She jumped, startled, her eyes snapping to the mirror. Her mouth opened in shock. She turned around fast, clutchin her towel tighter, shoulders tremblin. Her lips parted like she wanted to speak, but no sound came out. Her eyes were big, disbelieving. Hurting. Relieved. Broken. All at once. "Yiyi... it's me, baaaebbyy," I said, voice crackin in ways I didn't even recognize. My steps were heavy, fast, unstoppable as I rushed to her.
I scooped her off the floor in one motion, placin her on the bathroom counter like she weighed nothing. I stood between her legs, my palms grabbin both sides of her face like I was afraid she'd disappear if I didn't anchor her. I didn't break eye contact, Not for a damn second. Her eyes shimmered, fillin, spillin. My thumbs caught the tear before it fell too far. Her bottom lip trembled. She exhaled like my name was stuck inside her chest and had finally been released. I leaned forward, pullin her face toward mine, my forehead pressin against hers. "Come hea," I whispered.
She inhaled like her lungs remembered a life before grief. when her mouth finally met mine, I felt everything she'd carried for three long-ass months crash into me all at once. It was fear, devotion, exhaustion, love, desperation. All of it tangled. All of it tremblin. All of it mine. The kiss wasn't soft. It wasn't slow. It was relief. Pain. A prayer that finally got answered.
My lips left her mouth only to claim the rest of her. I kissed her cheeks. Her jaw. Her eyelids. Slow, deliberate, like I was mapping out where all her hurt lived so I could take it from her. I trailed down her neck and sucked the spot right under her ear slow, deep, enough to make her back arch and her breath catch on a moan she'd been holding for too damn long.Her fingers clawed into my shoulders like she was scared I'd disappear again.
I snatched the towel off her body, lettin it fall to the tile like the last barrier between us. She gasped, growin shy for half a second, crossin her arms over her chest like she didn't know she'd been hauntin my dreams for months. "Nah," I growled, slidin my hand down her side, grippin her thigh. "Don't hide from me." That stupid-ass hospital gown them niggas tied on me was so tight around my back I couldn't even get the straps undone. The best thing I could do was slide that bitch to the side and hope it didn't rip. I didn't care. Clothes felt offensive. Space felt offensive. Time felt offensive. I needed her. Skin to skin. Breath to breath.
I wrapped her legs around my waist, pullin her in close, lockin her against me like I was afraid the world would snatch her away if I left an inch between us. I grabbed her chin and made her look at me. Her eyes were wide, wet, full of a thousand things she never said out loud. She reached up with tremblin hands and cupped my face, her thumbs brushin over my cheeks. Her fingers sliding over my ears, down my jaw, tracin my nose, my eyelids, my lips. Like she needed to memorize me all over again. Like she needed proof I wasn't another dream she'd lose before morning.
Her shoulders softened like she'd been carryin the weight of a whole graveyard alone. "I thought you left me," she whispered, her fingertips brushin over my eyebrows like she was wipin away the last three months. "Don't do that to my soul again." She exhaled then, long, shaky, breakin in the middle, like peace had finally found its way back to her lungs. Her words hit me in my chest harder than any bullet ever could. I leaned in, pressin my forehead to hers, breathin her in deep, letting hersmell drag me all the way back to myself. "You hear me?" she whispered, voice cracking. "I can't do that again. Don't you leave me like that."
My hands slid up her thighs, grippin her hips hard enough to anchor her to this earth. Her voice, her touch, her breath that was the only thing that made the shadows in me sit down for a second. I grabbed my dick, stroking it slow, my fist tightenin around the base like I needed a second to feel grounded in my own body. Then I guided it to her entrance. I knew her pussy would be a pool for me, it always was. Always warm, always wet, always mine to drown in.
I dragged the head of my dick against her clit, just to remind her who she belonged to. Her breath hitched, her back arched, and then her pussy swallowed me up whole in one slick pull that made both of us groan. Her legs tightened around my waist, locking me in place, and my knees damn near buckled right there. I gripped her harder, burying myself deep, watching her body open for me like it never forgot.
I stroked in and out of her, deep and slow at first, letting the sound of our bodies slap together bounce off the tile walls. Every moan she let out fed somethin hungry in me. Every grunt I released shook somethin loose in her. It felt like we were relearnin the same language, one thrust at a time.
Her head fell back, neck exposed. I grabbed it with both hands, leanin it to the side, lickin up the column of her throat. My tongue trailed slow, collecting every inch of her, then I sucked right under her jaw hard feelin her get wetter around me instantly. Her voice broke open, spilling "I missed you's" and "I love you's" in deep, rolling Creole she'd taught me to understand. That shit damn near pushed me over the edge. She knew it drove me crazy. She did it on purpose. I slapped mymouth over hers, shovin my tongue down her throat just to shut her up, swallowin her moans like I'd been starvin for them.
I felt her smile against my lips as she pulled me deeper into her pussy, clutchin me tighter like she wanted to take all the air out of my lungs. I pulled back, chest heavin, and without warnin I slid out of her. She gasped sharp and desperate but I didn't let her breathe long.
In one second flat, I flipped her around and bent her over the counter toward the mirror. Her palms hit the glass. Her ass arched back on instinct, like her body remembered every version of me before I died. I grabbed her hips with both hands, lined myself up, and pushed into her again. Slow at first. Then deeper. Then harder. Her breath stuttered. Her thighs shook. Her eyes fluttered closed as she bit her lip, and I felt somethin animal unfurl in my chest. My rhythm changed. Picked up and Hit exactly where she needed it.
I reached up, wrapped my hand in her thick hair, and pulled. Lifted her head back until her spine straightened like a bow string. She opened her eyes, chest rising fast, and stared straight at me through the mirror. The sight damn near ended me. Her reflection was messy, glowin, pupils blown, mouth half open. She was lookin at me like I was resurrection and ruin in the same breath. Her pussy gripped me like she wanted to keep me inside forever. "Look at me," I growled, pullin her hair tighter, draggin her face closer to the mirror. Her breath caught, lips partin. She didn't look away. She couldn't. I pushed deeper, harder. The sound of her body meetin mine echoed off the tile, wet, rhythmic, desperate. Her nails scraped the counter. Her knees shook. Her moans kept tumbling out of her like she'd been holding them in for months.
"Talk to me," I demanded, voice low in her ear. She tried to speak but only managed a broken moan. I smirked. "Say it." "Noles..." she gasped, voice cracking. "Ou tounen. ou tounen."You came back. you came back.Her words hit me in my spine. I grabbed her waist with both hands and drove into her harder. Her eyes rolled back. Her legs tightened. Her back arched so deep her ass pressed flush against my hips. "Yeah, I came back," I rasped. "I ain't leavin' you, you hear me?" She nodded, breath tremblin, forehead touchin the mirror now as tears streaked down her cheeks, but she wasn't cryin from pain. It was relief. It was release. It was everything she'd stored in her chest spillin out at once. I leaned over her, my chest pressed to her back, one arm wrapping around her waist as the other held her chin up, forcin her to look at herself while I fucked her. "Watch," I murmured against her ear. "Watch who you belong to." Her breath hitched so sharp it punched a sound out of her throat. She stared into the glass, her own reflection wrecked, and undone. She whispered something in Creole, too soft for me to catch but the sound of it made my dick throb inside her. My thrusts got rougher, deeper, more frantic. Not sloppy, never sloppy. Just hungry and Starved.
I slid my hand around her chest, rubbing her nipples in slow circles that made her whole-body jolt. "Don't run," I warned. "I—I can't—" she gasped, voice trembling so bad it came out like air. "You can," I growled. "You gon' take this dick. You wanted me, right? You prayed for me? Pulled me back from the other side?" Her voice broke open, a sob hiding under a moan. " I pulled you... I pulled you back—" Hearing her admit that, hearing the truth of it sent heat straight through my spine. Her eyes met mine in the mirror again, and she let out a deep, shaky moan as her pussy tightened around me like she was tryin to pull my soul straight out my body. "Fuck!" I hissed, droppin myhead to her shoulder. "You feel that? You tryna make me lose my shit?" She nodded, her voice thin and breathless. " Noles, don't stop, don't stop. Pleaseee"
I grabbed both her wrists, pinned them to the counter, and drove into her so deep her stomach hit the sink edge. "Say you mine," I said, voice rough. "I'm yours," she cried. "Toujou."Always.
My whole body jerked. The way she said it. The way it wrapped around the dark in me and made it sit still, I lost it. I pulled her up straight against my chest, wrapped an arm around her waist, and fucked her standing up, both of us shaking, both of us breathless, both of us half gone. Her hands reached back, grabbing my face again, her voice a mess of Creole and English and moans and soft little gasps that sounded like prayer.
She was close. I could feel it. The way her body clamped down. The way her breath changed tempo. The way her thighs trembled uncontrollably. "I got you," I whispered into her ear, voice dark and low. "Come on, Yiyi. Let go for me." She choked on a moan and her whole body collapsed against me as she came, pussy pulsing around me so tight I almost dropped to my knees. I held her through it, chest pressed to her back, forehead on her shoulder, breathing her in like oxygen. Her legs shook so hard I had to grip her hips to keep her from sliding down the counter. "Good gyal," I murmured, thrustin slow now, deep, claimin every last bit of her. "My gyal." She whimpered soft, weak, satisfied and reached up to cup the back of my neck, pulling me close.
When I couldn't hold it anymore, I buried my face in her shoulder, grabbed her waist with both hands, and pumped into her hard before I came deep inside her, tremblin against her skin. She let out a soft gasp as she felt it, her hand slidin overmine. For a moment the room felt quiet. Still. Safe. Then her voice broke the silence. "stay with me," she whispered, her cheek pressed to mine. I held her, still inside her, still breathing her in and muttered against her skin "I ain't goin' nowhere."
______
I lay there on my back, eyes fixed on the ceiling fan spinnin slow above me. The room was dark except for the dim glow of a candle Ayida forgot to blow out. Her body was sprawled across my chest, legs tangled with mine, breath soft, steady, warm. She slept heavy like she had finally let their heart rest.
The last five days we stayed wrapped up in one another in this bed. Five whole days locked inside this house, just me and her. No phones. No family. No noise. No reality. Just her body, her prayers, her tears, her hands on me like she was blessin every inch. I loved it. Loved being back in this role. The role of her husband, her man, her protector. But the part of me that lived outside these walls, The part that breathed street air and moved in shadows, was itching. Burning, and Closing in on itself. I needed to be outside. Needed to be where the blood dried, to find the nigga whose voice I heard in the dark, to know who called that hit. I knew the conversation was coming. The one I didn't wanna have with her yet. But it had to be had. My mind was slipping back into the parkin lot when the doorbell rang repeatedly, like whoever it was didn't give a damn about courtesy.
Ayida jerked awake on my chest, her whole-body tensing. I felt her fear before she even sat up. Her eyes snapped towardthe bedroom door, wide, alert. That look punched me in the gut. She wasn't just startled, she was scared. My frown deepened. I reached over to the nightstand, grabbed my Glock, and switched the safety off with one fast click. My body moved on instinct, quiet, efficient, dangerous.
I walked to the bedroom door and glanced back at her. "Stay here," I told her. Her hands were shaken. She nodded, but her eyes didn't leave the hallway. Something about that made the dark inside me stir. I didn't let it. I moved through the house, gun drawn, steppin soft across the floorboards. Every shadow felt like it had a pulse. Every sound felt too loud. My jaw tightened as I approached the front door and I snatched it open.
"Boy, if you don't get that damn gun out my face!" I lowered the Glock instantly. My mama stood there dressed expensive, but her expression said she was ready to fight me and whoever else lived in this house. She looked me up and down, then looked at the gun, then looked at me again like she had half a mind to cuss me out and half a mind to bless me. "Move," she said, pushin past me like the doorframe offended her. I closed the door and sighed. "Dang, Ma, you could've at least let me put on some clothes."
She spun around, hand on her hip. "Why you answerin' the door in your drawls anyway? You was raised better than that." She wasn't wrong, but I wasn't movin' to admit it either. She dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and turned back around, her whole face softening for a split second. She walked over, arms openin. I let her pull me in.She hugged me tight, fingers grippin the back of my neck like she needed the reassurance of feelin my heartbeat. She let out a heavy sigh against my shoulder. "I love you, baeebby boy," she whispered,voice tremblin more than she'd ever admit. She stepped back, looked me in the eyes and then slapped the shit outta me.Whack.The sound echoed.
"Ma!" I rubbed my jaw. "What the fuck you slappin' on me fa?" She walked past me into the kitchen again like she didn't just slap fire from my ass. "Why you ain't been answerin' that damn phone? And why did I have to find out you married to that lil witch when you was laid up half dead?" There it was. The bullshit. "Come on wit that bullshit, Ma," I warned, my voice droppin low. She knew damn well I hated her snide comments about Ayida. She spun around, eyes blazin. "So what the hell, Noles?” She stared at me, jaw tight, waitin for an explanation like she paid for this house and the silence inside it. "The hell you want me to say, Ma?" I shrugged. "She my wife. We married. Ain't much to tell."
She scoffed, motionin her hands around the house like the walls were drenched in sin. "Without my input? You know damn well how I feel about this whole situation." I laughed once. No humor in it. "Ma, yo input don't really matter," I said, lookin her dead in the eye. "I hope this not what you came over here to do, because if it is, you could've stayed where you was and saved it for Sunday dinner." Her whole face wrinkled up like the words slapped her instead. Her finger shot out toward me. "You real flip out your fuckin' lip, you disrespectful, half-raised muthafucka—"
"Good morning, y'all... everything okay?" Ayida's soft voice cut in, steppin into the kitchen. Her hair was tied up, skin still glowin from sleep, she wrapped her arms around herself tighter now that Mama was here. She looked between us, nervous but tryin to keep the peace. My mama forced asmile so sharp it could cut glass. "As a matter of fact," she said, grabbin her purse off the counter, "everything is just fine. I'm just leaving." She stormed toward the door, swingin it open so hard the hinges complained. The slam rattled the picture frames on the wall.
