“Y’all are so cute. I’m going home, but thanks. Now, let’s blow this spot.”
We all headed out together. Rush and I walked Gigi to her car and watched her drive through the gates then headed inside where I was prepared to hear all about his day. But what I had already decided was that I wasn’t going to mention anything to him about Curtis. That part of my life was over and whatever had happened to that man, I was sure he had brought on himself.
Closed chapter.
SIXTEEN
Rush
“What’s in this orange bowl, babe?”
“Just some fried chicken that I made for me and Gigi,” I responded, smiling.
“Why didn’t you order from Chaos? We could’ve had someone go pick it up.”
“I wanted to cook. I needed to stay busy,” she confessed.
“Oh, I see,” I said, looking into her eyes. “Here, let me put the bowl in the fridge. I might come down later and devour it. But first I wanna devour you.”
When I made it upstairs and into our bedroom, Alika was walking toward her closet and disrobing as she went along. I stared at her from the door for a few minutes, admiring the glow of her skin and the shape of her body. I knew women who went into the gym all day every day, and didn’t have half the body she did. It was a true work of art. From the roundness of her hips, to the voluptuous shape of her ass, it was sheer perfection. She had crash landed into my life and hadn’t stopped making my heart rumble since that time. On her way back outside her closet, she caught me staring at her and walked toward me with her arms outstretched.
She buried her head into my chest. “Why are you way over here?” she asked.
“I was just admiring the view. That’s all.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I was about to hop in the shower, you wanna come?”
I gave her a knowing look, and then quickly swooped her up into my arms, causing her to shriek out loud, and then follow it up with laughter.
“Rush!”
“Oh no! There’s no turning back now!” I guffawed.
We made it into the restroom where I put her down and backed her into the wall nearest the Jacuzzi tub. I commenced to kissing her all over: her lips, then her neck, and along her shoulder blade. I slid the thin bra strap down her arm, and then gripped her shoulders as I continued my kissing assault over all exposed places. I reached around her back to free her beautiful breasts from their silk captor, and proceeded to caress, in sync with her moans. Damn, I love to hear that sound coming from her.
“Baaaby…that feels good,” she whispered, placing her hands atop mine.
I kneeled before her, and her hands found their way into my hair and massaged along my scalp, as I relieved her of the silk panties. I wanted…no, I needed to unshield the area that I wanted to lick, touch, and penetrate so badly. It seemed like forever since we’d made love, and my dick was hard as fucking steel. But as usual, as bad as I wanted her, I also reveled in taking my time with her. I knew the prize at the end, and it had always been well worth the wait. Dominating her body, feeling her wiggle in anticipation, hearing her call my name, and feeling her dig her nails into my back, made it all worth it.
“Ruuush,” she panted, her breaths labored. But I was too busy taking ownership of her right thigh and placing it over my shoulder. “Mmmm,” she murmured. She knew what was to come.
When my tongue pried her slit open, my baby thrust her hips against my mouth. I knew she was eager—just as eager as I was to give her everything she wanted.
I unleashed my mouth on her, licking as much territory as was allowed, and suckling to give individual attention to each fold. As she lost herself and her legs started to weaken, I brought her down to the floor with me. For the next few hours Alika and I made love without ever having made it back to our bedroom, or into the shower. We were against the wall, then on the floor, then before long I was sliding in and out of her as she sat atop the countertop. For the finale, we ended up in the Jacuzzi where we made love amidst a warm whirlpool.
We never tired of one another, and with each orgasm it was as though we instantly recharged. It was the appetite that never went away. She was everything I needed to subsist.
~*~*~
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
With about two hours left before the sun came up, Alika and I lay in bed near sleep, but still engaging in small talk. It was as though both of us were trying to hold onto the night or something.
“How did things go with your girl yesterday, baby? I intended to ask you as soon as I got home, but seems you had other plans for me,” she laughed.
“It was good, baby. Thanks for asking.”
“Of course I’m gonna ask. It matters to me how things move along with you two.”
“Well, it was different. I’ll say that. For starters, she’s very pretty, and very smart. You two would like each other for sure. But guess what?”
“What?”
“She already knew that I was her father, Alika.”
“What? Oh, hell! I think I’m wide awake again,” she commented. “How?”
“She has a cousin—Jacob’s daughter, who overheard some things and relayed it all to her.”
“Oh shit.”
“Exactly.”
“Dang! That’s…wow…so what now?”
“All I could do was assure her that the person she heard so many bad things about would never even make it into the same room with her. And I plan to stick by that.”
“Damn, Rush. Baby, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. But it’s good that she’s willing to give you a chance. She is willing to give you a chance, right?”
“Yep,” I answered, smiling proudly. “She is.”
“Good. I’m glad. You shouldn’t have to suffer for something that was never in your hands to begin with. I’m happy that she trusts you to make things right by her. But I didn’t doubt for one second that would the outcome. You’re a wonderful person, Rush. Anybody can see that in the first few minutes of talking to you.”
“Yeah, baby. You say that because you’ve only ever been touched with as much love as I can muster. But it’s a different story for some. And that’s why it’s so easy for me to keep my word to Michaela that nobody will even enter her realm who doesn’t mean her well.”
“Aww, shit! Daddy unleashed! Michaela got Al Capone up in this bitch! Fools better know their place!” she exclaimed, laughing.
She didn’t know how close she was to that. Nobody messed with mine and got away with it. Nobody. People were either on my side and in my good graces, or they’d better stay far away. For that reason, both my father and Jamie had better keep their distance. The only reason they had been saved was because they were family.
“You’re funny, babe. Your man’s not a gangster. At least not anymore,” I kidded.
After finally getting a little bit of sleep, I awoke a few hours later riding high, and left for a short run. I had everything to celebrate. I had the pleasure of sleeping next to the most beautiful, most amazing woman every night. I had a daughter that liked me, who wanted to be around me, and get to know me. Boys better beware. Her daddy will take no prisoners! I smiled on the inside just picturing her little face and bright eyes. Daddy’s little girl already. I’d missed nine years, but I would move forward like there hadn’t been a day missed. I had to. She deserved to know her father and she deserved to have a father who would treat her like a princess. If I defied any other plans in life that was the one that would stick no matter what.
At the same time, I wanted to make sure that Alika was okay and that she knew that the relationship I was forming with my daughter did not in any way threaten what we had. I needed to let her know that we were solid. I knew she had reservations about the new life I had signed us on for, but she didn’t voice any of her concerns. I had come to know her well enough to know that the reason she didn’t was because she didn’t want me to think she had problems with any of what was taking place around us. That’s a good woman, and definitely not one I would l
et slip away. So my job was to make sure that every step of the way she remained confident with her position as my woman.
“Hey baby,” she greeted, when she felt me sit on her side of the bed. She reached her hand out for me to grab. “You just came from a run?”
I held her hand inside mine and rubbed across the top of hers. “I did. I needed it. I had to run off some of this energy,” I confessed.
“Mmm, I can relate,” she said through a thin grin. “I’m surprised you’re up already. We just went to sleep.” Then she reached a hand up to her head, and chuckled. “I’m sure my hair took a beating. It’s about time for these braids to come out anyway. I miss my pixie.”
“I miss it too,” I said, lifting one of her curls and twirling it between my fingers. “But don’t mind me, I love your hair any way you wear it.”
“You’re the best, baby. I love—”
Alika stopped mid-sentence when we both heard my phone began to sing. “I love you too,” I said smiling at her before pressing the Answer button.
“Hello?”
“Rush, I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but—”
“Whoa! Hold the fuck up! Who is this?”
“It’s Janae!”
“Okay, you need to calm the fuck down, Janae.”
My first reaction was anger-filled because of her tone, and hoping that this wasn’t what I had to look forward to in sharing a child with her because we’d have to nip that shit in the bud ASAP.
“Do you read that damn sports rag, Illusion?”
“Nah!” I snapped. “I haven’t looked at that shit in years. Why?”
“Well, you need to! And sooner than later is best! I didn’t sign on for this shit, and now my baby is involved too! She’s too young for this bullshit, Rush!”
Alika glared at me, her eyes and lips tightened. Concern was written in bold letters all over her face. I think she sensed that the exchange wasn’t a friendly one. I held up my finger, and mouthed to her to, “Hold on a second.” With the phone still to my ear, I walked to the lounge area of our room so I could use my laptop to access the internet, and Alika had gotten out of bed, and was right on my heel. We took a seat next to each other as I got up a live screen. Once Illusion’s site was in front of me, the header hit me dead ass in the face:
“SEEMS RUSH WAS IN NO RUSH TO BE A DADDY!”
Are you fucking kidding me!
My heart was pounding through my goddamn chest as I began to peruse. Just the header alone let me know this was all going to go from bad to worse. The article didn’t mention any names, but just based on what I was reading, I knew for sure that it was Jacob who had fed that information to the press. There was a picture of me and Michaela plastered across the screen, with the caption: How could a man deny his own child for so long? I swear to God, this whole situation had me wanting to call in a few favors so I could get behind those bars and give Jacob the ass kicking I owed him from years back.
“You do know your brother did this, right, Janae? This shit has his ass written the fuck all over it!”
I think I was more livid about my daughter’s face being plastered across the fucking internet for perverts and assholes to see. We were still technically in a private family moment and now the entire world was going to be in our business. I didn’t give two fucks about what others had to say because contrary to what Jacob had fed them, they would never know the whole truth. And even if they did, public habit was to go with the dirtiest story of all. And while the story was indeed dirty, it was by no fault of my own. My daughter and I were victims in this shit! And although Michaela was young, if I didn’t learn anything else from her yesterday, I learned that she was highly intelligent. It broke my heart knowing that she could possibly see something like this. If Jacob wasn’t locked away, I would already be sending Quinton to pay him a visit.
I felt Alika’s hand brush across the top of my hair and down to my shoulder. Under normal circumstances her touch would soothe me, but not this time. This time I could barely feel it because my anger was the dominant emotion, all else was turned all the way off.
“This is your father’s fault, Rush! I don’t care who leaked what! Had that man not been the devil that he is, none of this would be happening! Is there any way you can have this taken down?” she pleaded, with desperation in her voice. “I don’t want this for her, Rush! I don’t!”
“And I don’t either. I’ll do everything that I can to make sure that she’s protected, Janae. That, you can take my word on.”
There was a long moment of silence between us. There wasn’t much else to say, but there were many ways to feel. I felt helpless, and I hated feeling that way. Hated it! But regardless of how I was feeling in that moment, this situation would be dealt with.
“Am I still seeing Michaela today?”
There was no immediate answer from Janae, and it made me nervous, because at that point, I had no parental rights and the ball could be forever in her court if she so chose. Though I didn’t think she’d bring Michaela so far only to snatch the rug from under her.
“Janae…” I stated firmly. “I’m still seeing—”
“Yeah, Rush. I’ll be bringing her by shortly.”
“Okay, cool, because I’ve already made plans for her. Don’t worry about this shit. I’ll get somebody on it right away. I might even handle this one myself.”
“Alright,” she responded, seemingly relaxed. “I guess we’ll see you a little later.”
“Okay. Thanks, Janae.”
After I hung up the phone, I shook my head left to right in disbelief and slammed the laptop closed.
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” Alika said, as she watched me abandon my seat and start to pace our bedroom floor. “But I already know that you’ll do what needs to be done. The date for the article is marked for last night, so it just went up.”
“Yeah,” I responded, bending down to kiss her on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a little bit,” I informed her, before storming out in my running clothes.
SEVENTEEN
Lafayette, CA
Home of Lance Michael Cambridge
“Dad!”
Jamie called out to her father as she walked down the long stretch of hallway headed to his office. She hadn’t been her normal, vibrant self in days. She had tried unsuccessfully to reach her brother, and it was beginning to take a serious toll on her. All her life, Rush was the one person who was there for her. Growing up, he would beat up anybody who referred to them as half siblings. Now she was sure that he wouldn’t give a damn whether anybody referred to them as siblings at all. He’d been overly protective when they were teens to the point that boys were afraid to even ask her out, or be seen walking with her. They all knew that Rush didn’t play any games when it came to his lil’ sis. But that was no more. He wouldn’t take a single call from her, answer a single text from her, and neither Alika nor Gigi could or would convince him to. At first she thought that Rush would just need a few days to cool off, but it had turned into something way longer than that, and she was starting to fear that things were just over between them.
“Dad, have you talked to Rush at all?” she asked, bursting into her father’s conversation with his personal assistant. “Penny, I need a moment of my father’s time,” she stated, dismissing the forty-something, curvy brunette.
“Of course, Ms. Cambridge,” she responded, as she scurried out.
“No, Jamie, I haven’t,” her father replied. “Don’t tell me that he’s still not speaking to you? That’s ridiculous. He has no right turning on you for this.”
“Yes, he does, Dad. He absolutely does!” she cried.
“Well, you know he and I go weeks…months even without talking, so this isn’t anything new.”
“This is new, dad. I wish you wouldn’t be so nonchalant about this. I really do. This is huge. A friend called me this morning to tell me about an attack piece that went up on Illusion this morning—about Rush’s paternity on that little girl!”
&nbs
p; “Illusion? Give me a break,” he remarked, dismissively. “Who believes that rag anyway?”
“Is that really all you can say, Dad? What the fuck!”
“Watch your mouth, Jamie!” the elder Cambridge yelled, bringing his fist down atop his desk. He stood from his seat, and reiterated, through clenched teeth. “Watch your goddamn mouth!”
Jamie saw the pierce of his green eyes bearing down on her the same way they did when she was younger and did something he disapproved of. And as monstrous as he looked in that moment, Jamie stood her ground, and returned his stare down. Her desire to mend fences with her brother was much more potent than her fear of her father.
“I…am…not a child. I have every right to feel the way that I feel. You’ve turned Rush against me with your bright ideas of what the future should hold. And now, family as I once knew it, is no more,” she retorted through a clenched-teeth response of her own. “I can see why Rush doesn’t try with you. It’s a lost cause unless someone thinks, acts, and feels the way you want them to. It really is your world isn’t it? We’re all just pawns in your one-sided game of chess.”
With direct eye contact still in place, Jamie rose from the seat across from her father, tossed her blonde tresses over her shoulder, and then prepared her exit.
“Be well, father,” she spat sarcastically, without looking back.
~*~*~
Minutes after Jamie stormed out of Lance’s office, Penny walked back in.
“Is everything okay, Mr. Cambridge?” she questioned.
“Everything is fine. Where were we before my daughter barged in on us?”
“I was updating you on your request to have Illusion shut down.”
“Okay, perfect. Shutting them down won’t happen immediately, but—”
“Right. You wanted Titan McKinney terminated, correct?”
“Yes. That needs to happen today. Any fool who would go and publish some information about my family without first confirming doesn’t even deserve the minimum weekly payment from unemployment. It’s poor journalism.”
Rapture 2: a BWWM, Alpha Male Romance Page 10