I watched as he took puff after puff, his eyes getting lower and redder.
“Real shit. I went through some shit with my ex. I nursed her back to health, and she did me dirty. Told myself I was done with shit like dat.”
My body tensed, and I was glad I was underwater so he couldn’t see my reaction.
“I’m not asking you to nurse me back to health, Tunan. I’ve been dealing with this since I was a teen. I got this. I just let the baby and all that get to me.”
His red eyes studied me. He was so damn fine when he was high.
“Ion care if you got it. I wanna help you, Glow.” He pulled on the weed again and blew the smoke away from me. “I fuck with yo’ mean, wishy-washy, horny ass. I ain't sayin’ I'm tryna rope you in some shit you’n want, but I want to make sure you're good. You got too much potential, Glow. You’re already great, baby. We just gotta get this shit behind you.”
Perching the blunt between his lips, he reached for the water and grabbed my foot. Placing it on the side of the tub, he began a deep-tissue massage on my sole. My head flew back, and I could no longer fight my moans.
“You want me to fall in love with you so bad.” I joked.
“Nah.” He pushed his thumb into the arch of my foot. “I’m gonna make you fall in love with food first, and den we can work on us along the way.”
“I’m… I’m scared of you, Tunan. Not in a threatening way, but you see what happens to me when I’m stressed. It’s the reason why I avoid relationships or anything serious. It's why I never really found a career path. Any little thing triggers me. Social media works because I don’t let the comments get to me, and for the most part, my Pretty Eaters are nice.”
“Lucky for you, my baby, we’re in a marriage. You’n got no choice no more.” He chuckled. “Real shit. This is our life now, Glow. We can make our own fuckin’ rules. I can’t lie, I’m focused on gettin’ my paper right. So sometimes, I’ll be distant. I just got out, so I’m gettin’ my life in order. Plus, I’m the newest mob member. I’m tryna figure out what dat means. I won’t crowd your space or no shit like dat, but I’ll be here when I can. I’m gonna get you on track, my baby, because you deserve dat. It’sthe least I could do, especially since you did me dat solid and took my last name.”
He switched feet, so I twisted my body to give him a better grip and to make myself more comfortable. Steam rose from the water as smoke still floated around from his blunt.
“So, I didn’t scare you away?”
“You scared me, for sure. But not away. You see I’m here. You ain’t gotta push me away because you scared of the ‘what ifs’. I know now, Glow. I know ’bout yo’ condition, baby. I watched you seize four times and flatline once. Ion never wanna see you go through no shit like dat ever again. I ain’t gone stress you. I actually wanna make yo’ life as easy as I can. Ion got all the answers, but I can feed you, fuck you, pay your bills, and let you live in dat soft life shit y’all girls talk ’bout. Hoes is the last thang on my mind. You ain’t got shit to stress ’bout cuz I ain’t on shit. I’m just tryna get my money right, baby. Like I said… We doin’ us—our way.”
“Are date nights a part of us doing us?”
“Is that what you want?”
I nodded.
“Den we gone have date nights. A couple of times a week, if you want.”
“One day a week is good. I know every weekend will be too much with me working and you doing… mob things.”
“Whatever you want, my baby.”
We locked eyes as he massaged my foot. If the mob didn’t work out, he could open his own spa for sure. With his good looks and skill, he would make a killing.
Knock, knock
With his left hand, he removed the blunt from his lips, lifted the toilet seat, and tossed it in.
“Hey! I’m headed to the hospital. Your sister just got up. No, you cannot go. I need you to watch the baby. Your daddy is about to pull up. Thanks for the food, son; it was amazing.”
“You welcome, Ma!”
The door closed back, and I closed my eyes, saying a silent prayer. The doctor had already told us Glee was in the clear, but hearing that she was awake eased some of my worry.
“We gone be aite, Glow. You gone be aite. Wash up. We on babysittin’ duty.”
He placed a kiss on my big toe, and then sucked it into his mouth before I could snatch it out of his grasp. He stood, laughing.
“I’ma go get the monitor.”
When he was out of the bathroom, I eased into the water as far as I could go without getting my hair wet.
