The Love Went Somewhere: The Spin-off Novella (Where Did the Love Go)

by Elbie Dee

  “First, we’re going to get you some hygiene products. I’m sure you need to shave and all that other shit,” he expressed.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I replied in an annoyed manner. I was aware I needed the products, but a sense of embarrassment took over me when he informed me of what he noticed.

  “I’m not taking no for an answer, so don’t say shit,” he warned before he continued. “You’re going into rehab for thirty days. After that, you’re gonna be mine.”

  Staring into his eyes, I wanted to object. Oddly, I didn’t budge to say a word. The statement he made informing me that my path to becoming clean wasn’t my choice may have had an effect… but I don’t think it was the only reason. What strengthened my agreement with him was when he said, “you’re gonna be mine”. Excited for a new adventure approached my heart.

  5

  Zaiya

  Chirp, chirp, chirp.

  Bird whispers could be heard as I woke up in the arms of Chris. Laying on his chest as sunrise broke into the room through the blinds, I bent my neck in an upward position. His yellow tinted goatee stared back at me before I lifted my head from his chest. Still asleep, his eyelids were shut and mouth wide open as a whispers of air gasped from him.

  Carefully, I brought my right forearm from the mattress and lifted myself from my palm. Bending my torso as my legs kept still on the bed, and left hand caressing his chest, I was able to get a good view of him. Damn, he was the sexiest white boy I’d ever seen in my life.

  Through all of the commotion which happened the night before with Ocho, I was completely zoned away from Chris. Needing additional comfort, engaging in an oral sex session helped to turn my mind from Ocho’s bullshit for the moment. Gladly, I had awoken with no form of regret.

  His hooded eye shape allowed his eyebrows to form a natural, masculine arch; not bushy, but not too thin. The slender bridge led to his aquiline shaped nose. In between his yellow tinted goatee, he wore a pair of thin, and downturned lips. With his mouth opening wide as he rested, I was able to notice the perfect alignment of his rectangular teeth, with the exception of the two fangs.

  “Ahh!” I screamed before bursting into an embarrassed laugh, after he quickly forced his eyes to open.

  Mutually, we laughed for a few moments. Unexpectedly, we grew quiet at the same time from the each of us staring at one another in silence. As if he couldn’t get any sexier, the crystallization on his blue pupils set butterflies to quiver in the pit of my stomach.

  “I scared you, huh?” he broke the crickets chirping around the room.

  “Uh, yeah!” I replied sarcastically before shooting one more laugh into the atmosphere. With the topic grazing my thoughts, I had to ask, “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” he replied before removing his fingertips from my lower back to sit up. I lifted my legs from the mattress and ended my position in an Indian style on the bed.

  “What made you take me under your wing last night? Was it a sexual desire?” I blurted with not a whiff of shyness approaching my heart.

  “What? No!” he said in an offended manner, before sliding his ass to the headboard and sitting up straight to face me.

  “Why’d you help me then?” I was curious.

  “When I first saw you crying in the middle of the street, I knew I couldn’t just leave you there. I’ve done some shit in my past, but even through all of it, I always kept a good heart. I wanted to help you. When you mentioned the name, Bayleigh, my heart crushed which led to me being in the same emotional state as you,” he admitted.

  “Who’s Bayleigh to you?” I asked.

  “My ex-girlfriend,” he informed me.

  He allowed my worst nightmare to slip from his mouth. She was the woman who made the man I love, Ocho, fight for her instead of me. To make matters worse, she looked to not even have a desire for Ocho, whereas I yearned for his attention. With what Chris had informed me with allowed me to realize I encountered her leftovers. No matter which way I turned, the drug infested bitch had one up on me.

  “What’s wrong?” Chris asked before bringing his body to where I sat, and after he noticed a tear run down my cheek.

  “Nothing. Do you need me to take you to your car before I go?” I changed the subject, which led him to be informed that I was ready to leave.

  Without me mentioning the topic of Bayleigh any further, he sighed before dropping his head. As he stared at the grey and white plaid comforter, I assumed he came up with the conclusion of what caused a sudden change in my mood. Afterall, I was screaming my head off in the middle of the street over the man who took his ex-girlfriend.

  “If you don’t mind,” he softly voiced, after picking his face up to look my way again.

  “I don’t mind. Let’s go,” I replied.

  Taking my legs out of a crossed position, I slid my body across the queen-sized bed. I placed both feet on the carpet to stand after reaching the edge of the mattress. Glancing around the room for a few seconds, I located my boy shorts laying at the bottom of the nightstand. After arching my spine and leaning over, I used my index and middle finger to grab ahold of the underwear.

  The baggy t-shirt I sported hung below my genital area, as I allowed one foot after the other into my bottoms. Once they were pulled to my waistline, I slid my feet into my Rainbow slides that sat on the floor next to the bottom end of the metal bed frame. Searching for my keys, I lifted the comforter on the bed before finding them tucked underneath the straight edged sheet.

  “What time is it?” I asked Chris as I watched him pull the grey Adidas basketball shorts to his waist.

  “I don’t know. My phone’s in my car. After we walk down the hall and pass the kitchen, we can find out with the clock on the stove,” he replied.

  Patiently, I watched the tall white boy walk over to his closet. After opening the painted white, wood door, he crouched over before lifting a pair of Adidas sandals. Vaguely, I was able to see the lineup of Jordan, Nike and Converse sneakers lined on a shoe rack, reaching each corner of the wardrobe cubicle. Good boy with a whole lot of swag, I thought… followed by a small air wave sucking in through my teeth from my feeling of amorousness.

  “You need some shorts to put on?” he asked once he slid his feet into his slides and stood straight to face me.

  “No, I’ll be okay. The shirt is long enough,” I replied.

  First, I wasn’t thinking about how I was going to have to go out of the apartment in broad day light with underwear on. The night prior, rushing after Ocho allowed me not to give a flying fuck. With my reputation as a CAN in the city’s hospital, wearing one of his pieces of clothing was best. I only objected his offer because I didn’t plan on seeing him again. Needing time to recover after another encounter with Ocho, I wished not to keep Chris as a rebound.

  “If you insist,” he uttered while raising his eyebrows.

  Based on his reaction, he thought I had gone ballistic for doing so. I bit my tongue just as I was about to express my reason. Without knowing him, and wishing not to witness his reaction, I kept quiet… allowing him to sit in his own judgement. Breaking the awkward silence, he led the way out of the room and down the hallway.

  10:49 a.m.

  I glanced at the clock on the stove once we strode into the kitchen. Luckily, it was my day off of work. Otherwise, the possibility of getting fired would be at a climax. Tiah had already warned me to get my shit together and quit being late for my shifts. Oh boy, was I glad. Already losing Ocho indefinitely, I couldn’t afford to lose anything else.

  “I’ll drive this time,” I chuckled, attempting to dodge another wave of depression.

  “I damn sure wasn’t gonna do it again,” Chris joked. Gladly, he was able to adapt to my uplifting mood. If not, I would have become a river of tears all over again.

  We opened each of our doors once I unlocked the vehicle. Balancing myself by latching onto the lift handle, I pulled myself to the seat of my Jeep. I fastened the seatbelt after inching into a comfortable po
sition. By the time I reached toward the door panel and closed my door, Chris was already set with his door closed and the seatbelt around his broad chest.

  Once the engine sounded from the ignition starting, I placed my gear into reverse and backed out of the spot. Placing the car into drive, I almost forgot where I was taking him to. Thinking about the night prior as I approached the end of the parking lot, questioning him about the location blew out the window. Downtown is where I met him, downtown was where I was going to leave him.

  “Care if I stop for coffee first?” I asked as if he had a choice. Without a dose of caffeine upon waking up, I would become a madhouse.

  “I don’t have plans today,” he replied, and a wide smile approached my face. Easygoing and smooth, with a good-sized dick; he almost made my plan to ghost him flop.

  An ice-cold frappe sounded refreshing, which led to me pulling into the parking lot of McDonalds. Waiting behind two cars after approaching the drive-thru line, out of mannerism, I asked Chris if he wanted anything. Just as I thought, he declined. He didn’t seem like the type of person who would accept a female paying for him. If he had his wallet on him, I was sure he wouldn’t allow me to pay for mine either.

  “Welcome to McDonald’s. How may I help you,” a blissful sounding woman spoke from the speaker.

  “May I have a large Mocha Frappe,” I ordered.

  After confirming my order, I pulled around to the first window. Opening the middle console and grabbing one of the five-dollar bills inside, I handed the money to the cashier before waiting for the change.

  “Thank you,” I said to the older white man at the window, after he dropped the coins onto the palm of my hand.

  I brought my hand back into my car from my window before taking my foot from the brake pedal. Strolling up to the second window, I allowed my foot back on the brake, assuming to wait a few minutes. Unusually, my drink was handed to me immediately after approaching the pick-up window. I was off to a good start of the day. Hopefully, it kept that way.

  After letting myself out of the parking lot, and cruising a few miles down the main street, the good start was about to turn as cold as the frappe I was slurping. From the corner of my eye, I had to have been seeing things. Needing to make sure, I busted a U-turn at the next intersection.

  “What are you doing?” Chris was confused.

  “I need to see something,” I informed him of the reason for retracing my path, without giving away too much information.

  Surely, after I signaled my left blinker and pulled into the parking lot of Walgreens… there it was; Ocho’s Audi backed into a parking space. I crept past his vehicle at five miles-per-hour and glanced through the windshield. With both of the front seat unoccupied, him along with one other, were inside of the store. Without wanting them to notice my vehicle after they exited the store, I pulled to the furthest end of the parking lot.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Chris jumped in his seat to face me and ask… after I shadowed my vehicle underneath the branches to a palm tree and powered my ignition off.

  “He’s with her! I know he is!” I screamed with my window still let down, and without giving a fuck about who heard me.

  “So what! And you’re with me!” he yelled back, shocking the hell out of me with how deep his tone had become.

  As if the two could feel the war that Chris and I were about to have, I shot my vision in the direction to notice them walking out of the store. Oddly, both of them wore smiles as opposed to the night before. Even with him kidnapping Bayleigh, she looked to have quickly adjusted to his charm. Their happiness made the agony in my heart go from high to low, and I wanted to cry in depression instead. In silence, I watched as the two loaded the vehicle and pulled out of the lot.

  6

  Neakah

  “Oh, fuck!” I scorched.

  I woke up in my guest room to rays of sun beaming through the wall length windows. Feeling like a ton of bricks were tossed to my temples, I got up from the bed. After walking into the dim hallway, an edge was taken off of my throbbing headache. Keeping my stride, I walked to the end of the long ass hallway until I entered the master bedroom.

  “What the hell?” I asked aloud, after peering down at the lower half of my body.

  Unaware of what the fuck happened the night prior, I rushed to the full-size bathroom attached to my bedroom. The moment I stepped foot onto the checker tiled floor the motion light activated. Grabbing my floral tank-top from the seam near my waistline, I lifted it over my head and dropped it onto the floor.

  “Oh, thank God,” I sighed.

  From what I could feel, my pussy didn’t have semen boarding its walls, or anywhere beneath my vaginal area. If a sexual encounter would have happened, the pain from the soreness after I inserted my fingers would have activated. I glanced down at my clean shaved vagina while I had one leg propped on the sink vanity. The skin surrounding my labia was as tan as the skin on my arms. What a relief I felt knowing someone wasn’t in my box; especially since I wouldn’t remember the fun time thanks to the amount of alcohol I had consumed.

  With my head keeping its pound, I slid to the standup shower before sliding the glass to the side. Once the dial was set to a medium temperature, I unfastened my bra with two fingers on my left hand and hopped in, after allowing my garment to fall to the bath mat. Running water from the spout was what I needed to curve my head throbbing, hangover effect.

  “Yesss,” I groaned.

  Placing my forehead underneath the running water, which was on the jet setting, I felt instant relief. The pressure from the warmth helped to cut some tension. My jet-black hair was drenched before I turned my body around. Lowering my chin to my chest and sliding my hair over one shoulder, I allowed the pressure to hit my neck.

  After ten minutes of standing under the water, I grabbed my loofa from around the water dial. Reaching over to the shelf to squirt some Dove body wash, I lathered the loofa before washing my body. Once I wash finished, I rinsed the loofa and returned it to its spot. Scrubbing my scalp with my Pantene shampoo and conditioner, I allowed the water to rinse the soap from my hair before turning off the running shower.

  Once the water was squeezed from my hair, I slid the glass door open to exit the standup shower. Allowing myself onto the bathmat, I reached next to the shower to the linen closet without moving from the mat. I pulled out a cotton, beige towel before leaning my head forward to allow my hair to hang in front of me. Drying myself from my feet and up, the last step was to tie my hair into the towel before returning to a standing position.

  Feeling better, I exited the steamed bathroom and walked across the house to the kitchen while being naked. The shower helped to calm my headache drastically, and the cold air against my bare body released the nausea. A good Tylenol Extra Strength would completely revive me… allowing me to feel as my sober self again.

  “Ahhh!” I expressed after the two, five-hundred milligram pills slid down my pipeline, with the help of the cold water I poured into a glass from the setting on the refrigerator.

  My head still feeling fogged, I returned the pill bottle to the cabinet above the stove before opening the dishwasher and applying the glass to the top rack. I secured the dishwasher door back to its latch and headed into the living room. Before falling into the soft couch cushion, I picked my phone up from the coffee table.

  2 new messages.

  I glanced at the phone screen after activating the lock screen light on to power on. Laying with my naked body straight across the cushion, I held my phone up in front of my face before unlocking it with facial recognition. I clicked on the message app before realizing a number I hadn’t saved texted me twice. Once I opened up the conversation, my eyes widened as I remembered who the number belonged to.

  James: I guess you’re asleep. Talk to you tomorrow?

  The last message from the doctor read. Scrolling to the beginning of the conversation, I re-read our texts before sighing in relief. Yeah, I had said some things I wouldn’
t have if I weren’t intoxicated, but it wasn’t as drastic as it could have been. In fact, it was probably the best way to crack the ice between him and I.

  Me: Good morning.

  I replied to James’ message after looking at the time which read: 9:58 a.m. After pressing on the arrow send button, I noticed my phone was about to die. Dreading to get up until I felt one hundred percent again, I deactivated the light on my screen and dropped the phone beside me on the couch. Not even ten minutes after resting my head on top of my hands and closing my eyes, a notification sounded on my phone. Once I viewed the notification, the doctor had already messaged me back.

  James: Good morning sunshine! Care for brunch? I don’t have to be at the hospital for another two hours.

  Me: Sure! Send the location!

  I replied before shooting up from the couch and racing to my bedroom. First, I inserted the phone charger, that was plugged into the outlet by my nightstand, into the charging port of my iPhone. Then, I jetted toward my walk-in closet to look for something to wear. Wishing to hold my grown and sexy look, I pulled the all black, Calvin Klein chiffon dress from its hanger. The dress rested in the crease of my forearm and bicep before I pulled my black Red Bottom heels from the vertical shelf. I had my full outfit and hand and re-entered me bedroom.

  Both the dress and shoes were thrown onto my king-sized bed before I scattered back into the bathroom. Grabbing my blow-dryer from the cabinet underneath the sink, I untwirled the towel wrapped around my head before it fell to the floor. I stood and plugged the cord of the dryer into the outlet and slid the power button upward. While teasing my hair strands, motioned the heat of the dryer back and forth around my head.