Page 58 of Breaking the Rules
“Do you know the word, please?”
“Please, Deucey, start it over. Now.”
“Oh yeah, you need to get some sleep before we find a time-out corner,” Savanhi softly corrected, looking Areli in her eyes. “Okay?”
Areli pulled in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
“Let’s try this again. What would you like for Deuce to do?”
“Start the movie over,” Areli replied in a softer tone.
“And what do you say?” Savanhi prompted.
“Deucey, can you start the movie over, please?” Areli asked, giving her uncle the wide-eyed, sorrowful look.
“What do you say about putting hands and feet on me?” Noble asked.
“I’m sorry,” she whined, wrapping her arms around him. “I’ll be nice.”
“Don’t do it again, or no movie night for a week,” Noble solidified the discipline. “Clock it.”
“It’s clocked. I promise,” Areli whimpered.
Noble kissed the top of her head and tapped her back. “Thank you.”
They fell back into a comfortable silence, ten minutes into the movie, Areli was knocked out and stretched across Noble and Savanhi.
“This is why she has to have her own room and sleep in it. The first time I let her sleep with me, I had a knot in my neck, back, and ass. She sleeps like her momma. Like someone is attacking her,” Noble grunted, scooping Areli up from her wild state.
Savanhi had one eye open herself. “I’m going to use that massage setting on the shower head because she’s knocked me in the head, twice.”
“That was retaliation for threatening her with time-out.”
“It wasn’t a threat. Baby is spoiled. And I’m adding to it.”
Noble chuckled. “She’s loved and she knows it. Gave me them big eyes. I was hard body before y’all. I’m folding left and right.”
Savanhi yawned and rolled over. “Don’t put that on me. Hurry up and come back.”
Noble made it a point to rush through tucking Areli in, only to find Savanhi knocked out when he got back to the room. He laughed through his own frustration and kissed her face. “Night, Sassy.”
NINETEEN
“You are glowing,” Lawryn stated, meeting Areli and Savanhi at the family entrance of the Royals’ Stadium.
Lawryn was donned in a royal blue jersey that matched Savanhi’s oversized jersey. “You look so good.”
Savanhi waved her off. “It’s just a jersey, jean shorts, and a crop top.”
Lawryn smiled, filled with joy that her cousin was tasting a portion of how good life was about to get for her. “I don’t know. It’s more than that. That skin is popping, body is tea, hair is shining. You look like you know who the fuck you are, and it’s about damn time.”
Savanhi beamed, embracing Lawryn. “What can I say? The last couple of days have been different…”
“You let go of that control?” Lawryn posed, after squatting down and handing Areli a giant glove. “Nice to meet you, Areli.”
“You’re the lady in the phone with all the drawings,” Areli spoke, lighting up and taking the gifts from Lawryn’s hands. “I like them.”
The drawings that Areli was speaking of were the colorful ink Lawryn had all over her body. Lawryn beamed. “Thank you. I got a secret, when your uncle isn’t watching, I’ll give you one.”
