Page 29 of Another Constant

“Good.” I pushed my lips against hers, sure to hit bottom with each stroke. If I was coming fast, I needed her to be coming first.

The louder she became, the more I felt like she was begging me to go harder, to send her body as mad as my mind was going with this obsession of her perfection. It wasn’t long until unforgiving strokes exploded the moments and those buttery soft thighs of hers were shaking around me. Shit, she was coming so hard that seeing the thin layer of sweat on her forehead and divine fuck expression on her face had me there as well. I had never been in sync with anybody or gave a shit about that soul ties bullshit folks spoke of, but with Harlem one night made me feel them all.

In sync…

Soul ties..

Shit… constant.

“You said you didn’t share, but what if I don’t either?” she asked, head to my chest while we lay in her bed after a few good nuts and some heavy breathing.

“Never said you had to.”

“But you said you don’t do relationships and I don’t want to rush into anything. What is?—”

“You overthinking, Harlem. I’m up for seeing where this goes between us. But only us.” I flipped her over, my face hovering over hers. Something about Harlem made me forget I didn’t like being bothered, because I wanted to be bothered with her.

“Okay.”

Sleep came, but it didn’t stay. Before I knew it, my alarm was going off and I was realizing I had a long ass day today. Between getting lil mama to school and the shop, I knew I’d be tired as hell today. I woke up in her bed with Harlem’s body wrapped around mine and a desire to stay right there but I couldn’t.

Not only did I have to get Aja to school and myself to the shop, but I also needed to deal with the shit I hadn’t last night. Ayden called me and said there was a DEA raid on my fucking shop. I couldn’t figure that out for the life of me. I was pissed, heat rising from my skull while they looked for weapons. Whoever had given them a tip had that shit wrong as two left shoes. I’d never be caught dead doing business like that out of my shop. What pissed me off was, according to Ayden, they didn’t come searching everywhere, they targeted my office like they knew something was in there. I didn’t like that at all, but it would be handled. Any business with shipments was run out of a warehouse in Rogers Park, never in my shop. I’d learned that lesson already.

“Gone so soon?” Harlem’s sleep-laced voice broke through my thoughts.

“Yeah, I gotta take my niece to school.”

“Mhmm.” She was still tired, shit I was too.

“I’ma see you today though, right?”

“Mhmm,” she responded, tangling herself into the covers even more.

I laughed because I knew she wasn’t hearing shit I was saying. I decided to just let her be and call her when I knew she was up.

By the time I left Harlem’s house, I had thirty minutes to get home, grab lil mama’s clothes, and get to Sora’s house. Funny enough, while I was rushing, Blaze called and told me she had already taken care of it. Shorty was definitely family and a fucking lifesaver while Sora’s ass lay still asleep like he was the pregnant one. Blaze also let me know she was gonna have Sora pick Aja up after school because she had scheduled her a hair appointment. That was good shit because I just knew lil mama was getting tired of ponytails I was struggling to give her. Shit, I was trying.

I made it home and jumped straight into the shower. The hot water beating against my skin gave me space and time to think. Even though I knew I should have been climbing in bed and getting a few hours, I had to hit the ground running. The DEA raided my shit and I wanted to know why.

After my shower, I dressed and decided to check in on Harlem. I knew she was up by now.

“And good morning to you too,” she greeted as soon as that pretty ass face came into view. I could tell by her background she was in the kitchen.

“What’s good, gorgeous?”

“Nothing. Preparing puppy food, my own breakfast, and waiting on the nanny. I have to do some moving around today and I can’t do that if I’m scared she’s gonna pop in my absence.”

I nodded. “Since you got a nanny that means you're gonna slide through the shop? Maybe bring me something to eat. I put in a lot of work last night.”

She giggled. “That you did. I guess I could do that, but only because I feel bad for keeping you up last night and you had to be up and out at five this morning.”

“Don’t sweat it.” She and I spoke for a while longer then I got down to business. After making sure she was coming, I hit up a certain pig I knew should have called me. This pig in particular owed a debt.

“What’s up, cuz?” Demi asked as soon as he answered the phone. Demi was my blood cousin on our piss poor ass father’s side. He wasn’t good for anything but some information every once in a while since he owed me. Blood meant nothing to him because he had no fucking loyalty. I was tighter with my mother’s side because they raised us. For as long as I could remember it had always been me, Nine, Oden, and Sora. Though biologically Nine was my cousin, he was one of my brothers in real life. He lived up in Crescent Falls now though and his sap ass was married to a librarian. Every time I thought about it, it shocked me because I knew my blood. He was in love though and I could tell from the moment I met her after our auntie decided to move down there with her sister.

“Don’t what’s up cuz me. Drop a location.” I grilled him through the phone.

“For what? You know I’m on the jo?—”

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