Chapter Nineteen

Rakeem

Haze took everyone out to dinner after the court hearing to celebrate. After everything was over, I asked Journei to come home with me, and I was honestly surprised she agreed. My parents picked up both of the girls, so we had some time to ourselves. I've been listening to my brother and mother over the past couple of weeks for getting on me about the way I was ignoring Journei and how Lu wouldn't want this. It took for Lu to come to me in a dream and curse my ass out like she always did for me to get my act together. So here we were now, sitting in my living room in an awkward silence. I knew I needed to say something, or she'd walk her ass out of her.

"I'm sorry," I blurted.

She looked up at me.

"I'm sorry for shutting you out. That was fucked up on my part and I can be man enough to admit that. I didn't know how to stay loyal to Lu and handle my feelings for you at the same time. Shutting you out was definitely not the route to take, but it was the only thing I knew how to do," I confessed.

"You know she told me that she saw me in her dreams?" she asked.

"She told you that?"

"She did. She told me to be patient with you, because it would take a minute for you to come to terms with loving someone else. I told her that we were just friends, but she told me she knew better. She said she heard you talking to Haze about me. Y'all thought she was sleeping. She said she heard you say that you think that you were falling in love with me," she revealed.

Damn. I didn't know she heard all of that.

"What did you say to that?" I asked.

"I told her I could give you as much time as you needed because you were my bestie." She smiled.

Scooting closer to her, I leaned in and kissed her lips for the first time. "What if I want to be more than your bestie?" I asked.

"Then you would have to show me."

That was all I needed to hear before I carried her upstairs and into my room. I had long ago had the room remodeled and replaced the furniture. I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach having reminders of Lu in here, and I'm glad I did. When I laid her down on the bed, I took a moment to take in all of her beauty. Taking my time, explored her mouth with my tongue and let my hands run wild over her thick frame. She still had on the button-up shirt that she wore to court, so it was easy to loosen it and slid it off of her shoulders. I reached for the button on her slacks and undid them right before I slipped them over her thick ass hips. The way her pussy was staring at me through the thin fabric of her panties, I couldn't wait another minute before I tasted it. I wasted no time snatching them off and invading her lower lips with my tongue.

"Ooh shit!" she whimpered, as she grabbed the back of my head.

As I savored the taste of her, she wound her hips into my face, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I haven't eaten pussy in so long; I wanted to relish in this moment, but I also wanted to feel the inside of her. It's been a little over a year and now that I was at this point, I couldn't wait another second. To hurry the process along, I inserted two fingers inside of her and went in for the kill. I sucked her so savagely her orgasm ripped through her, so forcefully that her hip levitated off of the bed, but I never let up until I knew she was done. When her hips returned to the bed, I detached myself from her and sat up. I have never seen her look so beautiful as she did at this moment. Her eyes never left mine as I discarded my clothes and hovered over her body. The eye contact was crazy and for some reason, I couldn't take the shit. It was like she was boring into my soul and I don't know if I could handle knowing what she saw just yet. Leaning forward, I kissed her passionately as I guided my dick inside of her.

"Shit, girl," I groaned as I placed my face in the crook of her neck. I couldn't move if I wanted to. I needed to get my bearings together because I wasn't expecting her pussy to be this damn tight and so fucking wet. Once the urge to cum subsided, I started to slow stroke her.

"Rakeem," she whined my name. That prompted me to look at her. She had the sexiest sex face displayed. The shit was sucking me in. Placing her leg in the crook of my arm, I stroked her intently as I peppered kisses anywhere they would land. My mission was to let her know that she wasn't just a fuck to me. I was letting my dick express what I was scared to. With each stroke, she whimpered a little more, and that shit sounded lovely.

"Baby…oh…gawd," she cried.

"Wassup, baby? Hmm?" I countered, never missing a beat.

"Oh, my gawd! I love you," she declared as she rained down on me.

My movements stopped. Did she just say that she loved me? Did she mean it?

"You mean that shit, shorty?" I asked.

Through labored breaths, she responded, "I do."

It was like that's what my mind and body needed to hear, because the way I made love to this damn girl before I fucked the absolute shit out of her was insane. I don't know if it was because I hadn't had sex in a while or the fact that I loved this girl too but the nut that came from my body damn near paralyzed my ass and had it did, I wouldn't be mad one bit.

We were now lying in the bed after another round in the shower. Journei was lying on my chest as I stared at the ceiling. This shit felt right, and I didn't feel guilty like I thought I would.

"Bestie," I called her name.

She giggled because I swore I didn't like that name for shit.

"Hmm?"

"I love you too," I confessed.

She lifted her head and peered into my eyes with her sleepy ones.

"I know it may seem fast, but I feel like it's right on time. All I ask is that you give me some grace and be patient with me. Let shit happen naturally and in its timing, and we'll be good."

She smiled before saying, "I can do that."

I pulled her on top of me and brought her down to me for a kiss. I didn't know how I would handle being in love again, but I was willing to try it, and why not with the woman that saw me in my most vulnerable state and never turned her back on me.

∞∞∞

It's been a few days since I made things official with Journei and I was headed to the yard with Haze. It was collection day and since I was in a good ass mood, I might let a muthafucka live. When I got there, this nigga was on the phone grinning like a girl. It had to be Rue on the phone. I never seen this nigga that happy before. When he saw me walk in, he chucked his head at me before going back to his conversation. I took the opportunity to text Journei, even though I just hung up with her before I walked in.

Me: This nigga in here cheesing hard as fuck while he's talking to sis (laughing emoji)

Bestie: You should see her. I think it's cute though (blushing emoji)

Me: I'm happy for my brother. Sis a good one.

Bestie: Yeah, I'm happy my girl finally got rid of Keith's AARP ass.

That caused me to burst out laughing because this damn girl said anything that came to her mind.

"Damn, nigga. What's so funny?" Haze asked. I looked up, and he was finally off of the phone.

"Damn, you nosy. Did I disturb your call when I walked in?" I smirked before texting Journei back.

Me: Baby, let me holla at this nigga. I'll hit you up when I leave here.

Bestie: Okay. I love you (white heart emoji)

Me: I love you too, shorty.

I put my phone back in my lap and looked up at my brother, who still had that stupid look on his face.

"You look good and refreshed," he observed.

"I could say the same thing about you," I countered. "But nah, Journei and I agreed to take things slow."

"Word? That's wassup. She's good for you."

"Yeah, she is. I didn't think I could or would love somebody else so soon, but here we are," I confessed.

"Don't I know it."

That made me give him a look.

"Wait. You love Rue?"

He looked at me with that dumb ass look on his face.

"Nigga, you think I would be doing all of this shit if I wouldn't? I've purchased a damn G-Wagon, a wedding ring, new wardrobe for her and my baby girl on top of lacing her bank account after adding her to all of mine. So, to answer your question, yeah, I love her little ass. Infiniti too." I was proud and happy for my brother. Shit, it looks like we were both in love at the same time and that's a first. He could barely be around Kari long before he was ready to get rid of her ass.

"I love that for you, nigga." He laughed.

"You been around Journei's ass too long." We laughed.

Let's go get this money so I can go chill with my wife and kid.

It was nothing left to discuss. We had the women in our lives that we wanted, and the shit was great. As we left the office, I looked up toward the sky before getting inside of my truck and said, "thank you."