Page 4 of Typa
I began washing Mythic’s body, taking my time to admire every muscle that bulged and every inch of skin he possessed. God, his body was beautifully sculpted to perfection. It was like he barely had to work out to maintain it. I had to work extremely hard to keep my body tight. While I had a small frame, the pounds would pack on if I wasn’t careful. Eating at the diner every day wasn’t good either. Well, I supposed that would be the least of my worries now.
We switched places so Mythic could rinse the soap off his body and ended up just staring at each other. We stared at one another quite often. I wasn’t sure why we did that. It seemed we were in awe of one another. It was quiet a lot when he and I were together, unless we were having sex. He was right though. I loved him. I just wasn’t ready to share that revelation. Like Ashanni, I fell fast as hell. I knew when I gave myself to him in the back seat of his car, my heart would be off to the races. If he said it first, then I would follow suit. Until then, I would hold on to it like it was a precious jewel.
I wanted Mythic to show me that I wasn’t wasting my time. I felt like if I told him I loved him, he would assume that I would wait forever for him to get himself together. No matter how much I loved him, that wouldn’t be possible. We were bringing a child into this equation. I needed my baby to be safe, at all costs. Just the thought of that helped me to understand how my daddywas feeling. I had to call him, whether he talked to me or not. I needed to at least hear his voice.
After Mythic rinsed off, he turned the water off and helped me out of the tub. He wrapped the towel around me and patted me dry, then said, “Go get dressed, baby.”
He gently swatted my ass as I walked away. I moisturized my skin then got dressed, sliding on a pair of jeans and an over-sized T-shirt. Thankfully, I wore big clothes often, so if I did go home to visit, my attire wouldn’t seem weird. I pulled my braids in a ponytail, since they’d gotten wet. As I put on my jewelry, Mythic emerged from the bathroom. He smiled at me as I put on my glasses.
I gave him a tight-lipped smile, then made my way back to the bathroom, because I’d forgotten to moisturize my face. When I came back out, my phone was ringing. Mythic wasn’t paying it the least bit of attention. He knew nobody but family ever called me. Grabbing it, my heart took off for the races when I sawDaddy Mayoron the screen. I didn’t want to answer, but I did at the same time. Before the call was sent to voicemail, I answered. “Hello?”
There was silence. I remained silent too. I lowered my head, trying to subdue the tears. “Hi, Daddy Mayor.”
Mythic rolled his eyes. He thought it was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard that we called him Daddy Mayor. We did that to clown around with him about being the mayor, and it stuck. Seven and Remy refused, but it was something that Bali, Noni, and I thought was cute to do to stroke his ego.
“Maui.” The pain was evident in his voice. “How you doin’, baby girl?”
“I’m okay, Daddy. I’m sorry about last night.”
“That was on Seven. We’d already talked about him leaving that shit alone. He didn’t listen. I really miss you, baby. Everyone else does too. Don’t let the shit that happened withyour brother keep you away from us. Honestly, I hate the choices you’ve made, but what can I do about it? I can’t allow those choices to drive a wedge between us. Whenever you’re ready to visit again won’t be too soon.”
As hard as I was trying, it was for naught. I burst into tears. Mythic came to me and pulled me in his arms. “I miss y’all, Daddy. I’ll come visit as soon as I can. Y’all can always come and see me,” I said as I stared up at the frown on Mythic’s face.
“Don’t cry, baby. We’ll try to come out there later today. Can you meet us at Legend’s house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay. I have to go to a meeting, but I needed to hear your voice, especially after last night. I love you.”
“I love you too, Daddy.”
He ended the call and Mythic pulled away from me. “Who’s coming to visit?”
“I’m assuming just my parents. He asked to meet me at your parents’ house. Since I’ll already be there, I figured it would be perfect.”
He nodded and put on his J’s. I could tell he felt a way about it, but I remained quiet. I went to the bathroom and cleaned my face again. When I walked back out into the bedroom, he was holding my purse and phone. I grabbed my Kindle from the side of the bed and my iPad. There was no telling how long I would be there. It seemed I was spending quite a bit of time over there. I followed him out of the house.
Once we got to his car, he opened my door and assisted me inside. I sat in the quietness, feeling excited and overwhelmed to see my mama and daddy. Hopefully, they left Seven’s ass where he was at. Since it was Sunday, I knew Carter Legend may be dropping by as well. He usually ate with them on Sundays, then went to Nome to spend time with Bali when he was in town. It seemed the Semien’s had become my new family. It was similarto mine anyway. I had two brothers and two sisters just like Mythic.
I was closest to Treasure. She was older than me, but she was so sweet. She was always baking sweets with her mama. Cachet had gone off to college. She was at Howard University. She left a week or so ago for the second summer session. She was due to graduate next year. Epic was nice also. He was kind of quiet, a lot like Mythic. He just wasn’t involved in the streets. He was twenty-two and a calf roper. He was doing the same thing that Rylan was doing. It was called tie-down roping.
Treasure was also into crafting. She often prepared cute things to go along with her mom’s sweets, like little crochet baskets. She was extremely talented. She obtained a business degree in school. As Mythic drove, I slid my hand to his, and he squeezed it tightly. I frowned and pulled it away.
“Ouch. Why did you do that?”
“My bad. My mind is just somewhere else.”
I side-eyed him, trying to figure out what was up with him. He slid his hand down his goatee, clearly trying to compose himself. Turning my head, I chose to stare at the passing scenery. He grabbed my hand again and lifted it, kissing it softly. Breaking his silence, he said, “I apologize, Maui. I hope you enjoy time with my parents and yours. I should be there by the time your parents get there. I’ll do my best to wrap shit up.”
“Why do you have to be there, Mythic?”
His lip twitched, then he turned to me. “I don’t want them to talk you into leaving me.”
I frowned slightly. “I’m not going anywhere. I just miss my family. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess.”
He turned into his parents’ driveway, and I saw Treasure’s car parked in front of the garage. After putting the car in park, he got out and came to open my door. He kissed my lips, thenrubbed my cheek, staring at me in what always seemed like adoration. We walked hand in hand to the back door, and it was unlocked. He opened it for me just as Mrs. Harper was coming to it. She smiled at me and extended her arms to hug me.
