7. Ro
ro
. . .
It wasafter seven when the alarm beeped and he heard his front door open. The smile that immediately covered his face as he said in his mind, ‘there’s my baby’, was probably big and goofy, but there wasn’t anyone in the kitchen with him to see it. At least not yet. And by the time Sariya made it into the kitchen, he’d erased the smile and turned to greet her.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said and watched her jean-clad legs walk toward him.
She wore a gray sweatshirt with UMES in huge letters across the chest and gray tennis shoes. “Hey,” she said her tone not nearly as excited as he wanted it to be.
He watched her walk toward the refrigerator, open it and pull out the pitcher of lemonade. Before she could take another step, he went to the cabinet where she’d told him the glasses should be kept, retrieved one and took it to her where she stood at the island.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he eased the handle of the pitcher out of her hand and poured the drink for her.
“Will I go to hell if I say my mother gets on all of my nerves?”
He really didn’t want to answer that question. Parent/child relationships were a delicate topic, specifically because everybody didn’t have the same type of parents. That meant whatever bad thing you thought your parent had done, might actually look like a good thing to another person with a different type of parent. And in this case, Ro knew that Kim Abbott was a piece of work. He’d always tried to respect the woman because that’s what his mother had taught him, but the way he’d seen her come at his mother over something nice his mother had done for Sariya hadn’t sat right with him in all the years since it happened. Kim hadn’t wanted anything to do with his family and didn’t want his family to have anything to do with Sariya. But Sariya had refused to stay away and eventually, Kim had stopped putting so much effort into keeping her away. The woman had actually seemed to stop giving a damn about her only child.
“What happened?” he asked her instead and handed her the glass.
She accepted it. “Thanks,” she said and then sipped. “I shouldn’t be this upset. It’s the same every time. Nothing new, so my reaction should be void by now.”
“Whatever your reaction to what she did today is valid, Sariya.” He really needed her to hurry up and tell him what Kim had done so he could decide whether he needed to send Donyell over there to curse the woman out. He wouldn’t do it because he was a man and his father had taught him better. But Donyell didn’t give two fucks on a good day, where Kim was concerned his sister never considered it a good day.
“It’s just her attitude. She hates everything and everybody. When I told her about my business, she said I must be repaying you in sex and that you’ll get tired of that eventually.”
His teeth clenched at her words and he prayed Sariya didn’t notice. Now he needed a drink, but he needed something much stronger than lemonade.
“I mean, I’m not turning down any sex you wish to throw my way,” he said with a shrug and laughed when she swatted a hand at him.
“You and your sister never know what to say out of y’all mouths,” she said, but the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile and for Ro, that was all that mattered.
He eased an arm around her waist then and stepped in front of her so that her back was to the island. “So she wasn’t happy about your business venture,” he said. “Did you really expect her to be?”
“No,” she said with a pout as she played with one of the buttons on the pale pink dress shirt he still wore. “But she could surprise me once in a while.”
He put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up until her gaze met his. “You know you’re okay if she doesn’t,” he said. “Right? I know it hurts when she disappoints you, but you’re still standing, bae. You’re still pushing forward and accomplishing your dreams, with or without her validation.”
She sucked in a huge breath and released it. “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s not talk about that anymore. You said you were ordering dinner.”
“Yeah, I am, but I was waiting for you so you could look at the menu.”
“Oh, okay, well are you gonna move and get the menu so I can see it?” she asked.
“Uh uhn,” he replied. “Not yet.” Then he leaned in and licked her bottom lip before pulling it into his mouth.
She flattened her palms on his chest and leaned back out of reach of his lips. “I’m hungry,” she said. “I was irritated, but now I’m hungry.”
He frowned. “Big baby,” he said. Then tweaked her nose. “But first, I do have to tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
“Remember we were talking about the cash-on-hand you need to get some things done by the opening date?”
She nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “And I told you I had some people I knew that might be interested in investing.”
He hadn’t told her he had some people he could ask too, just in case he hadn’t been able to come through for her, but now since he had… “I talked to a guy I’ve known for a very long time today and he agreed to become an investor. He even has a supplier that he works with out in Vegas, but he’s certain he’d be able to help you out too.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, wow,” she said, then giggled. “Wow.”
“Wow as in a good thing, right?” He wondered because she wasn’t really giving him the jumping up and down, screaming and clapping reaction he’d been looking for.
“Yes. Yes! Definitely a good thing.”
“Then why are you looking so serious?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how best to thank you,” she said then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.
Her hands were still on his chest and she started to lower them.
“I mean, I could be a good girl and take my mother’s advice,” she said, lowering her gaze to meet her hands at the buckle of his pants. “’Cause you just said you wouldn’t turn down any sex I threw your way.”
His dick jumped the moment her fingers brushed over it as she unbuckled the belt, undid the button on his pants and then the zipper.
“Now, I want it on record that I never said that was part of our business deal,” he said then had to cut himself off and swallow as she dipped her hand into the slit of his boxers and pulled out his semi-erect dick.
“No, you didn’t,” she said and then looked up at him—a sexier look he was positive he had never seen on any woman before. “But you did say that you wouldn’t pass it up.”
She worked him in her hand, starting at the base of his dick, then twisting her wrist as she stroked him all the way to the tip. He shivered then as tendrils of pleasure soared down his spine and landed in his balls. He had to blink a couple of times to clear his mind enough to speak again. “You just gonna play with my dick right here in the kitchen?” he asked.
And almost cried when she shook her head. “Nope. I’m gonna suck your dick right here in the kitchen.”
There was a brief moment when he couldn’t think again, couldn’t decide if this was a good thing or a fuckin’ fantastic thing. And if it was going to be a regular thing whenever he made her extremely happy, then shit, he planned to do that as often as he possibly could.
Now that she had him free, she lowered herself until she was on her knees and her face was aligned with his dick. He reached down to cup her cheeks, tilting her head up again so he could see her. “I love you,” he said. “I’ve always loved you.”
When her lips spread into a smile, he thought his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.
“I love you too,” she whispered. “I’ve always loved you.”
Then, there was no more time for words, unless the groans and grunts that fell from his lips the moment she closed her warm, wet mouth over his length counted. She didn’t give him a second to catch his breath but took him deep, letting his dick tap the back of her throat until she gagged. “Oh, fuck!” he roared. He fisted his hands in her hair and tried like hell not to come right at that moment.
Her hands were braced on his thighs and she released him enough so that saliva dripped from his dick and her lips. Those pretty ass fuckin’ lips. When he caught her glancing up at him, he moved a hand and traced her bottom lip. It was already swollen and wet and his dick jumped at the sight. He slid one finger, then two into her mouth, pressing them back to her throat in the same way she’d taken his dick.
“Fuckin’ beautiful,” he groaned. “You are so damn beautiful, baby.”
He eased his fingers out of her mouth, grabbed his dick and tapped the tip to her lips, rubbing it around until all the saliva she had left there was smeared, then he pushed into her mouth and started to pump. She never touched his dick, but bobbed her head to the rhythm he created, letting him fuck her mouth as if it were her soaking wet pussy.
It was too good, he wanted to close his eyes to the pleasure, but he also wanted to keep staring down at her, looking at this gorgeous, smart, tenacious woman he’d been blessed to have in his life.
Then she was sucking him so hard and so fast like she wanted his come right this damn minute, he couldn’t keep his eyes open, couldn’t keep from yelling out like he was in pain instead of being in such divine pleasure that he could barely remember his name. He knew she would take it if he came, knew that’s what she’d been aiming for as her thank you gift, but he wanted more. He wanted to be inside her, to come so deep inside her she wouldn’t remember any other man, any other place but right here with him, in his heart.
With all the strength he could muster he pulled out of her mouth and reached down to grab her shoulders and pull her to a standing position.
“What?” she asked, her eyes as wet as her lips were now. “You didn’t like it?”
“What?” he asked as his fingers fumbled over the snap of her jeans. “Are you serious? Didn’t you hear me screaming like a girl in a horror flick?
She chuckled and he pushed her jeans and panties down. He cursed as he bent to untie her shoes and pull one of them off so he could get one pant leg and half her panties completely off of her. The other half could keep dangling at her ankle, he didn’t give a fuck.
“I need to be inside you right now,” he groaned as he lifted her up onto the island and spread her legs wide.
She yelped when he pulled her to the edge, then entered her in one quick thrust. He caught the sound with his mouth, sticking his tongue into her the same way his dick was moving inside her now. With one hand to the back of her head and the other gripping her ass he fucked her until they were both screaming and coming.
Her stomach was full and she was completely sated after their round in the kitchen, a shower, dinner, then another round on the stairs because they hadn’t been able to make it to the bedroom. Which was where she was now, waking up after she had no idea how long.
She heard voices and realized that must’ve been why she woke up. Because when she turned over in the bed and cracked an eye open it was to see that it was after midnight. But the voices were loud. Not coming from a television though because the TV in here was off. Had Ro gone downstairs to watch? She sat up in the bed and heard the voices getting even louder. She knew those voices.
Immediately pushing the bedding off of her, Sariya got out of the bed. She pushed her feet into her slippers and grabbed her robe from the chair across from the bed. Belting it as she took the stairs, she moved faster as she started to hear pieces of the conversation even clearer.
“Stay the fuck away from my niece,” Uncle Larry roared. “You don’t deserve her!”
“Look, Larry. I let you in my house because of my feelings for your niece. Otherwise, I would’ve left your stupid ass outside. Coming here in the middle of the night to start some bullshit. That’s exactly the nonsense you like to keep going,” Ro spat.
“Don’t come back here acting all high and mighty because your mommy and daddy bailed you out of trouble then sent you to that fancy school. You’re still the same little pissant running around the neighborhood tryin’ to be hard,” Uncle Larry shot back.
Ro pushed his hands into the front pockets of the sweatpants he must have pulled on when he heard someone at the door because Ro always slept naked. Had requested she do the same because he liked feeling her skin against his all night long.
“I’m a grown man now, Larry. You don’t want none of this,” Ro said. His voice was eerily calm now. Like he’d run out of steam arguing, but not hardly like he was ready to back down.
“I want you to stay the fuck away from my niece like I just said,” Uncle Larry continued to yell and this time he took a step toward Ro.
“Yeah, it’s definitely time to leave before the paramedics have to come carry you out of here,” Ro said and moved to walk around where Larry stood so he could go to the door.
Sariya knew what was going to happen and tried her best to stop it. She ran down those last steps so fast, ready to throw herself between the two men regardless of how pissed Ro was going to be that she did. But Uncle Larry moved faster. He reached out to punch Ro, but Ro dodged the punch and landed one on Uncle Larry’s jaw instead. Uncle Larry had Ro by at least four inches, but that didn’t really matter, not the way Ro was serving blow after blow to Uncle Larry’s face, his side, his gut.
She screamed for them to stop, threatened to call the cops and whoever else she could think of but the two fought like they were in a boxing ring. When Ro looked up to see where she was, Uncle Larry landed a blow to the side of his face. Ro came back with a vengeance then, punching Uncle Larry until he was backed into a table that he stumbled over and fell. Then Ro was on top of him, pounding and pounding at him, until Sariya couldn’t take it a second longer. She jumped on Ro’s back and grabbed hold of his arm. So that when he reared back to hit Uncle Larry again, her grip stopped him. At least she thought she was going to stop him, but Ro tried to carry through with the punch and the effort jerked her body forward.
That’s when Ro cursed and turned around fast, grabbing her and struggling to keep them both upright at the same time.
“What the fuck are you doing? What did I tell you?” he yelled into her face.
“You were trying to kill him!” she shot back.
“Nobody’s going to kill your sorry ass uncle, Sariya. But you better get him a ride out of here before I actually call the police and press charges against his stupid ass,” he said and started to walk away.
“Call the police and tell them what? That you kicked his ass?”
Ro didn’t answer that but continued on into the kitchen.
It was almost forty minutes before her mother arrived to collect her brother who was just beginning to regain consciousness. “We’re pressing charges,” Kim said the moment she entered the house and saw her brother lying on the floor.
“For what?” Sariya asked. “He came over here starting shit.”
Ro had finished with the ice she’d seen him put into a plastic bag and rest on his knuckles, because he was already on his way to the foyer where she stood.
“Ro’s had it out for him for years. Ever since Larry told the cops that he was the one that stole that car,” Kim said.
“That’s what he told you,” Ro said to Kim as he entered the space but moved to position himself in front of Sariya. “That I stole the car and I was the one who got off?”
He chuckled but it was far from a funny sound.
“Your brother stole that car and he picked me and my boy Charles up from the basketball court. His buddies were already in there. The two that had dropped out of school a million years ago but still liked to hang out with kids,” Ro continued. “That’s why he got the six months in juvie and me and Charles got probation before judgement And because his friends were adults, they got six months in adult jail.”
“Your parents paid somebody to get you off,” Kim shot back as she tried to hook her arms under Uncle Larry’s armpits to help him up. “Just like they sent you away that summer so Larry couldn’t beat your little ass for lying on him.”
Ro chuckled again. “Yeah, your brother couldn’t beat my ass then, anymore than he could tonight. But I guess he gets a C- for trying. Now, I want both of you out of my house in the next ten minutes or I am calling the cops.”
“Fuck you!” Kim spat.
“That’s enough!” Sariya said stepping from behind Ro. “You will get your brother and take him home and you won’t come back here again. Not until you learn to respect Ro and me.”
“You gon learn that lesson the hard way,” Kim told her now that she and Uncle Larry were standing. Well, Uncle Larry was leaning heavily on her, so that Sariya couldn’t really call that standing.
“Whatever I learn will be my business and you no longer need to be concerned with that. But you won’t come here disrespecting us again,” she told her mother.
“Don’t nobody want to come over here anyway,” Kim said as they headed toward the door.
Ro held it open and a second after they’d made it over the threshold, he slammed it shut.
“What did I tell you, Sariya?” he asked.
“I’m not arguing with you, Ro,” she said and walked away from him, heading into the kitchen.
He followed her. “Good, ‘cause you’re obviously not listening either. Jumping into a fight with full grown men. What the hell is your problem?”
“You did look like you were gonna kill him,” she said as she picked up the bag of ice and returned to where he stood. “I didn’t want you going to jail for murder.”
She put the ice to his bruised cheek and he hissed. “You could’ve gotten hurt,” he said. “I would’ve definitely killed him if you’d gotten hurt.”
“But I didn’t,” she said and went up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
“He came over here starting shit with me,” Ro said after a few seconds. “I was never going to disrespect him or your mother, because of you, Sariya. I would’ve just steered clear of both of them for you.”
“I know,” she said. “My mother probably sent him over here. They’re both so angry and bitter, blaming everybody for their mess but themselves. Uncle Larry couldn’t even finish school now he’s mad with the world because he can’t get a job paying him more than minimum wage. And Mama, she allowed a broken heart to break her spirit and I just can’t with either one of them. I can’t and I won’t.”
He settled his hands on her hips then and lowered his forehead until it touched hers. “You don’t have to,” he said. “You’ve got me and Donyell and my parents. You’ve always had us, bae. Always.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “But I wanted to have it all, you know. I wanted to be happy and in love with you. And have my best friend who’s trying to get me to try edibles. And your parents who’ve always supported me. But I wanted to have my family too, Ro. They’re all the family I have.”
He shook his head. “No. They’re all the blood relatives you have, but I’m your family, Sariya. Me, Mama, Daddy and Donyell, we’ve always been your family.”
He was right and despite the pangs of hurt left by her mother and uncle, there was still joy in her heart because Ro was absolutely right.
“Is it weird that you were like my brother in the family first and now you’re giving me mind-blowing orgasms?”
Ro let his head fall back as he laughed, then groaned because obviously that action caused him pain somewhere. “Nah, not weird at all since there was never a blood connection.”
She nodded. “I guess you’re right.”
“Mind-blowing?” he asked with an arched brow.
“You’re sore from fighting,” she said with a shake of her head.
“But my dick can still get hard. You can get on top and ride me ‘til one or both of us experiences that mind-blowing orgasm,” he said with a wiggle of his eyes.
“You play too much,” she said with a grin and eased her free hand down to cup his hard dick. “And you’re lucky I love you.”