Winifred

“ W e’re going to be late,” I murmured as I angled my head to give Elijah better access to nibble along my neck in direct contrast to my words.

“It’s my birthday, I can be late,” he groaned, suckling at just the right spot on my neck to make my knees turn to jello as I braced my grip against my dresser.

“Technically,” I shuddered out breathlessly which caused him to chuckle.

Tonight wasn’t his actual birthday. That day, two days from now, we would be spending time together in DC as a make up for the previous trip, something Eli insisted was the only thing he wanted for his birthday. Tonight we were supposed to be on the way to a private dinner at eight one eight with his grandparents, niece, sister, and Jeff.

He’d been a steady presence around the Woolford household in the months since Elisha had come home. Both Eli and I often teased them about their intentions for one another since they insisted that they were just friends, but anyone with half an eye could see those two were blindly in love with one another. In fact, Elisha, Jeff, and Anaya would be on a little weekend getaway of their own which had prompted this early birthday celebration, so the twins could celebrate with their grandmother as well.

“We got time,” Eli rasped, hooking two fingers into the side of my underwear to begin working it off my body before he hoisted me onto the dresser, facing him. “I told you forty-five minutes earlier than the res,” he murmured directly into my ear as he lined himself up and slid into me with a powerful thrust. “I needed some milk first.”

I rolled my eyes with a giggle at his silliness until that giggle turned into open mouth panting with the increase in vigor and power of Elijah’s thrusts into my center. “Fuck, Eliiiiiiii,” I whined as I felt my arms give way. He didn’t alter the course of his hips before he anchored me closer to his chest and swiftly turned us toward the bed. I landed on my back at the end of a powerful thrust that felt like it’d landed in my lungs at the angle it’d hit me. I devolved into a mass of sentient bliss, pleasure overtaking every working part of my body as I erupted with cries of ecstasy. It wasn’t until I felt myself coming back into my body that I could hear Elijah’s declarations of how pretty I looked and how well I was taking his dick. The impact of those words registering set off a chain reaction of orgasms, through which I screamed my throat hoarse. My eyelids suddenly weighed a thousand pounds and I found myself fighting to keep my eyes open, knowing we didn’t have much time to get clean again, then dress and head out to meet the rest of the family.

Elijah pulled out of me slowly before leaning over and plucking me up into his embrace to carry me to the bathroom.

“Bring ya ass,” he bellowed as if I were following and not being carried by him.

I giggled lazily, knowing that once I was under the spray of the shower I’d eventually perk back up enough to make it through dinner without fading. Quickly we both washed ourselves, dried off, moisturized, and got dressed. We pulled into the valet at eight one eight right behind Jeff, who had Elisha, Mrs. Marie, Mr. Chuck, and Anaya in tow.

“See, we right on time, baby?” Elijah said with a grin.

I let out a small giggle. “Yeah we are, aren’t we?”

“In more ways than one, love,” he said before exiting his side of the vehicle and chiding me, “Don’t touch that door.”

I grinned broadly as he opened my door to pull me out and directly into his side. A possessive hand at the swell of my hip cupped me tightly, as we walked into the restaurant. We were seated immediately and exchanged pleasantries with everyone before falling into random conversations amongst each other in between ordering dinner and drinks. After about ten minutes, I had a creepy feeling like someone was watching me, but when I looked around, it didn’t appear that anyone was paying me any particular attention. So I shook the feeling off, falling back into conversation with Mrs. Marie and Elisha about her upcoming trip. They were headed to the opposite coast of mine and Elijah’s trip, taking baby girl to Disneyland since Elisha has always wanted to visit LA but had never been.

She sparkled as she detailed everything they had planned for the five days they’d be out West. And at one point in the night, while telling us some story about one of Anaya’s soccer games we missed, she’d called Jeff honey. It slipped out so smoothly that no one reacted because we were certain she would have felt awkward if we addressed it directly in the moment. I saw Elijah and Jeff’s gazes meet and they came to some sort of understanding if each man's nods toward one another at the end of their stare down amounted to anything. I’d have to get the whole story from Eli once we were back home.

Somewhere along the way home had become my townhouse as Elijah slowly but surely migrated his belongings into my space, fluidly interspersing pieces of our unique personalities that somehow made cohesive harmony. His presence was a steadying force at the end of my days. Whether they were good, bad, or indifferent, I knew at the end of it all was the gentle ferocity of his strong embrace.

After dinner, Elisha and Jeff talked us into going out to the patio at The Watering Hole to see some friends of theirs who were in a seventies and eighties funk cover band. Initially after dinner I’d planned to link with Ron and Ken, so I hit them up to see if they’d be amenable to a change in plans. They were with it and planned to meet us at the bar as well. On our car ride, Elijah expressed his reservations about his sister frequenting a bar even though alcohol hadn’t been her vice. She’d just gotten her six month chip not too long ago and was doing well on her road of sobriety. Eli just couldn’t help worrying after her well-being, though. He did, however, maintain a healthy boundary of not hounding her about it, which I think went a long way in aiding her recovery process.

I wasn’t there for the previous times they’d been down this road with Elisha, so I was uncertain of what the future held, but I did know that the woman I’d met all those months back whose gaze housed a sadness that most could overlook with a simple glance now walked around with her eyes sparkling with a sense of purpose and determination. Her words and actions aligned often, proving that she wasn’t just doing lip service, but was actually dedicated to maintaining her sobriety this go round. She and I were still getting to know one another in depth, but we were building our own relationship outside of what I had going on with her brother. She’d even hung out with me and the girls a few times and we made sure those nights were ones in which we indulged in mocktails instead of our usual habits.

It wasn’t a major change to make when you were invested in the success of someone’s sober journey. And I was definitely invested. Because my investment in aiding Elisha along her journey was a direct benefit to my Elijah. It was beautiful to witness the Woolford family together and whole. Mrs. Marie was still semi-stressed due to her husband’s health issues, but she now moved with a lightness that hadn’t been present before. And of course, Anaya benefitted from a present and focused mother who was now able to give her baby everything she hadn’t received from her own mother.

We headed onto the patio and almost walked directly into a few people who were exiting. Elijah pulled me back against him so the last guy who barreled through the doors without a second glance didn’t knock me over.

“Excuse you, nigga,” Elijah grunted and that was when the guy looked over his shoulder and we locked eyes. His face twisted into an ugly snarl before he threw up a middle finger in my direction.

“Ay, what the hell was buddy problem,” Eli snapped, damn near ready to chase the man down.

“Absolutely not,” I said, pulling his arm in the direction of the table at which Jeff and Elisha now sat.

We sat and he looked at me expectantly.

“An ex, long done before you and I were anything… like at all. It didn’t end the most amicably because he called me a frigid bitch which left me no choice but to be brutally honest about certain… shortcomings he faced.”

“I feel like we skipped a chapter in the book,” Elisha cracked as she and Jeff gaped in my direction.

Elijah narrowed his eyes at me before he snapped and pointed. “Wait, that was the infamous Big Jeans?”

My eyes widened. “Why do you know that name?”

“That first day your homegirls caught us up, Roni wasn’t exactly the quietest when she asked if Big Jeans was in your room. I’d been meaning to ask you what that meant, but that nigga was just in them he was a skater boy, she said see ya later boy joints, so say less.”

My shriek of laughter escaped before I could contain it and the other occupants of our table just looked at us like we were insane because they lacked any context for this ludicrous conversation. So of course, I had to now explain to them what had happened and why it was so funny. Despite it being lowkey embarrassing for me, Elisha and Jeff, once they were caught up, understood why me and Eli had been so weak at his classification of Jerome’s jeans. Elisha even mentioned that before we’d shown up, she said something to Jeff about that man’s big ass pants. I couldn’t do shit but shake my head in amusement.

We were still laughing, only sobering once the band began to play because they were groovin’. About ten minutes into the bands’ set, my homegirls showed up. Since they were familiar with Elisha, the only introductions we had to make were to Jeff, which went quickly. Soon after they were settled, Roni leaned over to me and whispered, “Be careful when you go inside. A certain wide legged denim wearer is sitting at the bar.”

“Oh, we done already seen Big Jeans,” Elijah cracked, making Roni’s eyes widen in shock.

“Friend, we gotta work on your whispering skills,” I joked and brought her and Kenni up to speed about the little interaction before.

Of course that just gave them the ammo to go into a round of good natured teasing at my expense.

“Y’all gotta chill out on my baby,” Elijah said as our laughter at Kenni’s last joke died out. “She was doing the best with what she was given until she was ready for me.”

“Now y’all done got this guy started,” I droned, rolling my eyes with faux annoyance.

After a while Elijah led me out to the makeshift dance floor, plastering my frame against his as we rocked and grooved to the beat, dancing until perspiration dotted both of our foreheads. To our left, Jeff and Elisha were looking decidedly unfriendly as they swayed to their own beat, independent of the actual song being played. Roni had disappeared somewhere after getting a call, but Kenni was being chatted up by a handsome brotha who’d approached her after the rest of us left the table. From the way she was skinnin’ and grinnin’, he must’ve been saying all the right things.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I took a look around at our surroundings and how quickly Elijah and I had escalated from our first interaction on the inside of this very place. I’d been so certain that night would be one time only, but here I was in a full-blown relationship with the young tender I’d written off and a hit and quit.

“What’s so funny?” Eli murmured directly into my ear.

“Us,” I replied, still giggling. “Who’ve thought we woulda lasted beyond that first night?”

“I knew,” he said resolutely and when I looked into his eyes, sincerity shone in their depths. “And don’t try to play me off because you knew it too.”

I couldn’t do anything but smile in response, knowing that he was absolutely right, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.