Page 88 of Zimyra

“Yes, I can.”

“You’re that confident in yourself, huh?”

“I am, so give it to me straight because I know it’s something deeper.”

I sigh and say, “My father broke my mother’s heart, and she hasn’t been the same since. She’s beautiful—won’t even entertain the idea of a relationship because of what he did. I know it’s still painful for her. I don’t want to be put in that kind of position.”

“What exactly did he do?”

“He was seeing another woman, and I found out that I have three half-brothers and a host of cousins—relatives we didn’t know existed.”

“So, it’s a trust issue.”

“Absolutely. I feel like it would take a lot of trust for me to give my body to someone.”

“I see. Now, I understand why you were moaning so much when I kissed you. You’re not used to it.”

“No, but that’s not why I was moaning. You were kissing me like a starved lion.”

“You were kissing me with the same energy. That tells me there’s something deep down that you’re missing, whether you want to admit it or not.”

“It’s probably true—still doesn’t mean I’ll sacrifice my morals to obtain it.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“Hey, Myra!”

I look in the direction of the familiar voice and see Nykendy heading my way. Leading the way is little Kaden. He starts running toward me, saying, “Auntie Mywah.”

He’s so freakin’ adorable. I get up and make up the distance from me to him to save his little legs the trouble. I scoop him up in my arms and place kisses on his face. “Hey, Kaden.”

“Hey, Myra,” Nykendy says, sounding almost out of breath. “Girl, it’s a chore trying to keep up with him.” She looks past me and sees Axel and says, “Oh, hi Axel…good to see you again.”

“You as well.”

“It’s abeautifulday, isn’t it?” Nykendy asks, looking at me and waggling her brows.

I hide a grin while running my fingers through Kaden’s curls. “Where’s Zavier?” I ask.

Nykendy turns around and says, “There he is. We left him in the dust, but in his defense, he was on the phone with a patient. He’s the on-call doctor this weekend.”

My anxiety instantly increases. My only solace is that it’s Zavier and not Zander.

“What’s up, girl?” he asks, walking up and throwing an arm around me.

“Hey, Zavier.”

Zavier looks at Axel and says, “It’s Axel, right?”

“Yep. That’s me,” Axel responds, guarded. I’m sure he doesn’t know what to expect from my brothers at this point.

Zavier reaches to shake his hand and says, “Ay, man. Thank you for what you did for my sister. I’m glad you were there.”

“I am, too,” Axel says, accepting my brother’s hand for a brief shake.

“By the way, did Zimyra tell you about the cookout?” Zavier asks.

Axel looks at me and says, “No, she didn’t. You holding out on me, Zimyra?”

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