Page 25 of Krist and Moanie
“Okay, hold up.” I pulled my phone from between my legs, but he grabbed it.
“Not right now though. I want you to do something for me.” He licked his lips, eyes trained on mine.
“And that is?” I tried to read him, but the sexy grin on his face had me internally shivering.
“I want my name on you. Right here.” Those rough ass fingertips that I nearly craved found themselves at my collarbone.
My eyes ballooned. “Uh, what? You wanna brand me?”
He chuckled, throwing his head back in pure amusement. “Why you gotta say it like that, Moanie?”
“Because that’s what it is, right?”
“Nope. It’s not.”
“Then what is it?” Of course I had questions. Shit, I had never gotten a tattoo in my life and now this crazy ass man was asking to put his name on me. Then, to make matters worse, I was sitting here thinking about it.
“What if I told you I was falling for you?” he quizzed, eyes peering intently at me.
My heart began to thud heavily and everything around me became fuzzy. “You’re what?” I nearly stuttered, wondering if I heard him right.
“I’m falling for you and somehow getting my name on you gives me some type of assurance that you’ll always belong to me, that somehow yeen gonna look up one day and realize how much better you can do.”
My seatbelt was off and I moved into his lap without another word. My hands found both sides of his face and I made him look up at me. I leaned forward, pressing my lips against his forehead, then his nose, and finally his lips. “I’m not going anywhere because I’m looking at the best. You are the best, and just like I belong to you, you belong to me.”
Less than fifteen minutes later he and I were pulling up to his apartment building and I was confused.
He must’ve noticed my confusion because he spoke seconds later. “My boy Arris on the third floor does tattoos. It’s legit and he does good work. He just hasn’t gotten his shop yet.”
I nodded as he opened the door and got out. He was on my side of the car in minutes, opening the door with one hand and holding the other out for me to take. It was official, my first ever tattoo would be Krist’s name right below my collarbone, in the very space he kissed often. As for him, I didn’t know where he was getting my name, but he was getting it. Yep, we were branding ourselves to one another and no part of me would regret it.
Chapter 9
Krist
After I dropped Moanie off at work at two something this morning, I called myself coming back in and falling into bed, but I only slept another five hours before I got a call that interrupted all of that. Saheed called me top of the morning and I thought it was an emergency. I thought some shit was wrong, but according to him, the only problem he could think of was the fact that I was sitting on a mixtape that the culture needed. It didn’t dawn on me what he was saying until his words had echoed in my mind a few times.Kristless was finished.The mixtape I had put everything into was finished and there was nothing else to be done.
I mourned it first, because everything in me knew this was the end of an era. To have worked so hard and put everything into something, only for it to be finished. Like any creator, I wanted to celebrate my project being done, but I wasn’t much of the celebratory type. I had something else in mind, something I was sure would have Moanie at my ass. She had no choice but to accept it though. Shit, she’d be good.
Peeling my face from the pillow, I opened my eyes and looked for my phone. When I had it, I dialed up my guy DK. He’s beencutting my hair and lining me up since I was Jru’s age and the only nigga I trusted in my head.
“Damn, you up early, Krist. Do I wanna know why?” he asked, tone laced with sleep.
I laughed. “My bad. You available any time this morning to cut my hair?”
“Taper and line up will take me about fifteen minutes, you know that, bro. You can come through at any time.”
“Nah, I want it all gone.”
He chuckled. “You tryna turn into one of those pretty niggas, Krist?”
“Man, shut your stupid ass up. You got me or what?” I asked, also laughing at his stupid ass statement.
“Yeah, I got you, bro. Come through at one-thirty.”
I agreed and we hung up. I was almost about to close my eyes again when there was a knock at my door. I knew for a fact Jru wasn’t gonna get it because his young ass slept like he worked a night shift. He slept so fucking heavy he never heard anything.
I was on my feet moving toward the door in seconds. When I reached it, I lowered my head and looked through the peephole seeing it was Sazzy.The fuck did shorty want and why the fuck was she popping up at my spot?
