Page 84 of Senior

The fact that he was threatening me over my own wife told me all I needed to know. They’d grown pretty close over the years, as he had with all his daughter in-laws. Each of them had a special relationship with him and were very protective of that man, especially Salima. He’d become the father figure she was missing, hence the reason she was the only one that called him Daddy.

“How are you gonna ask my wife to keep this from me?”

“I didn’t ask her to keep shit a secret. Believe it or not, Deuce, I didn’t give a fuck if you knew ‘cause you can’t beat my ass. Your mama wanted to keep it under wraps. I respected her wishes.”

“Y’all could have locked that damn door. Then you got her up there doing all that damn screaming and shit.”

He smirked. “I mean, I was in my house with my woman. I wasn’t about to switch up because you decided to show up unannounced. One thing I never gave was lazy di⁠—”

“Come on, man! Damn!”

He gave the devilish grin he was known for. “I’ll chill.” His face turned serious. “We good?”

I sighed. “We’re good ‘til we ain’t, Senior. As long as you hold up your end of things with my mama, we won’t have any problems.”

“I can do that.” He put out the blunt and turned to me. “Now….” Swiftly, he grabbed me by the back of my neck. “You better have your ass at that dinner table, and you better apologize to my woman. She’s been in her feelings since you walked out of my house. Make up with her and the next time you call yourself not speaking to her again, I’m really gon’ put my foot up your ass. You hear me, boy?”

I nodded. “I hear you.”

“Good.” He released my neck and pulled me into a hug. “I love you, son.”

“I love you too, Pop.”

I walked into my house after staying at Deuce’s for a good three hours shooting the shit. Salima had returned from her meeting and from picking up the kids. My babies acted like they weren’t gonna see me at dinner. They tried to make me stay longer and cried when I walked out the door. I was already preparing to have them spend the night.

I walked into the kitchen and the smell of something heavenly hit my noise while the sound of “Contagious” by The Isley Brother’s filled the space. Steph stood at the stove, singing and dancing along as she stirred whatever she was cooking. I watched as she wound her hips to the beat.

I spotted her car in the driveway as I drove the golf cart back to my house. I could get used to coming home to her being here. Shit just felt right… like this was how it always should have been.

The chorus dropped and I sang along as I danced my way over to her.

“You’re contagious, touch me baby, give me whatcha got...”

She turned around and shook her head as I approached her and slipped my arms around her waist. A set of giggles erupted from her as I sang and ground my hips against her, while kissing on her neck and rubbing on her ass.

“Why are you so damn fresh?” she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“‘Cause you look so damn good in this dress,” I said. I pecked her lips. “You’ve been tempting me. Every time I see you, you’re in a dress and you know what that does to me.”

“You are the horniest old man I’ve ever met, Senior.”

“Only for you, my love.”

This time when I kissed her, it was deeper and more sensual. I’d been holding her captive here for the last couple days and she left this morning to go check on her house, run a few errands, and grab a few things. While I knew she was coming back, I couldn’t help but to miss her. I couldn’t wait to have her here full time.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked.

“Actually, yes. You can cut up those sweet potatoes for the yams for me.”

“I got you.”

Releasing her, I went to wash my hands and grabbed a knife and the peeler. We worked in silence for a little bit. She didn’t know that I was going to speak with our son this morning. Of course, she knew that he had been dodging my attempts to contact him. There was only so much I was going to stand for on that front. Things could go one of two ways if I had to pull up on you. Luckily, we didn’t have to take it that far.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Steph observed. “Everything okay? What did you do while I was gone?”

“Spent some time with Salima.”

“Oh? Anything else?”