Page 52 of In the Safety's Zone
“Just don’t play with my feelings, Anthony. You doing all this to get me, don’t play.”
Anthony bent down and kissed me softly and drew the emotions out of me that I attempted to hide. A tear escaped the corner of my eye and I tried to wipe it away before he saw it. I wasn’t successful, as he caught my hand and wiped the tear himself.
“You feelin’ it too, huhn? That overwhelming feeling that has all your walls coming down. I got it right there too. You not alone in nunna this, baybeeh. Shit, I might be farther gone than you right now. Ain’t no playin’ ‘round wit’ feelin’s. At least not on my side. Nah, you play ‘round wit’ mines and yo gone see a whole lotta crazy come out. Like drive all night and be camped out in front’cha house with a machete and one of my Uncle’s gators.”
“And you say this to me now?”
“After the way that girl between ya legs just had me losing my head you think I’m finna turn you loose? Fuck that.”
“You’re crazy.” And here I was lusting after him because I knew he was serious about every word he spoke.
“I’m glad you figured that out ‘fo I had to spell it out. Let me flush this shit so we can get in this shower. I need somethin’ sweet after all that.”
“We can order—”
His eyes roamed my frame as he licked his lips hungrily. I was damn near torn between stepping forward and stepping back with how intense his stare was. Anthony’s eyes finally met mine and they were the definition of bedroom: soft, almost sleepily relaxed and lust filled. They looked predatory and comforting all at once.
“Ain’t nobody orderin’ shit. The only thing I want on my tongue tonight is your cum. How many times you gone cum for me, lil baybeeh?”
We woke up and had breakfast but after last night I didn’t want to share Anthony with anyone in the world. The stuff he’d thought about doing sounded nice but I wanted to soak in every second with him that I could without distractions. To his credit, Anthony didn’t seem to be bothered by my wanting to stay inside and I was grateful that he was good with the way I wanted to spend our vacation. We kept ourselves busy with the bed and me with sleeping in between sessions because I was exhausted from playing. Now we were waiting on food and eating snacks that Anthony had gone out to grab while I was sleeping.
The romantic side of him hadn’t ended. He’d spread one of the blankets on the ground for us to have an indoor picnic in front of the television. His going through all this effort to ensure he was being romantic had choked up but I was doing my best not to cry the way I had last night. But he was making it hard as fuck to keep my emotions from pouring out.
“I gotta ask—”
“Do you? Sounds like one of those things that is gonna piss me off.”
I was staring at him as if he was gonna be weird. My mind immediately went to something crazy because so much had been going so well. I just knew he was about to fuck up and ask me about body counts or exes or some other weird-ass red pill shit because his mask was about to drop now that he’d gotten some ass.
He pulled me onto his lap and went back to eating the bag ofZapp’she’d been happy to find at the store. “Nah, it’s nothing bad. Your name — how did you get it? Your people Greek?”
My head fell back partially in relief that he hadn’t asked me something crazy but also worry since the reason behind my name would piss him off.
“No, the story is…it’s actually terrible.”
“If it’s gone be some shit that stresses you, we can leave it where it’s at.” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, which was awkward given how he was holding me. He looked sincere and I loved that his immediate thought was to protect me instead of sating his curiosity.
“No, I don’t mind. You’re a 2000s baby?” I knew he was older than me but I had a fairly late birthday so I needed clarification.
“Nah, ’99” He said that shit with so much pride I couldn’t help but tease him.
“Okay, last century ass nigga.”
He choked on a chip laughing at me, and I joined him. It took him a second to breathe and catch his breath.
“Yo, that was a good one. Where this humor come from?”
“Damn if I know. Maybe your dick somehow transferred some of yours into me. Or your being here and being the type of man you are provides me enough peace to express myself without fear.”
“Damn, this last millennium dick did all that? Need to call his ass the miracle worker. The way maker and the wall remover.” When he popped his hips and made his dick jump I just knew we weren’t going to finish this conversation.
I tried to hop up from his lap but he kept me in place. “I won’t even deny it. But I was born in 2000 and that was the year that Venus won two majors. I was born the day she won the US Open and my father thought it would be a cute and indirect way to pay homage. She’s Venus, the—”
“Roman version of Aphrodite. Damn…that’s crazy.”
I knew he wanted to say more but he didn’t know how I was feeling about the situation. I’d battled with feeling like myfather was trying to put me in her shoes in some weird way but I couldn’t carry the burden for whatever reason he gave me my name. Making my mark was the only way I felt that I could separate myself from her. Making history would definitely set us apart.
“Yeah. And so it feels very weird to be trying to be in the same lane as this woman with an alternative version of her name and a father pushing me to best her legacy. I don’t have any issues with her, but my father tries to make us some type of unspoken beef when there isn’t any. Those women paved the way for me to be where I’m at. ”
