, like he was learning shortcuts to everywhere that made me sigh. It felt so damn good. He had so much stamina that I felt like I was going to tap out.
It felt less like he was doing something to me and more like we were… finding something together. I’d only ever known one kind of intimacy. One rhythm, body, and way of being touched from one man.
That was… different. Not better or worse, but just different in a good way.
He whispered little things in my ear as the tension built about how soft I felt, how good I smelled, how beautiful I looked right then.
“Look at me,” he said.
I felt it when everything changed between us. We could never have a regular friendship after that moment. My breath snagged, and my hands flew to his shoulders.
The connection was intense. It was like plugging something into an outlet that had always been dead a while and feeling it come alive under your hands.
“There you go,” he murmured. “Cum again for me.”
I let go in increments. A little with each stroke, each sigh, each small, helpless sound that slipped out of me before I could swallow it down. My thighs tightened around him. My hands pulled him closer.
When it finally hit, it wasn’t some wild, dramatic explosion. It felt like something breaking open. A long, shuddering exhale I felt in my bones. My fingers dug into his back. My eyes squeezed shut.
He followed right after, groaning softly into my neck. We just stayed wrapped up in each other, breathing hard, skin damp, hearts racing.
I just felt… full.
He kept me tucked against his chest, his hand stroking lazy circles on my back.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
I swallowed, staring at the ceiling.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But in this moment… yeah. I am.”
He kissed my forehead like that was all he needed to hear. “Then that’s enough for right now.”
I curled into him, listening to the beat of his heart.