Page 34 of Without You I Have Nothing To Lose

Demetric and I didn’t leave to go to Charlington until around four in the afternoon. For one, he was a late sleeper, and two, I was really procrastinating. The closer we got, the more my nerves were all over the place. I wanted to tell him to turn around so many times. Instead of going to the address that I got from Aiden, we went straight to the hotel. I needed to get myself together and Demetric thought it was a good idea if we had sex to ease my nerves. I think that was more for his benefit than mine. I’m not complaining, though. Demetric is the only sexual partner that I craved because the first one was forced and the second one was out of obligation. Demetric gave me an experience that I never thought I would witness.

“You ready to do this?” Demetric asked as we rode the distance to my mama’s house.

“As ready as I can be. I don’t like the fact that I don’t know what to expect, but it’s best if I go ahead and get it over with. I mean…we’re here now.” I shrugged.

“We can turn around if you want. I don’t care if you were sitting at the dinner table, and they said some shit that made you uncomfortable. We’ll leave. I mean it, Dai. At any time you feel uncomfortable, tell me so I can get you out of there. Aight?”

“Okay,” I simpered.

I still get butterflies at the way he protects me. This is all I ever wanted. My own mama failed to do so, then the man I met that vowed to do what she didn’t only used it against me. It’s rare to find somebody that wants to protect you and your heart as a whole.

Listening to the directions on the GPS, I knew that we were getting closer, and my breathing started to pick up. Demetric must’ve sensed it because he squeezed my hand that he was holding.

“Baby, I’ma need you to calm down for me. Don’t go in here giving them nothing to feed off of. We’re not doing that. Mama or not, don’t let her see you showing your weakness. Muthafuckas play off of that. Remember what I said. I’m here with you and I’m not letting anybody fuck wit’ you.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I just can’t get out of my head.”

“Stop apologizing. You ain’t do shit wrong.”

We finally pulled up to a nice two-story house in a nice neighborhood. It wasn’t the house that I grew up in and I was glad about that. I saw cars in the yard, so I naturally assumed one of them belonged to my mama. Demetric parked along the curb instead of pulling into the driveway and came and helped me out of the car. That was another thing I loved about him. He was rough around the edges and still a gentleman.

We walked hand in hand up the small driveway. I texted Aiden from the car, and he was already at the door behind the time I got there. The tears immediately poured from my eyes, looking at my baby brother standing tall as me and looking as handsome as ever. His eyes were glossed over too as he walked up to me and pulled me into the tightest hug.

“Dee Dee, I missed you so much, man,” he cried. I never meant to hurt my brother with my absence, but I just couldn’t stay here any longer.

“I missed you, too, Aiden. I’m sorry I left you, but I couldn’t stay,” I cried.

“You don’t have to explain shit to me. I heard the rumors.” His face held a menacing glare that had me trying to figure out if anything happened to him.

“Stop looking like that. That nigga ain’t do shit to me, but we’ll talk about that later. Who this, though?” He nodded his head toward Demetric.

“This is my boyfriend, Demetric. Demetric, this is my lil’ brother, Aiden,” I introduced.

“Ain’t nothing lil’ about this nigga, but wassup, homie?” They shook hands, and we finally headed inside.

“Aiden! What have I told you about leaving my door wide open. If your company can’t come in, they don’t need to come.” I heard my mama fussing, and she sounded exactly the same. She used to say the same thing to me.

“I was walking them inside,” Aiden said, leading the way.

“Who you bringing in here now?” she asked, turning around. When she saw me, her mouth fell open, and she dropped the dish that was in her hand.

“Daizha?” she said, with tears streaming down her face. Before I knew it, she pulled me into a hug just as tight as Aiden did and I cried harder than I ever did.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said as she continued to hug me and from rock side to side. “I’m so sorry.” I pulled away from her and she had tears everywhere. I knew we looked a mess, but this is all I wanted.

“I’m sorry. I’m a mess now, but who do we have here?” she asked, looking at Demetric.

“Uh…this is my boyfriend, Demetric,” I revealed.

“Nice to meet you, Demetric. Let me go clean up so I can properly greet you.” He nodded, and she walked off.

“Aye, homie. It’s a bathroom down here that I can take your sister to get her cleaned up?” Demetric asked.

“Yeah. Go down that hall, and it’s to the left. It’s some guest towels folded up on a shelf,” he informed.

Demetric placed his hand on the small of my waist and guided me in the direction Aiden said. Once we were inside and he closed the door behind us, and I broke down again.

“Shhh…it’s okay. It wasn’t that bad. She looks like she wants to make it up to you. Just give her that.” I sniffed before looking up at him.

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