Page 44 of Love’s Strongest Soldier

Removing my hand, I fell back in my seat.

A grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You are fucking Ghost.”

I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one else heard what she said. How was it even that obvious?

“It’s that obvious?”

Solei folded her arms over her chest and said, “That man can’t keep his damn eyes off you. I know that look. Savion gives me the same one when he be acting like a dog in heat.”

I nipped the corner of my lower lip. “Don’t tell anybody. Okay?”

She zipped her lips. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“What secret?” Aria asked when she came back into the dining room.

“Nothing,” we both answered in unison.

“Uh-huh.” With her index and middle fingers, she pointed from her eyes and then at us. “I’m watching you two sneaky mufuckas.”

“Bye, Aria,” I said and got up from my seat.

I spent the entire day working. By the time we made it to the house, all I wanted to do was climb in bed and hold Luxe for the rest of the night. Luxe had other plans. She asked me to run out and grab something for her. Claimed her period had come on, and she was out of period panties. I wasn’t sure how those things worked, but I asked her to ride with me to get them, and she said that she didn’t want to because she didn’t want to bleed all over herself while she was out. The store wasn’t too far from the house, so I could leave her at home for a few minutes. She was safe and secure for the time being. What harm could it do?

“And make sure you grab the right ones. I sent you a picture to your phone. I know how you men can be when it comes to y’all going in the store,” she said from the bathroom.

“So you just gon’ sit in the bathroom ’til I make it back?”

“So I won’t make a mess anywhere. It’ll be fine. I’m sure you won’t be gone long. Go ahead.” She shooed me, and I left out the bedroom and headed for the door.

I stood there in the aisle at Walmart, searching for the panties that she sent me in there to get. It felt like I’d been standing there for years, trying to get the right things.

“Do you need help with something?” one of the workers asked when she passed.

“No.” I took one final look at the picture Luxe sent me and grabbed the panties off the shelf. This was my first time ever having to buy something of this sort before. I just wanted to hurry up and get out of the store.

It seemed as if everyone wanted to look at me when I passed like they just knew what I was in here doing. I stopped at self-checkout and waited my turn.

“My daughter loves those,” a woman said, gaining my attention.

“Excuse me?”

She pointed at the panties in my hand. “Those.” She snickered.

“Buying them for my girlfriend.”

That sounded weird leaving my lips, especially knowing that Luxe didn’t want to tell anyone about us. It was like she was ashamed of my age or something.

“That’s sweet.”

“Next!” the associate called out, and it was me.

I stepped to self-checkout and rang the panties up and then paid for them. As I was leaving the store, the thought of getting her some of her favorite snacks and stuff crossed my mind. There was a gas station in my parking lot, so I drove up there and grabbed her some stuff. I didn’t know much about periods, but I did know that some women craved certain stuff during that time.

I knew something was up the moment I opened my apartment door. For starters, the lights were off, which meant Luxe hadn’t stayed in the bathroom like she proclaimed. It wasn’t completely dark in there. A warm, golden glow stretched across my hardwood floors, coming from a shitload of little candles scattered throughout my living room.

I stopped in the doorway with the Walmart bags hanging from my fingers. “What the fuck?”

I’d been gone forty-five minutes. All because Luxe had sent me on a got damn scavenger hunt for period panties. Not pads or tampons like a normal person. Period. Fucking. Panties. Apparently, there was a difference between the black box and the purple one. I’d learned that after standing in the feminine care aisle for fifteen minutes, staring at a wall of products like I was trying to defuse a bomb.