Page 20 of Surrender to Love

“You know I do. I got you just like you got me.” She kisses me slowly then tilts her head to the side and says, “We better get in this food line before all the stew is gone.”

“Zongo, baby. This ain’t no regular stew. It’s your man’s favorite stew.”

“Then you need to teach me how to cook it so I can feed my man his favorite.”

“My favorite is in these jeans, protected by some thick and pretty thighs. I’m going to want that when we leave here. I was talking about stew,” I tell her and she smiles.

“Nasty ass,” she snickers.

“Yo’ nasty ass though.” After pecking the side of her sweet-smelling neck, I tap her ass then lead her to the slow-moving line of my nephews loading up their bowls. “Hassan, nigga, you can come back for more,” I scoff when I see him damn near overflow his bowl. Then he has the nerve to get six boiled eggs. “Ay!”

“Leave him alone. He’s in college and doesn’t get to eat like this every day.”

“’Preciate that, Dean,” he says before walking to his seat.

Hassan and Hussain are in their last year at CFU and live in Crescent Falls. Thursday attends too, but I think she’s a sophomore or junior. She’s really been coming around a lot, especially since Asali don’t really fuck with her. The man I thought was so solid when I was a jit really ain’t shit. He’s definitely not the man he made us believe he was. My brothers and I are grown, so we’re straight; but Thursday isn’t even twenty. She’s a damn teenager; he’s wrong for abandoning her.

“Where is Thursday?” I ask Hussain.

“She had to stay on campus and study but I got her. Shuga said I can take her some food back.”

“You sure she’s studying and not trying to be up under some nigga or some shit?” I ask.

“Shiro, that’s her business,” Kyrah interjects.

“Nah, Miss Dean, that’s our business.” Hussain nods. “We on her, Unc. Ain’t nothing happening under our watch,” he assures me and I nod.

“Y’all are really a mess. I feel bad for Alami and poor Niya when she grows up.”

“Ahh nah. Niya never dating,” Hussain says before walking to the table.

Since we finally made it to the pots, Kyrah grabs two bowls and a plate. I fill one bowl with everything then add Zongo to the other and a scoop of rice and two eggs onto the plate. She likes her food separate. I carry the bowls and she takes the plate to the table with Quintus. As soon as I sit down, I ask Mireya about Thursday because she spends most holidays and breaks with them.

“Does Thursday have a boyfriend?”

“What? How am I supposed to know?” she responds.

“I know,” Niya says with a smirk.

“Niya,” Mireya says in that motherly warning tone.

“Yes. I didn’t say his name. I just said I know, Mommie,” Niya says, confirming what I expected. Thursday doesn’t miss Sunday dinners. Once Shuga opened her home to Thursday and welcomed her like only Shuga does, she has been here. Missing this month when we all knew Shuga was cooking Zongo was a dead giveaway. I’ll make sure I get the nigga’s name from Niya later and put the twins up on it.

SEVEN

“Get back in bed,” his groggy baritone says right as I call myself creeping out of his room.

It’s six o’clock and I need to be back in Crescent Falls and on campus at eight. He doesn’t go in until nine on Mondays, so whenever I stay here with him, I move around as quietly as I can. As usual, I showered and dressed in his bathroom downstairs but forgot my cell. I came back to get it and now I’m caught.

“No. Go back to sleep,” I say without even turning around.

I can’t be tempted this morning.

“Then come give me a kiss,” he says and I just shake my head.

He’s trying it.

“Shiro, if I turn around and walk back to your bed, you have to keep your hands to yourself. You cannot touch me,” I say adamantly.