Page 18 of Nothing Without You

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You smile with your eyeballs when Doll’s around,” KJ commented.

I squeezed Chyna’s thigh. “I smile wit’ somethin’ else too.”

Chyna slapped my chest with the back of her hand. “Keegan!”

“What, Mama? What him say?” Liam asked.

“Nothing.” Chyna shook her head and did her best to hide her smile.

“Kee, color,” Liam said, sliding his kid’s menu over to me.

“I don’t color,” I said, looking at the sheet of paper. There was pizza sauce and bits of cheese on it. I grimaced. I swear I loved kids, especially these boys, but why the hell did they have to be so damn messy?

“You not eating, Daddy. Color,” KJ co-signed.

I sighed and pushed my plate away and grabbed one of the crayons from the table.

Several minutes later, I heard light giggles coming from my left. I looked at Chyna and asked, “What?”

She burst out laughing. “You should have seen yourself. You were so concentrated.” I glanced down at the picture and noticed that I really had been taking the shit seriously. I outlined, shaded, added shadowing, and some more shit. “Your tongue was even poking out as you colored the horse’s tail.”

She laughed, but I frowned as I looked at the picture, focusing on the horse’s tail. It was blue because I only had red, green, and blue to work with, but the details in the individual hairs were on point.

“You laughin’ now. Wait ’til I get you alone since you think shit’s funny,” I whispered only loud enough for her to hear.

That shut her right up. That pretty red tint flushed her skin, and I smiled in triumph.

“Wow, Daddy. You color good,” KJ said as he snatched the picture from me.

“Good job, Kee,” Liam said, giving the picture an appraising look.

Chyna grabbed it and looked it over with a slight smile. “I think we should hang it on the fridge.”

The boys cheered at that idea, and Chyna’s pretty ass was back to laughing.

Yeah, aight, Doll. We gonna see where that smile is tonight when I’m digging all up in that pretty ass pussy.

“Chyna, why you playin’ wit’ me?” I asked as I stepped into her room without knocking.

I had three guest rooms in my house for when my cousin or best friend and his wife came over and got too lit. My circle was small as hell, but it was important to me that they were comfortable when they came over.

Chyna was put up in the nicest guest room with her own personal bathroom. Currently, she had been on her way into the bedroom from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.

After dinner, we watched a movie with the boys and got them ready for bed, this time making sure their asses were actually asleep and not running around the house like silent ninjas and spying on folks. Chyna mentioned going to take a shower, but that was over an hour ago. My patience wore thin. Lunch had been hours ago, and I was starving.

I stared at her and waited for her to answer.

“Uh . . . I’m not? I just got out of the shower.”

“You been up in here runnin’ up my water bill this whole time?” I asked, looking around suspiciously.

She frowned and popped her hand on her hip. “You worried about the water bill all of a sudden? Do I need to move out since I’m such a burden?”

Those words hit me right in my chest. Now that I thought about it, I never wanted her and Liam to move out, but I would revisit that at another time.

In three long strides, I stood in front of her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She looked up at me defiantly.