Chapter 13

13

D ejvi

On the Other Side of Town…

"You're walking a thin line, James," Captain said, grabbing at my arm. I jerked it away and ignored him. The last thing I wanted to deal with tonight was his attitude. If he hadn't figured out by now that I couldn't be controlled, he never would. "James!"

I stopped and turned quickly to face him. "What, man?"

"Do you think you're above my commands? This is the third time I've given you a direct order that you ignored."

"Look…" I licked my lips as I chuckled, in an attempt to calm down. "Those kids were crying. The dog was still conscious and barking. Did you really think I wouldn't go back in and save him?"

"You think I give a damn about that dog? We got the family out, and that was all that mattered. You disobeyed a direct order to stand down… and for what… the family pet?"

"I told you after Theo died, I wouldn't leave anything or anyone behind. I don't give a damn what you say. I'm not leaving anything or anyone behind. If you have a problem with that, you can fire me now."

James huffed and clenched his jaw. "I'm not going to fire you, but I am going to give you the rest of the week off. Get the hell out of my face."

Shit, he hadn't said nothing but a word. I couldn't wait to get the hell out of here. My love and passion for what I did was starting to wane. The more I thought about Theo and my bucket list, the less I wanted to be tied to this station. It took me hardly no time to pack and head out. Before I could get out of the parking lot good, I was getting a call from Robin. I answered quickly, not wanting her repetitious calls to frustrate me even more.

"Hello?"

"Hey… is now a good time?"

"Yeah, wassup?"

"I was just calling to see if you'd given any more thought to what we'd discussed."

"Look, I'm a couple of months shy of my thirty-fifth birthday, Binny. Technically, I don't have to do anything concerning that pact until then. I get you're anxious to have a baby now, but that's not my problem. I'm not in the headspace to think about giving myself to a child right now. If I'm still single after my birthday and things are a bit steadier with my career, we can talk about this then. But for right now, I'm not trying to have a baby with you or anyone else."

The line was silent for a while before she ended the call. I felt like shit, but I was also slightly relieved. This may not have been an altogether no, but it was a not right now. Because right now, I needed to figure out how long I could continue on like this. Every time I went out on a call, my thoughts were plagued by Theo. It didn't matter how many people we helped, losing that one was all consuming. And then there was Enjell… I couldn't agree to anything with Robin until I knew there was no chance of a future with Enjell.

Thinking about her had me wanting to call her, but I decided to stalk her social media instead. I waited until I was at home to look at her Facebook page, and pride immediately filled me at the sight of her posting her plates. Already, she had hundreds of likes, shares, and comments. I shared the post and told everyone that was following me to go and support my girl, with a picture of us as a separate post. I wasn't sure why she didn't think she could be successful as a chef, but I said a quick prayer that her eyes would now be opened to all her possibilities.

Unable to deny my desire to hear her voice anymore, I decided I'd call her after I showered, and that was probably the quickest shower I'd ever taken. The moment I got comfortable in the center of my sofa, I called her, not even bothering to cut the TV on.

"Hey, stranger," was her greeting, and hearing the smile in her voice made me smile.

"Hey, love. I take it you missed me?"

"It has been three days since I've heard from you, so yeah. I have."

"Work has been hard," I admitted. "But I didn't call you for that. How are you?"

"I'm… starting to feel okay. I just picked up my weed, so I'm about to enjoy the rest of the night."

"You wanna come over? We can talk about it."

"I'd actually prefer to talk about it now. When I see you, I don't want to think about nothing but us."

"Mm… I love the sound of that. I'm going to send you my location."

"Okay." After I did, I returned to the call. "Oh, you're at those new luxury apartments in Germantown?"

"Yeah."

"I heard those were nice."

"They are. I love my little apartment. It's the perfect size since I'm never here."

"What is it, a studio or a loft?"

"Loft."

"Aww, I bet that's cute."

I chuckled before telling her, "Tell me what's been going on with you."

"To condense the story, Gino lied about how long he'd been cheating. He also lied about the move being sudden. He knew for six months and stopped paying the rent two months before he left. I was fifteen thousand behind on that. When I confronted him, he offered to send what we were behind on plus a little extra. I used that to get caught up on the rent and stock up on supplies for my cooking, which is surprisingly going well. I just made the post maybe like an hour ago, and I've gotten several orders already for the week. That's pretty much it in a nutshell."

I couldn't respond immediately. I was stuck on the fact that she'd let her ex help her but not me. Logically, I could tell myself that was the least he could do, but something about him giving her money just wasn't sitting right with me.

"How long is it going to take you to get here?" I asked.

"Maybe like fifteen minutes."

"Okay. Call me when you get outside."

"Okay."

Thirteen minutes later, she was calling me back. I told her I'd come to get her since I would have to add her to my approved list. Otherwise, the doorman wouldn't let her up. I didn't bother to get dressed fully, instead, putting on a pair of basketball shorts over my boxers and keeping my chest bare. My irritation started to dissolve at the sight of her.

Her natural hair was out for a change. It was pulled into a thick bun on top of her head. The oversized black dress she had on swallowed her whole. With each step she took toward me, I felt my heart slowing more and more. Enjell Johnson was truly a source of peace for me. How could I even consider letting her go?

"Hi," she spoke softly.

"We need to get something understood before we go up to my apartment."

Her mouth parted slightly and head tilted as she looked up at me innocently.

"Okay, what?"

"Don't ever go to another nigga when you're in need, not even your father. If you need something, you get that shit from me ."

"Dejvi… it's not like I asked him for it."

"That doesn't matter. I'm going to be your husband, which means you get what you need from me. If I ain't got it, I'ma get it, but you my fucking responsibility. I bet not ever hear you say you got a dime from another nigga unless it's through your business. Do you understand me?" As she nodded, I told her, "Nah, use your words, love."

"Ye—" Clearing her throat, she twiddled her thumbs. "Yes, baby."

"Gimme a kiss."

My hand wrapped around her neck, and I pulled her close. Between her tugging her bottom lip between her teeth and moaning softly, it was taking everything inside of me not to smack her ass and wrap her legs around my waist. Our tongues connected before our lips did. Had it not been for the sound of someone chuckling and clearing their throat, I didn't think I would have ever stopped kissing her. Enjell wiped my mouth with a smirk before I led her toward the elevators.

I wasn't sure which one of us moved toward each other first, but we were back in each other's arms and on each other's lips as soon as the elevator closed. When she began to unbutton my pants, I gripped her hands.

"We gotta wait." My voice trembled from the anticipation of being inside of her again. "I'm not going to stop if we get started, Enjell."

She released a shaky breath and nodded as she took a step away from me. It felt like it took forever for us to make it to my floor. When we finally did, I damn near dragged her down the hall to get to my spot. Her giggles made me laugh as I looked down and realized she was taking two and three steps for every one of mine.

"Why you so fuckin' short?"

"I don't know, ah!" She squealed as I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder. Smacking her ass, I bit her side since it was the closest thing to me.

"I want you to know I didn't ask you to come over for this. I genuinely wanted to smoke and talk."

"Same, but I want this too. You owe me after running out on me."

Damn. That was true. I definitely planned to make up for that tonight.

As soon as we were in my apartment, she was dropping to her knees and pulling my shorts and boxers down.

"Mm…" she moaned.

Enjell licked her lips before circling her tongue over the head of my dick. I wasn't sure what I thought her head would be like, but it was definitely not the nasty shit she started doing to me. It didn't take me long to realize I was going to become even more possessive of her when she started deep throating my dick.

When she allowed saliva to drop and sucked it back up before spitting on my shit and taking me in until I hit the back of her throat, I could no longer hold my cum back. A quiet roar escaped me as I pulled her hair. My stomach clenched and body jerked as I shot my seeds down her throat.

"Fuck, I ain't mean to do that, baby. I'm sorry."

As I pulled out of her mouth, she giggled as she wiped it. "I wanted to taste you."

"Do I taste as good as you thought I would?"

She kissed me. "Better."

I carried her over to the sofa, grateful she had on a dress. I became even more grateful when I saw that she didn't have on any panties. Her thighs were slick from her wetness already. Pulling her to the edge, I gripped her waist and allowed her to put me at her opening. I pressed my way inside, and for a moment, I couldn't move or breathe. For a moment, all I could do was freeze in the peace and pleasure of being back in my home.

Because that was what Enjell was starting to feel like for me— home .

That place that was a refuge and escape.

When I began to move inside of her, I made sure I was intentional with every stroke. Since I'd already cum once, I wanted to make sure she came at least twice before I came again. That was getting more and more difficult when Enjell started to circle the pads of her fingers against my nipples. I couldn't recall a time a woman had ever done that before, but it felt good as hell.

Needing to even the playing field, I went from caressing her clit to massaging her nipples. I kept my strokes steady, sending her into her first orgasm of the night. When I wrapped my hand around her neck and squeezed, her eyes started to roll into the back of her head. I focused on her G-spot, keeping my strokes short until she squirted all over me. Pressing my way back inside of her fully, I picked her up and set her back down so she could ride me… grateful I took a chance and called her—even more grateful that she wanted me.

Enjell high was amusing, to say the least. She was the kind of person who asked random questions, laughed, and ate a lot of food, then went straight to sleep. I had just recorded a video of her snoring when knocking on my door demanded my attention.

Enjell barely stirred as I got out of bed. In fact, she snored louder. I was glad the intrusion on our night together didn't disturb her sleep and curious about who could be at my place this late at night. My mind raced trying to think over if I'd ordered more food and forgot. I looked out of the peephole and frowned at the sight of Robin. Pulling in a deep breath, I tried to remind myself this way my best female friend and not someone I needed to go off on for randomly showing up at my home.

I opened the door and instead of letting her in, I quickly stepped out.

"It is almost two in the morning, Binny. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Let me in. We need to talk."

Me being high kind of worked in her favor because it made me laugh instead of getting more irritated. "You can't come in."

"Why not?" She looked around me as if she could see through the door. "Is someone in there?"

"Yeah," I answered honestly, caring less about hurting her feelings and more about setting some clear boundaries between us. "How long are you going to be home?"

"I don't know, why?"

"We need to get some shit straight if you're going to be here for a while. I'll hit you up at some point over the next couple of days. Until then, don't just pop up here, and don't call me. I'll reach out when I'm ready to discuss your behavior."

Scoffing, she crossed her arms and rested the bulk of her weight on her right side. "My behavior? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

"Honestly, I don't know. You're not acting like the Robin I know right now. My girl would never pop up on me like this. She wouldn't have hung up in my face. And she for damn sure wouldn't be trying to force me to give her a baby!"

"Oh… so now I'm your girl? Because a few hours ago, it was that chick whose post you shared on Facebook."

My eyes rolled toward the ceiling as I released a tired sigh. "I mean my girl as in my best friend, Binny. You know that."

"Whatever, V. I guess call me when you're ready to talk since you're the one that's clearly in control."

I watched her leave and made the mental note to temporarily take her off my approved list. I would need to be notified of her arrival until I figured out what exactly was going on with her. Her behavior had been erratic lately. Outside of the pact, the constant calls and randomly popping up wasn't like Robin at all. There was a time we'd go months without talking to each other then pick back up like no time had passed. It felt weird and a bit obsessive for her to be acting like she had to talk to me so much.

Even when I addressed the baby situation, she would still be calling and texting, and I wasn't comfortable with that. When things did go to the next level between me and Enjell, how would I be able to explain that? I'd need to talk to her, probably sooner than later, and get to the bottom of what was going on with my best friend. Because right now, her behavior was making it easier for me to consider cutting her out of my life for good.