Page 10 of Hurricane's House

“Tell me that you want that too, Tina,” he ordered, pulling her against his body. “Do you want more than one night with me?”

She didn’t have to give her answer much thought, she did, and telling him so might mean upsetting her niece, but she had to try. “I do want more than one night with you,” she admitted.

“Then, let me make you breakfast, and we can wait together for Chasity to wake up so we can tell her that you’ll be staying here some nights—if that works for you,” he said.

“It would be best since Chasity is staying with you,” she teased. “And yes, I’d love breakfast. I can’t say that I love the idea of telling my niece that we’re having sex, but you’re right, she’s a big girl and can handle the truth.” She left off the last word that stuck on her lips, “Hopefully,” because she didn’t want to jinx things.

“Great, you get dressed and I’ll start making pancakes,” he said. “They are my specialty.”

“Do you mind if I take a shower before I come down?” she asked.

He gently kissed her lips. “You can take anything you want from me, honey,” he said.

“Hurricane, you can’t say things like that—you don’t even know me,” she insisted.

“Well, then, how about we change that? I want to know you, honey—in every way possible.” The way that he whispered those words into her ear made her shiver. There was no way that she’d be able to shower and get herself together to talk to Chasity if Hurricane kept touching her like he was.

“You need to stop touching me and whispering into my ear if we’re going to talk to Chasity,” she said.

“Talk to me about what?” Chasity asked, pushing her way through the door that Tina had left cracked. “Oh, God,” she shouted when she realized that Hurricane was naked, and Tina was mostly naked. At least she had time to slip on her bra and panties before trying to sneak out of Hurricane’s place.

“Shit,” Hurricane said, grabbing the blanket from the bed to wrap it around both of them.

“It’s my fault,” Tina insisted, “I left the door open.”

“How about it’s both of your faults. How could you do this?” Chasity spat.

“I like your aunt, Chasity, and I’m hoping that she likes me,” Hurricane explained. Tina smiled and nodded up at him before he continued. “And when two people like each other—” He didn’t get to finish what he was saying before Chasity shouted at him to, “Stop talking.”

“Please don’t stand there naked and explain the birds and bees to me, Hurricane. I’m aware of how things work between two people who like each other. What I’m trying to figure out is why you and my aunt are having sex. I’m assuming that’s what happened here—you two had sex?”

“Yes,” Tina squeaked, “and I wanted to sneak out of here before you woke up, but Hurricane came up with a different plan.”

“Of course he did,” Chasity spat. “He seems to be full of plans and so far, it’s been twenty-four hours of broken promises.”

“That’s not fair,” Tina insisted.

“Well, none of this seems fair to me,” Chasity said. “So, what now? You’re going to just come over here and be his booty call whenever he summons you?”

“You don’t get to talk to your aunt that way, Chasity. You owe her an apology,” Hurricane insisted. “Now, sit down in that chair and give us a few minutes to get dressed.” Tina could tell that he worried that if she left the room or even their sight, she’d disappear again.

Hurricane waited her out and once Chasity sat down, as he ordered, he pulled Tina to the bathroom, carefully keeping them both covered. “We’ve got this, honey,” he promised.

“What?” Tina asked.

“You looked worried, and I wanted to let you know that we’ve got this. We can work all of this out with Chasity and figure out the rest as we go.” Hurricane seemed so optimistic that she hated telling him that he was wrong, but he was.

“Chasity is angry and hurt. She feels that we betrayed her, and I can’t keep seeing you if it upsets her,” Tina breathed. She slipped on her clothes from the night before and went up on her tiptoes to gently kiss Hurricane’s cheek. “If you’re ever ready for me to come back over for dinner sometime, let me know. I’ll understand if you’ve changed your mind about the open invitation.”

“That’s not going to happen, honey,” Hurricane said, reaching for her. “Don’t do this, Tina,” he whispered.

“It’s already done,” Tina said, choking back a sob. “Thank you for everything. I’ll be checking on Chasity every day, but seeing you again might take some time. Just be patient with us both, Hurricane,” she said. Tina quickly left the bathroom, leaving Hurricane standing there, still half naked and she didn’t bother to look back. She didn’t want to see the hurt in his eyes that she had caused him.

She stopped in the bedroom and wondered if there was anything that she could say to her niece to change all of this, but there wasn’t. “I’ll check in on you in a few days. Take care of yourself, Chasity,” Tina whispered. Her niece wiped at the tears that spilled down her cheeks and Tina regretted everything—from getting dressed for dinner to talking herself into driving over to Hurricane’s, and especially falling into bed with him. That last one was something that she didn’t regret, but she hated how her actions made her niece feel. That was her biggest regret.

Tina spent the next few weeks trying to throw herself into her work. If she let herself think about what happened between her and Hurricane, she worried that she’d end up calling him and begging him to let her come over.

She had called Chasity every day, trying to find out how she was doing. At first, her niece refused to even answer the phone, but after she wore her down a bit, Chasity started sharing little details that Tina was thrilled to learn about. She seemed to love living with Hurricane, and there was no way that Tina would ruin that for her by showing up at his house. For now, phone calls would have to be enough for her.

---