“Yep, it’s time for your ass to go,” Galiana said with a full laugh. She glanced at me with a prideful smile. “Now you see why I wanted to put her under my wing.”
T.J. stepped into my personal space. “Yeah, I do.” He leaned down and kissed my lips. “I’m going to see you later?”
My smile was cheeky. “No, I’m going to my apartment. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said before I lifted myself on my tiptoes to kiss his lips again.
I knew he didn’t like that answer. Since the beginning of our relationship, we’d spent every day together. I wasn’t saying that I was sick of him, but I wanted to sleep in my bed alone. He didn’t say anything with his mouth, but his eyes said a lot. “Bet.”
He smacked my ass before he walked past me. Ned snickered as he followed behind him. By the time we left, the men were almost finished filling the grave. Earlier this week, I came out to see what kind of plants were dominant in the area. After research, I went with wax myrtle and let Galiana know that we needed seeds. It was a great source of food for wildlife, which was what I wanted, and it provided the cover needed. It was the perfect season for them to grow where we were.
Before they tossed the final bit of soil on the grave, the seeds were sprinkled. “Damn, you really thought of everything. I’m good at what I do, but I would have never thought to plant seeds that are native to the area.”
“That’s the advantage of having an analytical perfectionist on your team.” That was what I was. “This field of work makes me think of the most efficiently, perfect way to do things.”
She smiled before she gave final instructions to the men. “Come on. We can go.” Our walk back to the car was silent until Galiana broke it. “You know that boy is probably going to be parked outside of your apartment when you get home, right?”
I burst into laughter. “Why do you say that? He said it was cool.”
“No, ma’am. What he said was bet. That does not in any way mean it is cool,” she said. “This your first Charleston nigga, so I’m gonna give you grace, and I hope he does too.
I waved her off because it wasn’t that serious. It was already after one in the morning. I had to report to work at seven o’clock, and T.J. had meetings all day. He’d be alright sleeping in his bed alone for one damn night.
I didn’t get to my apartment building until around three in the morning. When I parked, my head was on a swivel as I looked for T.J.’s car. What Galiana said sat at the forefront of my mind. I blew out a breath of air when I didn’t see his car.
To get into the neighborhood, you had to have a passkey on your car or a code. I had yet to give T.J. either, so I wasn’t sure why I thought he would be here. This neighborhood was one of the safest that I ever lived in. War and Yetti made sure of that. A passkey or code was needed to get into the building as well.
I climbed out of my car and locked the door. It took me less than a few minutes to get into the building and on the elevator.I lived on the third floor in a two-bedroom apartment. The apartment was fully furnished, and I loved that, but I did bring my own mattress.
As soon as I got into my apartment, I threw my bag on the couch. I just wanted to get into the shower then the bed. It was a habit of mine to turn on my candle warmer when I came into my apartment.
“What the fuck!” I walked into my room, turned on the light, and got the surprise of my life. “T.J., what the entire fuck?”
This man was in my bed asleep. His eyes fluttered open before he stretched his arms above his head. “Baby, why you so damn loud? People live above and below you. Get in da shower so you can get into bed. We have ta go ta work in da morning.”
“T.J., I told you that I would see you tomorrow.” I spoke with my eyes closed. I didn’t want this to be our first argument, because I hated arguing.
When his lids opened, he stared at me like I had two heads. “Mekole, when you told me dat, it was before midnight. Babe, e afta three in da morning. It’s tomorrow.”
There is no way that he is serious.“Tumnus, I’m not going to do this with you tonight. I’m going to take a shower.”
My feet paused on my way to my bathroom when his ass mumbled that he told me to do that anyway. This man was a lot. He was more of an extrovert than I was, so it was sometimes hard to balance. I was a true introvert, although a lot of people were fooled because of what appeared to be my outgoing personality in social settings. What people didn’t know was that it took a lot out of my social battery to do that outgoing shit. On top of that, there was a time limit on it that I literally set my watch to. When that alarm went off, I was gone.
I took my time in the shower. When I got out, I grabbed what I needed to moisturize my skin and walked out of the bathroom.T.J. was still awake, which annoyed me. Without words, I walked out of my bedroom to go into the other bedroom.
Three minutes hadn’t passed before the door I closed was opened. “Aye, what you doing? Why you in here?”
I shot him a glare from my leaned over position as I rubbed body oil on my legs. “I’m about to go to bed. I want to get a few hours of sleep before I have to get up for work.”
He leaned against the doorframe. “Oh, so we sleepin’ in here?” He didn’t wait for my response before he walked toward the bed.
I jumped up! “No, T.J.! I want to sleep alone, please.” There was a panic in my tone that took me aback.
T.J.’s head crocked to the side. He didn’t say anything for a second before he walked around the bed and stood in front of me. He pulled me into his arms, then kissed my forehead. “What time you need me ta wake you up?” After I told him the time, he kissed my lips. “I’ll see you when you get up, Meek.”
As he walked out of the room and closed the door, I felt bad for a few seconds. It passed quickly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be around him. I just wanted to sleep alone. He said that he would wake me up, but I still set my alarm clock for half an hour before I told him to wake me up. Sleep didn’t have to find me. I was wide open to the taking.
When my alarm went off, I stretched one arm up and the other over to turn the alarm off. I never jumped out of bed immediately after I woke up. If I did, my head would hurt, and my day would be off. I needed a second to just gather myself before I got up. After my prayer was said, I rolled over to climb out of the bed. I froze at the sight before me. My heart swelled.
T.J. lay on the floor, on top of a blanket pallet, asleep. I had no idea when he came back into the room. He was on his back with a hand on his chest and the other in the front of his boxers. An emotion took over me that was foreign, but I leaned into it.I climbed out of the bed, got onto the floor next to him, and wrapped my arm around his waist.