Page 200 of Buy Back My Love

“Your mama thinks I’m a whore.”

“She doesn’t think you’re a whore.”

“She told me to pray against my sinful nature, Evander.”

That only made him laugh harder, and I should’ve left his ass right there. Instead, three months after having Myles, I was lying in bed beside Van when it hit me that this man had been my boyfriend for months and I still had never fucked him.

We had done plenty of other shit. He had eaten me out more times than I could count, and that weekend at the Grand, I’d finally returned the favor, but actual dick-in-pussy sex had never happened.

Now Myles was three months old, my body finally felt like mine again, and I was lying beside a man who had somehow been patient through all of it. Somewhere in the middle of thinking about that, I realized I wanted to fuck my boyfriend.

I couldn’t lie, part of it was gratitude. Van had stepped into some shit he didn’t create and never once acted like Myles was baggage he had to tolerate because he wanted me, but that wasn’t all of it. I missed touching him. I missed kissing him without stopping myself before things went too far. After three months of living in nursing bras and oversized T-shirts, I wanted to feel like somebody’s girlfriend again instead of somebody’s mama for a few hours.

So the next morning, I called Anika.

She answered on FaceTime with a mouthful of cereal. “What?”

“You busy tonight?”

She chewed. “Why?”

“Can you keep Myles?”

Her eyes lit up immediately. “Yes.”

Damn. I hadn’t even finished asking.

“You ain’t got nothing planned?”

“Nope.”

“What about Trevon?”

“He live here.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Anika rolled her eyes. “Yes, Lee. Bring my nephew.”

Ever since she found out she was pregnant, she had been trying to use my child as a practice baby. I personally thought she had picked the wrong one. Myles was not beginner level.

“You know he been fighting sleep lately.”

“Good. I need practice.”

“That’s what you keep saying until he screaming at two in the morning.”

“I got it.”

“Mhm.”

She scooped up another spoonful of cereal. “What you doing anyway?”

“Nothing.”

Anika stopped with the spoon halfway to her mouth and narrowed her eyes at me. I knew that look.

“Why you need me to keep him if you ain’t doing nothing?”