Soon, sleep found them, and both couldn't be any happier.
"Cairo Xavier Brighton!"
London knocked on the door, worried he was still asleep. She had a flight to catch and wanted to see him before she left.
"Your children are yapping and begging to be walked. Come on out, please and thank you. It also wouldn't hurt if you kissed your mother before she left."
His eyes flew open, and when he went to move, there she was. A head full of wild, ginger-colored hair was splayed across his arm as she slept with her lips tooted up. He smiled as Starlah slept so peacefully despite the storm brewing on the other side of his door. He'd been warned, and while they had more fun than he'd anticipated, they were extremely reckless.
"Swift, if I have to get Logan over here to kick this door in, I will."
It was then that Starlah groaned and rubbed her eyes.
"I also don't want to wake Star up. What time did you all get in?"
"Oh, shoot!" Star shot up, gripping his comforter over her chest. Her eyes wildly danced around when she realized she wasn't in her own bed. Instead, she was with a man and naked as the day she was born. "Your mother is going to kill me."
She scrambled out of bed and quickly rushed to the bathroom.
Swift looked down and knew if she made good on her threat, he'd be caught literally with his pants not down but off.
"I'm coming, Ma!"
He sat up and swiped his and Starlah's clothes up, then tossed them in the hamper. He then found a pair of basketball shorts and stepped into them before he opened the door.
"Good morning, Ma."
He stood in the doorway, blocking anything he hoped might look out of place. It reminded him of his days in high school when he first started sneaking girls into his bedroom after hours.
"Good morning, Ma," London mocked him. "Why are you standing there like that, and did you remember you have canines to attend to?"
"Naw, Ma. Let me take a quick shower." He scratched the back of his neck when he heard something fall in the bathroom.
"I know you do not have a woman in someone else's house, Swift. I raised you better than that," she chastised through gritted teeth. "Here I was, thinking you'd show some respect. I need to call your father and tell him that plans have changed since you're up to your usual ways. What? You found a strip club after you dropped Starlah off so that you could have real fun?"
She lifted both her middle and pointer fingers, forming them into quotation marks when she referenced "real fun".
"As soon as Logan gets here, we'll have to make other arrangements. Starlah is fragile right now, and she needs support. Not you flaunting some woman in here after the day you all had yesterday. I can't believe?—"
"Good morning, Mrs. Brighton."
Star's voice was soft but still heard as Swift closed his eyes. This wasn't his first rodeo when his mother came barging into his bedroom. Before he could pretend that neither of them had heard her, Starlah ducked, then eased her head underneath his arm.
"Wait…" London's brows furrowed, head tilted. "Did you…" She paused, her lips poked out. "Let me get this straight. Her room is over there, and yours is over here, but I knock, you take forever to open up, and she's in here?"
"Ma, come on now. Please."
"Don't 'Ma, come on now' me." She eased closer and whispered, "Colt's at the door. I haven't let him in, but you two have two minutes before I either let him in or send him on his way."
Swift's brows furrowed, wondering why Colt would even show his face after Star had shunned him. Swift had allowed Colt to engage in his dirty deeds without snitching, but the landscape of his interests had changed. Starlah was his.
"Does he know I'm here?" Starlah asked.
"I'd say he does. Now, I don't lie, or I try not to, but what are we doing?" London waved her fingers between the two of them, disappointment all over her face.
Swift knew what it looked like, but this was different. Starlah was different.
"Ma—"
