And that’s when I realized… I was trembling. But it wasn’t from fear. It was from heat. From how wet I was and how much that scared the hell out of me. Ishould’ve screamed. I should’ve run, or done something. But I just sat there, wrapped in this barely-there towel, chest rising and falling like I’d just outrun something I was still scared might catch me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“I didn’t mean to call you,” I finally whispered. “We were just joking.”
His lips twitched into a grin that wasn’t kind. It was cocky. Dangerous. Beautiful. “Yeah. Most of ‘em are.” I watched with wide eyes as he walked over and reached for the rose on my nightstand, lifting it like it weighed something holy. “You know what’s wild?” he said, spinning the stem between them, tatted fingers like he had time to kill. “Every woman that conjures me, swear it wasn’t on purpose. But your soul knew what the fuck it was doin’.”
He eyed the rose for a second, jaw tight, then looked straight through me like he saw every secret I ever tried to hide.
“You was desperate, ma. Tired of bein’ half-touched. Tired of niggas playin’ soft when you need some fuckin’ pressure. You ain’t call out for no simp. You called out for real and I am that.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out because deep down, he wasn’t wrong. My body knew it. My spirit did too. There was no other way to explain the way I was trembling with need. Likesomething inside of me had already submitted before I could catch it.
“What’s your name?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
His smile deepened. “Khalid.Kuh-lid.It literally means immortal. Go figure, huh, since I’m what's considered to be ‘biologically immortal’.”
“Khalid,” I repeated, tasting it and feeling it coil on my tongue.
He smirked again. “Mmm. Dick hard already.”
I blinked. “So… you said you have to leave at midnight?”
“I do,” he said, eyes locked on me like a lion ready to pounce on its prey. “That seems to be the end every time.” He paused, grinning like he could smell the fear and the want on me. “I only get a taste just from the moment I’m conjured ’til that last stroke of twelve. Then it’s back to dust. Smoke. Nothin’ but a memory ‘til the next woman out here starvin’ for more than this world could ever give her.”
I sat there frozen, towel clutched in my hands, chest rising and falling like I was trying to breathe normally and failing miserably. “And in the meantime?” I asked.
His eyes dropped to my legs, slow and unapologetic. “In the meantime…” He leaned in just enough to let the scent of smoke, spice, and something unholy wrap around me. “I’m yours,” he said. “Every inch. Every thrust. Every stroke. Everything you wrote down… I came back to deliver, ma.”
My thighs clenched as heat flooded between them like a traitor. Khalid watched me catch my breath. Watched my lips part like they didn’t know if they wanted to scream or moan.
“You ain’t scared no more,” he said, more of a statement than a question.
“I am,” I whispered.
“Don’t lie to me like that pussy ain’t callin’ out for a nigga. I know these things, ma.”
That got me. I swallowed hard, still shaking, still processing, still not fully believing. “So… you just what? Ride the spell sex express every few years and then disappear like nothing ever happened?”
He chuckled. A deep, rich sound that lit my nerves on fire. “You could say that,” he murmured. He sat back in the chair again, tapping the ash from his blunt.
I shivered. “What happens if I don’t want it?”
He leaned forward, blunt resting between his fingers, glowing red at the tip. “I wait,” he said. “Right here ‘til Halloween ends. Whether you beg me to leave or beg me not to stop fuckin’ you.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’d never met a man like this. But Khalid wasn’t a man. He was something else. Something dark, deep, and wrapped in sex like it was scripture. And I had written him into existence.
He leaned back, legs spread like he owned the whole room, eyes locked on me with heat and hunger. “You got two choices, ma,” he said low, voice thick with smoke and control. “Keep sittin’ there in that towel, playin’ like you ain’t curious to see what this dick hittin’ for or let me give you exactly what you summoned.” He took a slow hit, eyes never leaving mine as he exhaled. “Either way… I’m not leavin’ ‘til the clock runs out.”
WEDNESDAY
M yb o d ym o v e dbefore my brain caught up. I didn’t stand, reach for him, or drop the towel but I shifted just a little. A slow, barely noticeable shift on the bed. The kind you make when your whole damn body feels flushed and heavy and too alive. The kind of move a woman makes when she’s not ready to say yes out loud, but her body already did.
Khalid saw it. His mouth curved, slow and deliberate, like he was giving me space but already knew I’d close it. He didn’t speak or move. He just sat there with his legs spread, arms resting, and thick fingers flicking ash like time wasn’t running out.
I swallowed hard. “You said this only lasts until midnight,” I murmured.
His voice came low, deep. “Clock’s tickin’, baby.”
My heart kicked faster. I didn’t know what scared me more: the idea of touching him or the thought of him disappearing before I got the chance. I looked down at my hands, still gripping the top of the towel like it was armor. I’d never felt so exposed and so curious in my life.