More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
We braced. “We will jump,” you warned. “We will fall. But we won’t crash,” you ensured.
We dig our fingers into each other’s palms. I say a prayer that we will join in the afterlife, so desperately, I’d forfeit heaven if it meant I’d burn with you in Hades. Before I disappoint God with the notion, we’re jolted to steadiness. Gliding in a raspberry sky. I kiss you dotingly on your neck.
“But love doesn’t hurt. Love doesn’t crash you into the earth. Love doesn’t bring fear, or pain, or uncertainty.”
“Baby love. Love doesn’t protect you from those things. Love only heals from the damage. Love ensures you don’t go to battle alone. But with great love comes notable risk. With the fall. With the glide. Comes the impact.”
Then I prepare. I brace for what’s to come. Succumb to my destiny. I accept the memory. Because in the end, I would have rather gone up on that parachute with you than remained on the ground with anyone else.
A Man I Love There is a man I love. He dwells in my bones. His leaves are in my hair. His roots are in my toes. My unescapable shadow. Wherever I go, he goes. His kisses taint my wind. Wherever I blow, he blows. To break free, I’d spite my face, cutting off my nose. But even then, I’m senseless. Still in love, I suppose. So, I carry him with me. Like a secret untold. Until the day I am released. The day I part with my soul.
“Promise me you’ll do whatever you need to be happy. If for any reason I’m not here to make you happy...promise me, you’ll still find a way to be.”
the old ’90s track about Sour Times. This was a remake by someone black. Someone better. A soulful singer crooning on the always eerily-melancholy song swearing nobody loves me like you do...
“Tahli doesn’t want me to fight for her. She wants to marry the perfect nigga that never fucks up–” “I didn’t give her to the perfect nigga!” Robert surprised him by bellowing, commanding Vin’s gawk. “I gave her to you. So, if you’re the man that you said you were...the man that I think you are... you’ll fight for her.” That rendered Vin speechless. “If- No, when…she makes it through this. You better do just that.” “Do what?” Vin dared for clarity, and Robert met his glower. “Fucking fight for her, Dalvin.”
“So, yeah…I’m fucking with it. I love you, baby. But I owe it to myself to love me more. Don’t think that doesn’t kill me to say, Vin, because of course what the fuck am I gonna do without you?”
“It kills me to see you broken. But I want you to love me enough to let me go, baby.” Vin looked like he had stopped breathing. “I want off the parachute.”
Because if you’re reading this, you’re not my wife anymore. But you’ll always be my parachute.
When you’re gone, what else are your children going to pass down to their children? Your Instagram account? No. You need good old photo albums.
“What? That I’m engaged to a nigga?”
“You used to sit over there!”
‘Grief is the price we pay for love’. Sometimes you have to let the pain run its course.”
“If you love Tahli, truly love Tahli…you have to love her past the capacity of your possession. You have to love her enough to want her happy; however she finds that happiness. She’s a smart woman. She’ll know if you love her enough for that.”
Ne-Yo’s Miss Independent
Sisqó’s Thong Song
Usher’s Confessions Part II,
“Lost Without You? That’s my shit,” Abby echoed.
“Complicated,” Tahli breathed out, eyes glued to Robin
“Let me capture this real quick.” Tahli squeezed her thighs together. Vin was a real let me man. ‘Let me eat that pussy real quick’
What a perfect moment. Her birthday. High. Loved. Weightless. Twinkle lights and mild nights. Mist from a fountain.
Time can be an illusion, a healer, or a thief. It can pause pain, giving the false assumption that the pain passed. It can steal beauty, and hopes, and memories. Place expectations on our goals, and dreams, and relationships. Time can make you believe that because enough of it has passed, things that were, are no longer…
Groove Me was
“I think you need to step away from this food, baby love.” Vin stood back to his potential, sipping from his red Solo cup. “Why?” Tahli panicked. “’Cause I’m ‘bout to put you on my plate instead.”
“I guess perception is everything. Sometimes people see things like looks, charm, and success, and it can be blinding. They think they’ve hit the jackpot.”
“I fucking smell you, baby love,” he grunted, and Tahli freed a jagged breath. “You gotta be so fucking wet and willing for me to pick that up. It’s faint…and sweet.” A space snuck between her lips. “But it’s her. I can smell my little wet pussy.”
Raise your hand if you have ever been completely owned by someone. No? Then hold your judgments.
“Oh, my fucking God,”
“I’m trying to enjoy you without thinking about this nigga up in my good-ass pussy.” “Fucking Daddy. Shit,”
“Take that shit like a good girl. You gonna be a good girl?” “I’ma be a good girl,” she warbled. “That’s my girl. Still cumming like a good girl,”
“And that shit feels so fucking good. But good girl, go wait your turn. I need my little freak bitch right now.”
“Go get me a water.”
“Thank you, baby.” His heavy panting mixed with his words as he guzzled most of the bottle, drenching his face with it. Then he stood with about a quarter of it left. Grabbed her by the back of her hair to tilt her head back. Swigged the remainder into his mouth before bringing his to hers, slowly feeding his saliva-sweetened water to her. Shit like that. Primal unscripted chemistry. “Now go get in that fucking bed,”
“I don’t know if I wanna keep tasting you or fuck you some more. I missed my pussy so much.” “Just your pussy?” Tahli panted. “Don’t joke about that. Don’t remind me of the emptiness I feel without you, Tahli. You ain’t the only one trying to forget some shit for a minute.”
“I was very naïve about the situation. I guess you don’t realize how difficult either decision is until you have to make it. It’s easy to judge from the outside. But neither feels right, so you never which is. How is that possible?” “Maybe because there is no right, my love. Only what you can live with. Or can’t live without.”
“You’re a good girl, B. Don’t ever shrink yourself to fit into a little nigga’s box again. Find you a big nigga, or walk alone.”
“I wanna climb in this bikini.” “You wanna wear this bikini?” She giggled, splashing him with water. “I don’t know if it’ll fit yo’ big ass.” “I wanna wear you. I wanna climb inside of you, baby love. Then you can’t ever get away from me again.”
“No matter how this shit ends. You are my baby love for life. My dream. My light. My reason. My strength and my mothafuckin’ weakness.” He kissed her lips, and she let him. “My parachute,”
“Once you know you’re dreaming, just take control of it, Loverboy. You’re more powerful than your dreams,”
“Pain is a scary son of a bitch, Tahli. People do all kinds of shit to escape the burn. But you can’t run from that motherfucker. You gotta sit in it. Then it starts to dissipate. But the thing is, you’ve tried everything but sitting in it. You gotta sit in it. Then you can truly forgive Dalvin. And you must forgive him. Not for him. Respectfully, fuck him. This ain’t about him. You gotta forgive him for you. So, you can let that pain you’ve been walking around with, go. Then you see what you’re left with. Then you see how you move on from there. That’s it. It don’t get no fucking simpler than
...more
Throughout her entire life, Tahli had taken her mother’s singular lesson to heart: to be defensive. Never let anyone tie you down, never give up on your dreams. Never lose yourself. She had never imagined there was sacrifice in Cree’s selfishness.
To deem someone flawed suggests that you believe they have deviated from perfection. But there is no perfection. People are people.
“You know? Always have my own thing going? Never get all wrapped up in boys? Let them come to you. Enjoy my youth. Focus on my goals.”
“I’m not. But I can be honest with myself that our foundation was not as perfect as I imagined. I have work to do, too. You’re still growing and I’m still growing, but I want to do this shit together. Because I love you now, and I’ll love you later. The next version of you, I’ll love his ass, too.” Vin swallowed that down. “I know you. I trust you, Vin.
I truly, in the deepest part of my heart know you will do everything in your power to never hurt me. Fighting against how much I still love you has been like swimming against the fucking current. I’ve been swimming nonstop for two years, and baby, I’m exhausted.”
“Dalvin, you are mine.” Tahli slapped her chest. “Me? I’m in here.” She slammed her hands...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
A reminder that they were not up in the clouds.
