Winifred

“ S omebody is really trying to get ahold of you,” Elijah murmured into my neck before placing a series of light kisses there.

I was barely conscious, the two of us had been awakened by the sound of my doorbell and phone going off simultaneously. I was confused because who in the hell would be trying to contact me in the wee hours of the morning. Without opening my eyes, I threw a hand out toward my nightstand—snagging my phone, and only peeling my eyes open when it was in view. Upon seeing not only who was calling, but also what time it was, I shot up, fully awake now.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I hissed, turning to Elijah. “Why are you still here?”

“Well damn, good morning to you too,” he said, with a teasing lilt to his tone as he sat up, flipped the cover off of his gloriously nude body and stood, stretching.

Momentarily I was distracted by the tempting picture of his golden brown skin being kissed by the sunlight that streamed through my blinds, silently thanking God for whatever hand he had in crafting the damn near perfect specimen of a man that stood before me. Then my phone started ringing again and I was thrust back into the reality of this moment. I cleared my throat and answered the phone, hoping that would quell the ringing of the doorbell since the notification I got of motion at the door confirmed it was the same person calling me.

“Hey, Ron,” I said casually.

“Hey Ron? That’s all you got to say? Bitch, what is going on? Did you forget we had plans today? Why are you not answering your door? Or your phone?” Veronica’s voice boomed through my phone, making Elijah level me with a wide-eyed, raised brow look.

I hung my head, drawing in a deep breath before responding.

“Which question do you want me to answer first?” I replied drolly.

“This girl really thinks somebody is playing with her, Kendall. Here. Take this phone. Talk to your friend before I forget that I love her like my own sister.”

“Hey, babycakes, are you okay?” Kenni’s smooth contralto asked as I could still hear Roni in the background ranting about respecting people’s time and not flaking on plans.

Immediately I felt like shit because while I hadn’t exactly forgotten that I was supposed to be linking up with the girls, I’d definitely forgotten to set an alarm so my activities of the previous night didn’t deter me from being ready when they arrived to scoop me up. Kendall was the co-founder of an org that was geared toward teaching young Black girls about the many opportunities for them in the world of aviation. Since Black female pilots were so rare, Kenni and some of her fellow sista-pilots had come together to form an organization called Skybound Sistas. They did a lot of outreach locally, putting together events where young girls got to spend a full day experiencing the world of a professional pilot as well as engage in opportunities to meet mentors, make friends, enjoy food, and all that good stuff. Kenni had tapped me and Ron to come volunteer whenever we had free time even though neither of us were pilots. It was always such a good time, seeing those young girls exhibiting a passion for learning and a deep interest in all of the information that they were being given throughout the day. Our plan had been to do the workshop with the girls and then go out for a late lunch after.

“Hey, Kenni,” I said contritely. “I’m so sorry. I overslept. I can meet y’all there. I might be a little la?—”

“How much time do you need?” Kendall asked.

I looked over at Elijah who was now standing just a few feet away from me, hands resting at his waist as he just stared at me.

“Twenty minutes?” I squeaked.

“Oh, is that all? We have more than enough time to wait in that case. Girl, come open the door. That’ll give Ron some time to calm down so she isn’t talking shit to you for the rest of the day.”

Shit, shit, shit, Freddie. Think.

“Oh. Um. Oh,” I said dumbly.

“So you coming to the door or…” Kenni trailed teasingly.

“Yes. Shit. Okay. Hanging up. See you in a sec,” I rushed out, then pressed the button to end the call.

I quickly shuffled and threw on my robe, then turned to Elijah. “Please stay quiet,” I hissed before scurrying to the front door, not even bothering to stick around for his response.

I opened the door with apologies, letting the girls in. “Y’all I do not know what got into me,” I said as I stepped back, allowing them room to enter.

At the exact moment I noticed something out of place, Roni’s foot made contact with the offending item, causing her to dramatically tip forward as she tripped over a haphazardly discarded pair of size thirteen Lost and Found Jordans. Thankfully she caught herself before tumbling all the way to the ground, but that didn’t stop her from glaring in my direction.

“First she makes us worry that something happened to her and now she tryna take me out with her boats in the daggone way,” Roni fussed.

“I don’t think those belong to Freddie,” Kenni commented as she looked down at the Jordans. “Is Jaeden here and you didn’t tell us?”

“My little JaedyWady’s here? Where you at, nephew?” Roni called out as she righted herself and stepped into my living room.

“No,” I said, scratching behind my ear as I answered. “Um…thosearentJaeden’s.”

As expected, both sets of eyes turned toward me, stretched as far as they could go.

“Ohhhhhh, we had company last night,” Roni crowed. “Big footed company who lasted from the night to the morning. Are you seeing this, Kendall?”

“I didn’t know we were entertaining company again, Roni?” Kenni responded exaggeratedly.

“Oh my god!” Roni suddenly whispered. “Bitch, do those big shoes belong to Big Jeans?”

“Freddie noooooo, please tell us it ain’t so cold out here that you backslidin’,” Kenni chimed in.

“I do not know why I deal with either of you heffas outside of my office hours,” I grumbled.

“So it’s Big Jeans,” Roni said with a bit of a grimace.

“No!” I hissed. “And stop talking about Big Jeans.”

“Then who the hell is it?”

“Somebody… else . Look, I need to finish getting ready so I don’t hold us up even longer.”

“Likely excuse,” Roni droned.

“Hush!” I shot back as I scurried to my room, quickly locking the door behind me. An amused Elijah was stretched out, reclining on my bed.

“I don’t have to ask who that is,” he said with a grin.

I grimaced, shaking my head good-naturedly. “Yeah, somehow I forgot to set my alarm last night. Remember me telling you that I couldn’t be messing around with you too late because I had a thing in the morning? The girls are here to take me to the thing. So I need to take a quick shower and get dressed so I don’t delay us any further.”

“Oh,” he said, swinging his legs from the bed. “I can raise up right now…”

“No!” I broke in. “Um, can you wait until after we’ve left? I’m going to have to tell the girls who was in here eventually, but I’d rather be in front of it instead of behind it, you know?”

“Ooookay,” he replied.

“I’ll text you the code to lock the front door once you leave,” I tossed over my shoulder as I dipped into the bathroom to take the world’s fastest shower.

Fifteen minutes later I was putting the finishing touches on my bun and stepping back into my bedroom to see a fully-clothed Elijah. A quick moment of lamentation flashed through me at my eye candy being taken away, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that.

“Okay, I’m leaving now. I’ll send the text with the code after we’ve taken off,” I whispered.

“,” Elijah called out with a little more bass in his voice than was usually present.

I turned with a wondering look to which he responded with an upward nod, urging me closer to where he stood. I strode over quickly and he wasted no time wrapping a hand around my neck once I was in arm’s reach and lowering his head to connect our mouths. There was no tenderness, just unabashed passion as he took my mouth with a ferocity that I couldn’t ever recall feeling before. Once he released me, my chest heaved with heavy breaths as he stepped back with a grin. “Hit me up after you’re done with your girls. I gotta know what they have to say.”

Finally feeling my breathing under control, I gave him a sharp nod and made my way back to the living room.

“Okay y’all, let’s get it!”

“Soooo, you’re not gonna introduce us to your guest?” Roni asked teasingly as we trailed Kendall out of the door.

“Chile with the way she twanklin’ and glissenin’ over there, I think she tryna keep that mystery meat under wraps for a little bit longer,” Kenni said.

“Both of y’all make me sick. But, I’ll give y’all the details… later .”

Their twin groans had me cackling as I pulled out my phone and texted Elijah the lock code to the electronic setup on my front door. When we arrived at the space for the Skybound Sistas event, which wasn’t far from where I stayed, we were immediately thrown into work so they didn’t get to tease me too much before our attention was distracted by the task at hand. Just like every other time I’d had the opportunity to be a part of a Skybound Sistas event, I was on an endorphin high as we made our way out to Kenni’s SUV. We’d decided to grab food and drinks at eight one eight, a cute little bistro in my neighborhood.

On our way in, I almost ran smack dab into the cutest little girl who’d been walking slightly ahead of her people while they exited the restaurant. Cute, big brown eyes looked up at me before the little girl opened her mouth and said, “Hey, I know you.”

“Me?” I asked, taken completely aback.

“Naya, please leave the nice lady alone.” I looked up to see an older woman with beautiful gray microlocs hustling a bit quicker to catch up with the little girl. Just over her shoulder, a very familiar looking smirk unfurled and I cursed under my breath before pasting on a smile.

“She’s not bothering me at all,” I said sunnily. “I think she’s got me mistaken for someone else though.”

The little girl frowned up at me, insistently shaking her head. “No I saw you on?—”

“Anaya Marie. You do not know this woman,” the older woman fussed at the same time Roni clocked Elijah.

“Eli, is that you?” she called out.

He turned his attention toward my friends, greeting them first as me and who I assumed were his mother and daughter looked on.

“Whassup, ?” he then said, giving me his full attention.

“Elijah.”

“Eli, who are your friends? I know I raised you better than to not introduce me.”

“Chill on me, OG,” he replied, chuckling. “This is Roni, Kenni, and . They all work out at the airport with me. Ladies, this is my OG, Marie, and this,” he said before stooping to pick the little girl up and prop her at his side. “Is Anaya.” With their faces right next to each other it was easy to see the family resemblance. She looked like her mother didn’t have anything to do with the conception, as if Elijah had spit her out himself. I briefly wondered if she was the “unexpected responsibility” he’d spoken about the other night when he had to cancel.

We exchanged pleasantries before the little family departed, leaving me with more questions about Elijah than I’d currently had before. As he trailed his mother and daughter I couldn’t help but follow them with my eyes, only turning back to my girls when I heard Kenni let out a little gasp. Turning my eyes back to her, I immediately recognized that she’d clocked something I’d hoped would escape their notice. Thank God Jordans were so ubiquitous that I could easily explain them away if she managed to put two and two together. I let the lie form in my mind as we stared at one another. Before she could open her mouth, Roni was urging us to follow her and the hostess to our table.

“Your server will be with you shortly,” the hostess said as we settled around our table.

She’d barely turned and walked away before Kenni was on my ass.

“You ain’t low, Freddie,” she said, making Roni’s brows furrow in confusion.

“Wait…what’d I miss?”

“Me solving the case of Brown and the Mystery Dick,” Kenni replied, giggling.

It took less than half a second for the dots to connect in Roni’s head, bringing her glare my way.

“Oh you motherfucker…or should I say sonfucker. Wait, pause. That sounds gross as hell.”

A grimacing Kenni and I quickly agreed.

“I never actually confirmed you solved anything,” I chimed in.

“Nell Carter, please give me a fucking break,” Roni stated before our server appeared, interrupting us. We quickly gave our drink orders then the girls hyper focused back on me.

“What?” I said after they stared at me for damn near a minute, silently.

“Cut the shit, Freddie,” Roni said. “You said you were gonna tell us about your mystery meat later, which is right now, so please break it down for us on how long Eli has been bussin’ it down.”

“Why are you so convinced that you were right?”

“Besides those shoes he had on being the exact same ones Ron tripped on earlier? The fact that your nipples got hard and you started panting like a lil bitch in heat the minute you and that man made eye contact,” Kenni said.

“Circumstantial at best,” I shot back.

“Bullshit,” Roni argued.

“Fine. Fine . Yes, Elijah was who was at my house when y’all arrived earlier. We’ve been… having a little fun.”

“How long?” Roni asked.

“Huh?” I replied, a clear stalling tactic.

“You heard me. How long?”

I shrugged, trying to act like I didn’t know exactly how long, down to the minute, it’d been since I started messing around with Elijah. I wasn’t doing too much about it because as far as I was concerned this was just supposed to be fun. When the novelty of catching prey he’d circled for so long finally wore off, Elijah would move on to his next target and I’d be down bad once again.

“Not that long. It’s… not that deep. We’ve just kicked it a time or two.”

“And your lying ass has been keeping it from us. Your sisters in the skies. Damn, cold world ain't it, Kenni?”

“Shut up,” I groaned, laughing at Roni’s silly ass. “I just… I didn’t want it to become a topic of discussion. Still don’t want it to be a topic of discussion, but it’s kind of unavoidable now.”

“I have a question,” Kenni said.

I inclined my head for her to continue.

“Is it as heavy as he makes it seem?” she asked sheepishly and Roni let out a loud cackle.

“Kenni, you can’t just ask a girl that! Like, what if we have to face him at some undetermined couples game night type shit. If she answers, then all I’ll be able to think about is knowledge of that fact. Ignore her, Freddie!”

I narrowed my eyes on her, shaking my head and laughing. “When have we ever had couples’ game night? Hell, when have all of us even been dating someone simultaneously for that to even be an option?”

“Wow, I’m over here trying to speak life into your situation and you’re hitting me with the semantics.”

“Girl what?” I replied, laughing myself now. “I… we… me and that man are just fucking, that’s it!”

“If that’s the case then how did his little girl know you? She was adamant about that.”

“Ron, I didn’t even know he had a little girl until we all just ran into each other when we arrived.”

“What if the baby is clairvoyant? She was saying that she’d seen you somewhere before his mother cut her off. Maybe she had a vision of you and her and her daddy living together happily ever after.”

“Kendall, will you please tell your friend she sounds ridiculous?” I begged.

She shook her head. “Nah, Roni could be onto something. Like, I’ve heard of kids that young having the gift of sight.”

“Lord, what did I do to be tried like this?” I muttered as my homegirls slapped fives and fell into one another cackling. “For the record, I do not ever engage that man in conversation about his life, hopes, goals, and dreams. This ain’t that. He slides through, we do our thing, and usually he’s gone before the sun comes up

“Oh my god, that sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted a sentient sex toy. Wow, Freddie you’re really a trailblazer. Out here living out my dreams,” Roni said in an awe-filled tone, making me and Kenni crack up laughing at her silly ass.

“And the whole time he was hiding a child?” Kenni asked.

“I don’t know if hiding is the right designation since I never inquired deep enough into his life to consider it being something he’d hidden from me. We’ve only exchanged all of the most pertinent information.”

“I know that’s right,” Roni chimed in.

“I just wanna say one last thing and then we can drop this,” Kenni said suddenly, but the look on her face made me hesitant to give her space to say anything else.

“What is it?” I said drolly.

“I distinctly remember you saying that men weren’t allowed to stay in your bed overnight and that was the reason you and Big Jeans ultimately didn’t work out. Because you put that man out at two a.m. one time after he’d come to your place post-work shift. Not only was Elijah there this morning, but he didn’t leave until after we did. So… either you’ve left your house unsecured all of these hours we’ve been gone or perhaps things aren’t as casual with that man as you think they are.”

Right as she concluded her little speech, our server returned with lunch. Without another word, she dug right into her meal, giving me a self-satisfied look as the impact of her words washed over me. Because as much as I was loath to admit it, she was absolutely right. Any other time I would have risked having my friends clown me incessantly just to get a man out of my sacred space. Instead of doing that with him, I’d given Elijah free rein and the damn keys to the kingdom, quite literally, by providing him with the lock code for my door.

Note to self, make sure to change that code.