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“You’re welcome. I wanna get to know you, but at the same time, I don’t wanna get to know you. You have a man, and if I get to know you without you ending up being mine, I’ll be torturing my-fucking-self.”
“Which is why I have to say no to that right now. When or if things change, I’ll let you know.”
I nodded repeatedly as I lowered my head. There was no way I would set myself up for failure like that, and I was glad that she refused to set me up for failure also. What I realized, though, was that she was feeling me too. Otherwise, she would have just said no without an explanation or hope for the future.
“I can respect that.”
She brought her fingertips to my chin and lifted my head. She stared into my eyes, and I went for it. I brought my lips to hers and softly kissed her, then stood from my seat. Her eyes closed for a moment, then she stood as well. That was the sweetest kiss I’d received since Jessica’s. When she kissed me back, I was shocked. I expected her to pull away from me. If that wasn’t a promise for the future, I didn’t know what was.
She grabbed my hand. “You’re sweet, Nate. Thanks for this moment of tenderness. I needed it.”
“Anytime,” I responded, wanting to kiss her soft lips again.
When we walked back inside, TAZ nearly fell, like she was trying to eavesdrop. She and Noelle were looking at everything but us. “Y’all ain’t fooling nobody, skeezers!” Kenya said.
I chuckled, then slowly released her hand and headed back to the front room with the guys. As soon as I sat, RJ went in. “Well? What happened, nigga?”
“Nothing. She has a man. She’ll let me know if that changes.”
“Mm hmm. You got gloss on your lips, nigga.”
I quickly wiped them as RJ laughed loudly. “Man, that’s the oldest trick in the damn book,” Noah said. “You didn’t have shit on your lips. You kissed her?”
“Just a lil peck,” I said as I shot RJ the finger. “She thanked me for my tenderness, and we came back in.”
“So she kissed you back?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, slightly.”
They both smiled as they glanced at each other. Rev. Charles was just as confused as I was. He asked, “What?”
“He gon’ tap that ass eventually, Pop,” RJ responded.
Rev. Charles rolled his eyes. “I should’ve known better. The older y’all get, the worse y’all get.”
I slowly shook my head. “I ain’t tapping shit unless she totally done with that nigga. I can’t go through another Jessica situation.”
“You can’t compare that shit. Jessica was single as fuck when y’all were involved. I can admit, she did you dirty. That shit wasn’t on you. But you do have to move on. I understand your point though. Jess was fresh off a breakup when y’all met. She was vulnerable,” Noah said.
“Yeah. I didn’t go all the way with Jess until months later. She was still vulnerable though. She was fucking with the nigga she with now and hadn’t told me. She didn’t have to tell me. I knew when I stared into her eyes that night. She was giving me a goodbye fuck. She slept with me because she knew what she was about to do. She should’ve kept her pussy to herself.” I glanced at Rev. Charles. “I apologize.”
He stood up and put up the Baptist finger as we all laughed. He sat back down and said, “Ryan Junior is my son, but I accept your apology.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t matter that she gave it to me though. I was already in love with her.”
The room fell into a comfortable silence as Brooklyn found her way to her daddy while wiping her eyes. She’d had a full day of fun and people to have fun with. All the kids in attendance were older than her, but no one could tell her that. They’d all packed her around at some point. The gifts she received were top shelf though. Noah’s ex, Sonya, had sent baby girl a fourteen-karat gold sippy cup. Like… who made shit like that?
A lot of Noah’s other friends had sent gifts as well, despite their absence from the festivities. It was a busy time for Noah, so he could totally understand their busy schedules. The house was full though, so it was a good thing everyone didn’t show up.
The women came to the front and joined us. Kenya sat across the way from me and seemed to be in a heated conversation as my mama sat next to me. My eyes stayed glued on Kenya though. I could feel her pain from here. When I was finally able to tear my gaze away from her, I turned to my mama to see her staring at me.
“She’s a beautiful woman, son,” she said softly. “She needs time though.”
“Yeah, I know. I just can’t ignore her.”
“Your heart is big. Just protect it, okay?”
“I will,” I said to her, knowing if Kenya gave me any more attention, my ass would be ready to be all the way in.
