His brown, lid-covered orbs bore into mine, stirring something in my chest. I had to fight the overwhelming need to be next to him as he silently assessed me. He liked what he saw, just like I did, but if we didn’t stop this now, it could crash and burn. Tunan was fresh out of jail, probably for selling drugs. Truthfully, I didn’t care why, but it was clear he was trying to get his life together now. He hadn’t bought a car, he lived with his sister, and he’d bought my ring off the street. This setup was meant to help him get on his feet and fix his life. I supported that, but I didn’t want to participate. I couldn’t keep falling victim to the weapon between his legs because, just like he had things going on, thanks to Glee, I had my own issues now.
“When the last time you ate sum’n, Glow?”
Tunan licked the blunt closed while waiting for a response.
Tightening my grip on the glass, my hand was numb from the temperature now, while my heart pounded like a fist against my chest.
“I…I?—”
“Don’t lie, Glow. I know you’ve been over there giving Glee hell, forgetting to eat, and throwing up and shit. You need to put sum’n on your stomach before you get to drinking.”
He ran the lighter down the length of his blunt, still eyeing me. I visibly relaxed. I didn’t know where he was going with that question. I’d thought he’d known for a second, but there was no way he could know what I had been up to the last few days.
“I’m good, Tunan. And I haven’t been giving Glee hell. Not that it’s any of your business, but I was babysitting for her today since she had to go to school to handle business.”
Tunan’s brow rose. “School business in Cove City, huh?”
I eyed him because I heard the questioning tone in his words. “Yeah. She was at BU, remember? I told you this.”
“Oh, I remember, my baby… I remember what you told me ’bout Lil’ Glee.”
His tone still had me uneasy. Glee had already snuck a baby on my ass, and I would hate to find out she was keeping more from me. From Tunan’s tone, he knew something I didn’t, and I didn’t like that. When it came to Calista Glee, I needed all the details. The last thing she needed was another baby on top of the one she already had.
“What you been on the last couple days?” Tunan cleared his throat and drove his back further into the couch.
I watched as his legs gapped, smoke flowing from his mouth and dancing into the air. I could still feel the cold stare and cold shoulders of my girls to the right of me, and I felt terrible aboutghosting them. Still, I kept my attention on Tunan because my eyes couldn’t concentrate on anyone else here, even if I tried.
“Had you called, you would have known,” I blurted out before I could catch myself.
Tunan hadn’t been a thought—not while I was locked in my room. But the moment I got up and realized he hadn’t reached out, I felt a way. There hadn’t even been a “hey boo” text. We’d gotten married, had that fiasco at the hospital, had breakfast on Mother’s Day, and then he came and fucked me into a coma. I was conflicted because I wasn’t sure if I was madder about him being M.I.A. or that he looked like a fucking God, even simply dressed. Before I pulled myself together, I looked like death. Even when Dasani showed up, the lack of care I’d given myself over the past week was evident.
“Come ’ere,” he ordered, but his voice was smooth and weed-induced.
I hated the way my body reacted around Tunan. He was walking temptation, and I didn’t know if it was some shit he picked up while being locked up and deprived of pussy or if it had been on him his entire life. Since I’d met his family, I concluded that they’d been little charmers since the day they slid out of their mother.
I didn’t sit on his lap like the other women, but I did scoot closer to him. Still in his relaxed posture, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in further until we were hip to hip.
“Is dis shit on paper, or are we puttin’ dis shit in motion, Glow? Lemme know, cuz… I ain’t gonna be tussling with yo’ pretty ass.”
Before I could respond, he placed his lips inches from mine and blew a gun. The herbs entered my system, calming my nerves but igniting my hormones. His lips were always so softand moisturized, and with how tough he was and how much weed he smoked, you would think they’d be crusty.
“Aye, Essex! You gotta put me and Tune on the track. He was coming just like me with the rhyming.” Nel cackled from whatever conversation was being had on the other side of the sectional.
I was still locked in Tunan’s embrace while he waited for an answer, ignoring Renello. I opened my mouth while searching his face, but nothing came out. I was sure he could feel the drumming of my heart with us being so close. His brown skin was moisturized and blemish-free. His Cuban chain was just the right size for his ensemble. He wasn’t wearing his grill today, but that didn’t matter. He was fine either way.
“Yeah, I thought so, impossible wife.”
“I’m not impossible, Tunan.”
He smirked, making me melt. “You are. But it’s cool… I’m gone let you make it. When you want dat pussy itched, I’ll fall through, even doe I should make yo’ difficult ass fein for it.”
The thought of him holding out on dick had me sweating. I’d just said I was done with this man, but I couldn’t help the way he made me feel.
He saw the horror in my eyes, making him laugh. “You must want dat pussy itched now, my baby.”
“I can wait on that, but I wouldn’t mind being… licked?”
He locked eyes with me, moistened his lips, and then pressed his lips to mine. “You want me to eat dat pussy, Glow?”
