Page 13 of Suleem and Yahzi
“Handle that shit however you want. Anything that happened while you were gone no longer exists.” I kissed her cheek and headed to the door, waiting for her to follow. She dropped my wallet and cash in her pocket but kept my phone in hand. I chuckled, already knowing how that was about to go.
She wouldn’t find a damn thing but a bunch of unsaved numbers from women I fucked or who wanted to fuck. There was no conversation or finessing. She was the only person who could get that from me. With those women, I just wanted a nut. With Yahzi I wanted to be in her space and have her in mine. We fucked around for two years with no labels or words spoken about what we were but she had all my honesty and loyalty. She had me.
Good pussy made a man consider things he would never entertain but good pussy attached to a woman who wouldn’t accept the bullshit a man was used to kicking would make him stand on the promises he made about holding her down.
“You sure you want me responding to your little girlfriends?”
I chuckled and locked the door when we left my crib. “I have never in my life had a girlfriend, Yah.”
“Then what was I?” I gripped her hips and brought her body to mine.
“My everything.”
Her pretty ass blushed and smiled so damn big I almost fucking laughed. We took the elevator down to the third floor and I let us into my aunt’s apartment with the understanding that she would have cursed me out knowing Yahzi was back and she wasn’t the first stop we made. My aunt had been my only saving grace.
With two irresponsible parents who didn’t give a damn that they had a son, I was pretty much a lost cause from the first breath I took. My pops went to prison on a murder charge while my mother was six months pregnant. He killed three people during a home invasion and got life without parole.
A few months after I was born, my mother showed up at my aunt’s house and asked if she could keep me for a few hours. Her ass never came back. Last I heard she was married to a doctor out West. The only time I’d ever seen her face was in the photo albums my aunt kept. That woman didn’t mean shit to me, never would, but my Aunt Mae, I cherished that lady with everything I was. I gave her hell; she gave me love.
“Ma, where you at?” I yelled out and two seconds later she was fussing.
“Why you yelling in my house, Suleem?” She stuck her head out of the entrance to the kitchen, paused, then smiled big as shit.
“Now I know that’s not my Yahzi. Girl you better come on over here and let me hug you.”
Yahzi damn near skipped her ass to my Aunt Mae and fell into her arms. They hugged for so long I thought I was gonna have to break them apart.
“Oh baby, I missed you so much. Let me see you.” Aunt Mae stepped back and took both of Yahzi’s hands, inspecting every inch of her from head to toe. “You look good.”
“You do too. Okay, hair.” Yahzi reached out and touched my aunt’s braids. She called herself trying something new and came home with some shit she called goddess locs. Shit didn’t make no sense to me but she thought she was doing something.
It made her happy so I let her live, but the minute I caught one of them shady ass deacons sniffing around her, I would shut that shit down. She was spending too much time at church, talking about she needed to get her life right. Fuck all that. She could stay prayed up from her living room.
“You like?” Aunt Mae turned her head from side to side before raking her fingers through her hair and cutting her eyes at me because she knew how I felt.
“I do, got you looking like a hot young thang.”
“The fuck? Don’t do that shit. She’s already doing too much on her own. She doesn’t need you hyping her ass up.”
Yahzi cut her eyes at me and grinned. “You look good.”
“Chile, I know. Ain’t nobody worried about him. He’s a hater.” She rolled her eyes.
“The fuck you even know about a hater, Ma. Act your age.”
She narrowed her gaze my way then focused on Yahzi. “I’m glad you’re home so he can mind your business instead of mine.” She paused then frowned. “You are home for good, right?”
“We’ll see.”
I snorted at that shit because yes the fuck she was home for good. Even if it meant I had to lock her ass in my apartment to keep her here.
“Either way, you’re here now. Come sit down and let me feed you. I was about to make myself some lunch before my next session.”
Aunt Mae was a retired SPED teacher so she spent her summers and evenings tutoring all of the neighborhood kids. She took that role seriously because, in her words, we had to uplift and look out for our own. The kids loved her because she understood their struggles and never made them feel less than. The parents loved her because she helped them navigate school systems that counted their children out instead of giving them different ways to learn or express themselves.
I smirked, shaking my head. This woman loved feeding people but I swore it was only because a full stomach would keep me in her presence. Unfortunately today that wasn’t going to work. I had somewhere to be and wasn’t about to leave Yahzi with her.
“Another time, Ma. I have to run by the shop.”
