Bati

by Nikki Clarke

  She rolls her eyes, but continues anyway. “I want you to say you aren’t going to break his heart.”

  My head jerks back. And as if responding to her words, my heart stutters for a second. I press my hand to the flat of my chest, and Amina’s eyes shift to the spot briefly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Her eyes slide away again. Her lips pull in like they do when she’s trying not to tell something.

  “I’m just saying, be careful with him.”

  “I’m always careful.” I can’t stop the bite that creeps into my response.

  “Well, you’re always careful not to let things go further than you want, but Lyqa aren’t like humans. Some things are a bit more literal for them.”

  My eyes rotate to the side and back again. “Okay. I never told the man that we were gonna get married. It was just sex. I’m pretty sure he understood that.” I’m not sure. When I think about the things he said while he was inside of me, I wonder if I’m the one being naive.

  Amina fidgets a bit more. I can tell she isn’t saying something, and even though it might be something I should know, I wonder if I even want to.

  “Just be careful with him, okay? I love Kwarq, and I love his family. I know how you are about relationships, and I’m not trying to convince you to give it a chance—even though you won't regret it—but if you’re not going to take him seriously, be upfront about it and be, you know, nice.”

  “I’m always nice.” I may be clear about my intentions with people, but I’m not cruel. I don’t string people along, and I don’t lie about what I want. Usually. I may have told a small lie, recently.

  Amina’s head shifts to the side, and a look of pity flashes across her face. “Oh, no, sweetheart. You aren’t nice at all. You’re kind of a cold-hearted, heart breaker, Tee.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “What are we talking about, how Tee be ruining these dudes’ entire existences and leaving them withering in the dirt behind her?”

  Our youngest sister LaShay trudges into the kitchen. Her arms extend over her head on a stretch. She yawns deeply and plods past us to the fridge, ignoring my indignant stare, and pulls out the carton of orange juice.

  “What do you mean? I don’t ruin anybody.”

  LaShay snorts as she lifts her cup to her lips, draining the glass in one big gulp. She works up a loud belch and sets the cup back on the counter to pour a second glass.

  “Girl, please, you stay breaking dudes’ hearts.”

  My eyes shift back to Amina, but she just twists her mouth up to the side and looks away. LaShay picks up a pancake and takes a bite, shrugging her shoulders.

  I snort and fold my arms over my chest. My heart’s beating very fast. It’s also really loud. I hate the idea that there could be some truth to what they’re saying.

  “Name one guy whose heart I’ve broken,” I challenge, raising a brow at them.

  “Torrian,” LaShay shoots without hesitation.

  “Andre,” Amina follows right behind her.

  “Andre number two.”

  “Good one.” Amina gives it up to Shay with a point.

  “Keith.”

  “Deangelo.”

  “Medium Mike.”

  “That was second grade,” I counter, but Shay shrugs her shoulders again.

  “Doesn’t matter. You still broke his heart.”

  “All I did was tell him I didn’t want to go with him.”

  “In the middle of the lunch room,” LaShay returns.

  “And then you called him dusty,” adds Amina with a smirk.

  “He asked me why I didn’t want to go with him,” I contend.

  “Yeah, but you’re supposed to say cause you don’t want to or you already go with some body. You’re not supposed to say it’s cause he’s dusty.”

  “But he was.”

  “Tee, you made him cry,” LaShay reminds me.

  “In front of the whole school,” continues Amina.

  “He transferred,” LaShay finishes.

  “Oh, my god! Now that was not my fault,” I huff out.

  “Face it, when it comes to men, you’re kind of mean,” LaShay states matter of factly and pats my shoulder. I jerk out from under her hand.

  “Well, you know what? You can’t tell me that all of those men, even Medium Mike’s dusty ass, didn’t deserve it if I was. Not one of them was worth shit.”

  I’m satisfied when LaShay shrugs and nods her head in agreement. Even Amina looks like she’s about to relent, but then she stares pleadingly at me.

  “Yeah, but Bati isn’t like that. He really is a good guy, and he probably cares about you a lot already. Did he explain about the leht?”

  “Nope, and I didn’t ask him, and I’m not going to. I asked if he wanted to fuck, he said yes. I made sure he knew that’s all it was, and he agreed. Whatever he feels after that is his own problem. What’s the big deal about this whole let thing anyway?”

  Amina huffs out a breath and covers her face in frustration. I can tell she wants to tell me, but something is stopping her. She opens her mouth to speak before LaShay cuts her off.

  “What! You fucked Kwarq’s brother? How did I miss that? Is he packing? Was it good? Is he as fine all over as he is in the face?” Shay’s barrage of questions don’t leave room for me to answer. Her eyes widen as she continues in a low whisper. “Are you pregnant, now, too?”

  “What, no! I’m on birth control,” I return, but my thighs twitch around the wetness in my panties.

  “How do we know birth control is enough to stop Mount Olympus Lyqa sperm?”

  “Trust me, if she was pregnant, she would know.” Amina rubs over her stomach for emphasis. Two months ago, it was flat as a board. Now she’s due to give birth to twins in a matter of days. “Anyway, about the leht. It’s better if he explains it,” she continues, but then reaches out to cover my hand with one of hers. The look on her face is urgent. “Just, please, promise me that you will either leave him alone or give him a chance for real. But if you really want nothing to do with him, please, please, be nice about it, and don’t keep fucking him. Please!”

  Amina is definitely the most sensitive of us sisters, but even she doesn’t sweat cutting a dude off. That she’s so concerned I might hurt Bati makes me give in.

  “Fine, I promise, but it doesn’t matter because now that you’re acting so weird about it, I’m definitely not going to fuck him again.”

  Chapter 3

  TIANI

  “Tiani, did you sleep well?”

  I jump at the sound of Bati’s voice behind me. I’m in the walk-in pantry off our kitchen looking for any vegetables I can use to make breakfast for the Lyqas. Amina conveniently forgot to mention that they don’t eat meat until after I made an entire pack of turkey bacon. It didn’t matter. She got caught in another hungry spell and nearly ate the whole pack before I had time to save some for the rest of us.

  The pantry isn’t small, but with a Lyqa in it, it feels about the size of a cardboard box.

  Bati’s broad shoulders block out the view of the kitchen behind him. He and his brothers are so gentle that it isn’t until you really look at them that you realize how big they are. My eyes travel up from the bit of bluish-black muscle peeking through the deep V in Bati’s shirt to his face. The top of his head is almost to the ceiling.

  “I slept fine. Why are you sneaking up on me?” My voice is harsher than I want it to be.

  “I am not. I could hear your sounds of exasperation. I thought perhaps I could help with whatever is troubling you.” His reply is easy. His expression never changes.

  I was huffing and puffing in here. My mother likes to keep the emergency canned foods on the top shelf, and even at my unusually tall for my family height of five-seven, I can’t reach them.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m trying to find something for you guys to eat since you’re vegetarians. I didn’t know. I made bacon.”

  He cocks his head to the side. “Bacon?”


  “It’s the food of the gods and delicious, but it’s made from animal so you guys can’t eat it,” I inform him. His mouth shifts up a little as I speak, and I have to tear my gaze away from his full lips. He really is damn fine. I clear my throat. “Anyway, if you grab me those four cans in the front up there, I can make you all a succotash.” I point up to the top shelf and avoid his lingering gaze.

  He continues to stare at me as he reaches up, barely stretching his arm, to grab the cans of corn, okra, and stewed tomatoes I’ve pointed out. As he does so, he takes the tiniest step forward, and I close my eyes to gain control over my traitorous body. I’m on fire, and not just because he’s so close that his body heat radiates directly into me. The desire to throw myself against his body is nearly irresistible. My nipples harden. I’m still in my pajamas, and the worn, threadbare t-shirt is doing nothing to hide the tight peaks behind my shirt. In some kind of weird chain reaction, my pussy clenches, and a fresh gush of wetness leaks between my legs.

  Bati’s holding the cans in front of me. I reach out to take them but he pulls them back out of my grasp. My eyes jump to his, and the bright blue flares. His eyes are blue? I didn’t notice before, but I do now. They’re bright little gems in the smooth darkness of his face. He takes a deep breath.

  “Mm.” It’s a low rumble in his chest. My own breath hitches when I realize what’s just happened. He’s smelled me. I try to tell myself that’s gross, but it’s not. It’s hot, and it only makes my pussy more slippery.

  His lips move. A few wispy sounds just reach my ears.

  “What was that? A prayer?” I don’t know what I’ll do if this man was just praying to his Lyqa god for strength. Even I’m not immune to that kind of flattery.

  His eyes burn into mine so that I couldn’t look away if I wanted to. He takes another step closer, and my rapidly rising chest meets his with each breath. His head shakes slowly from side to side.

  “I was telling my brother not to allow anyone to enter your kitchen.”

  Oh shit. I know what’s coming. I feel it with every thud of my heart, and I want it. Even as I feign ignorance.

  “Why’d you do that?”

  One of his hands slides around my waist to hoist me up against his chest. I brace myself with my hands against his pecs, and I’m forced to offer up my own little prayer to the universe for sending me a man this fine. No, I remind myself. He isn’t my man. He’s just a man, with a penis I like. Very much.

  “Because I can smell that you want me, and I would not deny you anything that you want.”

  I don’t know what comes over me, but I lunge at him, attacking his mouth with mine. I moan around the smooth, thin length of his tongue when he pushes past my lips, swiping along the inside of my mouth in tickling brushes. He turns his head, cradling the back of my neck with his other hand as he deepens the kiss. His tongue rolls out to the back of my mouth, and I’m not even grossed out.

  I need more. I yank at the top of his shirt, trying to get my hands through the V. I want his warm skin beneath my hands. He pulls away from our kiss with a chuckle and stills my hands.

  “Although, I imagine that at least my family will hear us, it would not do for me to leave the kitchen looking as if I have been attacked.” He kisses my knuckles before releasing my hands and lifting the hem of his shirt over his head in one smooth motion. My mouth hangs open as inch after inch of shimmering, blue-black skin is revealed to me. On instinct, I lean forward and bare my tongue, dragging it from the point just beneath his sternum up his chest and across one small, flat nipple. His breath hisses through his teeth.

  “Ah, Tiani.”

  “You can call me Tee,” I murmur as I trail my tongue across to the other side of his chest. I swirl it around his nipple until it hardens against my tongue. Something bumps my stomach, and I flinch back, my head dropping down as his dick swells between us.

  “Tee, do I have your permission—“

  “Yes, fuck me.” I’m impatient. The desire to have him filling me is making me shake. No, it’s making him shake. Beneath my hands, his skin vibrates. He follows my eyes to his arms where the skin tremors over his muscles.

  “It is the leht. I need you,” he groans as he nuzzles his nose into my low fro. It’s such a sweet gesture that I immediate pull away. What we’re doing isn’t about sweet gestures. It’s something else. It’s lust. Obviously we’re both horny. There’s no reason to reject good sex, but that’s all it is.

  “Hurry,” I whisper, moving from his embrace and turning to face the window behind me. I drag the pajama shorts I’m wearing down my hips until they drop to my feet. Then I reach between my legs and pull my panties to the side, stretching the fabric up and over one of my ass cheeks as best I can to keep it out of the way.

  “Tiani, turn back to me.”

  “No.” I turned away for a reason. Being face to face with Bati makes me feel too many things I shouldn’t be feeling. It confuses me. I don’t want to be confused about this.

  When he doesn’t move, I spread my legs and reach between them, pushing my fingers through the dripping folds of my pussy. I lean down so that he has a clear view and sink two fingers up into my passage.

  "Fuck, Bati, I'm so wet. Hurry."

  BATI

  I couldn't keep myself from giving Tiani what she's asking for even if I wanted to. Just the sight of her long, slim fingers disappearing into the wet, swollen cave of her pussy has me nearly releasing onto the pantry floor.

  But I don't like it. I don't like how she's still holding herself away from me. Last night when we joined, I thought perhaps that she faced away from me to heighten her pleasure, but I am beginning to suspect that this is just another way of distancing herself from me. And while the sight of her full, round bottom is enough to bring me to my knees, I would see her face when I please her. I would witness her pleasure.

  However, it appears I am not strong enough to resist the temptation that she offers because the moment my eyes fix on her glistening pussy, I have to be there, surrounded by her tight warmth.

  "Bati," her plea is a needy moan. I waste no more time. I yank down my loose pants and step behind her. My cock is hard as stone and aimed straight at the slit that hides my new favorite place. I let the tip kiss her lips and suck in a breath as I'm seared by the heat of her pussy. It’s too much.

  I push forward, slipping past her lips and pressing into the tight warmth. We both moan loudly, and I brace a hand at her shoulder as I continue to feed my cock into her, persisting against the natural resistance of her body, observing as each inch is welcomed into her.

  "Don’t stop, Bati."

  "I will not," I grind out because I have no intention to unless she says so. She’s tight, and I don’t miss the slight shift in her hips as I ascend through the quivering tissues of her passage. Her pleasure and arousal are so thick in the air that I open my mouth to catch it on my tongue before giving my hips one final thrust and seating myself completely inside of her.

  "Ugh!" Her breathy little grunt as she takes the full length of my cock calls to some primal part of me. I flare with pride that she is able to take me so well. My eyes fall to the place where we’re joined. The mouth of her pussy is stretched wide around me.

  "My lehti." She has asked me not to call her this, but I take the liberty in this moment. She is too beautiful, too perfect for me not to acknowledge the leht that binds us.

  I ease slowly out of her, my skin shaking with the effort, and then push back inside, savoring every drag of my cock through her softness. Tiani wiggles her hips, grinding her bottom into my pelvis.

  "No, too slow. Faster. Harder."

  I give her what she wants. I pull more quickly from her and when I reach the tip, I slam forward, seating myself with Lyqa speed. She gasps, raising up to her toes, and grips the edge of the window.

  "Too much?"

  "No, don’t stop."

  I don’t. I give her all of me, thrusting into her over and over, pulling her back onto my cock as she moans
and gasps. Her body clamps around me as she gets closer to her release. My own release hovers at the edge of my pleasure, a sharp almost painful sensation. I thrust faster, my hips a blur, but it stays just out of my reach. Tiani moans loudly beneath me, and suddenly I need to see her face. I need to kiss her beautiful mouth and look into the soft, black pools of her eyes.

  I still my hips and step away from her, letting my cock slide from the slick cocoon of her pussy. As I hope, she gasps at the loss and spins around to face me. I lift her to my chest. Her legs go around my waist automatically, and I slide back inside of her in one, smooth thrust.

  "Oh, god.” Her breathy little prayer is sweet in my face. Earlier when we kissed, her mouth tasted of an Earth fruit called orange. It was fragrant and delicious, and I want to taste it again.

  "I would see you come around my cock, my lehti.” I slam my mouth down on hers and sweep my tongue in the moment she opens for me. At the same moment, I angle my hips up and lift her before bringing her down hard onto my length.

  Her arms tighten around my neck, and the hard plates of her knees dig into my waist as she begins to spasm under the force of her orgasm. I swallow her sharp cry and then pull away to witness her come undone.

  She's so beautiful. The smooth, brown skin of her face is slicked over with sweat. Her full lips part wide on a throaty moan. I flick my tongue over the sharp point of her cheekbone and her eyes flutter open. The long curled row of lashes reveal the moons of her eyes. I'm lost.

  "You are mine, Tiani. Do you hear me?" I slam my hips up and she gasps but remains quiet.

  "Tiani, you are mine. My lehti, my heart. And I am yours. Say it." Again she gasps around the force of my thrust. She squeezes her lips together even as a longing so intense it makes my heart trip pours off of her. Why does she fight it? Why fight me when I would give her everything?

  "Tiani, stop fighting it. Listen to our hearts. I am yours," I thrust again. "You are mine. This pussy was fashioned for me. You were fashioned for me. Now say it."

  Her eyes plead up at me. I give her what she asks for, so she will give me what I want. I grip her hips and lift her high then bring her down until our flesh slaps loudly in the small space. Her mouth drops open on a silent cry.