Page 46 of I Need It

My daddy chuckled a bit. “Where are you?”

“I’m at his house in Nome. Daddy, it’s country as hell out here. I swore I saw a tumbleweed go across the street.”

I laughed as Christian side-eyed me. “You gon’ get off Big City Nome though.”

My eyebrows lifted, and I couldn’t control the laughter that fell from my lips. “What the fuck? You must be delusional,” I said through my laughter.

He laughed too. My dad said, “I’m glad all is well, baby. When are you going back home?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Okay. I love you. Thanks, Christian, for taking care of my baby.”

“It’s my pleasure, Mister Ceasar.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” I said and ended the call.

I smiled softly at Christian. “It was about to get ugly, huh?”

“Hell yeah, but I knew it wouldn’t stay that way. He just really cares about you and wants to see you make wiser decisions. You didn’t see it then, but dropping that pussy on me was the wisest decision you’ve ever made.”

I rolled my eyes, and he commenced to tickling the hell out of me, causing me to bolt from the couch and run to the bathroom. I threw up all my damn shrimp and grits. When I felt him rubbing my back, I knew I had a real one. I stood from the floor, and he helped me to the sink to wash my mouth out.

“I’m so sorry, baby.”

“It’s okay.”

He pulled me to him and lifted me in his arms, carrying me back to the couch. This was where I was supposed to be. There was no doubt about it.

CHAPTER 17

CHRISTIAN

When we got to my mama’s house, I could see the nerves embody Mya. Jakari’s and Rylan’s cars were already in the driveway. I’d purposely arrived later so everyone would be here, and I would only have to say it once. I was happy, and I knew my family would be happy for me too.

I grabbed Mya’s hand and caressed it between my big ones. After she threw up earlier, it was like it wouldn’t stop after that. I felt horrible for causing it. She assured me that it was okay, but that shit didn’t look okay to me. One thing I hated was throwing up. I didn’t think anyone liked it, but I’d choose diarrhea any day over that.

When she finally stopped and had fallen asleep, I didn’t want to wake her up. I knew she probably wouldn’t eat much so she wouldn’t upset her stomach again, but hopefully, she would be able to get something down.

“You know everything is going to be fine, right?”

“Yeah. I’m nervous for nothing, but I can’t help it.”

I smiled at her and got out of my Escalade to help her out of it. When I did, I saw Uncle Storm staring at us from his house. I slightly rolled my eyes as he walked over. When Mya saw him, she perked up a bit. “Hi, Mister Mayor!”

He gave her a one-cheeked smile. “What’s up, Mya? I thought you was a runner, girl. You got out of here fast as hell the last time I saw you.”

Mya giggled. “I was a little overwhelmed. I’m not running anymore.”

“I see. Congratulations, I guess.”

I shook my head as he stared at us. The nigga could peep out anything. “Christian, why you being all sensitive and shit? You holding on to her like she gon’ break.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you have something else to do? You changed that filter?”

“Nope. It ain’t dirty.”

I slowly shook my head as he walked back to his house. Growing up, sometimes I hated that his nosy ass lived so close to us. We couldn’t get away with shit at the house. When we wanted to do our dirt, it had to be away from home.

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