Lover's Island, page 23
“Hey,” she said quietly from the doorway. Cree looked up. “I just want to thank you for being there for Sanai and me. I don’t know if I would’ve made it through all this without you,” Nova admitted. Her voice trembled as she fought back tears.
Cree moved the laptop to the side of the bed and motioned for Nova to take a seat beside him. He slid the glasses off his face and sat them on top of the laptop. Sanai’s accident had affected Nova the most. She’d worried that Sanai would be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Most nights she’d cried herself to sleep after closing the door, thinking it would mask the sounds. Cree had heard those cries and had wanted to comfort her many nights, but he hadn’t known what words to say. How could he promise his daughter would be all right if he wasn’t sure? Telling Nova that she would walk again when there was a possibility that she never would was something that he couldn’t do.
“We’re family, Nova,” he said now. “I’ll never abandon y’all. I always been there to pick you up when shit get too hard to carry, right?” He wrapped his arm around Nova’s shoulders. She nodded as she sniffled, dabbing her fingertips at the corners of her eyes. “That’ll never change. We good, No. Our baby girl will walk again. We celebrating. Not crying.” He gently kissed her forehead in an attempt to comfort her.
Nova took that kiss as her opportunity to seduce Cree. She threw her arms around Cree’s neck and held him close. “These are tears of joy,” she said. The sensation from Cree’s hands on her back made Nova want to melt into him. He always smelled like expensive cologne and Cuban cigars. They hadn’t been intimate in years, and Nova desperately yearned to be taken to the blissful heights only Cree could take her to. “I need you, Cree,” Nova said as she gripped the sides of his face, staring into his eyes. “I want you,” she pleaded as she placed her forehead against his. Her hand ran up his thigh until she located his thick member. She released an exhale as she bit her bottom lip gently. “I miss this dick so much.”
Cree tucked his bottom lip between his teeth and grunted lowly. He closed his eyes as conflicted feelings coursed through his chest. Nova wasn’t playing fair, and she knew it. Months of built-up sexual tension chipped away at his resolve. He hadn’t been with anyone since Nyimah, and his body revealed that, betraying him. His dick had a mind of its own as it swelled in Nova’s hand. “Nova . . .”
She interrupted his words with a kiss. “I know. We don’t have to complicate it. Just fuck me, Cree,” she whispered against his neck. Any further and she would be begging. Given what Cree had to offer, she was never too proud to beg.
Whereas his mind screamed to take a moment to consider this, his body screamed for him to give in to his flesh. Nova might not be who he wanted, but the wetness she dripped on his fingertips overshadowed any reservations he had in that moment. He scooped Nova up into his arms and stood as she wrapped her legs around his waist. They locked lips, kissing aggressively, as they fumbled at each other’s clothes. Cree kicked the bedroom door shut before dropping Nova on the bed. She slipped out of her clothes and got on all fours. After licking her fingers, she massaged her clit in circular motions while Cree stepped out of his boxer briefs. He stroked himself as he watched the scene Nova was putting on for him. He loved the freaky side Nova unleashed in the bedroom. Sex was never an issue for them, and this moment proved it.
“How do you want me?” she asked seductively as she jiggled her ass in the air.
“Just like this.” Cree approached her from behind and smacked her ass. He held both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them behind her back, as he guided himself inside her. Nova’s wetness greeted him, and he bit his bottom lip, exploring her love inch by inch.
“Oh my God,” Nova moaned as she met each one of Cree’s thrusts. She gritted her teeth at the size of him. This dick had been withheld from her for too long, and she promised to leave her imprint on it. Nova arched her back, giving Cree deeper access, as she threw it back onto him.
Two positions and fifteen minutes later, Cree pulled out of Nova and spilled his seeds onto her back. They went into the bathroom and cleaned themselves up. Nova kissed Cree gently before she walked out of the room with a smile on her face.
When Cree reassumed his position on the bed, he glanced at the picture of Nyimah on his dresser. Guilt rushed through him like ocean currents at the turn of the tide. Her absence reminded him that a part of his life was missing. He hated that it felt like he had given up on her. But what more could he do? Thousands of his dollars were invested in private investigators, and their search had yielded no promising results.
The more energy he put into searching for Nyimah, the more disappointment he dealt with when he found nothing to locate her. As bad as he wanted to reunite with Nyimah, a part of him knew he had to let her go. If not, he’d be stuck. Running around in circles forever, trying to find her. The world didn’t stop in the name of love, no matter how much he wished otherwise. Life went on, and he had to, too.
* * *
“Happy birthday!” the family screamed when Fabian walked through the front door with Pierre.
Fabian grinned and walked over to Loveleen with his arms outstretched. He knew she was responsible for the surprise. Loveleen lived for big gatherings and celebrations. She loved putting together extravagant events for all her family to attend. Every year, each one of her children could count on her to throw a party to remember their birthdays.
“You look so beautiful. Thank you, my love.” Fabian hugged Loveleen, rocking back and forth, and covered her lips with his.
“Get a room!” Scarlett shouted playfully.
“Aww, hush, girl!” Loveleen exclaimed. “How you think you got here!”
“I do not want to know.” Scarlett laughed and moved to embrace her father. As much as she stayed on the go, she’d never miss a birthday. “Happy birthday, Daddy.” She hugged Fabian tightly. She was a daddy’s girl and had no shame in it. The men in her life reminded Scarlett never to settle.
“Thank you, baby girl.” Fabian kissed Scarlett’s cheek. “Where are your sisters?” he asked.
“Elissia should be here any minute now. Angel has exams this week, so she can’t make it,” Scarlett explained. Angel had one year left at Spelman College.
Fabian nodded as he stood in front of Cree, Nova, and Sanai. He bent down to hug his granddaughter. The entire family had rejoiced when they’d received news of Sanai’s recovery. “You got something for Papa?”
Sanai tugged at Fabian’s locks and nodded. Ever since she was a baby, she had loved pulling at her grandfather’s hair, and he had let her have her way, always. “Happy birthday, Papa.” She planted a big kiss on his cheek. “Mommy and Daddy have your gift.”
“Happy birthday, Fabian.” Nova’s smiled brightened the room as she pushed the Cartier gift bag in his direction. Her aura glowed in a way it hadn’t in months, even years, and everyone noticed. She hadn’t stopped smiling since the moment she walked through the front door. She might as well have had a sign across her forehead that read I WENT TO POUND TOWN LAST NIGHT.
Taking the bag in his hands, Fabian wrapped his arm around Nova’s shoulders and thanked her. While Loveleen had given Nova a hard time over the years, Fabian had always accepted her as his daughter. “Thank you,” he said, turning to Cree. His eldest son was the spitting image of him. He would soon be the patriarch of this family. Fabian had groomed him from a little boy to become a king. Their empire was at Cree’s fingertips, and Fabian was happy to pass the baton. His son was more than capable of leading the family. “Son,” he said as he slapped hands with Cree before pulling him into an embrace.
“Happy birthday, Pops.” Cree patted his father’s back. “You getting old, huh?”
“Never. I just get better with time,” Fabian answered.
Then Fabian moved throughout the living room, greeting other family members who were there to celebrate with them. When he reached his wife, he asked, “Love, what are we eating?”
“I ordered catering,” she replied nonchalantly.
“Catering?” Fabian exclaimed. His wife had spoiled him with her cooking over the course of their thirty-five years of marriage. The thought of eating catered food on his birthday repulsed him. “Oh naw, Love.”
Loveleen looked at Cree and burst into laughter. It was the exact reaction she had expected. “I’m just kidding, baby. You should know better than that now. We’re eating some of everything,” she stated. “Sanai, come help Gigi get the food together.” Gigi was the nickname Loveleen preferred for Sanai to call her. It has more of a ring than Grandma, she would tell them.
The front door opened just then, and Nadia entered, holding a fistful of balloons. Following behind her was Bashir, her husband, and Tic. Tic didn’t attend most family events, but he’d never miss his uncle’s birthday.
“Happy birthday to my amazing big brother. Happy birthday to you!” Nadia sang as her trio approached Fabian, Cree, and Nova.
“I appreciate it, sis. I love you.” Fabian pecked his sister’s cheek.
Cree hugged his aunt and shook Bashir’s hand. He barely acknowledged Tic, giving him a head nod. Nova was the only person who noticed the tension between the two men. After all, she had caused it.
“Nephew! What’s up?” Fabian said to Tic.
“I can’t call it.” Tic embraced his uncle and slipped him a birthday card. The thick envelope indicated that the card contained money. His uncle already had everything he had ever wanted in the world, and Tic didn’t know what gift to give him. He figured you could never go wrong with money. “Happy birthday, Unc!”
“No doubt! Thanks, nephew.” Fabian turned to Bashir and threw his head in the direction of the backyard. “Bashir, let’s go grab a drink, brother.” The two men disappeared through the patio doors.
Nadia put her hand on her hip as she scanned Nova from head to toe. “Nova, girl, you look better every time I see you! Let me find out you using what you give those patients,” she joked. They both knew that black women aged like fine wine, only getting better with time. For them, maturity was the best Botox. “If so, I need a little bit,” Nadia whispered before winking at her.
Nova waved Nadia off and giggled. “Shoot, I need your secrets! I’m trying to be snatched just like that at your age.” Nova peered at Nadia’s toned curves in her full bodysuit. Whenever she saw her, Nadia stayed in the latest fashions, and today she wore a pair of Rick Owen boots, with a red puffer jacket covering her arms. From a glance, no one would guess that she was almost fifty.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing. Or who you’re doing,” Nadia said, nodding to Cree. “Nephew, I love you.” She kissed her fingertips and placed them on Cree’s heart. It was a gesture she used with all her nieces and nephews. “I’m going to find Scarlett.” Nadia left the three of them standing together uncomfortably.
Nova didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she heard Elissia calling her name when she walked through the door. Nova nearly ran to greet her, leaving Cree with Tic.
Tic broke the awkward silence. “What up, doe?”
“Wassup?” Cree slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. The two of them had talked for hours on any given day when they were younger. Now even making small talk proved to be a difficult task for them. “How you?”
Tic shrugged, and his locks shook at his shoulders. “Straight. Can’t complain. Business looking good in Atlanta,” he informed Cree. Although they might have been at odds, business was where they found common ground. They had agreed on getting money and putting their family’s well-being first.
Cree fingered his beard and chuckled. “That’s what’s up. We always knew it’d be a good place to set up shop.”
Tic snickered as they both thought about the schemes the two of them had come up with as teenagers. They had promised each other that when they stepped into their family business, they’d be the biggest Don Dadas to carry the Baptiste name. And they had accomplished those dreams, just separately. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I heard about what happened to Sanai. I’m glad she’s going to walk again. I would have helped handle that situation, though.”
Those words teleported Cree from memory lane and reminded him of Nova and Tic’s betrayal. “’Preciate it, but Pierre had it under control.” He scanned the house, eyebrows furrowing, as he searched for an excuse to end the conversation. “I’ma go see if they need help in there.” Cree walked away and headed for the kitchen.
“Unball your face!” Loveleen stated when Cree entered the kitchen. The only time he brooded like that was when something was on his mind. As a kid, he had scrunched his face up so much that she used to tell him that he’d have permanent wrinkles on his forehead. “You want to talk about it?”
“Nah.” Cree wouldn’t burden his mother with his problems. “Need help with anything?”
“Nope. Miss Sanai gave me all the help I needed. That girl is going to be on go when she’s walking on her own again.” Loveleen wiped the stovetop with a dishcloth before folding it across the faucet.
“You already know it,” he agreed.
Loveleen placed her palm on Cree’s face. She sensed all the thoughts running through his head. He had a lot on his mind, but he didn’t want to share his problems with her. As a mother, she had learned not to push. “I hope you know what you’re doing, baby.” She nodded toward the dining room. Both of their eyes followed Nova as she carried a foil pan to the backyard. Loveleen recognized the glow of a woman full of good loving. Nova walked around like a brand-new woman, and Loveleen had deducted that it was due to one thing: her son.
“I got this.”
She glanced at her son skeptically for a second. “All right, then.” She’d leave it at that.
Nova placed the aluminum plan on the table in the backyard with the rest of the food. She wanted to be far away from Tic. It’d been years since she’d seen him at a family event. If he was out of sight, out of mind, Nova could forget about their affair. It was one of her biggest regrets. Cree had finally begun to show her affection again. She wasn’t going to risk losing him yet again. There was a lot of work to be put in on her end to earn Cree’s trust, and she planned to do whatever she needed to regain it.
“We need to talk,” a voice said from behind her.
Nova didn’t have to turn around to know the voice belonged to Tic. His baritone was distinctive, like that of every other man in his family.
“What do you want?” Nova crossed her arms across her chest.
Tic licked his lips as he placed a pan of food on the table. “Do you ever think about what happened between us?” he asked.
Nova scoffed, kissing her teeth. “No. It’s never happening again,” she hissed under her breath.
It was Tic’s turn to scoff now. “Trust me, I’ve moved on, Nova. I’m not trying to come between whatever you and Cree got going on.” He found it amusing that Nova assumed he still wanted her after all this time. He’d lost any feelings he had for her years ago.
“Well?”
Tic exhaled as he glanced at Sanai playing patty-cake with Elissia across the yard. “Is Sanai my daughter?” he asked plainly.
Covering her mouth with one hand, Nova doubled over with laughter. “Are you crazy? Of course she’s not.”
“The timeline . . . it makes sense. She got the birthmark above her elbow just like my mother.” He had made that observation after talking with Sanai minutes earlier. An uneasy feeling had settled in his stomach.
“Maybe because that’s her aunt!” she exclaimed indignantly. She didn’t like the accusation Tic had made at all. His words were dangerous. They had the power to destroy the dynamic she was building with Cree.
“Or her grandmother,” he rebutted.
Nova whipped her head around to make sure no one had overheard their conversation. “She is not yours.”
“There are too many coincidences. The timeline—”
“Fuck your timeline! Sanai is Cree’s child. End of story! I don’t want to hear anything else about it. Leave me alone and leave my daughter alone. She’s not yours!” Nova whispered harshly. Hyperventilating, she did an about-face and walked away, leaving Tic with his own thoughts. She barely made it ten feet before her vision began to blur and she fell to the ground.
Tic’s mouth dropped in surprise as he frantically ran to Nova. One minute she was cussing him out, and the next she was on the ground, unconscious. He wondered if the pressure he applied about Sanai’s paternity had caused her to faint.
“Nova!” Cree shouted as he rushed to her side. “Call an ambulance!” He lifted an unconscious Nova off the ground and carried her in his arms into the house.
* * *
A few hours later, Cree sat in the hospital’s waiting room with his mother and father. Sanai was staying with Scarlett and Elissia at Loveleen’s home. She’d seen enough of hospitals to last her a lifetime. His leg bounced up and down as they awaited an update from the doctors. Cree prayed they’d receive good news. However, they’d been waiting for nearly three hours already. The sterile smell of peroxide and disinfectants made him sick to his stomach. Deep down, he knew something was wrong.
“Fuck is taking them so long?” he grumbled.
Loveleen patted Cree’s knee in an attempt to calm his nerves. “We’re on God’s time, baby, not the doctors’. She’s going to be fine.”
“Yes, she will,” Fabian agreed.
Cree blew out a distressed breath through his nose. Those words did little to comfort him. Sanai screaming Nova’s name when she saw her mother passed out replayed over and over in his mind. For her sake, Cree wanted this to be a false alarm.
“The family of Zenova Saint,” announced a petite Indian doctor in baby-blue scrubs when she stepped into the waiting room. She had a clipboard in her hand as she gripped the frame of her glasses and glanced around the waiting area.
Cree shot to his feet. “Yes. We’re Zenova’s family. Is she okay?”
