Lover's Island, page 5
Cree nodded.
“I was in a dark place when we met. From the moment I laid eyes on Asun, I felt safe. Like I knew he would make sure I was protected. That’s what I needed most at that time in my life,” she said sadly. “I was fifteen when we met, and he had just turned eighteen, so we were friends before anything romantic took place. I was in foster care at the time, and I bounced around homes in Raleigh and Durham. We kind of lost touch, up until a few months after I turned eighteen. We ran across each other at a party, and the rest is history.
“Asun was a leader and the smartest person I’ve ever met. He had the potential to be anything he set his mind to . . . I think he knew he was living a short life,” Nyimah said. Tears dripped from her eyelash extensions as her bottom lip quivered. “The things he would say sometimes would be so cryptic. He done things in the streets that he knew would catch up to him someday. By revenge or karma. He was hated by many, feared by some, but respected by all. He lived by love and loyalty. The ones who crossed him met the beast he kept tamed. We had plans of getting out of the game. Move out here to Cali, live on the beach, and make a bunch of children.”
The tears now flowed freely down her face. “Those motherfuckers shot him in his back! They left him facedown, bleeding, because they knew they couldn’t be face-to-face with him. He held on until I made it to the hospital. I knew he was going to die by the way the doctors looked at me when I broke through the waiting-room doors. He told me not to cry, because he loved me, and he could finally see his parents again. “To infinity.” Those were his last words. He loved me infinitely. It’s a loss that I’ll never know how to recover from.” Nyimah shrugged her shoulders as she wiped her tears.
“I’m sorry for your loss. Whether it’s been a year or ten, a loss isn’t easy to deal with. You don’t get over it. You just learn how to live with it. Can’t put no timeline on it. Take it day by day,” Cree said gently. “From the way you speak about him, I know you’ll keep his name alive. That’s real right there. Real love. Real rare. Keep honoring him and he’ll forever walk with you in spirit. My mother taught me that.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.” Nyimah sniffled.
“Very.” Cree still held Nyimah in his arms. They were so close that he could smell the fading notes of perfume on her neck.
Nyimah placed her hand on Cree’s bare chest, right over his heart. “Thank you for giving me a safe space to talk about Asun. The guy I’m involved with back home would never.” She shook her head.
“A real man gonna accept every part of you. Asun’s a part of you. Don’t water that love down for nobody.” Cree wanted to say more, but he held his tongue. Nyimah had insinuated that her man was jealous of a dead man. The notion was ludicrous to him. If anything, Nyimah’s love and loyalty for Asun were to be admired. She knew how to love because of Asun.
“So, what happened with you and your daughter’s mother? When did the disconnect happen?” Nyimah asked.
Cree snickered under his breath. “I done a bid in prison a few years ago. A year. Came home and found out she had fucked my cousin,” he said nonchalantly.
“That’ll do it!” she exclaimed jokingly. “That’s foul. And your families still wanted y’all together after that?”
Cree sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I never told them. I didn’t want her to experience the embarrassment and shame behind that. Things haven’t been the same since. We got a beautiful daughter out of the deal, though.”
“Then you’re blessed.” Nyimah patted his chest and closed her eyes. She pictured how her little angel would’ve looked if she’d survived. Smooth skin as dark as chocolate, with a full, pouty mouth and almond-shaped brown eyes. A perfect mix of herself and Asun.
“Looks like the partying died down.” Cree nodded back to the house. “Want to get a little rest?”
“I’m down for that.” She stood and dusted the sand from her body. The sun rose as dawn greeted them. It illuminated Nyimah’s natural essence. Cree stared at her, throat dry and at a loss for words. He wanted to devour her right then and there. Their attraction grew by the minute, and Cree felt the pressure. The minute they met, they both felt it.
“You’re beautiful, Nyimah. Beyond your appearance. You got a beautiful soul. I’m glad you allowed me to share this moment with you.”
Nyimah bit her lip and exhaled slowly. Cree didn’t even know it, but ever since she’d met him at the casino, he had been slowly melting away her resolve. The way he was looking at her now—it was like the look Simba gave Nala—made her panties wet. She stepped closer to Cree. “Thank you,” she said as she grabbed his hands, “for making me feel seen again.”
Nyimah kissed Cree’s lips lightly. She pulled back and searched his eyes for any indication that he didn’t want to do this. Cree palmed Nyimah’s ass and pulled her in for another kiss. They locked lips, tongue danced with each other, and fumbled at each other’s clothing.
Cree kissed Nyimah’s neck from behind as he pulled at the strings of her corset. His kisses trailed down to her shoulders, and Nyimah’s body quivered in response. She rubbed Cree’s head and ground her body into his. The corset dropped, and the cool air caused her exposed nipples to become erect. Cree held her breasts in his hands, flicking her nipples with his fingers. He turned Nyimah to face him and kissed each breast before taking her nipples into his mouth.
Nyimah arched her back and moaned in pleasure. She squirmed in anticipation. She felt Cree’s size, and he was blessed in all departments. Length and girth.
Cree laid the blanket down on the sand and lowered himself to his knees. He slipped Nyimah’s shorts down her legs. Her lace panties were on display. Nyimah sexily stepped out of them and threw them to the ground. Standing naked on a beach, in front of Cree, had her hormones going crazy. Cree kissed the wetness between her legs and parted her lower lips with his.
“Oh my God!” Nyimah shrieked as her knees buckled. Cree held her thighs with strong hands as he French-kissed her pulsating pussy. She bit her lips as Cree licked her clitoris repeatedly. Swirling and sucking. Sucking and swirling. She felt an orgasm building in seconds. Nyimah pushed at Cree’s shoulders as her legs shook.
“Mm-hmm.” He shook his head and continued eating her. Nyimah brought her hands down her face and bit her fists. She had to do that, or she’d wake all the neighbors.
Cree stood, a smile on his face, and kissed Nyimah sloppily. She welcomed him and tasted herself as she kissed him back. “You wanna do this?” Cree asked, placing his forehead against Nyimah’s.
Nyimah responded with a kiss and pulled Cree’s shorts down. “Yes,” she said as she held him in her hands, stroking him slowly. He sat on the blanket, and Nyimah climbed on top of him. He kissed her neck. Nyimah lowered herself onto his thickness. She grimaced, moaned in pleasure, and rolled her body until she took all of him.
Cree massaged her back as he matched her pace, pulling in and out. “You good, baby?” he asked gently.
“Uh-huh,” Nyimah moaned. “It’s so good, baby,” she whined as she bounced her ass up and down on him. She wrapped her arms around Cree’s neck as she rode him. She leaned into his chest, and Cree wrapped his hands around her neck, forcing her to look into his eyes.
“Eye contact,” he instructed before gently grabbing her face and kissing her.
Nyimah’s body shook as she experienced another orgasm. This type of sex, this type of intimacy, she didn’t have with Jabari. It was just routine with him.
Gripping handfuls of Nyimah’s ass, Cree lifted her body and flipped her over. She knew what to do and got on all fours. He entered her slowly and growled lowly. “Damn,” he said and bit his lip. Nyimah threw her ass back. Their bodies collided beautifully, and they reached their climax simultaneously. Cree didn’t even think to pull out. They lay on the blanket.
“Oh my God. What if someone saw us?” Nyimah whispered as she snuggled beside Cree.
“Fuck ’em,” he said and kissed Nyimah’s forehead. “Let’s go shower.”
“Another round?” Nyimah asked and smiled. She stood and wrapped the blanket around her body.
Cree licked his lips, knowing they had started something that they wanted to do for hours and hours. He nodded and cradled Nyimah’s body in his arms. “Hell yeah.”
* * *
Nyimah and Cree walked down Rodeo Drive, arms locked together. Cree’s other arm was weighed down with shopping bags full of luxury items for Nyimah. They had left the others at the beach house and had spent the afternoon blowing a bag in Los Angeles. Cree had insisted on treating Nyimah to whatever her heart desired. Nyimah had already visited many luxury stores and had arranged for the bigger items to be delivered to her home. Cree hadn’t balked once when he’d pulled out his Amex to pay.
Nyimah imagined what it would be like to live like this every day, but the idea of flying back to North Carolina brought her back to reality. This wasn’t her life, and Cree wasn’t her man. This fling would be just a wild story she told her children and grandchildren years from now, when she reminisced about her life.
“What’s on your mind?” Cree asked Nyimah as they were seated in a smoothie café.
Nyimah blushed. It was shit like that that made her enamored of Cree. The small concern. The thought of caring to ask. She loved that shit. She needed it. “I’m thinking about what happens when I return home. I know this is temporary. I guess reality is hitting me now.”
Cree, who sat across from Nyimah, leaned back in his seat and fingered his beard. “It doesn’t have to be temporary,” he said.
Nyimah scoffed and laughed. “Cree, we have two different lives. It’s just complicated for us both. I’m not expecting you to uproot your life for me. I’m just saying I felt a lot of things I haven’t felt in years in this one weekend. And I have to sort that out with myself before I return home,” she explained.
“It’s as complicated as we make it. You got your life when you get back home and got shit to figure out. I understand. I’ma still be a call or text away. A jet away.” He smiled and reached to caress Nyimah’s hand. “We don’t have to be strangers,” he stated. “Having regrets?”
“I have no regrets at all,” Nyimah replied. She didn’t even feel guilty about having sex with Cree. He had put it on her so good that she had to figure out how to go back to her regular life. She wanted that dick on demand. She wanted to call on Cree at any time of the day just to enjoy his presence. One hit of Cree and she was addicted. How was a fein supposed to live without their high? “I’ve only seen shit like this in movies. Two people meet while traveling, have this passionate-ass weekend, and they fall . . .”
“In love?” Cree said, finishing Nyimah’s thought for her.
Nyimah shrugged her shoulders. A part of her thought the idea was crazy. It happened only in movies, because it was too good to be true. Yet Peggy’s words ran rampant through her mind. “Do you think it happens like that in real life?”
“I ’on’t think anything is impossible. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes. I know I care about you. I don’t want this to be the last time I see you.”
Nyimah blushed as she thumbed her knuckles nervously. “You make me feel things . . . in ways I haven’t in years. The last man that made me feel this way, I was madly in love with. So, I know love thoroughly, because I’ve experienced it so purely before. I know when I love someone,” she explained as she looked Cree in his eyes. “I’m not scaring you, am I?” She laughed.
“Not even. You’re not the only one feeling that way,” Cree assured her, indicating Nyimah’s unspoken sentiment was mutual. “We’ll talk more about that. Ain’t no pressure,” he said, even though pressure was all he wanted to apply. He could picture Nyimah being his woman, and he hoped she would stay in touch. She was a rarity and embodied everything he had ever envisioned his wife to be. “We both got shit to figure out.”
He knew he would be honest with his baby’s mother when he landed in Florida. Zenova had hopes that she and Cree could work past their issues for the sake of their daughter, Sanai. Nova, as many called her, had suggested therapy multiple times. “Therapy is for two muhfuckas who fucked up. I didn’t. You did,” Cree would tell Nova. Despite not being together, he felt she deserved to know about Nyimah. He didn’t want Nova thinking they would resurrect their relationship, because after meeting Nyimah, he didn’t want to settle for anything less.
Nyimah raised her eyebrows and exhaled. “That we do,” she agreed. She didn’t look forward to returning home to Jabari. In the back of her mind, she’d been formulating her breakup speech.
* * *
A night at the beach turned into Nyimah and her friends spending the rest of their weekend in California with Cree and his entourage. Late Sunday night, near midnight, everyone stepped out of the sprinter onto the jet airstrip. Paige exited the sprinter alone. Everyone else had found someone they vibed with. Pierre had even taken Aida on a shopping spree of her own. Nyimah had noticed Paige’s mood change and the fact that she seemed annoyed. However, Nyimah thought it was nothing more than travel frustrations. She hoped that Paige wasn’t mad about not finding someone to fuck with from Cree’s crew. After Cree and Pierre, the other few guys were booed up with the ladies they had brought from the club. Shit, Paige got niggas on the regular, so Nyimah dismissed the idea.
“I’m not ready to go home,” Aida said and pouted as everyone settled on the jet.
“Gotta get home to those kids, right?” Paige asked. She rested in the seat, with her dark Gucci frames on her face.
Aida sucked her teeth. “And I do. What business is that of yours?” she challenged Paige. Unlike Nyimah, Aida had peeped the attitude, and she had had enough of it. If Paige was trying to get a rise out of Aida, it failed. Aida tolerated Paige only out of respect for Nyimah. They weren’t close as friends and would never be after Paige had shown her true colors this weekend. The bitch couldn’t help but be salty when the attention wasn’t on her.
Paige laughed and threw her hands up in surrender. “Just saying.” She shrugged and slipped her AirPods in her ears.
“That was so unnecessary,” commented Raelynn, one of the girls from the entourage. “We can’t be mothers and enjoy ourselves? Damn.”
Nyimah and Cree sat in the back of the jet, engrossed in their own conversation. The girls were scheduled to fly back to North Carolina in a few hours. She wanted to savor every minute she had left with Cree. In less than twenty-four hours, her life would be back to regular programming.
“You sure you don’t want to stay for a few more days? It’s nothing but a word,” Cree said as he kissed Nyimah’s hands.
She smiled and contemplated the offer. “I’d love to, but then I’d never want to leave. But I have a full schedule of clients this week, and someone has to keep Aida from beating Paige’s ass.” Nyimah laughed.
“I fuck with Aida,” Cree commented.
“And Paige?” Nyimah asked.
Cree took a moment before responding. He had got no good vibes from Paige at all. He knew a hater when he saw one. “Watch her,” he suggested. Cree had noticed how Paige threw shade at Aida the entire weekend because Pierre liked Aida instead of her. She had clout-chaser energy, and it wasn’t a good look for her.
“Okay. Not cryptic at all.” Nyimah laughed, but Cree’s words stuck with her. She knew men were usually right about those things. “Noted,” she added and glanced in Paige’s direction. She hoped there wasn’t any hidden animosity on Paige’s behalf. They’d been friends for ten years. Nyimah considered her to be like a sister.
* * *
“You locked me in?” Cree asked as they stood on the landing strip. Two separate vehicles awaited the group.
Nyimah nodded. “Of course.”
Cree reached out and embraced Nyimah. He kissed her lips and gripped handfuls of her ass. “Damn, I’m gon’ miss you.” He walked Nyimah to the town car he had supplied and opened the door. Aida and Paige were already seated inside. “Don’t be a stranger. Have a safe flight, beautiful.”
“I’ll let you know when I land. You be safe too,” Nyimah said before getting in the car.
Once she was seated, Cree leaned in the window and planted a kiss on Nyimah’s forehead. “Nice meeting you, ladies, too. Fly safe.”
“Likewise, Cree. Be safe!” Aida replied. Paige nodded her head and waved to Cree.
He knocked on the hood twice before walking off in the direction of his waiting car.
Nyimah leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes. She could still feel Cree’s lips lingering on her forehead. Her fairy-tale weekend had come to an end, and she had had to say farewell to her Prince Charming. Looking down at her phone and seeing all the missed calls from Jabari, she knew things would have to be addressed when she returned home.
Three
Nyimah pulled into the driveway of her home around five in the evening on Sunday. Surprisingly, Jabari’s Range Rover sat parked in the driveway. She hadn’t expected him to be home this early. She beeped her horn and waited a minute for Jabari to come out and assist with her bags. After five minutes of waiting, Nyimah chuckled, picked up her new Chanel purse, which Cree had bought, and exited the car. She entered the house and spotted Jabari on the couch, watching ESPN highlights.
“You aren’t going to help with my bags?” she asked, standing there with her hands on her hips.
Jabari chuckled and pointed the remote at the TV to turn it off. “You weren’t going to answer my calls? Just ignore me the whole trip?”
Nyimah sighed and placed her purse on the bar in the kitchen. She reached for a glass and poured herself some water. She could feel an argument brewing already. “I wanted to enjoy myself without having to stress myself with anything back home,” Nyimah stated.
“Hmm, right,” Jabari mumbled and sucked his teeth. “That’s reasonable. In fact, I almost believed it.” He laughed.
