AUGUST, page 13
With his back to me, I saw that he had tattoos everywhere. As dark as his skin was, I could make every last one of them out. That was how fucking hard I stared. Taking up most of his back was a portrait of his grandmother. It was beautiful and made me think about the picture on his dresser.
Sighing, I threw my phone on the bed, grabbed the clothes August gave me, and went into the bathroom. As I showered, I replayed the night over. I had such a good time. Outside of Jericho having to put his hands on a nigga, things went well. My stomach didn’t start tripping until that second drink. I was able to eat a whole plate of ribs and baked beans without it coming up. Laughing and partying with Faith, Gianna, and Tiffany was like partying with old friends. Add the men to the mix and everything just seemed so perfect. I loved their bond and was appreciative that they allowed me to share the same space with them.
I climbed out of the shower feeling refreshed. First, I cleared my glasses of the midst clouding them before quickly plopping them back on my nose. August had some lotion on the counter, which I used to lather my skin. Next, I got dressed, then gathered my dirty clothes to put into my bookbag which was lying on top of August’s bed.
He strolled back in the room, this time freshly showered and changed. Regardless of me being in here, he still didn’t don a shirt to cover up his fineness.
“You good?”
“Yes,” I croaked and tried not to let my eyes venture lower than his belly button. His body was nicely built and carved to utter perfection. Then there was the light sprinkling of hair on his chest and running down his abdomen, disappearing into his shorts. Only he could make me find that shit attractive as hell.
“Let’s crash, then. I’m tired as fuck.”
Agreeing, I waited for him to point out which bedroom he wanted me to sleep in. He moved to the bed and pulled back the black comforter revealing black sheets.
“You scared to sleep with me?” he joked.
I damn near swallowed my tongue as he climbed onto the bed. He reached on the nightstand for the remote and cut the television on. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it gave me the guts to go to the other side of the bed and crawl in. The covers were so soft and inviting that I forgot about me being in bed with my friend. Every inch of the fabric smelled just like him, intoxicating me to the point I couldn’t help but lay my head down. I made myself comfortable and balled up facing him. He chuckled, cut off the lamp, and leaned back on the mound of pillows behind him. Somewhere in the middle of him flipping through channels something occurred to me.
“You didn’t have one drink tonight. You didn’t smoke either.” Not that I was all up his ass. I did notice that his drink consisted of a water or soda. He didn’t have a drop of liquor. While Grey and Kingston refrained from smoking, Jericho indulged. August just chilled, though, piquing my interest.
He glanced at me balled up under his comforter and smirked, then shook his head.
“I stopped drinkin’ and smokin’ after my granny died.”
“Oh…” Shit, now I felt bad for bringing it up. “I’m sorry, August.”
“Nah, you good, baby.”
“So, she raised you?”
He nodded. “She did. My father’s been in prison since I was eight, so…”
If the lights were on, he would’ve seen the surprise on my face. He’d experienced so much loss.
“How did you manage to stop drinking and smoking after your grandmother’s passing? How did you cope?” I never wanted to think about losing my grandmother. I would be devastated and lost.
“June saved me. I was a fucked up person back then, Asia. This nigga you see now, he’s had to face some hard shit. Because of the bullshit I put my granny through, I took her death hard as fuck. When I wanted to turn to the bottle or drugs, I didn’t. I never allowed myself to have a vice. I didn’t deserve a vice.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I deduced, “You blame yourself.”
He simply blinked. “Healing from her has been one hard muthafuckin’ lesson after another. I’d rather feel the pain of my mistakes than to mask it with a vice and risk repeating any of that shit again. I don’t want another lesson like the one I had to learn from losing her.”
I wanted to ask him about the bullet wound and the obvious signs of a previous surgery because of it. However, I let it be. He was already in heavy thought about his grandmother. Adding to it would be insensitive. So, I just pulled the covers closer to my chin and watched him flip through the channels. This time, I was out before I knew it.
I wasn’t sure how many hours passed before I was awakened by August’s body plastered to mine. His arm was around my waist, securing our bodies together. His light snoring was the only proof that he was actually asleep. It was pitch black in here, and the cool environment was enough to keep me from budging from his warm embrace. He knew damn well this was going overboard. Yet my body refused to let me move even one muscle. I laid there and went right back to sleep without the slightest next thought.
My eyes popped open at August’s lips touching my forehead.
“Come spend the day with me.” The softness of his eyes and the smile on his face wouldn’t let me resist. I was up with my face washed and freshly showered within an hour. After a nice breakfast downtown, we ended up at the beach.
We started walking along the water, with my bare feet loving the coolness of the waves bubbling up to kiss the shore. My thin sweater was just enough to resist the brisk breeze coming off the salty waters.
My brain tripped when August’s fingers slid across my palm to take my hand in his.
“August…” I warned with a look.
“What?” The slight smirk on his face told me he knew exactly what he was doing. I stopped, then turned to him.
“First of all, aside from us sleeping in the same bed last night, we’re friends. Right?”
He shrugged.
“You holding my hand is giving more than friends. Plus, I’m not clingy. I don’t like all that touching either.”
He chuckled just as he squeezed my hand. Not to mention, he brought me closer to his chest. I wanted to suffocate being so close to him. He lifted my head until our eyes locked.
“Not only are you gon’ hold my fuckin’ hand. We’re gon’ walk this whole beach line ‘til that unclingy spirit loosens you. The fuck.”
For a second, I held my laughter in. However, it boiled over, and I still tried to stifle it by burying my head into his chest.
“Asia…”
“Hm?”
“Be my girl.”
The sound of the waves settled between us as I stared into his eyes. This was so fucking romantic and perfect. No one had ever asked me something so simple yet so meaningful.
“But you said—”
“Be my girl,” he softly interjected. “That’s what the fuck I said.”
The next thing I knew, his soft ass, thick ass lips were on mine. I opened my mouth for him and moaned for him. My tongue welcomed him and what I didn’t know about kissing, this man proceeded to show me. His hands cupped my face and angled it just the way he wanted it. I placed my hands on his strong flanks, the contact almost awkward for me. When he nipped at my lower lip, I flinched, then felt stupid and unlearned.
Chuckling, he pulled back. “I’m glad that whatever niggas you had before me let you run that I’on like to be touched bullshit on them. I’ain them, baby. We gon’ love and fuck on each other real good. I’m gon’ touch you wherever and however I choose to.”
His lips were back on me, this time teasing me. He nipped me again, applying more pressure, and staring at me in my eyes as he held it. When he released me, his lips and tongue gently soothed the spot.
“From now on, I want you to touch me like you know without a doubt this nigga will do any muthafuckin’ thing for you. I’ll give you whatever…kill whoever… Touch me like you know that shit.”
His eyes said it all. August meant every word he said. I believed him.
Chapter Twenty-One
JERICHO
“Why’d you let me sleep so late?”
Faith came into the living room barely dressed and stretching, showing the bottoms of her perfect C-cup titties. A thin scrap of lace panties covered her pussy. I swallowed a moan and shifted on the couch to give my dick some space to stretch.
All muthafuckin’ night, I slept next to her, more heated than I had ever been. Many times I’d shared a bed with her, doing nothing other than sleeping under her like I was actually her nigga. Sexually, she didn’t want to be touched. I had to respect that. Plus, she was scared as fuck to cross that line with me.
However, last night something was different. I could almost swear she’d rubbed her fat ass on my dick more than one time. And I was sure as fuck that she felt how fucking hard I had been. Then again, that could’ve been my imagination—
My thoughts stopped short at Faith easing onto my lap. Without even thinking about it, my hands settled on her shapely hips. She took my face into her hands and brought me to her for a kiss.
“How’d you sleep last night?”
A nigga couldn’t form words to respond. She giggled at the look on my face.
“You always wear this mean mug like I’m not the woman you love to see coming.”
Her gorgeous light eyes smiled right along with those lips that were juicy and soft as fuck. Instantly, I was hard as fuck and my hands moved to inch up her thighs. I took my time, afraid that this was a fucking dream. By the time my fingertips touched the flesh of her ass, shit was up. My nose flared, smelling the prize that waited for me between her thick thighs.
She leaned into me, joining her lips to mine so passionately that I growled into her mouth. I pulled her closer to my dick, letting her feel the muthafucka that was about to make us one forever.
While holding her, I stood up from the sofa and carried her back to the bedroom. I didn’t know what the fuck lil’ baby was on, but I was about to show her why a nigga like me couldn’t be out here just slanging my dick around.
I placed her on the bed, and she pushed her panties down while I took her legs and brought her to the edge. Kneeling down, I helped her discard the panties, throwing them over my shoulder. Her thighs followed. I’d never seen a prettier pussy, and I told her so. Suddenly a little nervous, I pushed her thighs all the way back and dove in before my hands started shaking too badly.
This was what I wanted—the nectar that flowed from the only woman I was willing to do an eternal bid for. I’d lose my whole fucking life for her. I’d die recalling the sweet sounds she made as I sucked on her juicy pussy. I was tongue and nose deep, holding tightly to her hips to keep her right where the fuck I wanted her. The minute I latched onto her stiff clit, she squirted hard, and cried out so loudly I damn near cried with her.
Full and drunk off her cum, I dragged my tongue up her body while discarding my ball shorts. Her fucking face was so sexy covered in tears and flushed with pleasure. I kissed all over her. As I pushed into her tight pussy, all I could do was hope I made it through without spilling tears on her damn titties. I wasn’t the nigga to shed a fucking tear. However, this moment with Faith was too fucking special.
“Shiiittt…” she dragged out. Her mouth dropped open just as her eyes stretched wide. Under lids too heavy to lift, I stared down at her and dropped a taste of her delicious pussy into her mouth. She moaned, swallowed, then gasped when I filled her all the way up. Her shit was already suctioning me.
I grunted, pulled out, then pushed back in at a force that shook the bed’s frame. Hiking her legs up, I stretched her as wide as I could. She shrieked, moaned, and clawed at my back as I repeatedly beat her shit up. All too soon, my nut was there, ready. I almost pulled out to stave it off for a moment longer. Then her pussy clamped around me, holding me hostage but forcing me out at the same time.
“You gon’ pay for every fuckin’ second I had to go without this good muthafucka,” I growled.
She cried out and there she was squirting again.
“Faith!” I threw my head back, snapped my eyes shut, and growled as she sucked and soaked my dick. Holding on was no longer an option. Roughly and loudly I came. The force of it had the room spinning.
Many years ago…
Standing over Faith’s balled up body, I could do nothing but seethe with anger. She was peacefully sleeping and unaware of the current of pure fury lighting up my bedroom. To keep from burning us down, I had to do something, anything to make this shit right.
Turning from the bed, I snatched the black trash bag up from the floor, stalked out of the room, and carefully closed the door behind me. Inside the living room, my pops sat in his recliner, pulling from a beer. His old, wise eyes followed me until I made it to the front door.
“Where we goin’?” he asked, stopping me in my tracks.
Looking back, I found him standing and reaching for his cane.
“Pops, I’m good,” I said. This was something I needed to handle on my own.
“Naw, now. Gon’ and put that bag in the garage so we can burn that shit later.” He shifted his tall, healthy body to the foyer where he stepped into a pair of combat boots. They were so well worn that he didn’t even have to tie them.
After placing the trash bag in the garage, I joined him again in the foyer. He opened the door to the storage closet just off the foyer. Retrieving two of his favorite guns, he handed me one then put the other one at his back.
“Pops, I can do this.”
He chuckled. “I taught you best, son. Let’s go.”
At seventeen, I caught my first body busting back at some niggas doing a drive-by on my house. They were aiming at my pops, who took two bullets, one to his hip, the other to his gut. Although he lived, he struggled to regain his strength to walk again.
By nineteen, I’d caught my second body. All because a muthafucka thought it was okay to put his dick somewhere it didn’t belong. I didn’t give a fuck that it was New Year’s Eve, and I damn sure didn’t give a fuck that the nigga was one of the most feared niggas in the streets of Atlanta. I gave absolutely no fucks and slid up on that nigga while he was at his mama’s house getting ready to bring in the New Year. I let him look dead in my eyes before I put a bullet through his skull. It was at that point that I knew I loved Faith. I knew long before then. That moment just sealed us together. Years later, I still felt the same. At any second, I was ready to crash the fuck out behind her.
Twirling the black box between my fingers, I stood over Faith, watching her sleep. Since I could recall, my love for her ran deeper than any ocean known to man. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. Waiting on her being one of them.
Over the years, I’d cut off a lot of people because of my relationship with Faith. My sisters thought I was a fool for wasting my “good” years on a woman who seemingly didn’t want me. When they found out Faith was pregnant with another man’s baby, that took the cake. My folks called me everything but my fucking name. My grandmother was a G, though. She stepped in and cared for Faith as if Faith was her own child.
My grandma saw in Faith what I saw in Faith. Everyone else was looking at the present, while I was focused on our future. I didn’t need anyone’s approval to love Faith the way I wanted to love her. If that meant I had to let her go, I did that. I sat back knowing in my heart that she wouldn’t be gone for long. Her healing from the trauma she’d been through wasn’t for me to clock. My job was to stay by her side and be strong for her on days she couldn’t be strong for herself. It was my job to listen when she needed someone to talk to. However, it wasn’t my job to tell her how quickly and when she needed to heal.
So much time had passed, but I was cool with that. In my mind, our time would come and once it did, I’d spend every minute of every day showing her why choosing me, choosing us was worth it.
Our time came this past Christmas. Kissing Faith on that balcony had been a long time coming. Once I’d tasted her lips, there was no going back. So, here I was with the fucking ring, about to change every fucking thing about our relationship.
Climbing onto the bed, I hovered over top of Faith. She stirred and cracked her eyes open. My lips were damn near touching hers.
“Let’s get married,” I proposed.
Her eyes stretched even wider. “What?” she whispered with shock.
“Marry me.” I kissed her chin.
“Jericho?”
“Say yes.” Another kiss.
“Are you crazy?”
“Be mine forever.” I nipped the spot I’d just kissed.
“You’re crazy!”
“Is that a no?” I leaned back to look in her eyes.
“No!”
“Then, what’s it gon’ be?” My fucking heart was racing.
“Yes! I mean… What the fuck? Are you serious?” Her voice escalated with each word.
Chuckling, I kissed her lips. “There’s only one place we can go from here, Faith. Boyfriend and girlfriend is a fuckin’ joke. Either we’re husband and wife, or we’re single. And you already know single is not the right fuckin’ answer.”
Speechless, she blinked up at me as fat tears welled in her eyes. They spilled over and she began to sniffle. Then, the strangest yet most satisfying expression crossed her face.
“Husband and wife it is.”
Pleased and fighting my own emotions, I produced the box, opened it, and took out the ring I’d selected just for her.
She gasped at its magnificence. I slid it on her finger, then intertwined her fingers with my much larger and longer ones.
“Thank you for waiting for me, Jericho.” Her body shuddered as she broke down crying. I kissed her tears away.
“I never thought about doing anything else, baby. I love you.”
“I love you,” she declared.
Chapter Twenty-Two
