Page 11 of Christmas Luvin

“Thankyou.Youlook pretty too.Lookat this.Iwant to get this before we finish the day off,”Ilet her know asIpulled out my phone, found the picture, and handed it to her.

Duchesslooked at the picture, looked at me, and then laughed.

“Oh, bitch, you’re in love,” she said.

Ilaughed while smiling becauseIknewIwas in love.Lastweek, afterIran into one ofPee-Wee’sold flings in the store,IthinkIfell in love with him all over again that night after we came home.Ijust remember going upstairs to take a shower, and two minutes later, he joined me.Whew, my body was sexed so good that night in the shower and in the bedroom.Ican’t even tell you whoLexiis at this point.Thedick had erased all memory of her.

Ihad shownDuchessa tattoo sketch that an artist here inMiamihad done for me earlier in the week.Theonly reasonIdidn’t hit upJahiemto do it for me since he did all ofPee-Wee’spieces, is that he was inChicagoand would be there for a couple of weeks at a tattoo convention.So,Ifound a bad ass female artist namedGwenon social media and hit her up.Sheresponded quick as hell and told me she would sketch whatIwanted and send it back to me.

Iwas gettingPee-Wee’sname on me.Mindyou, this was my first tattoo, and look what the hellIhad chosen to do.Idon’t know what the hell came over me, but earlier in the week,IthinkIgot fucked so good that a few of my brain cells disappeared.Iwas hell bent on doing this, andIhad an appointment for later this evening.Iwas going to put ‘Efrem’ with a heart on the side of my right boob.

“Youwould do it, or you thinkI’mcrazy?”Iasked.

Shelaughed, moved her long hair out of the way, and turned in her seat, showing me that she hadDace’sname on the back of her neck with a pair of lips.Thatwas my first time ever paying it any attention becauseDuchess’shair was so long, and it was often hanging down.

“Ooh, good, so you don’t thinkI’mcrazy.Myappointment is at five.Yougotta go with me,”Ilet her know.

“Whereyou getting it at?” she wanted to know.

“Righthere, on the side of my breast,”Iresponded.

“Ooooh, that’s going to be cute.Thatcrazy ass man of yours is going to make your ass come up off them pills and try to put a baby in you once he sees that damn tattoo,”Duchesslet me know.

Igroaned and then laughed, knowing it was true.Shelaughed, too, as she pulled out of the parking spot.

“Youwant to get married?” she asked as we got on the main road.

“Ido.MeandPee-Weeare already living together, and the plan isn’t to shack up forever.Duchess, we do married people shit.Headded me as an authorized user on all his credit cards, and both of our names are on the house, although he pays all the bills.Ican’t say thatIcook for him because his ass doesn’t eat my cooking, so that’s that.Girl,Iwash his clothes too.Everythinga wife does,Ido, and anything a husband does, he does it.Isee us getting married, butI’mnot going to lie, it scares me,”Irevealed.

Shenodded in agreement. “Girl, who you telling?Ithink the fear of it not working out is what scares me the most.Dacealready made it clear that it’s not going to be any divorcing for us.Theonly thingIwill ever see myself leavingDacefor is if he cheats on me, andIalready know the nigga isn’t stupid enough to do that again.Ihear so much about how the first year of marriage is supposed to be the hardest, and girl,I’mscared that afterDaceandIget married next week, our trials and shit will begin.I’vegone through so much with this man.Ifeel like we’re finally at a place where this is the quiet after the storm.I’mnot trying to go through no more crazy shit with this man becauseI’llland my ass in jail this time,” she let me know, andInodded.

“Ipersonally think that you andDaceare going to be fine.Youknow he was at the house the other night, and whileIwas in the kitchen cooking, him andPee-Weewere out in the living room talking.Theywere loud enough for me to hear them.Girl, that man loves you.Ilistened to him vent about how he can’t wait to get married, have more children, and just be able to give his children that two-parent household that was put on a temporary hold for him when bigEfremwent to prison.Youknow it’s going to be hard days, though.That’swith every relationship, but y’all are two mature adults who will be able to figure it out.Y’allare going to be good,”Itold her, and she smiled.

“Whatare you askingPee-Weeto get you forChristmas?” she questioned, andIlaughed.

“Ionly want two things, and both of them,Ialready know he’s going to say no.Iwant a puppy, andIwant to go toDisneyWorld.Hemay not trip too much aboutDisney, butIthink it’ll just be a matter of him not wanting to leave his workers overwhelmed while he’s away.Thedog, though?Yeah,Ialready know it’s going to be a strong hell no on that.Pee-WeeisOCD, just likeIam, and the thought of a damn dog pissing on the rug and biting his shoes will drive him crazy,”Isaid.

Duchesslaughed while shaking her head because even she knewPee-Weewouldn’t agree to get a damn dog.

“Atthe most, a stuffed animal, but sis,Idon’t know about a damn dog,” she responded.

Ihad to ease that onPee-Weewhen he was in one of his good moods.Theperfect time to talk toPee-Weewas when he was high.Weedslowed him down and made him extra affectionate and sweet toward me.Hewould be on a high so good thatIcould ask him for the keys to his car to run a few errands, and he’d hand them over.Ifyou know my man, you know his cars are his babies, so for him to hand over the keys to any of the vehicles he owned, the weed had to be damn good.

Asfar as a physical gift, other than the puppy,Ihonestly didn’t want anything.Whenyou have a man who leaves gifts at the foot of the bed or on the kitchen island all through the year, it’s kind of hard to have anything on your list when the holidays roll around.Thisyear’sChristmaswas so different for me.Itwas special.Ihad a big family this year, a father in my life and a man, so that alone was better than anyChristmasgift that would be wrapped up and under theChristmastree.

Ispent hours in the mall withDuchess.Ididn’t thinkIhad ever in my life been in the mall that long.Granted,Iwas already prepared becauseDuchesshadn’t started any of herChristmasshopping, so she told me to have on my walking shoes.Ibought a whole bunch of gifts becauseIhad so many people in my life now.Oncewe left the mall, we went toTarget, whereIpicked up stuff for all the little babies in the family.Iwasn’t even finished yet becauseIstill needed to get something forSofia.Thebulk of my shopping was complete, and that trip to the mall andTargethad me wanting to go on strike from holiday shopping.AnythingelseIneeded would just be ordered online.

Now, we were sitting at the tattoo shop, andGwenhad already placed the sketch in the area thatIhad chosen.Ina few seconds, she would start the actual tattoo, andIwas scared as hell.Mylegs were literally shaking asIlay back on the chair.Thiswas just a small tattoo, soIcould only imagine the foolIwould cut ifIever got caught slipping and ended up having a baby.Ijust might be the reason why all the nurses and the doctor quit their jobs that day.

“Youwanted this damn tattoo.Don’tbitch up now,”Duchessshot as she stood over me with the phone in her hands, ready to record.Shemust have known thatIwas going to cut a damn fool.

Iwas so nervous thatIdidn’t even respond to her.Myshirt was off, andGwenhad given me some nipple coverings, soIwasn’t fully exposed.

Gwenhad a nice shop where she worked alongside other artists, but we were in a private room with just the three of us.Shewas a black woman, twenty-four years old, and pretty as hell.Mosttattoo artists had a bunch of tattoos, but she wasn’t overly inked up.Thebiggest tattoo she had was the full arm sleeve that started from her shoulder and went all the way down to her fingers.Beautifulbrown skin and she had a face tat above her right eyebrow in red rink.Itread,Coby.

Duchesshad already made herself comfortable and friendly by askingGwenif she’d gotten her man’s name tatted on her too, butCobywas her son.

“Youready?LikeItold you before, this is flesh, so it’s tender.It’llhurt, but only a little.Thisshould take me ten minutes tops,”Gwensaid with a smile on her face as she held the tattoo gun.

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