Page 27 of And It’s Still You

“Hypocrite?”

“Don’t act like you don’t remember getting on my ass ’bout wearing clothes with holes in them. I can’t tell you how many pair of socks, shirts, and underwear you tossed because they had one hole. You even ripped one pair off me before.”

Moya laughed loudly, making Ocean move in his sleep. She slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh. I chuckled as I got up to kiss Ocean’s forehead and left out of his room, closing the door behind me. Moya’s fresh scent almost made me pull her into me so I could nuzzle my face in her neck and inhale. I could tell she still did the same nightly routine. Her skin was moisturized, face clean and bare, and she smelled like fresh fruit.

Everything about her was nostalgic to me, and it tightened my chest each time I thought about it.

“My bad,” Moya stated. “That was funny as hell, though. I do remember that.”

“I bet you do. Had me ass out in the middle of the living room.”

“Because you should’ve known I was going to say something, Shea. If you didn’t want me to see, then you should’ve put some pants on.”

“I should have, but it got me what I wanted.”

“And what was that?”

“You.”

I walked off, leaving Moya standing there with her lips tightly pursed together. It was amusing the way I could easily get a rise out of her. She eventually followed me downstairs to my gaming room with her face a medium shade of red. No words were spoken between us as I sat on the couch and turned my game on. Moya plopped down right next to me with her legs curled underneath her. When she pulled her phone out, I smirked.

“What you ’bout to read?” I questioned without looking over at her.

“This new book I just downloaded earlier today, Heal Me with Your Love by Rayvin Skye. I’ve been binging her catalog since I’ve been stuck in your house.”

“You said that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s not, Shea. I was just saying. I’m used to my routine of going to work and all that good stuff. You know I’ve never liked being thrown off, and this has thrown me off majorly.”

“Me too, for real. I feel like I’m being pulled in too many different directions. Between trying to get the pharmacy back in order to talking to Onyx, I’m drained by the end of the day. That’s one reason I’m happy y’all are here. I get to come home to peace.”

“Aaawww!” Moya playfully shoved my arm. “You’re happy I’m here?”

“I am. It’s been cool getting in a better space with you. I think it’s going to help us for the future.”

“I do too. We’ve always co-parented well, but our relationship wasn’t where it needed to be. I just hope it doesn’t change when we’re no longer sharing the same space.”

“It won’t if we don’t allow it to. Our dynamic is up to us, Love.”

“I agree.”

Moya and I settled into a comfortable silence. I kept stealing glances at her. On the inside, I laughed at the way her face would change. She did that whenever she was deeply engrossed in a book or whatever she was into at the time. From the way her eyes ballooned and her jaw dropped, she was about to tell me something about the book. I counted down from ten, and sure enough, she dropped her phone and looked at me.

“What happened?” I asked before she could say anything.

She clamped her mouth shut and squinted her eyes. “What makes you think I was about to tell you what happened?”

“Because you were. Weren’t you?”

“I was, but now, I don’t want to.”

“Why not? I was prepared to listen, so go ahead. Yo’ reaction has me intrigued anyway.”

I listened to her give me details on the book. She went play by play, as if she was the one who wrote it, and her excitement was cute as fuck. I paused my game to give her my undivided attention. The longer I gazed at her, the more I tried to figure out how I fumbled Moya. How did I allow myself to get so deep into JMG that it cost me the love of my life, my soulmate?

Moya didn’t even realize I’d gotten lost in her until she asked a question, and I didn’t immediately respond. Her cheeks reddened as she swatted at me.

“O’Shea!”