Page 56 of The Perfect Verse
“Damn, D. Who got you smiling like that?” Gucci probed, trying to look at his cellphone. Since he knew Gucci liked to chatter like a bitch, he kept it to himself as he quickly locked her number in his cell.
“Mind your damn business, you non-security security ass nigga.” He rushed out of the restaurant, hoping he could get Nazir to call CeeCee, his wife, for him. If anyone could find him a cheap ticket to Miami and then have him flown out to Charlotte on time, it would be her.
“Shit, more food for me,” Gucci mumbled to himself.
Chapter 25
Verse Twenty-Five
“Not much, but it’s mine.”
He walked to his family room area as she slowly rolled behind him. The ride was quiet, at least it seemed to be, except both were in their heads. He took a seat and closed his eyes, his head tilted back. He was beyond tired, but it seemed like sleep was trying to find him once he had her in his presence.
“I want you next to me.” He didn’t open his eyes. He wanted her to tell him to come get her. He noticed the last time he was around her, she appeared to be more comfortable moving around in his presence. Due to the limited use of her legs, he’d seen her eyes filled with fear if she stood too long, even clinging to him.
“Kee?”
“What?” she muttered, responding to Chaney via text. They had a night that started off shaky, but once the boys went off to sleep, they finally cleared the air. She wanted to make sure she made it home safely.
He kissed his teeth, sat up, and gently tugged her cellphone from her hand. He wanted her fully present, not just physically.She huffed when he stood, and with a silent count to three as he bobbed his head with each count, she braced herself before he slid his arms underneath her and scooped her up.
“You feel good in my arms, Kee.”
“Whatever. Let’s get this over with.”
“Aye, I get I fucked up, but what you’re not about to do is dismiss my fucking feelings. Use your words, get it off, baby girl. Lose that attitude. A nigga trying to show you he’s fucking with you.” He grabbed her chin, his eyes clinging to hers. “Because I do.”
“Can you at least put me down?” A lazy grin followed on his face. He loved when she whined. He lightly bit her earlobe just to annoy her, knowing they’d get nowhere if he antagonized her.
“You’re comfortable?”
He smirked, bracing himself for a snide remark. Surprisingly, she nodded as he encased her in his arms. He could never get enough of her mean ass, but when she wrapped her arm around his torso and rested her head on his chest, he felt a weight was lifted. Most times, he initiated all the contact, the physical touch, so this was progress.
“Short version, I want to be with you. Long version, I did ask Naz to get her tickets. I didn’t want to call shit off over the phone or through no text. I have three younger sisters, Kee. I’m built differently, but I’m a provider. That’s what I do, and that’s what I’ve always done. Serita was a part of that because, at one point, she was my girl.”
He noticed Kaleela’s body stiffen at his admission, but she remained quiet as they settled in on his sectional. He kissed the top of her head and slid down just a bit so he could hold her in his arms.
“After the last time we were together, the night in the jacuzzi, I decided that maybe bringing her was sending a mixed message. It’s hard, not doing what you naturally would do, but I knewat some point, I’d have to choose… and I chose you. I was still figuring out how to let her go. Ask anyone. Hell, ask Mango because her lil’ ass will give it up for free nail and hair service or, at this point, because she likes you.”
“I’m not asking her anything,” she mumbled, tears skating down her cheeks. “When I have to start doing that, the me that will fuck you up comes out, and I don’t like that side of me. That me is the side of me that makes me want to not feel shit, Scoot.”
“That you is also the you that started that community resource center and that group home. Don’t discount your pain, your trauma, baby. Don’t become a prisoner of it and shit, even if you didn’t ask Mango, on site, her ass is telling. Lips bleed when it’s time to tell a nigga’s business.” He laughed, but it was true. He told her she should major in journalism or broadcasting because she did it so naturally.
“Tell me about this Serita?” she mumbled, drawing circles on his stomach. She looked up with narrow eyes. “And don’t be shitting on her. I hate when niggas only tell the bad to get out the dog house. You fucked with her, and you had to for a reason.”
“Damn, baby. Who said I was?”
He smiled, feeling that same flutter he’d been feeling in his stomach. He wished his father or his sister’s fathers had tried to show his mother the love she needed, wanted. Maybe that was why he did handle Serita with kid gloves. He loved her enough to keep her around, but he knew sooner or later, he wouldn’t be any better than his own absent father, short of supporting her financially.
“She’s smart and was accepted to every college we applied to, from Tuskegee University, Clarke, North Carolina A &T, Howard, even Hampton.”
“We?” She lifted a brow as he dragged his hand down his mouth, a grin threatening to form.
“Hey, I was trying to get her in her element, and she was stuck, trying to be up under me. If she had her own hustle, her own vision outside of me, maybe we would have worked, but Serita was groomed by her mama—to be a wife. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, but a wife is still a woman first. My mama got it out of the mud as best she could, even if by illegal means at times. She put being a mama first. Shit, she had no choice. What she didn’t do, I did, and by the time I was sixteen, I was paying all the damn bills. Serita saw that, was pulled in by that, not knowing I was setting myself up to be locked up or killed. So yeah, I paid my sister Erika to push those fucking applications through. She chose Clarke, naturally. It was the closest to home, and after two years on campus, she tried to wiggle her way back home. She said the dorms weren’t up to her standards, so I put her up in an apartment.”
“So basically, you’re a trick?”
“A trick? Naw, ‘cause a trick want pussy, too, and I don’t want hers. I want yours. I put that pussy in my mouth every chance I get, and I plan to, even though you’re mad as hell right now.”
