Tethered Love

by Kimberly Brown

His lips crashed into her, stealing her cries and claiming her breath as her body released for him. His warm seed shot inside of her, filling her to the point of spilling out. As it washed away down the drain, his movements slowed to a halt. Pulling his lips away, his eyes settled on hers.

“I know this started as a co-parenting relationship, Elle,” Malachi said, brushing the wet curls from her beautiful face. “But I want you. You, me, and Vi can be the family we all deserve. I feel so right with you.” “I feel right with you, too, Malachi,” Eli...

“Now… I can teach from anywhere. And with my connections, it would be nothing to have my lab funded in any of the fifty states. You are an award-winning plastic surgeon. One of the youngest, most successful, and highly sought after Black women in the country. You can write your ticket and your salary at any hospital. Grand Hills, for example, has one of the top teaching hospitals in the country. They would love to get their hands on you. What are you afraid of?”

For a moment, he just admired her beautiful face, reminiscing about the night they shared. Being inside her was a pleasure he didn’t know he needed. She was a perfect fit, and the way their bodies meshed together was a beautiful synchronicity. He loved the sound of her moans. The feeling of her nails digging into his flesh. The way his name fell from her lips. He loved the way her eyes connected with his as he was deep inside of her and when her pussy gripped his dick as they climaxed… sen-fucking-sational.

“I love being inside you,” he whispered in her ear. “You feel so good to me, Elle. How am I supposed to let you leave me?”

“I want you,” he said, looking down at her. “Tell me we can make this work?”

“You’re gonna learn to stop playing with me. These hands are blessed with many talents. You experienced a few of those.”

“I’ve seen you at your worst and you’ve come a long way. I just don’t want you to slip back into that bad headspace. You know what that was like. That was a dark time. Malachi brought you out of much of that. If you love him like you say you do, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

“I am. You two together is the best gift.” She leaned in and kissed her mother’s cheek. “Come on, I want to open my presents.”

“Not only is she officially legally yours… but she also shares your last name.” Malachi looked down at the certificate. “Violet Makai Barlow-Devereaux. Father: Malachi Devereaux.”

Pulling his head to hers, she kissed him softly. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders. After all this time, things were finally as they should have been. Violet was legally recognized as Malachi’s daughter on paper and in name. Eliana knew Porchea thought she was doing the right thing. She certainly regretted the part she played in this whole situation.

“Well, maybe tonight, that’s all you’ll wear,” Malachi said as his hands inched up her thighs. “You want my chains dangling in your face, baby?” “Damn right.” “You know we can’t be loud with two kids in the house.”

Face down, ass up seemed like a great way to start off Christmas morning.

“Eliana… You’ve been putting everybody but yourself first for so long. A move might be good for you. You’ve branded yourself so that you can work wherever you want. Buying another home isn’t an issue for you. And if I’m correct about what I saw while Malachi was here… you’d have more than one reason to start anew.”

“We… kind of decided to make things work between us.” “I’m happy for you. I’ve been waiting for you to love again after Allen. He would have wanted you to move on and be happy, baby. As long as that man is good to you and does right by his daughter, I don’t see a reason to hold back.” “It’s so soon, Mom.”

“Oh God!” She gasped as the first wave of her orgasm stole her breath away. “Let it go,” he commanded, hooking his fingers to stimulate her G-spot. “Let me hear your pussy say thank you.”

“Fuck!” she cried out, her chest heaving. “I’m cumming!”

He smeared the essence against her lips, trailing it down her neck to the tops of her breasts. He kissed her, sucking the essence from her lips. His tongue followed the trail until nothing was left behind. “I want to make love to you, Elle,” he said, gazing in her eyes. “Can I do that?”

“Use your words.” “Yes…” she answered immediately.

“Shit, Malachi!” She cried out in pleasure as he began thrusting his hips upward to meet her. His fingers threaded through her hair. Every so often he gripped it as his lips kissed and sucked on her neck, leaving behind love marks.

“I wanna be with you. I don’t want just, Vi. I gotta have you too, baby.” “I wanna be with you too…

“I’m falling for you too. I meant what I said. That wasn’t some heat of the moment type of shit. I want you and Vi with me. You told me we could make it work. I want to put action behind that. It doesn’t have to be immediately… We can take the time and make a solid plan to put things in motion. But I need you, Elle.”

“What if… What if we moved here? I mean, it’ll take a minute to square things away, but Vi is set on going to GHU. You’re here. Her family is here. I’m not ready to give up my baby just yet. And…” She paused to kiss him. “I’m too old for long-distance relationships. You’ve been putting good dick in me for the last week now. I need that on delivery.”

“You do that,” Ziva said. “You were right, my baby daddy and I need to talk about our child.” Eliana glared at her. “Please don’t play with me, Ziva. You have the right bitch today. You can let the devil use you but he can use me, too, baby.” “Is that supposed to be a threat?”

“That is a promise. Let me find out you’re on some funny shit.”

“I will skin that bitch,” Eliana declared, seething.

“So aggressive!” Ziva said, laughing. “I don’t know if I want you around my baby. I mean, the behavior is unpredictable. It’s crazy how you passed that down, even without being Violet’s biological mother.”

“She better speak her peace about this baby and get out. One more word and I’m beating her ass. Her face ain’t pregnant.”

“You want me to be honest? Fine, I’ll be honest. We were together for the wrong reasons. Did I love you? Yes. But you wanted to be married for the sake of being married. I wanted to be married, I wanted a family, and I wasn’t getting any younger. We wanted different things, and you know that!”

“Irrational? You just said if this baby is yours. I haven’t been with any other men, Malachi. Unlike you, I wanted to be with you. I wanted to work shit out. You chose to leave. You left me and you went to that bitch in the room! You don’t think that hurt me!”

“So you’re gonna keep me from my child? After all the shit I went through? After having the chance to raise my first child stolen from me? I have to go state to state to have a relationship with a child that’s always been mine. You’re gonna stand here in my face and tell me you’re gonna do the same thing to me? Ziva, I promise you, if you do that, there is gonna be hell to pay.”

“How are you gonna do that?” Eliana yelled, glaring at him. For the first time, he noticed the redness in her eyes. “She’s pregnant… She’s carrying your child. Even if she tried to keep you away, I know your heart. You’re gonna do everything in your power to be there and you should. You know as well as I do she’s not gonna make this easy and I don’t want our daughter witnessing how ugly it’s about to be. Maybe we can try in the summer.”

“Eliana…” he said calmly. “I mean this in the humblest way possible… I’ve had to wait long enough to have my child with me. You are not going to stand in the way of that.”

“Eliana, I’m not doing this with you. We’ve had this conversation. I’ve asked you what I needed to ask you regarding that whole situation. I believed what you told me because I understand grief. I understand you tried to get her to do the right thing. The only person I was angry with was the woman I laid down and made a child with. She held the power to make all of this right and she died not doing so. Ziva will not get the chance to do that to me again.” He cupped her face as he stepped closer to her. “Relax your pretty little head.” Eliana looked up at him. Her face remained firm as she spoke.

“I don’t want her here right now. I don’t trust that woman, and if anything… anything happens to Violet because of her, I will burn this entire city to the fucking ground. I am her mother. I didn’t carry her, but in every sense of the word, she is mine. My gut is telling me that woman is dangerous, Malachi. I will not have Violet put in harm's way. She’s coming home with me.”

“Look how you turned out. Perfectly fine. Better than fine, considering who your father and grandfather are.” “You picked that man, not me! I’ve done everything in my power not to be anything like him. I love you, Ma, but I feel sorry for you. You’ll never know how to accept real love and it’s sad.” He brushed past her and into his room to look for something to wear.

“I can’t trust you anymore. You’re running your mouth to Malachi. Going over there being friendly with him and shit. That man hurt me! He basically told me he settled for me! He was going to use me, just like all the others and here you are consulting with the enemy.”

“Are you hearing yourself right now? I’m your son! Flesh of your flesh! Blood of your blood! You gon’ put me out the day after Christmas?”

“If I walk out that door, I’m never coming back,” Easton threatened. “You will never see me again, I swear to God.”

“You and Porchea have one undeniable thing in common. You both undermine my ability to care for my child on my own.”

“Now you are concerned with fairness? It wasn’t fair that he lost thirteen years of my life in the first place! You’re keeping me from the one person I rightfully belong to!” That hit Eliana in the chest. As ungrateful as it sounded, it was also true. Yet even as true as it was, she was acting within the capacity she’s been trusted with.

“Let me tell you something, Violet,” she said, turning to face her completely. “I am the only mother you have. Porchea is dead. My husband is dead. As you were familiar with calling it, my rightful children are dead. No, I did not give birth to you. Your mother chose me. Whatever her reasons were, she chose me before she died and, sweetheart, it was legal. That makes you rightfully mine too. You are my child, and I will always do what I feel is best for you.” “Even if it’s not fair?”

“Be honest with me, Mom. Did you really not know who he was? All those years. All that time my mother’s things were in the attic… did you really not go up there?”

“I’ve told you the truth. Let me make something clear to you. Your feelings are hurt, but you don’t know real grief, Violet. I lost six babies, one right before I watched my best friend… my sister, wither away and die and I became a mother to her child. I couldn’t grieve her like I needed to because we had you and you needed us more than I needed to cry. I lost my husband two years later. Day in and day out, I split everything I had between my career and being the best mother I could be, regardless of how I gained that title. “You think if I didn’t have time to grieve the loss of two people I loved most, I’d have time to go through a bunch of old things in my attic? Maybe it’s not an excuse for not trying harder to locate Malachi to you, but that is my truth. I will not apologize for it, and you will not question my motives.”

“Yes. Despite you being a total brat the last couple of weeks, I was willing to make that sacrifice for you. Don’t ever act like I’m against you, Violet. I make moves in my sleep to make sure you’re happy. You disrespect me again like you did earlier and next time, that’s your ass. Do I make myself clear?”

“As someone who hid her mental illness, key elements of her past, and lied about wanting a baby in the first place to keep you, I wouldn’t put the shit past her. I mean, she decided to spring it on you when she knew Eliana and Violet would be in town. The woman put her only son out because he told you some shit about her. You think she wouldn’t take things this far?” Malachi frowned just thinking about the fact that she put Easton out with no remorse. When he came back to the house and told him what happened, he immediately called Ziva to lay into her, but she didn’t answer the phone then and hadn’t since. If she could turn on her son… her flesh and blood… would she really hesitate to turn on him?

“So you were gonna fake a pregnancy?”

“Because you deserved it! You deserved to know what it felt like to have everything you wanted ripped from you! You were trying to use me—”

“Cut the shit, Ziva! You knew you didn’t want the life I did. That’s the difference between you and me! You knew you didn’t want a child, yet you told me different. You had all the time in the world to bow out and you didn’t. Instead, you were ready to have me pay twenty-five grand for an elaborate wedding just so you could finally say that you were married. What were you planning to do after the wedding? Huh?”

“When you say things like that, it doesn’t matter how you meant it as much as it does how it is received. The man was stripped of his rights for thirteen years. You gave him an amended birth certificate for Christmas. You went through the legal aspects of having him recognized as her father, only to take his voice away.”