by B. Love
That was true, he did. She couldn’t say anything else as she smiled and allowed her arms to drop from around his neck.
“Well, let’s not wait another moment then.”
Tyrell swallowed and licked his lips, then took her by the hand. He led her to his mother’s front door, where she paused slightly and inhaled a deep breath. Looking down at her, Tyrell didn’t open the door until she smiled and nodded, assuring him that she was ready.
As soon as he opened the door, the smell of greens and pot roast assaulted her nostrils. She released a quiet, “Mmm,” as they walked further inside. Even though she was still full from lunch, the food smelled so good, Christian was considering stuffing herself just to get a small taste.
The flooring in the hallway creaked, signaling someone was coming their way. Not long after, a younger version of Tyrell appeared. He was just as tall and lanky, same smooth brown skin, but his face was definitely years younger. As he looked from Tyrell to Christian, he smiled. His hand covered his mouth as his smiled widened at the sight of her.
“Damn bro,” he muttered, slowly walking over to them. “How you keep her hidden all this time?”
Christian’s blush turned into a laugh as Tyrell smacked him on the back of his head. “That’s enough. Keep looking at my girl like that, and I’ma handle you like some lil’ nigga on the street. And what I tell you about cursing?”
With a roll of his eyes, he nodded and extended his hand in Christian’s direction. “Hi. I’m Trent.”
“Christian. It’s nice to meet you, Trent.”
“You too.” Trent grinned, pulling his hand away quickly when Tyrell reached for him again.
As Trent jogged out of the room, Tyrell shook his head and chuckled.
“How old is he?”
“Thirteen going on thirty-four.” Tyrell’s head shook as his smile faded. “He’s growing up so damn fast. I’m trying to teach him and nurture him as much as I can because I don’t want him to take the path I took, you know?”
Christian nodded, knowing exactly what he was referring to. She and Tyrell were the same age, twenty-seven. When Christian was adjusting to her first year in high school, Tyrell was being sent to juvenile for possession of marijuana and cocaine. His mother tried as hard as she could to provide for him and his siblings, but there were some things she couldn’t provide — like lessons on how to be a man.
So, Tyrell went to the streets for that.
He ended up working for Noland for about a year and a half before he was arrested. Because he was so young, he was sentenced to four years in hopes that that would keep him from selling drugs and committing more crimes as an adult.
It worked.
As soon as Tyrell was released, he got his GED and CDL license. Eventually, he wanted to have his own fleet of trucks and be his own boss. But for now, he enjoyed the flexibility of his job. He only delivered to companies in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, and he never took overnight trips. That was probably the only reason Christian was able to be with him and trust him as much as she did. Her father, Ricky, was a truck driver. He used his job as an excuse to be away for weeks at a time with his other families.
Christian knew Tyrell had a younger brother who was born while he was locked up. She also knew that he had two other siblings. His older brother was in jail for life, and his younger brother was in the Army. So it made sense to her that he wanted to do whatever he could for Trent.
“I know. And that’s very noble of you to step up like that.”
“I ain’t got no choice, bae. His daddy left just like mine did. So I was thinking about not riding with the car club this weekend. Bring him to my house and spend the weekend with y’all. Would you like that?”
A slow grin spread across Christian’s face. “I would absolutely love that.”
Their smiles mirrored each other’s for a few seconds before they headed into the kitchen.
“I was wondering when y’all was gon’ make it to me.”
Christian and Tyrell chuckled as his mother walked over to them. “Hello. I’m Christian.”
Her face twisted as she looked down at Christian’s extended hand. “We hug ova here, baby.” Christian smiled as she pulled her into her arms. “I’m Tonya, but you can call me Mama. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you as well.” Christian inhaled deeply as Tonya released her, needing more of that good smelling food in her system. “You got it smelling good up in here. What you cooking?”
As Tonya ran down her menu, Christian noticed Tyrell backing out of the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. If they were at a party or cookout with more people, she would have had a fit over him leaving her, but since it was only his mother, she didn’t mind.
Of course, Tonya asked if Christian could cook, which led to them talking about her bakery among other things. They talked for about an hour before Christian was put on macaroni and cheese duty since it was the last thing that had to be done. And she didn’t take that responsibility lightly.
Black folks don’t play about their dressing and mac and cheese.
During dinner, they didn’t talk much, but afterwards, they headed in the living room to watch TV and talk. Christian couldn’t help but be attracted to Tyrell in this form. Admittedly, it was nice seeing him in tune and present with those he loved most. It showed her a more human and intimate side of him. Not the shallow and self-centered version she dealt with on a daily basis.
Christian couldn’t help but wonder if waiting so long to meet his family was such a good idea, because now, she envisioned him as a father. She wondered how it would feel to birth his sons and watch him raise them up as men.
Time flew by, and Christian hadn’t even realized she’d been there for hours. It took Trent no time to pack a bag, then she trailed Tyrell back to his place. To her surprise, Trent asked to ride with her. At first, Tyrell was against it because he didn’t want to not be able to monitor what Trent said, but he relaxed when Christian assured him that it would be okay.
As she drove, they talked about his life, school, the sports he played and music. For the last twenty minutes or so of the drive, they rapped along to every song that played on her Yo Gotti, Blac Youngsta and Moneybagg Yo playlist. By the time they pulled up, Trent had started to record their car session for his Instagram and Snapchat. Tyrell laughed at them as he walked over to her car to open the door for her.
“Aye, Chris. You know how to do the Renegade?” Trent asked as she stepped out of the car.
“Hell no. That shit has too many moves. I can finesse the beginning of it, though.”
“Bet!”
A few seconds passed before Trent was hopping out of the car with “Lottery” by KCAMP playing on his phone. Christian began to bounce, bop, and swag until she was comfortable doing the few moves of the dance she knew. Both Trent and Tyrell began to hype her up, causing her to double over in laughter.
“You knew more than you thought you knew,” Trent complimented, wrapping his arm around her neck.
“I guess. I can tell I’m old as hell, too. I’m tired as fuck. When I was growing up, we had simple dances. I don’t know what the hell y’all got going on now.”
“Mane, what? Like that Soulja Boy shi— stuff?”
Christian giggled as she stepped into Tyrell’s home. “Exactly like that Soulja Boy stuff! And D4L. Dem Franchize Boyz. DJ UNK. Crime Mob. Well… Crime Mob made you want to fight.”
Trent’s confused expression as he mumbled, “Whaaa?” only made Christian laugh harder.
“Okay. No. It’s time for a history lesson.”
Grabbing his hand, she led him over to the bar area where Tyrell’s laptop usually was. She pulled up the artists she’d mentioned and let Trent listen to them one by one. This time, it was her and Tyrell rapping and dancing as Trent laughed and recorded them.
Christian couldn’t remember the last time she had so much fun. Actually, she did remember. The night before Valentine’s day with Nash.
&nb
sp; Nash.
“Shit.” Christian grabbed her phone to check the time, cursing under her breath again. “Nash is going to kill me,” she grumbled, realizing it was almost eleven o’clock. Jumping down off the barstool, she gave Trent a quick hug and Tyrell a quick kiss on the lips before snatching her purse. “I gotta run real fast, Tyrell. I’ll be back in the morning before the sun comes up with my overnight bag.”
“Hol’ up.” Tyrell jogged behind her, grabbing her arm before she made it out the door. “What’s the rush?”
“I promised I would meet Nash tonight so we could talk about something that’s been bothering him.”
She tried to leave again, but Tyrell grabbed her arm as he asked, “You gotta leave now? We’re having a good time.” Christian silently considered his request as she checked the time on her phone again. Nash hadn’t called or texted. Maybe he forgot. “Can you stay? Please?” Opening her iMessages, Christian almost dropped her phone when Tyrell added, “I wanted to ask you to marry me.”
Her head jerked up, eyes wide. Tyrell smiled softly, pulling her phone out of her hand and dropping it into her purse.
“What did you say?”
He took both of her hands into his as his head tilted. “This was all I’ve been waiting for to do this — you meeting them. Now that you have, I don’t want to wait anymore. I’ll get your ring first thing in the morning and propose again in a more romantic way, but will you marry me, Christian?”
Blinking rapidly, Christian’s mouth opened and closed as she searched to find the words to say. Her head shook softly in disbelief. Tyrell stared on patiently, waiting for an answer. She knew this was coming, but not this soon. And not this way. Not giving herself much time to think it over, Christian smiled, content with how good things had been going between them for the past month and a half. Nodding softly, she whispered…
“Yes.”
Tyrell’s head leaned forward. His head tilted so that his ear was more towards her mouth. “What you say?”
“I said yes,” she yelled before laughing and bouncing from one foot to the other. “I will marry you.”
“Bae,” Tyrell moaned before taking her into his arms and kissing her lips.
And this was the first time Christian had ever felt some type of spark between them. Passion. Intimacy. Physical love. Maybe it was because he was so damn happy that she’d said yes, or maybe it was because they were finally taking things to the next level. Whatever the case, Christian relaxed against his body and melted into his kiss as she prayed in the morning that she wouldn’t regret this.
Taking Christian by the hand, Tyrell led her down the hall to his bedroom.
“Are you seriously about to get busy with your brother in there?”
“Fuck him. He know what’s up.”
Christian laughed, but it turned into a moan when Tyrell covered her lips with his. He took his time this time again. Even with the way he caressed her body and removed her clothes. This was different. He was different. And with each soft stroke of his hands and tongue against her body, Christian couldn’t help but feel even more confident that finally… their intimacy would be different.
Nash wasn’t too hard to track down the next morning. He usually started his day at his and Jax’s security company. Now by night, by night he was harder to get ahold of. If he wasn’t running around the city with Maria, there was no telling what he was getting into. When she arrived, Christian spotted one of Nash’s everyday cars, a black on black Camaro parked in its usual spot. To gauge his mood, she called his phone, but he sent her to voicemail.
Christian waited a few seconds to see if he’d call back. When he didn’t, she got out of the car and headed towards the door. The sound of her chunky boots beating against the concrete in no way matched the sound of her rapidly beating heart. This was the first time she’d ever skipped out on plans with Nash and didn’t communicate properly, and she had no idea how he would react when he saw her.
Nash was… a complexly simple man when it came down to his emotions, needs, and expectations. Depending on how you approached him, and with what level of respect, he could be calm and cool or vehemently vicious. As savage as he was with everyone else, Nash had always been soft with her. He could, however, handle her properly when need be.
After shooting the receptionist, Eva, a wink, Christian asked, “He back there?”
Eva nodded with a grin. “Yep. And he’s not in a good mood. I need you to handle that for me.”
Christian chuckled before mumbling, “Oh, Lord. I got you.”
Well, she had in the past. But since his bad mood could have been because of her, Christian wasn’t entirely sure if she would be able to pull him out of it or not. Nash wasn’t in his office, so she figured he was in the game room he and Jax had included to relieve the stress of the job before their employees went home.
As she walked down the hall, she spotted Nash immediately through the glass windows. The sight of his phone in his hand irritated Christian because he had clearly ignored her call. With a roll of her eyes, she inhaled a deep breath and opened the door. Nash looked up at her briefly before returning his attention to whatever he was looking at in his phone.
“This what we doing now?” she asked, not even bothering to look and see if anyone was in the back of the room.
“You tell me.”
Sitting next to him at the round table, Christian looked around and saw that they were alone. Her eyes bounced from the arcade games to the pool table before landing on Nash.
“I called you.”
“I know.”
His tone was flat and low, which was hardly ever like him when he was talking to her. Christian reached across the table and covered his phone with her hand, forcing Nash to look up at her as he sucked his teeth. His light brown eyes were dark and expressionless as he stared at her. His jaw was clenched tight as his nostrils flared.
“You mad at me?”
With a grimace, Nash pulled his hand and phone from under her grip. “Fuck outta here with this bullshit, Gucci.” Sitting back in her seat, Christian squeezed her neck. “You damn right I’m mad at you.”
“Why?”
The glare he shot her way let Christian know playing naïve and innocent was not the move. His arms crossed on the top of the table and he leaned forward as he asked, “You really wanna do this with me?”
“No.” Her head shook as she sighed. “I’m sorry for not calling last night when I realized I wouldn’t be able to come through. Something came up.”
His jaw tightened again as he sat back in his seat and shook his head. “That’s not the fucking point, Christian. Do you know how worried I was when I hadn’t heard from you? You never ignore my calls or text messages. I thought something had happened to your ass. Then you send me a bullshit ass text at two in the morning, talking about you good. The fuck?”
She swallowed, eyes lowering at the vein that bulged on the side of his neck. He was mad, mad.
“I’m sorry, Nash. My night took an unexpected turn and Tyrell took my phone. I found it and my purse as soon as he went to sleep so I could reach out. I apologize for worrying you.”
“It’s cool,” was all he offered as he stood.
Quickly, Christian leaped from her seat. She jumped in front of him and took his hands into hers. Looking above her head, Nash resisted the soothing of her soft, small hands taking ahold of his rougher but smooth, large ones. She caressed them slowly, moving her left hand to his chest when his shoulders slowly began to relax. His heart was beating hard and fast, making hers skip a beat.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, wrapping his right arm around her waist.
Stepping more into his chest, Christian wrapped her arms around his neck. Slowly, Nash looked down at her, and when he did, she pulled him closer for a full, real hug. His left arm snaked around her. He wrapped both around her snugly, finally surrendering to having her in his arms.
“Don’t do that shit no more, Chris,” he gritted into her ear before k
issing her temple.
“I won’t. I promise.”
He ran his hand down his face as he took a step away from her and looked her over. She’d dressed with him in mind. Red was her favorite color, and she wore a lot of it, but Nash loved seeing her in white. The white, long-sleeved crop top hoodie she had on was a Christmas present from him last year. Christian paired it with a pair of high rise black and white jeans and black boots.
“Can we figure out what’s going on with us now?” she asked, needing a reason to pull his eyes back up to her face.
Even though Nash never made any advances towards her physically, he’d never denied his appreciation of her beauty. That had been cool, but now that she was engaged, it felt weird being under his stare.
“We ain’t gotta figure shit out. I already know.”
“Then what’s up?”
His head tilted as he looked down at her, and as the softness fully returned to his eyes, Christian couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m just… detaching myself from you,” he confessed, as if he was reporting the weather. “I know that with Tyrell trying to do better by you, eventually, he gon’ propose. And you will say yes. Not because you’re in love with him and want to spend the rest of your life with him, but because he’s safe. You’ll never love him deeply because he ain’t for you.
And you need that, because that’s your security that he’ll never really hurt you the way your father hurt your mother. That shit will fuck with me tough. The day he asks you to be his wife is the day I will no longer be able to be your friend anymore. So I’ve just been preparing for that.”
A nervous chuckle escaped her lips as she squeezed the back of her neck. This certainly wasn’t what she was expecting Nash to say, but it made sense. The better her relationship got with Tyrell, the worse her friendship got with Nash. She hadn’t correlated the two before now.
“Why can’t we be friends if I’m married?”
Nash’s head shook. His hands raised, opened and closed. “It’s not you being married; it’s you being married to him. If you were to find and fall in love with a man that was actually worth you, I could probably be cool with it. But it will fuck with me to know you’re committing yourself like that to a nigga that ain’t worth you when I know there’s better for you…”