Page 23 of Merci

“I know you ain’t pay attention when Grandma had us in church, so let me share a scripture wit’chu. The bible says,if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It’s better to lose one part of your body than to have the whole thing thrown into hell.” Tightening my grip on his neck, I made clear, “You ain’t see shit, and even if you did see shit, it’ll be better for you to go blind than utter a word to anyone about what you saw and sin against me. If you do, I will kill yo’ ass withnohesitation. Do you fucking understand me?”

“Hammer, I?—”

“Do you understand me?” I gritted, pushing his head into the wall so hard it bounced.

“Yeah, nigga, damn.” He pushed my arm down, and the only reason I put space between us was because Cujo grabbed me and pulled me toward him.

“Granny coming. Go home to ya gal,” Cujo directed, patting my back softly.

“Y’all still here?” Grandma asked, and her sweet voice softened me enough to pull my eyes off Gordon.

“Yeah, but I’m heading out. I’ll call you Tuesday, Grandma,” I said, dropping a quick kiss to her cheek.

As I stormed out of her house, I hated that I’d come over and hated that I didn’t hit that blunt even more.

I didn’t realize how deep in my thoughts I was until Merci called me out on it. She was asleep when I arrived, but by the time I’d showered and climbed into her bed, she’d woken up. Even with me telling her I didn’t mind her going to sleep, she insisted on dimming the lights and putting on a movie that I was sure she was going to crash on. Her thumb brushed the space between my eyebrows, causing me to relax them and the frown that was on my face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, voice dripping with concern.

I didn’t want to lie and say nothing, but I also couldn’t tell her I was thinking about my cousin running his mouth and telling my family that he’d seen me out with her. The past month and a half with her had been better than I thought it would be. Neither of us was in a rush to do the meet-the-family thing, and while we weren’t necessarily hiding each other, we hadn’t run into anyone we knew while out in public. So far, only Cujo, Ariel, and herbrother’s girl knew about us, and I wanted to continue to keep it that way.

“Family shit,” I grumbled, figuring a half-truth was better than a lie. I might not have been completely transparent with her about the situation, but I’d always be honest.

“What do you need?”

Smiling softly, I turned slightly on my side so I could face her. “Everything I need is right here,” I declared, wrapping my arm around her.

Merci smiled and tossed her leg over me. “While that’s sweet, are you sure? Just like you protect me, I want to protect you. I might not be able to protect you physically, but I can protect your mind. Your emotions. Your heart.”

A low hum escaped me as I lowered my hand to her ass and gave it a squeeze. “My heart, huh? You finally acknowledging that you a nigga rib?”

Her laughter was sweet as she snuggled against me. “Maybe.”

Appreciating the sentiment, I caressed her cheek with my thumb before giving her a kiss. “Just being in your presence is more than enough, Ms. Merci. I meant it when I said you’re all I need.”

Merci wrapped her arm around my neck and brushed her nose against mine. That small gesture was enough to soothe my nervous system. She might not have believed she was all I needed, but she truly brought a nigga peace.

“I’m here, bae,” she whispered against my lips before kissing them sweetly.

“Promise you won’t leave.”

“Promise you won’t switch up on me.”

“I won’t.”

“Then I won’t leave.”

With that declaration, I cut the TV and lights off and pulled her onto my chest. After placing a kiss on the top of her head, I released a long exhale and finally felt calm enough to go to sleep.

When I climbed back into bed after I showered, I wasn’t expecting my baby to swallow my dick. If her sloppy, deep throat was my reward for having a slower start to my day, I’d get up early every day for the rest of my life. She had my body jerking and toes curling while I moaned without my damn permission.

I put my hands behind my head as she climbed on top of me, ready to enjoy the show. My laidback mood quickly turned into awe the longer I watched her bounce on my dick. The visual of her beauty, body, and leaking pussy had me moaning and singing her praises as my hands touched every part of her body they could grab. She alternated between bouncing on her feet to her knees, and by the time she leaned forward and bounced while feeding me her nipples and thumbing mine, I was a goner. I fucked her back and shot my seeds as deep as I could in her pussy before flipping her over and putting her ankles by her ears so I could fuck her deep.

Yeah.

She couldn’t go nowhere.

Ever.