Page 17 of Merci

“Yes, everything is ready to go for tomorrow night. I got you, girl. Your man’s going to love his surprise birthday party.” She paused, patiently giving the woman time to express her concerns before saying, “Yes. I saw that email from the caterer. I didn’t mention it to you, because I handled it myself. That’s what you paid me for. You don’t have to stress over anything. I got it.” She laughed. “Yes, girl. Get you some rest. Relax. Everything’s taken care of. Right. I’ll see you for the initial walkthrough tomorrow. Bye.” Merci blew out a long breath as she sat back down. “Sorry about that. She had to have called like three times to even get through since I had my phone on Do Not Disturb.”

“It’s cool. I’m sure she needed you to ease her mind so she could rest. All is well.”

We continued to talk for a little while longer, and as much as she was trying to stay up, I could tell she needed her rest when she yawned and asked, “What’s one good trait about yourself that you wish you no longer had?”

“Being too loyal,” I answered after thinking about it for a while. “Or maybe, I want to learn to put myself first while being loyal to others. You?”

“Hmm… being so benevolent. Even with me knowing how grimy people can be in this world, I still operate from a place of love. And good. Sucks sometimes because most people take it for granted or take advantage, and I hardly ever get what I give in return.”

“You will now that you have me.”

With a smile, Merci climbed over to where I was on the sofa and cuddled up against me. I held her until I felt her body relax against mine.

“If you fall asleep, I’m putting you in my bed,” I warned, making her laugh softly as she sat up.

“Let me go. As late as I be up for these parties, you’d think I was a night owl. That shit doesn’t kick in until the weekend.”

To keep from telling her I wanted her to stay, I remained silent. I walked her to her car, and for her to not like long goodbyes, she didn’t seem to be in a rush to get inside. Merci might not have said it, but I could tell she was holding back and wanting to take things slow with me, and I would respect that. Just because I was all in already didn’t mean she had to be too. In fact, I respected her wanting to go slow and giving me the space to prove my intentions were sincere.

Her hands were all over my chest, my abs, my arms—caressing, squeezing, worshipping. If she didn’t stop, us waiting to go to the clinic together before we had sex was going to be out the window. I knew I was clean, and she was too, but sinceI planned to dive in that pussy raw, getting tested together first was the right thing to do.

“You keep touching me like that, and I ain’t gon’ let you leave.”

When Merci licked her lips and looked up at me, I lowered myself and kissed her. In the process, I guided her away from the door so I could open it for her. After helping her inside, I buckled her seat belt and gave her another kiss before telling her to let me know when she made it home, especially since I knew she was sleepy. Stepping back, I watched her pull out of my driveway, knowing only so much time would pass of me being okay with watching her walk away from me. Merci was the one. That, I knew for sure.

11

MERCI

For some reason, I thought Hammer was playing when he said he wanted us to have a pre-date, but that certainly wasn’t the case. This morning, we went to the clinic and got our STD/HIV tests done together. On the ride to the mall, we talked about marriage, kids, and if I was on birth control. I told him that I wasn’t, and I wasn’t going to get on it, so he was definitely going to have to wear a condom and pull out.

I realized just how serious Hammer was about me when he took me ring shopping. And he didn’t just let me window shop. He actually paid for my ring today. I didn’t know which one he picked out of the top three I liked, and a part of me was excited to know there might come a day he’d propose, and I’d remember this moment. Remember the ring I chose. As hopeful as I was that things would work between us, I never put too much hope in the future.

Marriage and babies were a desire of mine, but I started praying in my twenties that God removed the desires of my heart that I didn’t truly have control over. I didn’t have control over whether I’d get married or not, and since I didn’t plan to have a baby alone, I didn’t have control over that either. If those things happened, great. If they didn’t, it wouldn’t be the end ofthe world. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to wanting to experience things on this Earth that I wouldn’t be able to when I died, but whatever happened, fate would decide.

“Who is he?” Ma asked, gaining my attention.

I’d stopped by my parents’ house after leaving Hammer’s office. I loved that he gave me a tour and let me into that part of his life. He shared with me a little information about his past in the streets, so knowing him wanting to learn the law to break it had turned into a legit, profitable career was a true success story. I hadn’t planned to spend one of my rare off days hopping around the city, doing random stuff with Hammer, but it turned out to be very fun, and I couldn’t wait to see him for our first real date tomorrow.

Since my weekends were usually filled with parties and hosting, I appreciated him adjusting his schedule and getting off a little earlier throughout the week so we could spend some time together. My schedule wouldn’t be as packed once the summer was over, and I could always learn a man’s true level of patience and his temperament and commitment by how he handled my busy seasons, which were summer and winter because of the corporate events I hosted.

“Who is who?” I asked, casually setting my phone on the bed. She’d had a long day, changing her music store around because she refused to let the team Daddy hired do it by themselves, so she was resting in bed for the rest of the night.

“The man that’s had you smiling and giggling since you’ve been over here.”

I couldn’t deny that, because even with Hammer being locked in at work, he still did things to make sure I knew he wasthinking about me. I’d received a quick voice memo shortly after I arrived from him letting me know I looked beautiful today and that he appreciated being able to spend the afternoon with me. And just now, I’d gotten a notification that I had a delivery from him at home waiting for me.

As happy as I was with what was happening between us, I wanted to keep Hammer to myself for a little while longer. So, instead of giving her details, I simply said, “I don’t want to jinx it, Ma. He’s putting in a lot of effort, and we do have a solid connection. It’s just very early, sooo I don’t know. I want to be very careful with this one.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy the good, and if things go bad, leave his ass.”

I chuckled because I knew she was serious, and that was exactly what I’d do. When David’s true shenanigans first came to light, I was serious about not dating anymore. That changed when Hammer came for me. I wasn’t going to deny myself of a better man because of David’s actions. I would, however, be smart and alert. The moment Hammer proved he was no longer worthy of my trust, I’d cut him off, too, regardless of how great things were between us.

I wasn’t supposed to be out tonight, but when my old friend from school told me his promoter and host ditched him and ran off with his payment, I had to cover his event and show him love. The crowd was ready to rage because the promised performers weren’t there, yet the whole time, the promoter had never paid the deposit. I told Aaron something looked suspicious when I never saw his scheduled performers promoting the event. He was going to have to not only have signed contracts in place butensure someone outside of the promoters handled the payments and scheduling going forward.

When Aaron tried to hand me a bag of money, I declined initially. As far as I was concerned, I was looking out for an old friend.

“Take that shit, sis,” Cujo insisted, grabbing the bag and handing it to Hammer on my behalf.