Chapter 20
“He’s knocked,” Remedy spoke as she moved toward the stairs, finding Erys.
From what she could see from over the banister in the open living space, everything was spotless.
There was no evidence that they’d thrown a party and had a house full of people almost two hours ago.
She was still in her dress and heels per Ernie’s request. “I was coming to clean up.”
“You weren’t going to cook, throw a party, and clean up too. We weren’t doing that,” Erys replied, tapping her hips and motioning her back up the stairs. “Especially not looking that damn good, Strawberry. Don’t pull that dress down either.”
“Erys,” she giggled, turning around and feeling his hands pull her dress up.
“Nah, baby, My name is Slick Silk Sniper,” he replied, stopping her to bite the cup of her ass. “Shit been calling me all night.”
Remedy hurried up the stairs playfully trying to get away from him. The silliness, the willingness to be wrapped up in him were all new layers of herself she was discovering. Then there was the desire. Erys had a key that unlocked it and she couldn’t get enough of him.
“Can I at least wash this party off of me? Or do you want to watch?”
“You keep it up, you’re not leaving this house,” Erys grumbled closing the door behind him and following her into the bathroom.
Remedy watched him undress her and she did the same, touching and fondling each other in the process.
She appreciated that Erys had a sense of control about himself.
He wasn’t in a hurry to bend her over. He wanted to study her, wrap her in intimacy that would soothe her overthinking and heal the parts of her that still weren’t so trusting.
Out the shower, dried and moisturized, they wobbled to the bed. Erys positioned himself between her thighs, head on her midsection, a breast in his hand like he was an overgrown child. Remedy let a soft smile ease over her face.
“How you get into music?” she asked, swirling her fingers over the silkiness of his jet black waves. “Or is this something Tone roped you into?”
“Tone definitely roped me into being a manager but I didn’t have shit else to do.
Music though. Whether I was stealing shit in Trae Way or in the middle of nowhere, I had music.
I studied it more than I studied anything else.
Subconsciously. Kinda like what you do with fashion.
A trained nurse who can put that shit on and make my pimp ass daddy look less crazy. ”
She laughed. “I’m finding that you and your daddy are easy nuts to crack.”
“Night one I would’ve folded. Right after the thigh clap and the slap. Yeah, goner,” he buzzed, kissing the bottom of her left breast.
“So why didn’t you go into music? Why Fort Wraith? And preferably the real shit,” Remedy posed, making his head lift.
“You gonna run away in the middle of the night if I tell you?” Erys asked.
“No. But if you neglect me, I will. You can’t love bomb me like this and just say fuck it, I got her. And I’ll take your daddy too,” she sassed.
“I know it. He’ll go too. I think if he had to choose, he’s picking you,” Erys said, pushing himself up on his forearms to reposition himself.
“Only because he won’t remember if I’m Cherie or not,” Remedy muttered, watching him move to her side.
Erys pulled in a deep breath. “So Ernie’s told you a part of my bullshit.
Trae Way Gangsta, running the streets, hustling and robbing to help my mom out.
She had this boyfriend, if that’s what you want to call him.
She was dead set on not asking Ernie for shit but when shit got hard or when I got into trouble, she had this suit and tie nigga who used to pull up, drop some money off, get whatever from her.
What I didn’t know was that he had a hand problem.
I walked in, saw him hit my momma, and I split his head open.
One bullet. Pow. Arrested and facing bigger charges than I had before.
I was sure the judge was going to send me and Tone to prison.
Tone was just there. I pulled the trigger.
“Now I know that suit and tie nigga had a hit out on him and I fucked up a plan. Then, I thought being sent to Fort Wraith was my get out of jail free card. It was dark in Trae Way. At least in prison, I could call home or call some niggas and tell them to look after her. Fort Wraith…years went by before I could even write her a letter. I had to earn that shit.”
Remedy’s brows creased, watching the unease form over his face. “How’d you earn it?”
“Stacked bodies. The more hits I completed, the more liberty I had. Which was a mindfuck in itself because they’d already turned you into who they wanted you to be.”
She lifted his dog tags and picked up on the stamped name she saw the two times it dangled in her face. “Snipe.”
“I’m going to always be Snipe. That’s not going to come off of me. But I can find new parts of myself to embrace. Ironically, I thought going to some island and being a recluse was going to help me do that.”
“Why didn’t you?” Remedy asked.
Erys’s eyes found hers. “I found you. No need to run off to paradise when I found it in Wild Flame.”
Remedy laughed. “Don’t tell anyone else you found paradise in the strip club.”
“Lots of niggas find paradise in the strip club. They take paradise home, she robs them, and they go back looking for more,” he spoke, letting her laughter infect him. “Gonna start calling your ass Strawberry Paradise.”
She snorted in deeper laughter. “Cut it out, because you’ll call me that in public.”
“You right and I don’t wanna smack a nigga in their mouth for playing in your face.”
“Calm down, killa,” she buzzed.
“That doesn’t scare you?” he posed, holding her close.
“Why would that scare me when I lived through hell? You didn’t pull away from me when I told you about my shit.
I’m not pulling away because of yours. We all got our shit, Erys.
Me, you, Ernie, all of us. I’ve never felt this before.
I don’t even know what to call it. And to the point, I’ve been doing a whole lot of running. I’m trying something new.”
“Looks like we both are,” he said, stroking the side of her face with his pointer finger.
“Now, if you plan on killing me, then that’s something we need to discuss so I can get my ass gone or possibly get you before you get me,” she joked.
Erys climbed on top of her. “You know what I’m about to kill.”
“Mm mm. I’m gonna teach you something new,” she crooned, removing his dog tags.
He kissed her. “What are you about to teach me?”
“Slow,” Remedy hummed, wrapping her legs around his waist. “It’s been ready for you. Come on.”
Erys continued to kiss and nibble on her lips, neck, and collar bone while pushing into her inch by inch. Remedy shivered under him, moaning as he filled her to the hilt.
She ran her hands over his body, holding him close and purred in his ear. “Tell me how good it is.”
Erys moaned into her ear. “Fuckin’ paradise.”
“That’s your paradise. It’s yours to get lost in.”
“It’s my fuckin’ remedy to all the chaos.”
She nipped his chin. “It is.”