Chapter 11 #2
He frowned, narrowing his eyes toward the ocean, noticing the shades of black and gray in the sky that looked like they touched the water when he knew they were miles apart. All that shit was an illusion like the life he was living. The darkness existed but he pretended it didn’t.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“That song is about love. Not my love from or for anyone, just the feeling in general, which means it could be inspired by anyone, even your stalker ass.”
For the briefest moment. Na’Mya was in his head, clawing at the part of him that held tight to the memories of the only woman he’d ever let have him. He refused to disrupt the moment by fucking up his mood.
A smile eased onto Asao’s face. “Self-love is some deep shit but I don’t think it would inspire the type of layers you were spitting.”
“Self-love?”
“Yeah, baby, I don’t love these hoes.”
When Samari busted out laughing, he chuckled lightly along with her before he had her voice again. “So I’m assuming you’re confessing to only loving yourself?”
“Shit, pretty much.”
“What about your parents, or hell, even your friends? They can’t get any love?”
“They get love but it isn’t the same type you were singing about.”
“Okay, you can get that, but that also means it doesn’t apply to you loving yourself. The song was about loving so deep, emotionally, that physical touch from that person is heaven sent. You touch yourself, Sao?”
“Why not? I’m a sexy ass muthafucker. Isn’t that what you told me? I know how good I look.”
“You’re never getting another compliment from me, ever again.”
“Don’t make yourself a liar, Mari.”
“So was the business you had to handle watching my videos in private?” He could sense from the tone of her voice that she was missing him but that was cool because he missed her too.
He smirked and closed his eyes. “Nah, a friend asked me to pull up.”
“Did that friend serve a purpose?”
She was asking whether not he’d bailed on her to fuck off with someone else.
“Yeah, they did.”
“A physical one?”
“Nah, it wasn’t physical. What you been doing?”
She sighed. “I wrote some music.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm. Water is my happy place. I felt inspired when I was at your beach house.”
“You gonna let me hear it?”
“Next time I see you, maybe.”
“Maybe? So you’re being selfish now?”
“You’re being selfish with my inspiration.” Her tone was light which had him standing from the lounge chair.
“I don’t really got shit to say about that. No matter how I defend my position, you’re gonna make me the bad guy.”
“Pretty much.”
“Aight, but look. I need to make a run, so I’ll hit you in about an hour. You gonna be up?”
It was already after midnight. His nights and days blended together when inspiration hit, and if Samari had truly been inspired, hers would too.
“Nope, going to bed.”
“Aight, then I’ll get at you tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Instead of ending the call, she waited, allowing the silence to tell Asao what her words refused to. She wanted his time.
“Goodnight, Mari.”
“Goodnight,” she said quietly seconds before he ended the call on a mission to keep his promise.
Everything she needed.
The sound of someone knocking on her door had Samari slowly peeling her eyes open.
She frowned and flexed her wrist to soothe the ache that existed from having it bent under the throw pillow that cradled her head.
After the call from Asao, she finished what was left of her wine and dozed off, fighting the urge to call and text, requesting his presence.
She winced after shoving her hand between the cushions to retrieve her phone, noticing it was just after one in the morning. The heavy sleep she fell under was encouraged by the wine and had only existed for a little over an hour.
When the knock happened again, her eyes darted toward the door and a frown marred her pretty face.
She lifted from the sofa and crossed the living room, stopping at the door.
Samari raised onto her toes and peered through the peephole, grinning before she dropped back on her heels and smoothed her hands down the front of the cotton shorts she’d selected to lounge in.
After a short time at the beach, the saltwater clung to her skin and she’d needed to wash the day away before getting comfy for the evening.
She turned the lock and peeked around the door, using it to shield her body while her eyes dragged over the one standing in the hallway.
She took Asao in from head to toe, and although he was still in sweats and a hoodie, the gray color he wore earlier had been replaced by black on black and his feet were covered in OG Retros instead of slides.
“You gonna let me in.”
“What do you want?”
His eyes raked over her body slowly while a cocky smile curved his lips and she tugged the door closer. “If you’re here to serve a purpose, you might as well go home.”
When Asao laughed, she narrowed her eyes, making him pull his shit together.
Did he want to fuck? Hell yeah, and if she was down, he would gladly pump her full of good dick and praise for how well she handled his deep strokes.
Regardless, that wasn’t what had him leaving Crescent Cove then heading to his spot to shower and grab a few things, hopeful she wouldn’t turn his ass away.
“That isn’t the kind of purpose I need from you right now, Mari. I wanna hear them songs and you was being selfish by not singing to me when I hit your line. So I pulled up.”
“At one-thirty in the morning?” she questioned while slowly raising a brow.
“I’m impatient. You gonna let me in or not?”
When her teeth sank into her lip, Asao’s eyes followed the motion.
He was distracted seconds later when she stepped back, bringing the door with her.
He was granted a full visual of her bare legs and the curve of her ass peeking from under the hem of tiny little shorts she wore.
One socked foot lifted and came down softly over the other in an anxious expression of her nerves.
He smirked with the knowledge that his presence had a hold on her just as profoundly as she had him locked in.
Asao entered her space and locked them inside. She watched him remove the backpack from his shoulder and toss it on the floor near the sofa before crossing her arms over her chest.
“What’s in there?” She nodded at the backpack.
“My shit. I know when you run them lyrics mine are gonna flow so I’m chilling while I get them out of my head.”
“Uninvited?”
She smiled lazily and he looked her over again. “If I didn’t break your door down to get face time, consider this your invitation. And sometimes, even if I do run up on you, whatever the fuck you did to cause me to kick your shit in can be considered an invitation.”
Samari wasn’t foolish. She fully understood the man standing in her living room and the message he was sending.
The darkest layer of some of his biggest hits about robbing, killing, and being a menace were lived in real time.
Regardless of the threat of the reason for his being, she was in no danger, at least not physically.
“I’m making tea, you want some?”
“Nah, I’m good.” She went left toward the kitchen while he went right toward the living room. After she had a steamy mug of honey vanilla prepared with a touch of raw honey, she joined him in the living room.
Asao was centered on her sofa to be sure that no matter which end she selected, Samari was within reach. After she was seated with her knees against her chest so she could blanket the mug on top of them, she turned her attention to him. “You trying to sober up?”
Her eyes moved to the empty bottle of wine.
The first half had been consumed two days prior, so she was good.
Samari turned her eyes back on his large body taking up space a few feet away and flashed him a pointed smile.
“Nope, I slept that off. I’m trying to soothe my voice so I can move this lil situation of you invading my space along. ”
“You don’t want me here, Mari?” His gaze traced a blaze of heat from her slouch socks to her profile. She sipped the tea and wanted to curse when it singed her tongue but pushed her tongue against the roof of her mouth instead to soothe the burn.
“Do you care what I want?” When Samari’s eyes locked with a chocolate pair that seemed to be pulling her apart with every second that passed, she had to fight to hold onto the smile that threatened to surface.
The question was posed in fun but the seriousness she received in return had her eyes dropping to the steamy mug to avoid their intensity.
He locked in on her once more. “When I’m what you want, yeah I care.”
With a grin in place, Samari rolled her eyes. “You’re full of shit.”
“Nah, I’m real with mine.”
“Game recognize game,” she countered, which made Asao laugh sexily.
“Ah, shit, so I see what it is. Your ass is gonna be gaming me. That’s cool though. I can handle you, Mari.”
She loved the way her name sounded in his deep, southern rasp. Asao’s voice was weighed with promises and that was a whole problem. Every word that left his mouth felt intimate while the low set of his eyes backed up what was circling in her mind and lingering between the two of them.
I want to fuck you…
I want to let you…
“You gonna give me what I came for?”
She blinked several times before managing to pull her thoughts together. The warmth of the tea soothed her throat and blazed her chest. She nodded a moment later and adjusted her position to straighten her spine before she granted him her voice.
She sang and Asao drank in every word. The cadence was melodic, making him feel as if Samari’s voice seeped into his skin, threatening to penetrate his heart.
He wanted her so damn badly there wasn’t an ounce of restraint left, but he managed to let her sing without dragging her across the sofa into his lap.
When she finished two songs, he nodded with a cocky smile easing onto his handsome face.
“Yeah I was right that first night in my Jeep.”