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“What do you hear?” he questioned. Aside from the sound of the gentle breeze brushing across my face, I heard nothing. Not even a cricket chirping. “Silence.”
He smirked subtly. “That’s how silent I want ya fears to be.” “How, when I don’t know you?”
“We’ll get to know each other. Things will go slow. For now, my mama will show you to your room. Anything you need, just ask. More importantly, I wan...
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“I’m big dog ‘round this muthafucka. I can understand that you don’t like that, but you gon’ respect me in this bitch. Most importantly, you gon’ do what the fuck I say. If not for ya ungrateful ass, you gon’ do it for ya sister who’s sacrificing her own fuckin’ life to save you, lil’ nigga.”
“I fuck with the fact that you think you love ya sister. However, you gon’ watch how you talk to her, too. Lower yo’ fuckin’ tone and talk to her like the responsible fuckin’ adult that she is. Does she have to marry me? No, the fuck she doesn’t. Is she doing it to save yo’ life? Yes, the fuck she is. As a fuckin’ man, you should honor the fact that she’s willing to lay aside whatever life she had to see to it that you can live yours. Do you understand me?” He responded with, “Whateva, bruh.”
“Never inside these four walls will you sleep on anything other than a bed, baby. I’ll take the couch. You get in the bed.” “Okay,”
His lips touched the tip of my big toe as his fingers methodically massaged my foot. I bit into my lip to stifle a moan that still came out. “That right there,” he crooned as he kissed my other toes. “Another nigga will never hear you do that shit for him. Only me.” I gulped.
“You’re crazy.” Adir looked me dead in my eyes and didn’t crack a smile. I went from thinking this was cute, to silently praying he wasn’t as crazy as the look on his face conveyed.
“Son number five. I’m sure he was the kid grillin’ the fuck outta me before I came in here.” “Knowing you, you laughed in his face.” “I tried to blind that lil’ nigga wit’ every diamond in my mouth.”
“He’s everything… But no one is everything. Right?” “Girl, my man is everything to me,” she said. “And I do mean everything.”
“Alright, then. I’m gon’ go out on a limb and say it. Dr. Adir Bell is in love.” I balked at her statement, and she pointedly looked at me. “You need a nap,” I told her to which she cackled.
“No, I don’t. You need to wake up and see that Adir is not playing with you. You met him Monday and that might as well had been a cen...
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“Aht, aht! No buts, my girl. You’re worried about Quilo when I’m quite sure Adir can handle him. Focus on you and what you want right now. You have a whole husband now. A husband who saw to it that your best friends were here to see you get married.” She sighed and placed her hand over her heart. “If that’s not something like love, I don’t know what is.”
Before long, I laid my head on Adir’s chest and enjoyed the smell of him and the sound of his heartbeat. We were literally slow dancing to no music. Yet, our beat was perfect, our flow natural, and our chemistry electric.
“We’ve said our vows now, Pretty. Everything I vow to you is eternal… Forever.” “Why is this so easy for you?” I whispered.
“I walked into Smooth Brew and saw Favor sitting there all alone. Her eyes demanded that I approach her. The scent of her commanded me to reach my hand out to her. Her touch collapsed the fabric of who I am and brought me under a subjection I’ve never felt before.”
“You’ve been raising Quilo all alone. So I understand ya need to shelter and protect him. Believe it or not, my job is to shelter and protect him, too, now. Let me. Allow me to take the load off of you.”
“If I gotta chase you, you gon’ owe me somethin’ you’re not ready to give me right now.”
“You’re a menace,” she said. “She loved me,” I countered. “I’m sure she did.” “Let’s fall in love, Pretty.”
“I’m serious as fuck. Let’s do it. Over and over, every single day. I want you to look at me and say damn, that fine muhfucka belongs to me.”
“This is a lifetime for us. Let’s do this shit big, baby.”
“They were protectors, my baby. They were providers and leaders. Sometimes taking on those roles require you to do shit that is immoral. When it comes to family and bonds, nothing is off limits. You do what you gotta do to maintain order and control.”
“All niggas can’t make a body disappear, though.”
“No matter the reason, you really think having ya future in the hands of the laws is easy?”
“As for me, I won’t tolerate disrespect. I’m cool with you knowing exactly who I am. You gotta understand what type of privilege and responsibility comes with knowing me. That goes for every single person in this family.”
“To know these people is to understand that there is a code. There is honor. There is respect. Most of all, there is loyalty.”
“This is not up for debate. The smell of blood can be addictive if you let it. Don’t let getting one body under ya belt make you think this life is a fuckin’ cake walk.”
“That’s real love, Pretty. That’s nearly forty years of being in love with the person they each said I do to. That’s a man who’d kill for his wife. That’s a woman who’d walk through fire for her husband. That is what I see with us. Regardless of what got us in this union, I intend to make sure you never wanna do this shit with another nigga even after I leave this earth. I’m gon’ love you that good, Pretty.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t share the same view as you do. If that is my man’s child, your child will have him as a father. That’s it. And while I’m at it, I should tell you… I’m not in the business of one upping any woman, not about anything. So, if you see my belly swollen in the next few months, chalk it up to my man moving my one-year timeline up a few months.”
“When I beat the skin off of whoever you think is gon’ touch me, I’ll be sure to tell them this could’ve all been so simple. You could just walk away with your dignity and leave me alone.”
On the one hand she was soft, sweet, and shy to a point. Then, there was this side of her. The side that was dangerously close to tipping me into a direction of crazy that I’d never explored before.
“My hope is to seal our bodies together so tightly that you never wanna breathe without me, Pretty.”
“I see a masterpiece of Black ass love, my baby.”
“I have the upmost respect for you, and there’s not a damn thing I wouldn’t do for you. When it comes to makin’ love… We gon’ brand each other’s bodies in a way that dares anybody to touch what we have. Yeah?”
“Genika, girl, I get it. You can’t have my man, though.”
Long before Adir had my body under his control, he had my mind. As far as I was concerned, he’d branded me the night he saved me and my brother’s lives. So, no. I wasn’t coming off that man, and I damn sure wasn’t sharing him.
“Start over… Address me like the demon you know takes but a split second for me to become.”
“I could give a fuck about first, second, or third anything, nigga. I’on give a fuck if she’s prancin’ ‘round here ass fuckin’ naked. Find you somebody else to play wit’ before I rearrange yo’ trachea and esophagus.”
“Remember I told you that it was gon’ take trust you never knew in order to be married to a man like me. Trust me, my baby. That’s all I ask.”
“You can’t beat my ass,”
“And frankly, I’m a lil’ disappointed that you gon’ let a jealous muhfucka trick you out ya spot. If anything you make them niggas hate the fuckin’ ground you walk on.”
“Grief will have you angry at the world and even the people you love. Even if you don’t mean to be, anger is destined to be the way you react to everything. You’re gon’ be a man one day. My job is to make sure you understand the weight that comes with being one. You can’t allow every single thing to piss you off. And even if it does, you know how to control ya anger and not let it get the best of you.”
Process ya emotions. Over time, you’ll see how effective communication can heal shit you thought was deep-rooted and terminal.”
Sometimes, we question things that really shouldn’t be a second thought. Especially if the outcome outweighs the cause.
“You’ve known Adir for a while. How do you think he’ll feel if I smack the taste outta her mouth?” Russ chuckled. “I would never let her get that close to you.” “That’s the problem though. Hiding behind you while a woman is being disrespectful to me makes me feel and look weak. I don’t like that.” “Well, ya man will be here soon. If I were you, I’d tell him how you feel ‘cause I definitely hope you knock the wind out her ass.”
“Aside from those young men that are now your sons, I’ve never seen him happier. A happy Adir means there are a lot of people who can sleep peacefully at night. So, yes, I will do whatever to protect you. He knows that.”
“Suppose you want to get married or have a family of your own.” “When the time comes, it’ll come. Until then, I’m stuck to you like glue. And I wish a muthafucka would.”
“I’m surprised you made it on time.” He brought me closer to him and kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m where I belong, baby.”
Smiling, I replied, “And since you’re here. It should be noted that I can’t put my hands on Genika. Gensen, on the other hand, is fair game.” He chuckled. “That’ll never happen, my baby.” “Oh, it will. You’re gon’ let me because if you don’t, I’ma be mad at you.”
“Sleep in a bed other than mine and you gon’ wake up covered in spiders.”
