Page 17 of Mister President

“Stay,” I pleaded, barely recognizing the huskiness of my voice.

“Okay. Let me take these sweats off.”

I released him and rolled over to my side, but he pulled me onto his chest when he got back in bed.

“Mandy?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you too.”

The Next Morning

I didn’t wantEJ to get the wrong idea about me being here this morning, so I got up as soon as Elias’s alarm went off on his phone. As I stirred against him, my eyes watered. I wasn’t sure how not talking to him so I could get over him led to waking up in his arms.

“Good mornin’.” The sound of his gruff morning voice as he pulled me closer made my heart skip a beat. There was a time this was my reality, and not appreciating it was the only thing I regretted it my life. Not having him would have been a hell of a lot easier if we didn’t have EJ tying us to each other for life.

“Morning. I’m gonna go before you wake him up. I don’t want him to know I spent the night.”

“Why you in a rush? Let me hold you for a little while longer.”

I released a shaky breath as I shimmied from under his embrace. Though that was exactly what I wanted, it would only make leaving harder. Once I was safely out of the bed, I looked at him and didn’t bother getting dressed before I said, “What happened last night can’t happen again. I know we talked big shit because we were high and in our feelings, but I meant it when I said we need boundaries. I respect your decision to not be with me, and if we can’t be together, we can’t have sex anymore.”

As I grabbed my clothing, he sat up in bed. “That’s why you’ve been acting weird?” When I didn’t respond, he chuckled. “You said that pussy was mine.”

“I would have said anything to cum.”

“You know that’s a mothafucking lie.”

“No, it’s not, actually. You want things I can’t give you, so I think that means I need to stop giving you my pussy too.”

Before I could leave the room, Elias was out of bed and using my wrist to pull me back on it. After setting me down, he grabbed his sweats to put them on.

“I know I sound crazy as hell, but I’m not letting you go. You told me you love me. Even if we ain’t together, you mine. Our agreement was when we got into a relationship, we’d cut each other off. So until you get married, you and your pussy belong to me.”

“Wait.” I chuckled quietly and lifted my hands. “How did it go from in a relationship to married?”

He sucked his teeth. “I’on give a fuck about you dating a nigga. Until I trust him with you and my son and give you away to him as his wife, you’re still mine.”

“First of all, the only man that will be giving me away is my daddy. And secondly—”

“You heard what the fuck I said, Amanda.” Between his calm tone and the steps he took in my direction, I didn’t bother goingback and forth with him. “I’m not used to you being in your feelings, so I’ll give you grace and act accordingly. But you need to get your shit together. You mine, that pussy is mine, and that ain’t changing no time soon. If you eventhinkabout giving it to someone else, you better give it to someone you believe is worth dying for.”

My brows wrinkled as a bark of laughter escaped me. “Dude. You’re delusional as hell. You’re out here dating and looking for a wife, yet you think I’m not about to fuck somebody else?”

His fingers slipped down the corners of his mouth. The more amused I was, the more serious he became. “You think I’m playing with you, don’t you?”

“Elias…”

“You’re the one who doesn’t want to give me a baby, and you’re the one that’s switching up on me. We haven’t had any issues until you made the announcement that you wanted something real with someone else. I’ll stand down when you get that, but until a nigga earns you, I’m on that.”

I huffed and headed toward the door.

“Aye.” I turned at the sound of his voice. “Get ya shit together before our next family day, aight? Ain’t no point in you being sad and acting weird because we can’t be together. We together even when we ain’t. Don’t do that silly shit no more.”

I was in such disbelief over what this nigga said that I couldn’t respond. All I could do was scoff and shake my head before I quietly left the room. This man had me all the way fucked up, and maybe it was toxic, but a smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I processed the fact that he wasn’t ready to let me go.

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