“Fuck,” I hissed. I wiped at my forehead.
“What?” he asked. “You good?”
“Yeah, just embarrassed. I came so quickly.”
He smirked. “Shit, ain’t no need of being embarrassed. That shit made me feel good. That meant I knew what I was doing and your sweet body loved it.”
“It did. It’s been a while.”
“That’s okay, baby. Just know it ain’t going to be any more drawn-out episodes of you not getting the pleasure your body deserves,” he assured, placing a kiss on my shoulder.
I grinned. “And why do you say that?”
“Because this...” He rubbed his hand up my thigh until he got back to my center. He softly rubbed my clit, and my back arched. “...This belongs to me.”
“Oh, does it?” I teased.
“I guess I’ve got to show you better than I can tell you.”
My eyes fluttered as my phone vibrated under me, waking me from my sleep. Jabari’s heavy arm draped across my body. My phone stopped vibrating, then started up again. That alone let me know who was calling. I slowly lifted Jabari’s arm from around me. He was sound asleep, snoring his life away. I smiled at his handsome face, rubbing my hand down the side of his cheek, before grabbing my phone. I wrapped myself in the sheet on the bedroom floor and headed to the bathroom.
I glanced at the phone, and the time was showing 2:00 a.m. I groaned but redialed the number. The phone rang twice before my brother, Gio’s, voice came barreling through the phone.
“Peanut, where you at? I called twice,” he complained.
I yawned. “Hi, Gio. Do you not remember that we are on two different ends of the earth? You’re on your lunch break, and I’m sleeping.”
“Early bird gets the worm. You should be up anyway. Have you been looking for better positions?”
I rolled my eyes. No matter how many times I told Gio, he didn’t listen. I had no intention of leaving my job. He was pissed when he found out I didn’t get the charge nurse position. He even threatened to call up to the job and file a complaint. Danita and I had to talk him down. We were accustomed to Gio being the man in charge of our lives, but sometimes, he overstepped. Gio and Danita bumped heads a lot because he felt Danita was too concerned about her love life and not moving up in her career. He wanted her to be a principal, but what he didn’t realize was that Danita was content with being a teacher. Shewould rather be face to face with children than sit in meetings all day.
“Gio, please, let’s not do this. I’m okay with my position. I’m still helping people each day.”
“That’s cool and all, but you need to elevate. Grow and be bigger and better than the day before.”
I looked at the door, and my thoughts flashed to Jabari. A stupid grin spread across my face, thinking about how things were going. He was a breath of fresh air. For the first time in a while, I felt light. I didn’t feel as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders.
“Peanut, you hear me?” Gio asked, pulling me back from my daydream.
“Oh, the phone must have gone out. What did you say?” I lied.
“I said where are you? I looked at the Ring camera, but I didn’t see your car.”
I froze. I couldn’t and wouldn’t tell Gio about Jabari. I’d never hear the end of it because Gio felt like a relationship was a distraction to success. He never agreed with either of us dating. There was no way Gio would know I was laid up at a man’s house and just got turned every way but loose by him.
“Oh, I’m getting some work done on it. I swapped out the screen for something more hi-tech.”
“Bet. Make sure them motherfuckers ain’t hit you over the head. Matter of fact, send me the place so I can look into ’em.”
“Sure. I’ll do that after I wake up.”
“Alright, peanut, but I just wanted to holla at you. Gone ’head and get back to sleep. I love you. Please make sure to check your email. I sent you a few jobs I saw posted for you.”
“Love you too. I’ll look at what you sent. Talk to you later.”
I rolled my eyes as soon as the phone call ended and let out a deep sigh. There was so much I looked forward to in life. I kneweventually that job for me would fall into my lap, but what I didn’t expect was for Jabari to make his mark in my life so fast. A part of me feared losing track of my goal, but I also couldn’t help but wonder how my life would be if I focused on other things like Jabari Moore.
For the past two weeks,all my nights consisted of my going over to Jabari’s house after work. Since our first date, both of us had become addicted to each other. We spent the entire day texting and calling each other, ending the night together. No matter how tired I was, I always ended up at Jabari’s house. By the time I arrived, he had dinner cooked and laid out on the table. Throughout the day, he would find out what I was craving and would try his damn hardest to cook it for me. The things that I’d hoped for were happening right before my eyes, and I was in La La Land. It was a great feeling, a feeling I didn’t realize my mental and physical missed so much.
