My mouth turned upside down. I typically tried to be respectful when it came to my future in-laws, but I hated when they treated my disability as if it were the end of the world. Just because I couldn’t hear didn’t mean I couldn’t handle simple tasks, being a parent included.
“If you’re referring to me being deaf, then you have nothing to worry about. It won’t hold me back from being a mother if that happens.”
“That’s not what she’s saying, Nakyra. All Mom means is that it might be a little more challenging for you. She’s worried; that’s all,” Rome informed me with a disapproving look on his face.
He turned back to his parents and they began talking before I could even reply. I tuned out the conversation and picked my fork up, moving the cut up pieces of baked chicken around my plate. This was nothing new for me. I didn’t have a lot in common with my in-laws so the majority of the time I stayed out of whatever conversation until I was included. They hardly spoke about anything I cared about anyway.
Being invisible wasn’t new to me. Growing up, I was often left to entertain myself in my house. My parents often moved around like I wasn’t there and up until I got my hearing aids I grew used to being surrounded in silence to the point where I welcomed it.
____
“I’m not in the mood, Rome,” I groaned, nudging him off with my shoulder. He sat behind me on the bed, rubbing the tops of my shoulders. We were home from his parents’ house and all I wanted to do was climb in bed and lay down. I had showered already while he handled a phone call he received when we pulled up to our house and was now applying lotion so I could climb under the covers.
“It’s been too long since I felt you. Don’t be like that.” He moved my braids out of the way and kissed the nape of my neck. I smelled the faint hint of alcohol on his breath. Whenever he drank, he got horny. Most nights I didn’t mind because Rome didn’t last long, but tonight I wasn’t in the mood. I was still feeling a way about his mom’s insinuation that I couldn’t be a good mom because of my hearing and Rome not defending me.
“I thought you didn’t want kids,” I commented.
“I don’t,” he said, still kissing on me, tracing the top of my shoulder.
“Then why didn’t you tell your parents that?”
“My parents have certain expectations of me. Giving them grandkids is one of them. If I have to put my personal feelings to the side, then that’s what I’ll do.”
I paused from applying the lotion to my arms. “But why? You not wanting kids should be your choice.”
Rome halted his kissing on me. He reached over, grabbed the lotion bottle out my hand, and placed it on the nightstand.Tugging my arm, he turned and placed his hand on my shoulder, pushing me back. Crawling on top of me, he hovered above me, staring down with his light brown, upturned eyes. Rome was handsome with his golden-brown skin and lean yet defined body. He kept his face freshly shaven with just a mustache over his medium sized lips and wore his hair cut low.
“My parents made sure I had everything growing up. They set me up to never want for anything for the rest of my life. If a grandkid is all they require from me, then I can give them that.” He grinned, a drunken smile. “We have time for all that later though. For now we can just practice.” Rome leaned down and covered my mouth with his. I could taste the liquor he drank when we got home on his tongue as he shoved it into my mouth.
His hand went to my towel and pulled it open, exposing my naked frame. He brushed his hand down the front of my body, over my breasts.
“Rome, I said I’m not in the mood.” I moved my face away from his.
Ignoring me, he used his knee to spread my legs. “All you have to do is lay there. I’ll take care of everything.” He kissed from my face down to my neck as he fumbled with his pants. His face nuzzled into my neck. His breathing picked up and I felt his dick pressing against my entrance.
My eyes squeezed closed when he pushed inside me. Rome’s dick wasn’t the longest but it held a lot of girth. The initial intrusion always hurt and took me a moment to adjust. He pressed his lips into my skin as he pushed fully into me. It hurt at first because I wasn’t wet, but Rome didn’t seem to care.
Rome pumped in and out of me with purpose. His breathing grew heavier and his moves quicker. While sex with Rome wasn’t always the greatest, it wasn’t always the worst either. Before him I only had two other partners, but I had barely doneit enough to call myself experienced. So I had little to compare him to.
“Shit,” he grunted as his body jerked and he released inside of me. Fluttering my eyes open, I stared up at the ceiling as he moved over my mouth and kissed me hungrily before rolling off.
I winced when he slipped out of me. His release seeped out of me.
“I needed that.” Out of the corner of my eye I watched him as he lay on his back and closed his eyes with a satisfied look on his face, flushed as if he’d run a marathon. My eyes ran down his body. While I loved him, there were times I wished he took my feelings into consideration more. When he got drunk he always disregarded how I felt about things and it didn’t help that he was a lightweight.
Scraping my bottom lip with my teeth, I reached up and turned my aids off in each ear before removing them, enveloping myself in silence. A calm filled me. I always enjoyed the sound of nothing when I became overwhelmed. I placed the aids on my nightstand and climbed out of the bed, making my way back to the bathroom. Rome’s release dripped down my thigh as I walked.
Once in the bathroom, I shut the door and pressed my back against it. Between my legs ached. Lifting my hand I examined the rock on my hand as a small smile formed on my face. When Rome first asked me to marry him, I felt like the princess that had finally been rescued from the tower. I grew up not having any friends, and besides my cousin, not having any family either. It felt good knowing someone wanted to spend the rest of their life with me. Rome was the first guy to sweep me off my feet and court me. He was my first real boyfriend too. Our beginning was rough due to our different upbringings, but Rome always told me I was different from any girl he had ever been with and my maturity for my age attracted him to me. Things with us weren’talways perfect, and he had his flaws, but even still, I couldn’t wait to become Mrs. Nakyra Thornton.
Chapter 2
Nakyra
“Are you okay?”my cousin Summer signed to me. She sat on the other end of my couch staring at me with concern on her face. She had just gotten off work. She worked as a baker at Sugar Bliss and had dropped off a few of my favorite strawberry and cream cupcakes.
I began to nod before shaking my head and lifting my hands. “I woke up with a headache this morning. It will pass soon.”
“Your aids?”
