Chapter 11 #3
When she was finally still, I kissed her thigh again, making it twitch before I wiped my mouth lazily and moved up her body, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips, letting her taste herself on my tongue.
“I love you,” I said, kissing her again.
“So fuckin’ much.” I then kissed her deeply, claiming her tongue with my own as I positioned myself at her entrance.
I slid into her slowly, wanting her to feel every inch as I invaded her sacred space.
The way she wrapped around me, so warm and tight, was a feeling I’d never get over.
We let out similar groans as our bodies pressed closer, our hands exploring each other.
“Baby,” she said in a breathy tone, her eyes fluttering.
“I’ll never get over how good you feel. This shit is unreal.” I continued to move inside her, slow and deep, hoping she felt how much I loved her. How much I needed her.
She whispered my name as we came together.
I grabbed the blanket from the arm of my sofa and pulled it over us as Dy rested her head on my chest. I kissed her forehead as she pressed her lips against my shoulder, and for a while, we just lay in comfortable silence.
I took that time to think about the last few hours. I couldn’t blame anybody but myself for the shit that went down with Dy and LaShontae. I had created a world where that was possible the moment I kept the extent of my past relationship from my Doll.
It was all good, though. I was going to be setting my relationship status straight with LaShontae sooner rather than later. Now that Dylan and I were locked in, I couldn’t continue to allow LaShontae to carry her ass around town claiming me. That was a no-go.
Because I was deep in my own head, I wasn’t sure how long Dy had been looking up at me, but her emotion-filled eyes let me know she had something on her mind.
“Wassup, baby?”
Exhaling, she said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about my job lately.”
I raised a brow. Oh yeah?”
Tucking her lips between her teeth, she nodded. “I still don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said quietly. “But I know I’m not happy there. I know I want more of this. More of you.”
Her confession had my insides dancing. Now that she had spoken, I realized her apprehension was about my feelings on her decision. She had to be crazy as hell if she thought her going to Paris would keep me from her, so I told her exactly that.
“More of me?” I chuckled. “You got all of me, baby. You’re gon’ figure this job shit out soon enough, and I’ma be right witcha while you do. So don’t stress that shit, aight?”
I meant that, too. I damn sure didn’t want her to go to Paris, with her ungrateful ass boss. I wasn’t going to be the one pushing the issue, though. Dy needed to make the decision to cut ties with her boss on her own, and it needed to be because she recognized that she deserved better.
Whether she went or not, though, this thing with her and me was happening, so the fate of our relationship needed to be the last thing she was worried about.
My words seemed to relax her a bit, because she gave me a smile.
“Promise?”
I kissed my teeth. “Hell yeah, girl. Stop playin’.”
“This is a nice home,” Dy said as we walked through my pops’ crib.
Dy had yet to make up her mind about Paris, so I was still operating like she would be leaving me in a few days. I wanted her and my pops to connect at least once before then, so I hit him up about it, and he got excited as hell, agreeing to put steaks on the grill and everything.
“Yeah, it’s aight.”
As we walked through the house, the faint sound of eighties R&B became clearer, and I realized Pop was already in the backyard. Taking Dy’s hand, I led her to the back door. As soon as I slid the door open, I dropped my head and laughed.
“Nigga, what the hell you doin’ here?”
Marcellus threw his head back, laughing. “You thought your pops was gon’ grill steaks without callin’ me? Nigga, please.” He then glanced at Dy, who was smiling from ear to ear.
“I know that ain’t my Doll right there,” Marc said with a smirk. He started toward us as my father, who was tending to the grill, set his tongs down and faced us.
I cut my eyes at Marc before dapping him up. “Hell nah, it ain’t. You can call her Dylan, nigga.”
Marc waved me off, then brought a laughing Dy in for a hug.
“What’s it been, girl? Twelve years? This nigga been sick without ya.”
Her smile grew as she replied. “Twelve years and some change. How you been, Marc?”
As he replied to Dy, my father approached us.
“What’s good, Son?” he asked and pulled me in for a hug.
“I’m chillin’, Pop. You remember Dylan, right?”
Dy turned to him with that bright ass smile, and he matched it.
“Of course, I remember this beautiful young lady,” my father said, taking her hand and kissing it. I shook my head and chuckled.
Blushing, Dy said, “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Ellis.”
He kissed his teeth. “I got at least twenty more years before folks need to start callin’ me Mr. Ellis, sweetheart. Braxton or Pops will do it for me,” Pop said, smirking.
“My bad, Pops,” Dy said, grinning. “It smells great out here.”
“You know I don’t mess around,” Pop said, heading back to the grill. “You make yourself comfortable on one of these chairs out here, and I’ma have you some dinner shortly.”
Marc returned to his seat, and I took the lawn chair next to him. Dy tried to claim her own spot, but I caught her arm just before she sat down, and pulled her down on my lap, making her gasp and look over at my father, who was paying us no mind.
I kissed her ear and wrapped my arms around her. “Girl, that man ain’t worried ’bout what we got goin’ on over here. I want you close to me.”
Dy rolled her eyes but relaxed in my embrace.
“Y’all linkin’ up in New York of all places is crazy, man,” Marc said.
I nodded. “Same shit I said. I thought I’d never see this girl again, for real.”
“Yeah, man. You disappeared on us, Dy,” Marc said, and she turned to him.
“I know,” she said softly. “I didn’t think I’d end up being away that long, but I’m glad to be back now.”
We all settled into casual conversation, with Dy updating Marc and my pops on her life and them doing the same.
Pops was in and out of the house with all the food he was cooking, and the vibe was cool.
Dy fit right in with my people like no time had passed at all, and it only strengthened my surety that she was it for me.
I had never had a moment like this with LaShontae, because Marc couldn’t stand her ass and rarely stuck around when she came through.
With Dy, though, shit just flowed. She was the missing piece to the puzzle.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but at some point, my father announced that he was done with the food.
Dy patted my hand, gesturing for me to release her, and reluctantly, I did. She stood and said, “I’m going to use the restroom.”
“I’ll show you,” I said, standing.
She smiled. “That’s play. We passed it on our way out here.”
My pops chuckled as he took the last lobster tail off the grill and placed it in one of his tins. “Let the woman breathe, Son.”
Marc laughed. “Exactly. Clingy ass.”
Shaking her head, Dy kissed my cheek. As she was passing Marc, she playfully pushed him. “Leave him alone, Marc.”
“Damn, Doll, it’s like that?”
She just laughed as she entered the house, and I shot his dumb ass a bird. “I done told yo’ ass to stop calling her that.”
“You ain’t my daddy, nigga.” He looked back at the patio door, which Dy closed behind her, then turned back to me.
“Aye,” he said after a brief pause. “I ran into LaShontae earlier today. She had the nerve to stop and talk to me.”
I frowned at that. LaShontae had always been well aware of Marc’s feelings toward her, so her speaking to him was out of the norm for sure.
“What she say?” I asked, pretty sure I already knew the answer.
Marc chuckled. “You. She asked if you’re seeing somebody else, and if that’s why you won’t answer the phone for her.”
“What you say?”
“I told her I damn shole hope you are.” He laughed loudly before continuing. “I ain’t know if you broke the news to her about Dy yet, so I didn’t tell ya business, but I damn shole wanted to.”
I sighed as I thought about the situation. “Nah, I ain’t seen her since I’ve been back. Dy is supposed to be visitin’ her best friend’s parents tomorrow since it’s her last day in town. I’ma pull up on LaShontae then and let her know wassup.”
I sat back down and looked toward the patio myself. “Dy ran into her the day before yesterday. She was quick to tell her that we were together.”
My dad covered the last aluminum tin with foil then came to join us on the lawn chairs.
He was wearing a scowl, and I was sure it was because of our conversation.
He had never been rude to LaShontae, but he made it clear years ago that he didn’t believe she was with me for the right reasons.
Needless to say, that turned out to be true.
“Baby girl didn’t believe that, did she?”
I ran a hand over my head. “I fucked up, I ain’t gon’ lie. I kinda implied that I hadn’t been with LaShontae since high school when I ran into Dy.”
“The hell you do that for?” Pops asked.
I gave them a condensed version of our reunion and how I thought telling her about LaShontae would ruin the vibe.
“But it’s all good, though. I’m locked in wit’ my Doll. LaShontae is just noise now.”
They both looked at me for a minute, until a slow smile spread across Marc’s face, and my father let out a whistle.
“I’ve been waiting years to hear you say that, homie. It’s ’bout time.”
“I know that’s right. Dylan is a good girl, and I’m glad you’ve found each other again. I’m proud of ya, son.”
I smirked. “’Preciate that.”
Just then, my woman slid the door open and emerged from the house, carrying plates.
“I saw these on the counter,” she said, holding them up.
“’Preciate that, sweetheart. Lemme make your plate,” my father said, standing, but Dy shook her head and frowned.
“No, sir. You’ve been cooking all afternoon. The least I can do is make your plate.”
She and my father fussed about who was catering to whom for all of thirty seconds, before Dy took the W. She insisted on making plates for each of us, and so, as she headed over to the food, I admired her, feeling more at peace for the first time in a minute.
And Dy was right at the center of it.