Page 44 of I Need It

“The day I met you. That’s the only time we fucked since high school. I literally walked in on her fucking herself. She put that shit out there for me… lassoed my ass right on in.”

I closed my eyes at his country inuendo and slowly shook my head. “So, I have my rope right now. Can you outrun my lasso?”

“Hell yeah, girl. I gotta make my money. I’m about to be a father. That means I’m gon’ be broke all the damn time, especially if we have a girl. Plus, I don’t wanna hear Maui’s mouth if you aren’t ready when she gets here. Now back to this nigga. When we get to Houston, I need to holla at his ass… in person.”

I shook my head. “No. His ass ain’t worth it.”

“He ain’t, but you are. If he’s disturbing your peace, then he needs to be put in his place… forcefully. I done already tried talking to his ass. No more talking. It’s time for action. People like testing what they don’t know. He about to learn real quick-like though. I’m gon’ fuck his ass up when we get back.”

“Well, I’m a Houston girl, so you better tell your meth-head, crackhead friend to find somebody safe to play with. Me and this baby will whup her addicted ass.”

“You ain’t gon’ be doing shit but relaxing with your feet up.” He kissed my head and scanned my body. “Let me get out of here before I end up tongue-first in that thirst trap.”

I laughed as he kissed me again. “Damn, girl. I can’t wait to finish up so I can spend the rest of the day with you. No mimosas. I’m gon’ have Uncle Mayor watching yo’ ass. Hol’ on. He gon’ be watching you anyway, because that’s just the type of shit he do with people he don’t know, but I will ask for the report of what he saw.”

“Bye, Christian. No mimosas.”

“Okay. Don’t enjoy Lloyd too much.”

“Lloyd?”

“Yeah. That’s the singer that will be there. When he sings ‘Get It Shawty’ I need you to stay seated. You probably don’t even know him.”

“Umm… yes, I do, thank you. I know Lloyd’s cute ass.”

“Uh huh. Don’t make me have Aunt Tiffany or my cousin, Jess, handle yo’ ass. We ride hard for each other around these parts. Now let me get out of here and go handle my business.”

He kissed me yet again. When I tried to slide my tongue to his, he backed away quickly. “Hell naw. I gotta go. You tryna fuck my business up. Bye, girl.”

With that, he finally left, and I hurriedly got myself together to go hang with my newfound friends.

When I got back from the diner, all I was good for was a nap. Christian still hadn’t made it back home anyway. I’d eaten so much shrimp and grits, I could barely walk to the car. When I got to the house, I didn’t make it past the sofa. Maui and Ashanni had tried their hardest to get me to drink a mimosa, saying how good they were. I wanted one so bad too, but Christian would have killed me.

Lloyd had shown up and performed three songs. He was traveling through and had heard about the diner from some of his friends and wanted to stop and enjoy some good food. The girls had said that Mrs. Jenahra and Mrs. Chrissy normally didn’t cook on Saturdays, but they had to hook Lloyd and his crew up with all the fixings. I laughed when they said fixings because it just sounded so country.

I woke up when I heard Christian’s door close. His couch had to be a sedative. It seemed every time I sat on it, I ended up falling asleep, although it was intentional this time. I glanced at my phone to see I’d been asleep for an hour, but it felt like it had only been ten minutes. I was still tired as fuck.

This woman Christian had told me about had me nervous. If she was a drug addict, she would do anything for her next hit. That was how most addicts were. I wasn’t sure how much experience Christian had with that sort of thing, but I had an aunt who was so fucking strung out, she allowed her boyfriend to rape her five-year-old daughter repeatedly. It was sickening to the entire family. I hadn’t seen her or her daughter since my mama died eleven years ago.

I stretched as I stood from the couch to welcome my man home. My man. That sounded weird to me, but I loved it at the same time. I loved how serious he was about me. Nothing about it felt put on or fake. Christian truly wanted me for who I was instead of for what I had to offer. When I said I wanted to be his, it was like a switch inside of him flipped, and he allowed me to see just how much he cared for me. I had been so stupid to turn him down… all in the name of fear.

I went to the back door so I could welcome him home as soon as he entered. When he came inside and saw me standing here, he smiled. I could get used to this shit. His smile was everything. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were happy to see me,” he said, his smile widening even more.

“It’s a shame you don’t know better. I just want you to know that I’m extremely grateful that you didn’t give up on me. It took me a while to come around and see what you saw in me. You saw a woman that was capable of receiving genuineness, love, and loyalty by providing it all. You so skillfully stole my heart and made me see the error of my ways. I was intentionally passing up the best thing that had ever happened to me because of fear.”

I slowly shook my head as he pulled me to him. The scent of sweat was strong, but I didn’t even care. I owed Christian everything I had to offer. He deserved my love, loyalty, and devotion.

“That was beautiful, Mya.” He kissed my head. “Let me go take a shower then we can call your dad.”

I nodded as a nervous smile played on my lips.

“Hey, whatever happens, happens. Just know one thing will remain constant. I’m not going anywhere.” He gently slid his fingertips across my cheek. “I’m falling for you, baby. I feel like that was happening before I even realized it. I craved you so badly. My infatuation and lust are turning into love. I will always be here for you and my baby. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Just that quickly, my nerves took a break and calmed down for a moment. He walked away to go shower, and I sat on the couch, playing a matching game on my phone. A text came through, and the banner said it was from Angel. When she’d walked away from us in the kitchen to go feed the baby last night, Christian’s cousins informed me that she had down syndrome.

I supposed they noticed I was trying to figure her out. She was so bubbly and happy, almost in a child-like manner, but she didn’t have the typical physical traits of someone with down syndrome. She seemed to be very knowledgeable about the things she talked about, but her excitement about everything she said threw me off. Once I knew of her mental issues, I understood her so much better.

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