Page 63 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
I watched her walk off and exhaled.
I knew she was leaving me and Dyani alone. I shook my head, folded up Jayme’s map and shoved it in my pocket, and looked over at Dyani. She was looking at the bear information but I was pretty sure she wasn’t actually reading it.
“Hey.” I walked over to her and leaned back against the short fencing.
“Hey.” She looked up at me.
“Something on your mind?”
“Something on yours?” she countered.
“I just care about you and I don’t want you to question that.”
“Even though I haven’t told my brother we’re trying to date?”
“Yeah, Dyani. Even then.” I reached over and grabbed her hips to pull her into me. “Look, I don’t like the thought of you being scared of Darryl when I’m supposed to be looking out for you, but I’m coming to terms with it. I know you love that nigga and you’re just worried about how shit is going to be afterwards, so cool.” I shrugged. “You can navigate this shit however you want, Yani, but I want you to look me in my face and hear me. No matter how long you wait, Darryl ain’t gon’ take it well and I’m going to have to hem his ass up. You can wait and plan all you want but that’s where this is heading. I’m cool with you taking a while to tell him as long as you’re prepared for what comes next.”
“You think he’s going to take it that bad?”
“I know he will,” I deadpanned.
Dyani exhaled and looked off. I let my thumbs rub up and down her hips.
“When it happens, I want you to stay out of it.”
“Stay out of what?” My eyebrows knitted together.
“Whatever argument me and Darryl have.”
“Nah.” I chuckled. “That’s not gon’ happen.”
“What?”
“You heard me. If Darryl calls himself checking you, he better not do that shit in front of me and as your man you shouldn’t want to be laid up with no nigga who’s going to watch you get played with and disrespected.”
“I mean, I don’t.” Dyani said quietly, “But…” She thought carefully. “Look, I’m not going to ask you to not be who you are because I wouldn’t want to date you if you weren’t you, but I mean, what if we compromise?”
“Compromise on letting a nigga disrespect you?”
“Three strikes. Give him three strikes to get it out of his system.”
“I’ll give that nigga one.”
“Two?”
“Dyani_-”
“Please?” She put her hands up and around me. “For me. He’s my brother.”
I looked down into her pretty ass face and sighed.
“Yeah, alright. Two strikes.”
“Thank you, baby.” She tiptoed and we kissed briefly.
“So you’re kissing me in public now?” I teased.
“Yeah. I am.” She kissed me again. “I like you and Jayme and I want to be with you guys and if you were running around trying to hide me, I’d feel some type of way about it; so I’m not going to do that to you.”
