“Where did your hate come from?”
Irish gulped down the bile traveling up her throat. This part of her existence was painfully agonizing. Trying to findwords to match her feelings were almost impossible because the pain was too great to paint a picture for.
“She just… she sold me out. And when her husband died, she checked out on me and my sister. I was fifteen years old, carrying my two-year-old sister around like she was mine. I was responsible for everything. I had to feed her, bathe her, take her to school, and pick her up. Everybody thought I was a teen mom when I wasn’t. My mother would ignore us and put everything on my shoulders. I’ve hated her ever since.”
Watching Daisy clock out of her role as mom had been a bitter dose of trauma. To this very day, she hadn’t stepped back in. She only held her hand out whenever she was in need. Irish didn’t go above and beyond for her, which was why Daisy always had a speech when she did visit her.
Noble slid Irish on the side of him and turned to face her. She could only see one of his eyes since the rest of his face was shielded by darkness. The pad of his finger brushed across her cheek, urging her eyes to close as she relished his soothing touch.
“Doing all that shows how pure your heart is. I actually love that about you.”
She sighed. “Yeah, but I don't always wanna be the person with the big heart. Sometimes, I want to treat people the way they treat me.”
“I know.” He caressed her bottom lip with his thumb. “But that ain't you. You were meant to be how you are, Pumpkin.”
Irish loved that nickname. It made her feel as if she belonged, which was something she’d always strived for.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Sure.”
“I’m the same way with my mama, too. She disappointed me and I cut her off emotionally. We don't have a normal son/mother relationship, and we never will. She does help me run my company though.”
“How can you trust her with your business when she let you down in the past?”
“Because business is always first. I’m able to put my feelings to the side when it comes to my money. Other than that, I don't fuck with her, and she hates it.”
“Wow, our relationships with our mothers are really parallel.”
“Yeah, it’s crazy, right?”
“…what’s crazier is that I don't know how to rid my heart of the ill feelings for my mom.”
“You probably can’t. Some shit just is what it is. I don't try to make sense of everything in life.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I don't have that level of comprehension. God does, not me. So, me trying to find the answers to everything in life is pointless.”
Noble’s wisdom was astounding. Each time they shared a conversation, Irish took something from it and stored it inside her heart. He was a man she could learn something from if they lasted that long. She laid her hand on his hairy cheek and kissed him softly.
“We really should put an end to this,” she whispered.
He pecked her lips, pulling her naked body closer to his.
“I know.”
Noble and Irish both knew what needed to be done but no one wanted to make the first move. They were too tangled intheir sheets of passion that they couldn’t bear to walk away. The soil was moist, and the seed had been planted. Their harvest had bloomed into something neither one wanted to say because it would confirm that they had gone way too far.
Noble rolled her on her back, inserting his tongue inside her mouth. Her pussy was sore from the beating he’d already put on it but that didn’t stop her from opening her legs for him.
“Let me put you to sleep, Pumpkin. We can talk about that sad shit later.”
“…Okay.”
Noble plunged back into what seemed like his new favorite place and stroked all the somberness from Irish.
Thirteen
