I sat down and watched as he moved to the shower and started it. He adjusted the temperature and then prepared my bath products. When I stood up to go into the shower, he undressed me.
“I can do it.”
Navy pulled back and stared into my eyes. “Let me take care of you, Nyako.”
“But I’m sick.”
“Which is why you should let me. It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”
“But I stink.”
“I’ll forgive you for it,” he stated with a wink and a smirk.
I let him remove my orange T-shirt and panties before he helped me into the shower. I stood under the stinging but refreshing needles of the hot water and watched him undress. He stepped inside with me.
“What’re you doing?”
“Washing you, baby. I can’t do that with my clothes on.”
I wanted to argue, but the little I had done had already tired me out, so I remained still while he washed my body a couple of times before he carried me out of the shower, wrapped me in a large plush towel, and carried me to the bedroom. Other than the way he lavished me with light and love, the way he kept calling me “baby” made me feel adored and treasured.
Navy toweled my body off, oiled me up, and put another T-shirt and panties on me before he tucked me in bed. He laid the robe beside the bed and patted it. “In case you want to get up and move around through the night.”
“Why are you doing all this, Navy? You’ve been by my side supporting me all day.”
“Because your stubborn ass was too stubborn to call your family to do anything, and when I suggested it, you almost cursed me out. Then you had that whole coughing fit; I thoughtI might help you get better rather than worse. If you really want to know the truth, I’d have to say it’s because I kinda like you, Nyako Bellacorte.”
A small smile curved my lips as my gaze met his. “I think I like you, too, Navy Prather.”
12
NAVY – HEALING
The next day, Nyako was feeling a little better. She had sweated the fever out overnight, but she was still somewhat weak and had a stuffy head, nose, and scratchy throat. She worried that I would catch whatever she had, but I didn’t get sick easily, and I also flooded my body with good things. I juiced and drank it daily, even when we were on the road. I doubted that it would impact me.
I had just finished sharing my story with her about what really happened with Natika and me beyond what social media and the internet said. I explained about how when we got back home, Natika came back a week later, and I was prepared to forgive her. It wasn’t the kiss that I couldn’t forgive. It was how she shrank away from me and into his protection as though she didn’t trust me. I couldn’t forgive or forget that.
I lay in the bed beside her. We had played cards and “Never Have I Ever.” Now we were just kicking it and getting to know each other better.
“What about you? What was your scarring moment?”
Laughing, she shook her head. “I’m too embarrassed to admit it, Navy.”
“Listen, this is a no judgment zone. You heard how I wilded out after getting embarrassed all over national TV. They caught my shit on camera too.”
She curled up and placed her folded hands underneath her cheeks. The way she curled her knees inward toward me and stared into my eyes, snatched a nigga’s heart straight out his chest. She couldn’t have said “I need you to love and protect me any clearer than those actions.” I didn’t know this woman aside from her celebrity status, but I knew one thing in that moment: I loved her. I believed that it stemmed from me taking care of her for the past twenty-four hours and having spent an entire weekend together before that.
“I was catfished.”
That simple statement pulled me out of my self-imposed musings.
“You was what?”
“Catfished. There, I’ve said it. I was a fool, and I shouldn’t have been, not like that.”
“How did it happen?”
“I jokingly signed up for one of those online dating sites at the encouragement of a few friends. We were drunk one night after an extensive shoot and a wrap-up party. The shoot had gone on for three days, and the party was wild. We were lying there with our phones, talking crazy, and we were drunk and high out of our minds. One of them challenged me to create a profile, and the other two jumped on it. It sounded plausible at the time.
