Page 31 of Make Me Remember

“His name is Julius Harding. I felt like something was off with him, so I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time, including my own. Turned out I was right. He and his brother can’t stand each other, so in my mind, at the time, it was the perfect payback. I regret it now.”

“It’s okay. You acted off emotion. Just learn from it in case there is a next time.”

“I did. Thank you, Jacob. I appreciate you, cuz, for having my back.”

“We all we got. Whether you right or wrong, I’m gon’ have your back then tell you about yourself afterwards.”

She giggled. “Be careful going home. Talk to you later.”

“A’ight.”

I ended the call, feeling better about making the trip to Beaumont. When I turned in my driveway, Uncle Storm and Jess were sitting there on the back of his truck talking. His nosy ass was gon’ be all up in my mix. I didn’t want to tell him anything and jinx myself. He couldn’t hold cold water. He and Uncle Jasper had already eluded that she would be my wife one day. They would scare Mekayla off. Well, then again, she didn’t seem to scare easily until it came to love. Yeah, I better keep shit to myself for a minute.

When I got out of my truck, I hobbled a bit. My ankle was killing me. Mekayla was right. I was gonna have to call my doctor. That shit shouldn’t be swollen. It had been almost two months since those niggas jumped me. This shit should be doing so much better. While I knew part of the reason why it wasn’t was my fault, I was gonna act like they fucked it up when I got there.

“Where the hell you been?”

“I had to make a run right quick,” I said as I glanced at Jess.

I was hoping she didn’t tell that nigga what I told her about Milana. Uncle Storm was closer to both of us than anyone else. Aunt Tiff was a close second for Jess, and Uncle Jasper was a close second for me. Uncle Storm could pull shit out of us that no one else could, though. I didn’t know why it was that way, but it was. I wanted to believe that he’d seen that our father wasn’t shit way back when but didn’t know it was to the extent that it was and stuck closer to us because of it.

“What kind of run? I saw you and Mekayla looking like a brand-new couple or some shit in this driveway about an hour ago.”

I rolled my eyes. Taking the focus off where I’d been, I went against my original plans and said, “Because we are, Unc.”

A slow smile appeared on his face. “Well, it’s about time she stopped playing with your emotions. Hell, she was playing with her own emotions too. Just from that day I was here, I could see it. I know you avoiding my original question, but you know I’m gon’ find shit out.”

I rolled my eyes and made my way to my porch. I supposed tonight would be long with the two of them following me inside. They just didn’t know, the second Mekayla called, they would be on their own.

CHAPTER 12

MEKAYLA

Iwas on a high I couldn’t possibly come down from. Jacob had played a huge role in getting me there. The way his dick had me all lazy and shit didn’t go unnoticed by Jivoni when I picked up LaTee that day. That heifer said, “What kind of therapy yo’ ass been doing?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her crazy ass. When I told her about Jacob and me, she was in shock. I never mixed business with pleasure. Ever! I supposed the old cliché was true. There was a first time for everything. My good sense was leaking out of my pussy at this point, because I wanted to pack up and move to Nome because I missed him already, and I’d just seen him two days ago.

That was why I kept my guard up and tried to play hard, though. Once I was in, I was stupid. Jacob had my ass like a naïve teenaged girl seeing a dick for the first time. I knew I would be introducing LaTee to him really soon, because I just wanted to be near him all the time. Every moment I had alone, I was on the phone with him. I could hear him on that loud ass tractor but still wanted to just sit on the phone with him.

I was already attached. Every therapy session since we’d had sex was filled with passion and lust. It had been a little over two weeks since the first one, and I was sprung like a muthafucka. After I finished cooking breakfast for LaTee, I decided that today would be the day. I would surprise him and take her with me to the diner. It was Saturday, and I believed they had some kind of zydeco breakfast or something there. LaTee would love that.

I wrapped up the breakfast sandwich I’d made for her to eat later and had her get dressed. I needed to see my man. I had a severe case of tunnel vision when it came to him, and I just hoped he didn’t think I was being clingy. As I sat with my thoughts, I realized that was clingy. It was just that whenever I found a piece of joy, I clung to it. I didn’t want it to get away from me.

I lowered my head and played with my nails, debating whether I should even go now. Was I wrong to be so excited? I didn’t know. So instead of surprising him, I decided to text to see if he was busy. It would hurt my heart if I went out there and he didn’t have time for me.

Good morning, baby.

Damn, I just fell into calling him baby all the time. He called me that, but I believed that was just part of the way he talked. I noticed he sometimes called his sister and female cousins baby. That was completely new for me. The only person I called baby was my daughter.

He responded. Good morning, sexy.

My face was so hot. Whenever I read his messages, it was like I could hear him saying it. I could imagine he’d bit his bottom lip and scanned my entire body slowly. I smiled and got to what I really wanted to know. Are you busy today? I was wondering if LaTee and I could visit.

My hand was trembling, and I didn’t know why. If he said no, it would be because he was busy. I knew his family was busy trying to get the town in order. They’d already broke ground on the assisted living slash retirement home they were building. I was wondering if they would also buy out people’s property that couldn’t afford to upgrade their residences to the new codes. His response came through, and I nearly dropped my phone.

Shiiiid, I’m not now. I was supposed to be baling hay but fuck that. What time y’all coming? I’ll get Ace to do it for me since he owes me a favor.

My smile had to cover my whole damn face. He wanted to see me as badly as I wanted to see him. Instead of texting, I decided to call him. He answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

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