I let my head fall back for a second in amusement before looking back at her.
“Nah, you’re a good girl.”
The words came out naturally, without me even thinking about them. Of course, I didn’t want to offend her. I never wanted to offend her. I was just stating facts. But the way she looked at me after that made something shift. Her expression changed, just slightly, but enough for me to catch it. It was the way her eyes fell on me.
“But I don’t want to be good,” she said.
That made me pause and really look at her. And what I saw wasn’t confusion or hesitation. She was dead ass serious about taking things there. Slowly, I leaned in and then grabbed the side of her face to kiss her on the lips. Our tongues danced, and I could tell that she was getting a little hot and worked up because she let a small moan escape her mouth.
“I’m going to need more than the little couple of hours your father is letting us have.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, letting it linger for a second before I shifted to pulling her closer, so she was lyingacross my chest. Mr. Browne was still warming up to us dating, so although he would let me come over often, our outings were put on a timer for now.
My arm wrapped around her naturally. I exhaled quietly before speaking.
“When we get to that bridge,” I said, my voice low but steady, “I want it to be perfect.”
She stayed still against me, just listening.
“And right now, this moment ain’t perfect.”
It wasn’t rejection. It was truth. We had just gotten back. I was navigating, trying to build a relationship with her father, all while keeping this damn secret of mine. She deserved for her moment to bethemoment, and right now, I didn’t know if I could give that to her. Before she could respond, her phone started ringing.
She turned on her side as she grabbed it out of her pants pocket. I watched her face as she answered. At first, there was confusion. Then it changed. Her brows scrunched, and her eyes widened.
“What?” she said quickly.
She paused.
“Okay… okay, I’m coming!”
She hung up just as fast as she answered. Her movements were urgent now as she slid off the bed. I sat up immediately.
“What happened?”
She looked at me, and I saw tears building in her eyes.
“We need to get to Baptist,” she said in a shaky tone, “something happened to MJ.”
I didn’t ask another question. I was already moving swiftly behind her.
BLEEK
Machines hummed steadily in the background. The soft beeping cut through the silence in a way that made it impossible to forget where we were. MJ lay in the hospital bed, his body bruised up in ways that made something in my chest tighten every time I looked at him too long. His arm was in a cast, and he was given oxygen to help with his breathing since his ribs were bruised. Eternity and I were the first ones there.
We had been out looking at furniture for the nursery. I saw that my wife was getting depressed about not getting pregnant yet. And boy, we were trying, but with every negative test she tossed in the trash, I saw a little bit of her light dim. So, I told her that we needed to be big on manifestation. If filling the room with baby furniture was going to put a smile on her face, then that’s what we were going to do. We were going back and forth about colors and furniture placement when my phone rang, and everything shifted in an instant. No parent wants to hear how their child was harmed in any way. I pulled Eternity out of that damn store so fast that I still had a baby onesie in my hand. It was ironic that on it was this cute phrase that said: “Don’t worry, my big brother will say yes.”
By the time we made it to the hospital, they had already taken MJ to the back. Eternity was the one who had called Maliah. I hadn’t said much of anything on the way there, and I didn’t say much when we got here either. I just needed to see about my son. He had to get surgery on his arm because it was broken in two different places. It took Mali no time to get here, and when she did, of course, she was a ball of tears when she saw her brother.Luckily, Maylee was at gymnastics when all of this shit happened because that girl would have had to be admitted herself. When it came to her older brother, she did not play. I think that’s because she had welcomed him immediately when he came into our lives, while it took Maliah some time to warm up to him being added to our family.
The second Maliah couldn’t control her tears, I knew that I had to give my son his space. He was a lot like me in that way. He needed time to process all of this shit. And that time didn’t need the dramatics that Maliah was trying to bring. MJ didn’t need to be around the waterworks right now, so I put everyone out. I needed a moment with my son anyway.
So when I said, “Everyone, leave.” I didn’t get any pushback.
It was just him and me in the room now. I let the moment of silence linger for a bit because, honestly, I didn’t know how to go about this situation. He was wounded in the worst way, more than any broken bones or bruises. His pride was touched. And I knew from experience that that was the hardest thing to repair.
I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. I rested my forearms on my thighs as I looked at him. He stared straight ahead at first. His jaw was clenched, and I could tell that he was in his feelings. I was letting him be. I let the silence sit for a second.
“Talk to me,” I said finally.
