by Xyla Turner
I stood up, shake my head while saying, “One, where do you get words like befitting from? Two, I’m not getting married, okay. I am just seeing if you’d be okay with me having a friend. Three wedding dresses…what? Girl, have a good day. Love you, Ella.”
“Love you too, mom.” She hugged me and began to walk into the school, where her Principal stood outside to greet all the students. Then she turned and said, “Thanks, mom.”
I wanted to ask why, but she simply ran into the school after giving the tall administrator their chosen pound, which was a form of greeting. It caused me to laugh again, as I thought, in any universe or way that my life could have gone, that little girl was a blessing and I was lucky. Sammy missed out and that sucked for him, but I was the lucky one.
The next evening was the day of the showing, which I had been anticipating. I was nervous on so many levels, including that this was my first official date with Mr. West. Then there was Ella being with a sitter.
Jonah decided to meet me at my apartment, so that I would actually leave my apartment. He had a point, because he threatened to come up there and get me if I wasn’t down in five minutes. When I finally came outside, he was standing outside in an Uber Black waiting for me.
He was dressed in a tuxedo, that was tailored made to fit his perfect body. It wasn’t too tight, but it was for him, dammit. He looked good enough to eat. His cologne was expensive and all I wanted to do was rest my head in his neck.
“You look stunning,” he gasped.
I shook my head and told him, “You look pretty dapper yourself. Good enough to eat.”
“Let’s test that theory.” He smirked and I planned to do just that. He kept the sitter on for a couple of more hours, so we could have some time at his place.
Once we arrived, I saw Faith standing in front of a large portrait of a woman sitting on top of a man’s lap, as the four-legged chair supported their weight. Again, the woman in the photo had curly hair, that was short and the tightness of the curls, insinuated that the woman was black. The guy, this time, had long, shoulder-length hair, that would be on a white guy.
Maybe it was her signature.
When Faith saw me, she exclaimed, “Oh my. You made it, Dakota.” She made a beeline towards me after giving her apologies to the group that was surrounding her.
This caused me to smile as I braced myself for her hug.
“Yes, I made it,” I returned the hug and she whispered in my ear.
“Where’s your man?”
I gave her a quizzical look, just as she said,
“Hey, West…what are you doing here?” Faith asked, as she looked over my shoulder.
Wait, what?
“Y’all know each other?” I asked.
A man came up behind her and as she was about to answer, but I heard Jonah, the fuck are you doing here?”
“Vega?” Jonah exclaimed, as the two men moved in for their manly, shake and hug thing.
“Yeah, we know each other,” Faith smiled wide, as Jonah gave her a hug.
“Yeah, Vega and I went to college together. Remember, my roommates I was telling you about?” Jonah triggered my memory.
“Oh, yes. You did mention Vega.” I shook my head. “I did not connect the two.”
“Well, that clears up a lot, Dakota,” Faith raised an eyebrow. “Told you about those alphas.”
This caused me to laugh as I recalled what she said about her husband and relating the behavior with Jonah. Definitely bossy men.
“How do y’all know each other?” Jonah asked.
“Coffee shop, girl talk,” I interjected.
“Fuck, sorry.” Jonah cursed, “Vega, this is my lady, Dakota and Angel, this is a good friend of mine, like a riding buddy too. Noah Vega.”
We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, until he said, “This is my wife, Faith that you somehow weirdly already met.”
“Yes, it is so weird.” I chimed in, but decided to change the subject. “This is an amazing turnout and wow. These images are breathtaking.”
“Thank you.” Faith smiled. “Come on in…you’re my guest of honor, so help yourself and enjoy it. Network too. Especially you.”
She was talking to me, I knew.
The two men spoke for a few more minutes as I left to go get refreshments. When I returned, he looked down at the plate of food in my hand and said, “What’s that?”
“Thought you might want some hors d' oeuvres.” I held out the plate.
Those eyes landed on me in a different way, like he was just seeing or recognizing me for the first time.
“Thanks, Angel,” he said in hushed tones. “This showing is quite a thing.”
Smiling, I nodded and said, “Yeah, this is where I got those images I send you sometimes. I looked her up and thought it was pretty different and erotic.”
“Shit, that’s an understatement,” Jonah whistled as he looked around the room. “I never knew Faith was this good. Vega said she painted, but I never inquired about what. I hope every man in here has a woman, because their dicks have to be hard.”
I chuckled but understood the sentiment. All of the paintings were not of the erotic nature. She had a rendition of a Never Sign, that was symbolic in a different way. There was a little boy, who I suspected as an image of their child, but the boy had a part and star etched in his head. Though his hair was blond, it looked pretty cool. The precocious boy I met those weeks ago, was bold enough to pull it off.
We circled around a few times, but we kept coming back to one painting that stood out for both of us. It actually wasn’t erotic, but just a man and woman staring at each other with that look. The one that says, they would do anything for the other. The one that said, they were gone for the other.
It was there, that Jonah pulled me back into his front and said, “I want this one too. It says what I’ve warred internally for a while now. That I love you.”
My body went stiff as I took in his words and nodded, while looking at the portrait.
“I want this too,” I told him, before turning around and looking up into his eyes. “I’m falling in love too.”
He kissed me, lip biting and all, right there in the gallery.
This was quickly interrupted, when I heard, “My husband bites my lip too. Girl, I love it.”
My head turned around to see a pretty black woman, looking at the two of us. She was wearing a slinking red dress with matching stilettos. Her black hair was cut close to her head on the sides and she wore long, dangling, diamond earrings.
“Hi, I’m Portia Morgan,” she smiled. “Sorry for intruding, but that lip bite. Damn.”
It was at that moment, another man walked swiftly over to her. He was tall, straight-laced with cropped hair and not a single thing out of place.
“Portia, you cannot abandon me. We had an extensive conversation about this before we left the house. It is a part of our plan, remember?”
She turned and murmured, “Speaking of biting. Watch this.”
Right there in the middle of the studio, she stood on her toes and began to kiss him, and sure enough, he bit her lip too. It was hot. I gave them that.
“Well, fuck,” Jonah whispered in my ear, since I was still in his arms. “You can’t ever talk about me.”
“Wait,” I pulled back and looked from them to Jonah. “That’s…um…uh, wait…”
They looked familiar. This whole scene looked familiar. Shit.
“That’s the politician…shit. Morgans. How could I forget that?” I was hitting Jonah in the chest. “He kissed her like that on television and people lost their collective minds. Then this lady came out and said that he was on the spectrum. OH. MY. GOSH. That is them.”
Needless to say, I was hype and Jonah grabbed my wrists, so I wasn’t hitting him anymore.
“Okay, Angel.” He tried to calm me with a kiss to my forehead.
Then my head began to scan the area as I saw who was in the room.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered to Jonah. “The
re are tons of celebrities, and high-powered men and politicians here. Do you see this? Damn.”
“Yeah, Angel,” Jonah nodded. “I know more than half of these men.”
“Wow,” I looked up to him and smiled, what I was sure was a goofy-ass smile.
This caused him to dip his head down and whisper against my lips, “Woman, when you look at me like that, I feel like I can carry the world on my back if you needed.”
His eyes and that look shared exactly the words we exchanged.
Lifting my hand to caress the side of his face, I told him, “I hope you know that whatever you’d have to carry, I’d be there to help lift the load.”
“Fuck,” he hissed as his eyes looked frantically over my face. “Can we get outta here, please?”
The man was groaning.
“I got to say bye to Faith, but yes.” I nodded.
Once I found her, said my goodbyes and Jonah purchased the two images we saw. Then we did a lap around the studio, where Jonah introduced me as his woman to people like the Richardson couple and other high-profile men. I could not believe it, but didn’t stop to question anything, because of the rush to get out of there. He also told them about Skin for Her and the opportunity to invest in the product.
We went back to his place, where there were light pink rose petals on the floor at the entrance of the door. This made my heart jump, as I saw they led to the kitchen. There on the island, laid an entire spread of food.
“You cooked this?” I’m sure I was smiling.
“Well,” he paused. “The pot roast is a family recipe, so yes. With help from my mom and sister. Who are both excited to meet the woman who has me cooking.”
I burst out laughing then I sobered and strode over to him as he began to heat up the food. Throwing my arms around his neck, I stood on my toes to kiss him. This turned to him lifting and putting me on the counter, as he ravished my lips. He began to pull away, but I put my legs out and pulled him back in.
“Angel.” Jonah framed my face. “For what I want to do to you. You need to eat and have your energy up. That means, you got to eat, before I turn this whole kitchen upside down and we can break it in early.”
“Early?” I asked, so stupidly.
His eyes landed on me, then he said, “Dakota. Yeah, I want you with me. You and Ella.”
I breathed, then breathed out again. This was a lot. He was talking about us moving in.
“Not now, but yes. I’m moving towards that. This hand won’t be bare for long. I told you tonight. I love you. I never felt this way about anyone. So, know that I’m fucking serious about us.”
My head nodded as I let my feet fall back against the cabinet, with a smile, I told him, “Let the food sustenance come, then. I’m ready for a wild ride. I do mean wild.”
“Fuck,” he hissed and backed away with both hands in the air. “Stay right there.”
He made both of our plates, heated them up and then came back, helped me down, so we could eat at the table.
By the time we finished eating the delicious meal, his phone had kept going off. Usually, he had it on silent, so it didn’t disturb us. However, this time it was on vibrate and it was loud.
“Sorry,” he left the table, which was weird.
I heard the door open, then a bit of a scuffle. Running to the living room, I saw him pulling a woman by both arms and pushing her out the door. While another just looked at them and shook her head.
“Jonah, let me see her now.” The woman he was pulling out the house, quietly commanded. “I won’t say anything. I just want to see her.”
I looked at the scene and wondered, what the fuck I was seeing. Jonah must have sensed that I was there, because he looked up and stopped trying to pull the woman outside.
All eyes landed on me, then the other woman, squealed and said, “Oh Jonah, she’s beautiful.”
He groaned, but I just kept staring. Who were these women and why was he physically removing them from his house?
“Fuck,” he hissed again. “Angel, I’m sorry. They were just leaving. Now, Ma.”
Ma?
I looked to the other woman, who was grinning.
“Oh,” she said, “I’m Jonah’s sister. You must be the woman he’s been seeing and won’t tell his family about.”
“Because they act like this,” he bumped her and made a beeline to me. “We’re in the middle of eating dinner and we don’t have a lot of time. She’s got to get back.”
“Oh, this won’t be no time at all,” his Ma said, but I could feel the nerves kicking in full gear as Jonah grew more pissed.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear.
“We were supposed to be bringing the dessert,” his Ma assured me, as she held what seemed to be a pound cake in a glass cake container.
One and a half hours later, I learned about Jonah from a boy to the man I knew now. Including embarrassing pictures, his mom just happened to have a photo album. It slipped that I had a daughter, so I was sharing images and videos of Ella as the two women gushed. We ate cake and laughed, until Jonah reminded me that we had to go, because the babysitter was off in thirty minutes.
“Oh no,” his Ma sighed. “Jonah, you have to bring her and Ella over for dinner. When?”
Jonah sighed and said, “I just got her over here for dinner and y’all ruined it.”
“You were just going to do the nasty,” his little sister aptly chimed in, as his Ma quickly closed her eyes and covered her ears.
I was cracking up, but my man was hotter than fish grease.
By the time we were on our way to my place, I was attempting to coax the anger out of the man. He just kept saying, “We had one night.”
“It’s fine.” I was nearly sitting under him, rubbing the pain away, so I thought. “We’ll have another time.”
He didn’t look like he was convinced, so I finally popped the question.
“I would like to set up a date between you, Ella and me. So, she can officially meet you. Are you okay with that?”
Jonah’s head slowly turned around to face me, until he met my eyes. He let out a soft, “What?”
He stopped me, when I went to repeat my statement.
“Yes,” he nodded. “I’d love that, Angel.”
Then, that’s when the anger disappeared from his body and his face. Honor and gratefulness replaced it, with wide eyes, nods that seem to assure the already sure man and the squeeze of my hand.
“I’d love that,” he repeated.
“Great,” I felt more okay with it as well. “I’ll set it up.”
When we arrived at my apartment with five minutes left to spare, we kissed. Before I left the vehicle, I whispered into his ear, “If you wait until the sitter leaves, I can show you just how much I enjoyed tonight.” I gave him a wink. “But, I also get if you need to get back.”
Jonah snorted, gave some extra money to the Uber Black driver and exited the truck.
There was nothing frantic or rushed, just sexy old riding my man as he slowly agonized over each stroke. There would be finger marks on my hips, but that was alright with me. The fact that I could have him like that, demonstrated so much power and if his mark was a result,
well, I could handle that.
15
Jonah West
I was going to kick my sister’s ass. No, I was going to tell her husband and then he’d deal with her ass. She’d been a pain in my butt since the day she was born, but I thought we were past the bullshit. Clearly, I was wrong, because she knew I’d been seeing someone and confronted me in some random phone call, that she lied about. The only thing that made that evening with Dakota at my house salvageable, was the invitation to meet Ella.
The date did not happen for another two weeks, but what did happen within that time was Ella’s father. The son-of-a-bitch, reached out to Dakota, officially requesting a visit with Ella. This lead to a denial, so his next letter was from a paternity lawyer.
My lawyers already had something ready for t
his, so it was submitted on her behalf. This made life a bit tense, which I thought meant Dakota would back down in regard to my meeting Ella. However, she seemed more determined to make a date happen. She said that she wanted us to meet on neutral ground, so it would not be at her apartment. Ella suggested Chucky Cheese, but I thought a nice coffee shop, let’s say, a place where the two of them felt comfortable. Her last job, Beans-N-Things, was the perfect place.
The date was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Ella was only five years old, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous. Kids weren’t really a part of my life. I wanted them, but my sister had none yet and neither did I. I knew nothing about babies, kids or teens, but I was willing to fucking learn.
The day was pretty cloudy, but the sun would sneak out periodically. Dakota and Ella met me at the coffee shop and when I saw them coming through the door, I stood up.
I was not sure about the protocol, but when I saw my woman, in a sundress, I couldn’t help it. Moving into her, I kissed her lips and smiled. Then I knelt down on a knee and held out my hand.
“Hi, Ella. My name is Jonah West.”
She took my hand with a smile. “My name is Ella Bowers.” Then she turned my hand over and asked, “Are you my mommy’s Prince or King?”
Looking up at Dakota, I laughed as she shook her head.
“Ella, baby,” she tried to sway the precocious little girl.
“I’m her King, Ella.” I nodded with a wink.
She tried to wink back but ended up closing both of her hazel eyes.
“I knew it,” she whispered.
Then the little girl climbed into the booth and looked at both of us as if she were waiting for us to follow suit. We joined her, ordered our food and the inquisition of Ella Bowers began.
“Do you know what I’m allergic to?”
“Are you good at driving?”
“Do you have any kids?”
“Would you let me be in the wedding, just because I’m a big girl now?”
“Will you allow me to get ice cream when you get me from school?”