Chapter 8 #2
“Next spring? That’s only a year away. Don’t you want more time to plan?” Michelle asked.
It was no secret that she wasn’t the biggest fan of Shantel.
When the two first started dating, she came on too strong and that rubbed Mama Chelle the wrong way.
She felt like Shantel’s personality was an act.
Truthfully, none of us expected their relationship to last to the point where marriage was considered.
When Ryo first brought Shantel around, we knew it was serious.
He was more private with his dealings and didn’t bring just anyone around his family.
The pair got engaged on New Year’s and already had the wedding planned.
“We both decided why wait. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Shantel Barnett.” She batted her lashes at Ryo.
He smirked at her and lifted her hand, kissing the back.
“Still… it seems fast,” Erik commented, his face stoic.
“Didn’t you and Mom get married after six months of knowing each other?” Ryo asked.
“Oop, he’s got you guys there.” Reginae snickered.
The couple made eye contact. “Fair, but times are different now. We just thought you would enjoy your engagement a little longer,” Mama Chelle explained.
“Well, I for one say why wait. If baby bro wants to sign his life away sooner, who are we to complain?” Roman cut in.
“Speaking of. When are you going to settle down?” Now his mom’s attention was focused on him.
“I told you, Mama, not everyone’s goal is to settle down and get married.”
She scoffed. “Seriously, Roman, you’re too old to have that mindset. You and your sister need to get it together.”
“How did I get into this?” Reginae questioned. “I’m actively dating at the moment and still young. Besides, I would have settled down already if someone didn’t weasel their way into the mix.” She smirked in my direction.
“Oh give it up. You two were never gonna happen,” Ryo complained.
“You don’t know that.” She frowned.
“Yosiah, this is getting sad. Tell the girl you never had any intentions of being with her.”
“Ay, leave me out of it.” I tossed my hands up.
Reginae rolled her eyes. “Anyway, the point is, I’m dating. And if the right one comes along, then I’ll think about marriage.”
“What’s with all this marriage talk anyway? Yosiah, brother. What’s next for you?” Roman interjected, easily changing the subject.
As the conversation shifted, the mood at the table lightened. Eventually Mama Chelle brought out a cake she had made for tonight. Most people had the luxury of being supported by their parents, I was thankful enough to have both them and the Barnetts on my side.
“Yosiah.” Reginae called out as I headed for my car. Dinner was nice. It was never a dull moment when I was with the Barnetts. Being that their family was bigger than mine, the entertainment was endless.
“Wassup?” I stopped and turned to look at her.
“I wasn’t going to bring it up, but after the conversation at dinner, I’m curious. Are you in love with your wife?”
My head cocked to the side and my hands went into my front pocket. “What made you ask that?”
She wet her lips and shrugged. “Just curious is all.”
“Reginae.” My tongue swiped across my lips. “I get you have feelings for me, but—”
She lifted her hand, stopping me. “That’s not why I asked.
” Rolling her eyes, she smirked. “While I was heartbroken when I first learned of your marriage, I know that you only see me as a little sister. It’s just fun messing with my brothers when we’re all together because I know they hate the crush I had on you. ”
“Then why ask? What if I am in love?” One of my brows rose.
“Just humor me. In the beginning you claimed this marriage was a sham, but have things changed since then?”
I studied Reginae, trying to figure out her angle. Outside of mindless flirting, she wasn’t normally this invested in my life, let alone my marriage.
“Things are as they should be,” I stated simply. Even if I did think of her as a little sister, I had no reason to give her the intimate details of what was going on between me and Xylina.
A regretful expression soon formed on her face. “That poor girl.” She shook her head. “I knew it.”
My face scrunched. “What are you talking about? Knew what?”
Shaking her head, she dug into her pocket and pulled her phone out. “I don’t know how you feel about her, but your wife is clearly smitten over you, you know.”
“What?”
My mouth snapped closed when she forced her phone into my face. Curiosity got the best of me. Grabbing it, I saw she had pulled up Xylina’s InstaFlik.
“As much as I hate to admit it. Your wife can dress and I followed her because I love her fashion sense. What I didn’t expect to see was you all over her page too.”
Furrowing my brows, I scrolled through the page.
Reginae wasn’t lying. While most of Xylina’s page was her and Princess, there were a bunch of photos of me too, mostly off guard.
I clicked on one. The caption was simple, Hubby.
My everyday MC *Heart*. Clicking out of the picture of me staring at something on my phone, I went to another one.
This one just read #MCM my Hubby *Heart*.
Each picture I clicked had one of those captions.
Never anything more or less. I knew Xylina liked me, but I didn’t know she was this fascinated with me.
It caused a small rumble in my chest. I always thought Xylina was self-centered, so seeing her show this much attention to me caught me off guard.
“What’s your point of showing me this?” I asked after a while. Locking the phone, I handed it back. “I didn’t think you liked my wife?”
Reginae grabbed it and shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t. I think she’s a spoiled bitch, but…” Her face softened. “I know how it feels to be around someone you have feelings for and those feelings aren’t returned. No matter how much of a brave face you put on, it sucks.”
If she was referring to me, she had to know nothing between us would ever happen. Her phone suddenly rang, and when she looked down at it, her face shifted.
“I need to get this.” She tapped her screen. Turning away from me, she headed back for her parents’ house, leaving me to my thoughts.
On the way home, I thought about Reginae’s words.
From the moment I’d met Xylina, I figured her wanting me was a game to her.
She said it herself. When she wanted something, she went after it until she got it.
That was one reason I never took her seriously.
Now a small seed of curiosity had been planted inside me.
Could it be that Xylina had genuine feelings for me this whole time?
When I got home, I expected to come back to an empty house, but was surprised to walk in and see Xylina in a silk pajama short set making her way from the kitchen to the front of the house.
In her hand was a jar of pickles and her Nintendo Switch 2.
When I first learned she played it often, I was surprised.
She wasn’t the type of girl I expected to be into video games but she had it on her often when she was in the house.
The two of us didn’t say much and both headed upstairs in separate directions toward our rooms. Now I was in my standalone shower, standing under my rainforest shower head. I planned on going biking in the morning before heading into the office and wanted to call it an early night tonight.
My back was to the door. In the middle of rinsing off, a breeze of cold hit my backside. Soon, a warm body pressed against mine. For a second I tensed before grunting when hands wrapped around me and began stroking my dick.
“What are you doing?” I questioned, looking over my shoulder but not stopping her.
Xylina smiled up at me innocently with mischief blazing her eyes. “Just helping you wash, hubby.”
My dick quickly rose in her small, soft hands. I grunted when her thumb brushed over the head. My head dropped, my eyes closed, and I pushed out a deep breath.
“We had fun the other night, right? Why must we keep denying ourselves pleasure when we don’t have to?”
Xylina was so persistent. Here I thought she was headed to bed but turned out she had something else in mind. She wasn’t lying. While I wasn’t thirsty for sex, I was a man at the end of the day. Constantly denying in-house pussy sounded crazy, even to me. My willpower was only so strong.
Dragging my tongue across my lips, I opened my eyes and watched as she slid a condom on me.
“I got the skin-based ones this time, so I can feel all of you.” The sultry tone of her voice caused me to grow harder. Her lips pressed against my back and her hands lowered to cuff my balls. “What do you say, hubby? Should we christen your shower?”
Another groan left my mouth and my fight broke. We only had a couple more months together. If fucking was how she wanted to spend them, then so be it.
Reaching around me, I pulled her around so she was now in front of me.
Slowly, I ran my eyes down her soaking wet body.
Her nipples hard as diamonds as they stood at attention.
She had braided her hair into two French braids straight back.
There wasn’t a blemish in sight on her body.
Reaching out, I cuffed one of her breasts and silently praised the surgeon.
They were perfect, and if I didn’t know her beforehand, I would have thought they were natural.
A surprised look passed on her face before she bit into her bottom lip and dropped her head forward as I fondled her breasts and teased her nipples. Stepping into me, she placed her hand on my chest and slowly raked her nails down.
“Fuck me!” she demanded, brushing her hand over my dick.