Page 4 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

A huge reason why me, my brothers, and my cousins stayed in church is because Madea was convinced if her grandsons had more Jesus in their lives, they wouldn’t participate in the devil’s activities.

Instead, we picked up so many girls in church, the congregation considered us heathens. They weren’t wrong though. Best part was, there were always new girls coming to church. Like the reverend’s niece who was in town visiting a few months ago who choose me as the lucky bastard to walk her to her uncle’s home after a church event that just so happened to fall on a naughty holiday.

She’d never been to Detroit before, and now, I was sure she wouldn’t be forgetting us anytime soon.

“So I was thinking, maybe you pop my cherry,” Layla mentioned, halting my thoughts and catching me off guard. “What do you say?”

“Wait.” My eyes widened. “Are you a virgin?”

“No,” she answered. “I was referring to my mouth cherry.” Her eyes held mine. “I’ve never sucked dick before, and I figured you would honestly tell me if I’m doing a good job.”

What.

The.

Fuck.

I had to be dead. I always thought there was a slim chance I’d get to heaven, but that was the only logical reason why all of my prayers could be answered in a given night. I ran my fingers over my mouth, slightly rubbing my beard that grown men had told me they were jealous of.

“There’s this boy I like who I met at the career fair I attended in Chicago. We have summer internships in the same corporate building, and after this mess with Tony, I just don’t want that asshole to be the last one I’ve been with before leaving for the summer.”

So there’s another guy?I couldn’t lie, that shit hurt a little. “You think you may sleep with him?”

She shrugged. “Who knows. Tony pissed me off though, and I don’t think I’m bad in bed or whatever, but I can’t lie … he’s got me doubting myself.”

I frowned, annoyed that a prize like Layla would let a dumbass like Tony make her feel bad about herself.

“Practice makes perfect,” I supplied, not really knowing what to say.

“Something like that.” Expectant eyes held mine. “So, are you down?”

HELL FUCKING YEAH!But it all seemed too good to be true that I found myself questioning everything. “Let me just make sure I understand. You want to celebrate National 69 Day with me and then—”

“I want you to fuck me,” she finished. “Yes, that’s the plan. Just for tonight only.”

“You once said any girl that trusted the shit that came out of my mouth was insane,” I reiterated. “Are you saying you trust me now?”

She pursed her lips, squinting hard. “Surprisingly, with something like this I do. You talk a lot of shit, and when I said that, it was after you said something similar about me. I don’t even remember what we were arguing about, but I’ve never heard you dog out girls you’ve been with.”

“That’s not my style.”

“Exactly. So that’s why I picked you, Ares. I think you, plus me, equalsfireworks.”

I would have laughed at her exaggerated hand movements when she said fireworks if I could find my voice. And I was sure I didn’t even blink when she said those last words. Hell, it was taking a Herculean effort to even remember to breathe. It must have taken me too long to respond, because suddenly Layla was standing from the bed.

“You know what, Ares, maybe this was a mistake,” she said, frustration in her voice. “This is not one of those rom-com teen movies, and I’m sorry I bothered you with this.”

“You didn’t.” I stood, making her level with my chest, and forcing her to glance up at me. “In fact, this is the most fascinating shit to happen to me all year.”In my life.I wanted to tell her shit like this had never happened in my entire life, but that was laying it on kinda thick.

When she opened her mouth to speak again, I shut her up when my lips crashed into hers, catching us both off guard. I’d kissed Layla before in childhood games or a playful peck in the school hallway that resulted in her either kneeing me in the balls or slapping me across the face.

I’d even subconsciously kissed her knee before when the dance team had performed during halftime at one of my basketball games and she’d banged her leg on the bench after her performance. At first, I was kissing her bruise just to annoy her. Yet, when she sucked in a breath and her eyes hinted that she enjoyed me so close, I found myself getting lost in the moment.

Unfortunately, the players on my team and the dancers on hers all saw it, and I got teased about that shit for months.

The only time I’d kissed her without an audience was when we were in middle school and I’m not even sure why I did it or why she let me do it, but that kiss had been pretty damn special.Until now.

Layla’s lips were addicting in a way that made me get chills on my arms, which was not cool. I didn’t do relationships and I didn’t do sweet kisses. The thing was, I hadn’t realized how much I needed to properly kiss her without prying eyes until this exact moment.

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