Part 3b - "What Is It Gonna Be"

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

After stepping out of the shower, I quickly dried off, grabbed my robe on the back of the door and slipped it on. I then headed for my bedroom to put on my black lace bra and boyshorts set before putting on my pink and black matching pajama short-set. The top was black and trimmed in pink with the word angel going across the top portion of it stitched in pink and the shorts were pink and trimmed in black. Afterwards, I sat down on the side of the bed and lotioned myself up with cocoa butter before returning to the living room.

"All done?" Mario grinned the moment he saw me approaching him as he sat on the sofa.

"Mmm hmm." I sat down next to him while asking if he had found anything good on tv to watch.

"Nah, not really."

I grabbed the stereo's remote to turn it on before turning the tv off. "Maybe somethin's good on the radio." Sure enough the opening of Lyfe Jennings' "Must Be Nice" was playing.

"I loooooove this song," I happily sighed as I sat back and closed my eyes. I felt Mario moving around so I opened my eyes back up and saw him standing up in front of me while holding his hand out in my direction.

"Could I have this dance?" he grinned.

I bit my bottom lip while smiling as I placed my hand in his before standing up. I proceeded to wrap my arms around his neck while he placed his arms around my waist.

"Could I ask you a question?" I asked as we began to dance.

"Yeah."

"You are so sweet that I wanna know why is it that you're not with anybody that I know of?"

"I was with someone for almost two years until I found out about a year ago that my money wasn't enough. She was spendin' mine and anotha nigga's too."

"Damn. That's messed up."

"True," he agreed before placing a kiss on my neck pretty much ending our discussion as we continued to dance.

By the time the next song had come on, he and I were passionately kissing each other as I led him back over to the sofa. As soon as he was sitting, I quickly climbed on his lap while kissing on his ears and neck before returning my lips to his. In the meantime, he slid his hands up the back of my pajama top. When he realized he had unsnapped my bra, he abruptly stopped kissing me.

"What is it?" I asked as I went back to kissing on his neck.

"I want you in the worst way," he sighed as he hesitantly pulled my arms from around his neck.

I sat back far enough to look at him. "Okay, so what's stoppin' you?"

"Because I don't want to take advantage of you; you're real vulnerable right now."

"Oh," I mumbled as I slowly slid off of his lap and sat down next to him. I proceeded to look down at my hands that were resting in my lap. I had never felt so dejected in my life.

"But you know what I would like to do instead of that?" he asked before placing a kiss on my cheek and taking his hand to turn my head so I could look at him.

"What?"

"I would love to hold you for the rest of the night." This time he leaned forward and kissed me.

I began to smile as I turned off the stereo and took a hold of his hand to lead him back to my room for a second time.

We had just settled down into each other's arms when the house phone rang.

When I picked it up, I saw that it was Hope's cell number showing up on the phone’s display.

"Hey."

"Hey," she wearily sighed.

I quickly sat up. "Is everything okay?"

"No. Daddy and I just had a fight about him sayin' that I couldn't see LaRon anymore."

"He can be such an a$$hole at times," I angrily huffed as I reached over to turn my lamp on on my nightstand. "You want to come stay over here?"

"No. I need some time to be alone. But could you cover for me in case one of them call you lookin' for me?"

"You mean Momma only," I sarcastically chuckled. "That low-down dog KNOWS not to call me!"

"Yeah, okay...whateva," she managed to chuckle back. "But can you do it for me?"

"Of course! But you call me if you need me for anything. You hear?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

"Bye, sweetie."

When I hung up the phone, I didn't bother to turn the lamp off; I just made my way back over into Mario's arms.

"Everything okay?"

"Not really. That was Hope. She had a fight with our parents so she left before things got too out of hand."

"Oh. So she's not comin' over here? If she is, I can leave."

"Uh-uh," I replied with a shake of my head as I snuggled up even closer to him. "She said she needs time alone right now. Knowin' her, she'll probably end up spendin' the night at one of her girlfriend's houses."

He placed a kiss on my forehead.

Just as I was closing my eyes, the phone rung again. I quickly turned over to get it while he snuggled up close behind me.

"Hello," I emptily stated when I saw Daddy's name on the display.

"Hannah? Have you heard from or seen Hope? She left out of here about a half-hour ago and she won't answer my calls," Momma anxiously responded.

"She's here and she told me about everything. But right now I think it's best to leave her alone and give her some time to calm down. She's pretty upset. I'll tell her you called though and I'll have her call you back in the mornin'. Okay?"

She was hesitant for a moment before giving in. "Okay. Tell her that I still love her...and I love you too."

Now it was my turn to be hesitant. "Okay, Momma. Good night." I didn't bother to wait for her to say anything else as I hung up.

"Sorry about all of these interruptions," I sighed as I glanced over my shoulder at Mario.

"It's cool," he smiled.

"What time do you need me to set the clock for?"

"No need to do that, I have my phone's alarm set to wake me up every day."

"Oh, okay." I reached back over to turn my lamp off.

"Good night," he whispered before placing a kiss on my cheek as he continued to hold me from behind.

"Good night."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Hope pulled up in front of LaRon's apartment, she sat in her car for about five minutes trying to get herself together. She still couldn't believe that Daddy had put his hands on her when she started rubbing her upper right arm that had a pretty nasty bruise on it. Since she had on a sleeveless top, she reached in her backseat to grab her light jacket to put on to cover it up. After stepping out of her car, she set the alarm before making her way upstairs.

"Hope? What are you doin' over here this time of night?" LaRon asked in surprise after opening the door for her. He noticed that her mascara was running from the crying she had done.
"I couldn't stand to stay there another minute," she sniffed as she walked inside. When she did, she saw one of LaRon’s boys named Cameron who was also his roommate sitting in an armchair watching tv and talking on his phone. She immediately turned around to look at LaRon who was closing and locking the door. "I'm sorry; I'll go." She quickly headed back over to the door to leave.

"It's okay. We can go in my room to talk," he replied as he took her hand to lead her down the hall.

She walked over to his bed and flopped down on it.

"So what's goin' on? What happened?"

"Daddy was trippin' when I went inside tellin' me I couldn't see you anymore and just talkin' a bunch of nonsense."

He made his way over to the bed and sat down next to her while taking her hand. "Damn. Walkin' out on your folks is serious business. I don't want to come in between you and your parents, Hope."

"I think Daddy just wants to use you as an excuse. He's always told me what to do and I have always listened. But it's come to the point that I can't be that way anymore. I'm an adult now so it's time he stopped treatin' me like a child."

"I hear you, but...," he started while wrapping his arm around her shoulder. But when he tried to pull her close to him, she winced in pain while removing his hand from her upper arm.

"What is it?"

"Nothin'," she mumbled.

"What's wrong with your arm?"

"I said nothin'," she snapped as she moved away from him.

"Yeah, we'll see," he huffed as he jumped up to sit on the opposite side of her. He immediately began to try to pull her coat down off of her shoulder although she was pulling away from him. However, he was able to pull it down far enough to see the red and blue bruise. "Your pops did this shit?!"

She didn't say anything as she yanked her arm away while turning from him and pulling her jacket back on.

"Hell, fuck this," he snapped as he jumped up from the bed.

Hope watched him as he walked over to his closet and flung the door open. When she saw him reaching for a box on the shelf, she quickly jumped up and asked him a question she pretty much knew the answer to. "What are you doin'?!"

"Pops or no pops...I ain't lettin' that nigga get away with puttin' his hands on my girl!" he spat as he snatched then tossed the lid on his shoe box over his shoulder. As soon as he pulled his gun out, he dropped the box that it was in to the floor.

"Nigga, is you crazy?! You betta put that shit back where it came from!" she shouted.

"Look, I gotta protect what's mine!"

"Whateva! All I know is that's still my Daddy regardless and you think I'ma let your stupid black ass go kill him?!"

"Who the fuck you callin' stupid?!"

"Nigga, I'm callin' your stupid ass stupid! Now put that gun down!"

"I can't do that!"

"Why not?!"

"Like I said I gotta protect what's mine at all costs!"

"You know what? I thought you were so different, but now I see that you're just like every other thug on the street! I'm gone!" Hope turned to walk out the room until she heard LaRon putting his gun back in the box.

"C'mere," he sighed while looking away from her after kicking the box over in a corner.

"Nigga, please," she huffed.

"Hope, I said c'mere," he huffed back as he made his way over to her.

Still she wouldn't move. Instead she folded her arms and looked away from him.

"Look at'chu lookin' all sexy and shit while you mad," he smirked as he pulled her towards him by the waist of her denim capris.

"Get off me," she mumbled while trying to push him away.

"Damn...you not playin' are you?" he grinned while looking in her face each time she tried to turn away from him.

"No I'm not playin'. I can't believe you just stood here in my face threatenin' to kill my Daddy," she smirked before looking at him. They both began to laugh.

"Girl, you know I wasn't gonna kill him. I was just gonna scare him and shit. That's all," he replied like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, and then have him REALLY be on my case? You might need to think about enrollin' in some anger management classes or somethin'."

"Yeah, whateva. So what are you gonna do?"

"I'on't know," she sighed. "But I know I don't wanna go back home. And I don't wanna go stay at Hannah's because more than likely, Momma will show up over there if she hasn't stopped callin' her yet."

"You could stay here for the night."

Hope gave him the screw face.

"That doesn't mean we have to do anything," he huffed with a roll of his eyes.

"I know," she huffed back.

"So are you? Or do you want me to take you to a friend's house or somethin'?"

"Well since it's kinda late, I guess I could stay here."

"Tell you what...I'll crash on the couch and you can stay in here. Okay?" he smiled before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Okay," she smiled back with a nod of her head.

LaRon proceeded to go back over to his closet to grab a blanket and pillow. He also grabbed one of his many t-shirts and handed it to Hope to sleep in. When he reached the living room, Cameron was making his way out the door to go lay up with one of his many women.

Meanwhile, Hope was back in the bedroom kicking off her sandals before taking off all of her clothes. She then slipped the t-shirt over her head before removing her bra. As soon as she was underneath the covers, she began to shed silent tears while thinking about what she was going to do next as far as Momma and Daddy went.

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

Back in the living room, LaRon was having a hard time trying to go to sleep on one pillow. He got up and was heading down the hall to Cameron's room to grab an extra pillow from his closet when he heard Hope sniffing and blowing her nose with a few Kleenex she grabbed from her purse.

"You okay?" he asked after sticking his head in the door that was half-way closed.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she replied while keeping her back to him.

Without saying anything, he climbed in the bed next to her and pulled her to him, holding her from behind. "I'm here."

"Thank you."

For several minutes, they lay in silence until she rolled over to look at him as they continued to stay in each other's arms.

"Did you really mean what you said about me bein' yours earlier?"

"Huh?"

She loudly sucked her teeth. "When you said that you had to protect what's yours meanin' me. Were you serious about that?"

"Of course I was," he nonchalantly stated as he sat up far enough to lean over and kiss her bruised arm after carefully rolling her sleeve up.

"So I'm yours after only three weeks, huh?"

"Look it's like this...while most people think it takes a lot of time to get to know and love someone, I just don't believe that bullshit. I know what I feel every time I think about or see you, and that's real."

"Whaaaaaaat?" she lightly chuckled. "You love me?"

"Yeah," he blushed. "What about you?"

She was quiet for a moment before grinning and telling him that she was all his.

Afterwards, they began to passionately kiss as he rolled over onto her. However, when she felt one of his hands tugging at the waist of her panties, she stopped him.

"My bad. We don't have to if you're not ready," he stated as he rested his forehead up against hers while quickly moving his hand away.

"No, it's not that...I just want to know if...I don't know what I want to know," she sighed while lightly running her fingertips up and down his back.

"I know...you want to make sure that I really mean what I say. You don't have to worry about that because I do."

Hope proceeded to lift her lips up to his and shared another deep kiss with him as his hands began to slowly pull her panties down. Over the next several minutes, he gently explored her with one hand, while he continuously ran his other hand through her hair. He also alternated between kissing her and her breasts until she had her very first orgasm.

"Damn, shorty. That was quick," he smirked before planting kisses on her neck as removed his hand.

She could only manage to weakly chuckle while trying to catch her breath back.

"You a'ight?"

She nodded her head. She then listened as he reached over into his nightstand drawer in the darkness to pull a condom out.

After placing it on, he ever so slowly lowered himself into her all the while telling her to relax the moment he felt her tense up.

Since she couldn't say anything, she laid still while taking short shallow breaths.

"I got you, ma; trust me," he reassured her before kissing her as he slid his hands down to her waist to hold her steady.

Every few minutes, he would ask her if she was okay and each time she managed to say yeah, she noticed that he would pick up his pace. It wasn't long before she found herself matching his strokes as her hips began to lift up from the bed with him.

"Oh...oh, god!" she moaned repeatedly as she clawed at his back.

"Shit, ma," he groaned when he felt her pulling him in deeper as she began to have her second orgasm along with him.

Afterwards, he kissed her on the cheek before rolling off of her. "You still good?"

"Yeah," she managed to smile as she turned her head to look at him. "I'll be back in a minute." She proceeded to get up to go to the bathroom to freshen up. In the meantime, he basked in his afterglow by placing his hands behind his head while looking up at the ceiling.

Several minutes later when Hope came back to bed, she heard LaRon lightly snoring. But he quickly woke up the moment he felt her lying back down next to him.

"Goodnight," she giggled as she snuggled up close to him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Night, ma," he smiled as he held her tightly. They both immediately went to sleep for a few hours.

Before dawn, LaRon woke Hope up when she felt him slowly exploring her with his tongue.

"Damn...what...what are you doin'?" she sighed as she placed her hands behind his head to pull him in closer.

He responded to her question by speeding up and then slowing down his tongue technique. This went on for quite some time with Hope experiencing three orgasms which lead up to her fourth and final one when she felt her stomach contracting as LaRon stroked her faster and faster until her entire body went limp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waking up around 6:30 to the sound of Mario’s phone alarm going off, I felt him remove his arm from around my side for a moment to reach behind him on the nightstand to turn his phone off.

“I can’t believe it’s time to get up already,” I mumbled while rolling over and snuggling closer to him while placing my head on his bare chest.

“I know right,” he agreed.

“I wish we could stay like this for just a couple of more hours,” I sighed.

He kissed the top of my head before we both sat up. “We will,” he smiled.

I smiled back at him before asking if he could stay long enough for breakfast. After he told me he could, I proceeded to tell him where to find the clean towels and whatnot as well as the place where I kept a few extra toothbrushes so he could get ready for work. In the meantime, I made my way down to the kitchen with his clothes to wash and dry them while I fixed us breakfast.

“I hate to eat and run, but I need to hurry up and get down to the shop so I can go ahead and put that order in for your time belt. You sure you don’t need me to take you to work?” he asked as we stood in front of my door.

“No,” I smiled with a shake of my head. “Milani goes by that way on her way to work anyway so I’m straight. Thanks though.”

“You’re welcome.” He proceeded to pull me into his arms and gave me a kiss that nearly made my knees buckle. “I’ll catch up with you lata.”

“Okay; bye,” I smiled before biting my bottom lip.

“Bye,” he grinned as he made his way outside and over to his truck.

I was about to close my door after seeing him leave when Hope pulled into the driveway.

“Good mornin’,” she grinned as I let her in.

I didn’t answer her as I closed the door. Instead, I watched her closely as we stood facing each other. I noticed that she was wearing a baggy Ecko hoodie which could only mean one thing.

“What?” she smirked.

“Let’s see…you wasn’t home last night; you’re all happy and whatnot; you’re wearin’ a hoodie juss like someone else I know; and ya got a lil’ pep in your step. I know what’chu did last night,” I giggled.

The only thing Hope could do was blush before she started giggling.

“Well, what about you? I passed Mario drivin’ up the block and I know he doesn’t live anywhere near here,” she laughed.

“I ain’t even talkin’ ‘bout all that,” I smirked as we both sat down. “Momma called last night and I told her that you were here and that you’d call her this mornin’.”

“I will,” she replied with a nod of her head.

“Okay. Well I need to get ready for work and call Milani so she can pick me up.”

“Somethin’s wrong with your car?”

“Yeah. Mario checked it out for me yesterday and said it’s the timin’ belt.”

“So where’s Brian?” she snapped.

“He and Corey had to run up to Brooklyn yesterday to do some last minute stuff for some kinda car show up there this weekend so he won’t be back until lata on this mornin’.”

“Oh. Well if you want, you can borrow my car since I’m not goin’ to class today.”

“No, you need to go on to school. Don’t start makin’ a habit of missin’ classes, babygirl.”

“I’m not. It’s only gonna be this one time, I hope, since I left my books at home and I’m not ready to see Daddy yet.”

“Okay, well I can understand that. I’ll take good care of your car. Thanks,” I smiled as I walked over to her while she stood up. We proceeded to hug one another.

“You’re welcome. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get some rest,” she slyly grinned.

“And don’t forget to give LaRon his shirt back,” I joked as I headed for the kitchen to put the dishes in the dishwasher before getting ready for work.

“Whateva!” she laughed as she went down the hall to her room. Upon reaching it, she quickly pulled LaRon’s hoodie up and over her right arm enough to check out her bruise. It still looked about the same, so she pulled the hoodie back down to conceal it from me because she knew I’d go off the deep end if I knew Daddy hurt her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

When I arrived at work, I saw LaRon sitting on the sofa in the waiting area while Shanitra and the other girls were preparing their booths for the day. The minute he saw me, a sly smile spread across his face.

“Boy, what’chu doin’ here?” I smirked as I walked past him to head to my manicure station in the back after saying good morning to everyone else.

“I’m waitin’ on my boy to hook up my ride,” he grinned as he followed me back to my station. “Speakin’ of which, he told me that he’s really feelin’ you.”

“I’m really feelin’ him too,” I blushed as I went through my appointment book. I was glad to see that I only had three customers coming in for the entire day with the first appointment coming in around 2:30.

“But speakin’ to you as a friend, I hope you’re not gonna string him along,” he sighed as he sat down on the loveseat in my waiting area.

“I don’t plan on doin’ that,” I replied with a suck of my teeth as I grabbed Nikki Turner’s latest novel from my bag before making my way over to the loveseat to sit next to him. “But I do have some things I need to take care of first regardin’ Brian’s dumb ass.”

“Coo’,” LaRon yawned as he placed his head up against my shoulder while throwing one of his legs across the arm of the loveseat. He quickly nodded off to sleep.

I was deep into my book close to a half-hour later while he continued to snore up against my shoulder when we were both startled by Mario who tossed LaRon’s keys into his lap after walking into my area unannounced.

“Damn, man! Why couldn’t you just call me up to let me know I was straight?” he huffed as he snatched his keys from his lap. However, when he saw the way Mario and I were smiling at each other, he knew what was up.

“Hey, have you heard from Brian or Corey?” Mario asked while we continued to watch each other.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t,” I replied with a shake of my head. “He told me he was gonna be back around 9:00 this mornin’ though.”

When I glanced down at my watch, it was going on 10:05 . I quickly stood up and grabbed my phone from my bag to call him. However, after two tries I couldn’t get an answer. I was about to call his home phone when my phone started ringing. I noticed a strange number show up on my ID.

“Hello?” I answered as I held a finger up to Mario to wait although LaRon was already leaving.

“Hey, Han…it’s Corey.”

“Hey, what’s goin’ on? The guys said that you and Brian haven’t showed up to work yet.”

“Yeah, my bad for not callin’ you sooner, but I’ve been here at the hospital all night with B. He was robbed and beaten up pretty bad last night,” he sighed.

“What?” I asked in shock as I flopped down in my manicurist chair. I quickly placed my hand up to my chest.

“Try not to worry too much; the docs said he’ll be able to go home tomorrow or Friday. His only major injury is a cracked rib, but otha than that his face is bruised up and shit. His moms should be here in a few minutes so I can get back down to the shop. I should be there no later than 2 or 3 if anybody else asks.”

“Okay, th-thanks,” I sighed before ending our call. Afterwards, I explained what happened to Mario.

“Sorry to hear that,” he mumbled.

I could only shake my head as I walked with him over to my side door so he wouldn’t have to make the walk all the way back out front. However, I noticed that he hesitated at the door before turning around to look at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Did you have any plans for lunch today?”

“No,” I replied with a shake of my head.

“What time do you usually take your lunch break?”

“Between 12 and 2. Why?” I smiled while my heart began to flutter.

“Do you think you could take it around 11:30 ? I wanted to take you somewhere special if you’re up for it,” he grinned.

“Ummm…yeah…I could do that. I can even take an extended one since my first appointment’s not comin’ in until 2:30 .”

A’ight. Well I’ll pick you up in about an hour.”
“Okay. Oh, pick me up at my place. That way I can leave now to go home and change,” I replied as I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a smock over my purple velour short-set.

“Okay,” he smiled before quickly brushing his lips against mine. “See ya.”

“Bye.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hello?” Hope yawned while answering my home phone.

“Hello. Could I speak with Hannah Dixon?” a male voice asked in an urgent tone.

“She’s not in right now. Could I take a message?” Hope hurriedly sat up and grabbed her purse from the side of the bed to write down a note for me.

“No thank you. I’ll try back later.”

After listening to the dial tone for a few seconds while trying to figure out what that call was all about, she shrugged her shoulders and lay back down on her back kicking her purse away. She was about to doze off again when the doorbell rang.

“Ugggggh!” she grumbled as she pulled herself up from the bed to answer the door. Her mood instantly changed to a good one when she saw LaRon standing on the porch.

“Hey, boo. Did I wake you?” he grinned as she opened the door to let him inside.

“Yeah, but it’s cool,” she grinned back.

“That’s good because I brought us some breakfast since Hannah told me you went to bed right after comin’ in so I figured you hadn’t ate anything yet.” They proceeded to sit down next to each other on the sofa while he placed their bags from McDonald’s down on the coffee table.

After their breakfast, they decided to go down to the basement to stretch out on my sofa bed and watch tv since the both of them were still somewhat sleepy after getting their stomachs full. They had only been lying in each other’s arms for ten minutes before falling fast asleep.

I arrived home a few minutes afterwards to take a quick shower and change clothes and noticed LaRon’s ride parked on the street. All I could do was smile and shake my head as I made my way inside.

As I walked past Hope’s room on the way to mine to pick an outfit to wear for lunch, I noticed that neither she nor Laron was in there since the door was wide open. Even though I didn’t remember hearing them in the kitchen, I went in there to double-check anyway. That’s when I noticed that the door leading down to the basement was slightly ajar.

I crept down the steps while hearing the tv softly playing and major snoring going on. As soon as I was at the bottom of the steps, I couldn’t help from smiling at the two of them fully dressed as they slept while LaRon held Hope from behind.

I quietly walked over to a trunk I kept in the corner of the room filled with a few blankets and pillows and pulled out my favorite Mickey Mouse blanket that my grandmother had bought for me when I came to live with her. After covering the two of them up with the blanket, I quietly made my way back upstairs.

I took a quick shower and returned to my bedroom to lotion up and get dressed in a deep coral-colored sundress with an empire waist and a cute pair of natural-colored wedge-heeled sandals. I then went over to my dresser mirror to put on a coat of clear-colored gloss when I heard the doorbell ring. Glancing at my clock-radio, I noticed that it was 11:15.

“Wow,” Mario grinned with approval after I opened the door for him. I immediately noticed that he was still dressed in his jeans and black wife-beater minus the shop’s shirt.

“I feel a lil’ too overdressed now,” I blushed while looking down at myself.

“No, you’re just right,” he replied with a nod of his head. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” I smiled as I closed and locked the door behind us.

Mario had been driving for close to thirty minutes before I realized that we were outside of Baltimore’s city limits. We were now riding along a countryside road.

“Where are we goin’?” I finally asked since we had been talking about so many other things beforehand.

“I told you someplace special,” he grinned while glancing over at me. “We should be there in about five more minutes.”

“Oh, okay,” I replied with an unsure smile.

Sure enough, we were pulling up in front of what appeared to be a quaint, two-story farmhouse that was painted a deep yellow shade and trimmed in green.

When I glanced over at him as he put his truck in park, he explained to me that this was his grandmother’s home and that he had been raised here and came here for lunch sometimes.

I couldn’t help from blushing at the fact that Mario was actually bringing me to meet his grandmother already. However, instead of saying anything, I waited for him to open my door. When he did, he grabbed my hand and led us inside after using his key.

As soon as we were in the living room, we were both greeted by the delicious aroma of lunch being prepared from the kitchen across the hall.

“Gran’ma! I’m here!” he announced as we walked over to the kitchen still holding hands.

“Oh, me baby’s here! Welcome, child!” she happily stated in a thick island accent as she approached us while wiping her hands on her apron. After placing her hands on either side of Mario’s face, she reached up and gave him a loving kiss on his forehead.

“And who might this pretty little ting be, we have here now?” she asked while smiling at me.

“This is my friend, Hannah Dixon. She’s havin’ lunch with us today if that’s okay,” he suddenly blushed while squeezing my hand as we looked at each other.

“Hi, I’m pleased to meet you,” I grinned as I took my hand out of his to shake hers.

“Me want no handshake. Give me hug, child!” she grinned back while holding out her arms. I wasted no time in hugging her. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of my own grandmother.

After our introductions, Mario excused himself and went out the backdoor for a few minutes while I helped his grandmother finish preparing lunch.

She and I were talking and getting along very well with one another when she said something that took me by surprise.

“Why so much pain in those big, bright eyes?” she asked as we stood across from each other while I helped her set the table.
“Excuse me?”

I watched her as she walked over to me. After taking my hands into hers, she went on.

“I’ve had the gift of knowing about someone just from looking in their eyes ever since I was a child. What is it that troubles you so?”

“Noth…nothin’,” I nervously stammered while trying to look away from her although I couldn’t. It’s as if her eyes were forcing mine to stay on hers.

“Come, come…let’s sit,” she stated as she let go of my hands for a moment so we could pull our chairs out. She immediately grabbed back up to my hands after turning and facing me in her chair. I proceeded to turn in mine to face her as well.

“You will win the fight that you’ve been involved with for many years,” she stated as she once again held my eyes with hers. “Your opponent will no longer have a hold on you as soon as your courage and strength have been recognized.”

This time, I felt a big tear roll from one of my eyes as I bit my bottom lip. I knew right away what she was talking about and I was no longer afraid of what she was revealing to me.

“Yes! You will win and it will give your mother the courage and strength to face the truth that’s been within her all along! You two will rise above whatever dilemma has caused you both to drift apart. But you must keep up your strength for this to happen. Do not back down at any cost! If you do so, your opponent will win making sure that you stay down never to rise again! Be strong, my sweet child, be strong!” She reached over with her apron to wipe away the tears that were streaming down my face. However, when she wiped the last one away and noticed that I didn’t have anymore to shed, she quickly jumped up rejoicing while pulling me up with her.

“You’ve already begun to fight your fight! The next tears you cry will be tears of happiness and joy as you continue to win! Your eyes are already filling up with strength that you never realized you had!” She grabbed me up in a big hug while I laughed and held onto her tightly.

Several minutes later after Mario rejoined us from outside, the three of us had a wonderful lunch while I listened to cute stories about him growing up and sometimes being quite a handful for his grandmother to deal with.

When we were done, Mario told her that he was going to show me around her orchard out back.
“I can take a quick tour after I help with the dishes,” I smiled as I stood up to take our plates into the kitchen.

“You’ll do no such thing. You go and enjoy time with grandson. I’ll be fine, no?”

“Yeah,” he smiled while taking my hand and looking at me. “She can take it from here.”

“Okay. Thank you for a lovely lunch,” I smiled while letting go of his hand long enough to hug her.

“You’re very welcome. Now go,” she chuckled while pointing to the back door.

“Yes, ma’am,” I chuckled back as I took a hold of Mario’s hand so he could lead us out back.

Once we were outside, I took in the breathtaking view of all the land covered in apple trees.

“It’s so peaceful and serene out here,” I sighed.

“Yup,” he agreed. “Let’s go this way; I have somethin’ I wanna show you.” He then led us over to an area that was quite a distance from the house.

“For us?” I smiled when we reached an open-spaced area with a few trees scattered about. A white blanket was spread out on the newly cut grass with a large-sized picnic basket sitting on it.

“No, for you,” he grinned as he placed his arms around me. We shared a quick kiss before he led me over to the blanket.

After sitting down next to each other, I watched him as he pulled a medium-sized jar of honey from the basket along with a bowl of large strawberries that was covered by a piece of Saran-Wrap. Just when I thought he was done, he pulled two wine glasses from the basket and handed me one before reaching back in it to pull out a bottle of Alamos Chardonnay.

“Wow, you really went all out for me, huh? What did I do to deserve all this?” I bashfully smiled as he poured some wine in my glass.

“Just bein’ you,” he smiled. “And right now is all about you.” He and I clanked our glasses together in a toast.

“Mmmm-mmmph,” I smirked while turning from him and taking a sip from my glass as I watched a butterfly flutter past us.

As I took in the sounds of nature all around us, Mario sat his glass down and proceeded to remove the wrap from the bowl of strawberries before opening up the jar of honey.

“Here,” he smiled after dipping a strawberry into the honey.

I blushed before slowly biting it as he held it for me. “Mmmm…this is good!”

“It’s gonna be even betta in a minute,” he slyly grinned while winking at me as he ate the rest of it.

“How so?” I smirked the moment he took me in his arms as we lay back on the blanket.

“You’ll see,” he replied before lowering his lips down onto mine. Any other time, I would’ve protested what was about to take place especially when we could possibly be caught, but I didn’t, even when I felt him pushing my dress up and pulling my panties down.

I started giggling when he began to make light circles on my neck with his tongue. When our lips met again, I felt him reaching over with one hand towards the bowl of strawberries. He then stopped kissing me long enough to dip it in the jar of honey once again.

“It’s all about you,” he whispered as he lowered his lips back down onto mine. In the meantime, he took the strawberry he was holding and immediately lowered it between my legs slowly running it up and down and around me which caused me to moan repeatedly as he kissed me around my neck and throat. In no time flat, I was in euphoria as I felt him moving his head down between my legs.

As soon as I felt his tongue, I held onto the back of his head with one hand and his shoulder with the other as I pushed and pulled him back not wanting him to stop or keep going. Each time he was about to bring me to the brink, he would hold back long enough to give me time to catch my breath.

However, the last time I couldn’t take it any longer and felt my legs trembling as I cried out holding onto him for dear life. When I blinked my eyes open several seconds later as I fought to catch my breath back, I realized that my vision was clouded with tears as I looked up at the sky.

I couldn’t help from laughing for two reasons: 1) I had never experienced anything so breathtaking in all of my life and 2) Brian’s head game could never touch Mario’s.

“You okay?” he laughed as he sat up to look at me. When he saw the tears running down my face, he couldn’t help from laughing harder. “Well damn, I didn’t mean to make you do all that.” He reached over to wipe one of my tears away.

“Whateva,” I giggled with a suck of my teeth before we kissed.

“C’mon and let’s freshen up before we leave,” he suggested after quickly placing everything back in the basket. However, when he pulled me up by my hands, I began to stumble a bit while trying to steady my balance.

“I guess that wine was a lil’ too much,” I sighed.

“Yeah, right,” he smirked while gazing into my eyes.

“Like I said before…whateva!” I smirked back as I turned to walk away. However, I nearly fell until he caught me in time. We both began to laugh as he wrapped his arm around my waist and guided me back up to the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

“Helloooooooooooo,” I chimed after stepping in my house after work and seeing Hope sitting on the sofa watching tv.

“Okay, now who done turned you OUT?! That’s a “I’ve been turned out” hello if I ever heard one,” she laughed while watching me.

“Nah, babygirl…not just turned out…I’m talkin’ turned allllllll the way out!” I laughed as well as I flopped down across from her in my recliner.

“Lemme guess…Mario, right?” she giggled while leaning forward to watch me closely.

I responded to her question by crossing my leg and falling back into the recliner. “Babygirl, Brian has gots to go!”

“I hear that!” she laughed while jumping up and reaching across the coffee table to give me a high-five.

After we calmed down, I went on to tell her about what happened to him. That’s when she brought up that I had received a strange phone call. I brushed it off and we went on to her going home to talk things over with Momma and Daddy.
She went on to tell me that after talking to Momma earlier, she was going home in the morning since she had to get her books for her morning classes and she’d try to talk with Daddy then. But the good news was that Momma was more understanding about her situation with LaRon.

In the middle of our discussion, my house phone began to ring. Hope reached over on the end table to grab it for me.

“This is the same funny number that showed up earlier,” she stated while handing the phone over to me.

“I know it’s not a bill collector because I have everything paid up to date,” I mumbled before hitting the talk button and placing it up against my ear. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Hannah Dixon?” a male voice asked.

“Yes it is. May I ask who’s callin’?”

“Yes. My name is Ernest Thompson and I got your number from my wife before puttin’ her out on her ass! I found out last night that she was fuckin’ around with some guy named Brian after I caught them red-handed when I came in from completin’ a route early last night. I ended up beatin’ the gotdamn brakes off his monkey ass! The muthaphucka was bold enough to be callin’ my wife from this number for the past few months.

At first, I didn’t pay this number any mind when I would see it show up on the ID because if I was home, she wouldn’t answer it sayin’ it must’ve been a wrong number. But durin’ the times that I would be out on the road and would come in the house, if she was on the phone, she’d hang up real quick. I started gettin’ hip to this and would check the last number which would be this one.

So I put two and two together and figured you must be his wife or somethin’ when I overheard them talkin’ last night as I came in the house. She was tellin’ him somethin’ about how she was plannin’ on leavin’ me and I heard him sayin’ that he was tryna work on leavin’ Han which I figured out must be you when I would see your name and number on the phone.”

The whole time he was telling me this, I sat frozen taking everything in that he was telling me. Finally, I was able to speak after he asked if I was still on the line.

“I’m…I’m, I’m here. Th…thank you for tellin’ me all of this and I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Don’t be sorry…be glad that it happened because you’ve found out the truth behind the piece of shit that’s been involved with you and my wife. And as far as I’m concerned, they can both have each other.”

Then just like that, he hung up.

“Hannah? Are you okay?” Hope anxiously asked as I slowly lowered the phone from my ear.

“Hell yeah I’m okay! I’m done with Brian’s stupid ass from here on out!” I replied before telling her what the call was about. However, during one point we were interrupted when Mario called my cell phone.

“Hey,” I smiled.

“Hey. I enjoyed today,” he grinned.

“So did I,” I grinned back.

“Listen, I wanna take you out on Friday night although I know that’s gonna be kindda hard with your boyfriend, Brian, and all, but…”

“I don’t have a boyfriend named Brian anymore so I’d love to go out with you on Friday,” I smiled as I glanced over at Hope who smiled back at me.

“For real?” he asked.

“Yup,” I proudly grinned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Returning home the next morning, Hope walked into the kitchen finding Momma standing at the stove preparing breakfast and Daddy sitting at the table reading the morning paper.

“Good morning,” she faintly smiled while looking at them as she gently closed the door.

“Good morning, baby,” Momma smiled as she stopped what she was doing long enough to hug her.

“Good morning, Daddy,” Hope nearly whispered while watching him.

Instead of answering her, he lifted the paper up to his face as he sat back in his chair while clearing his throat.

“You know what? Never mind,” she heavily sighed as she took off for the den and ran upstairs to her room to get ready for school.

“What’s the matter with you? Your daughter just returned home to make peace and this is how you treat her?” Momma snapped after walking over to Daddy and snatching his paper down so he could look at her. However, before she gave him a chance to answer her questions, she went on.

“You’re always standing up in the pulpit preaching about God’s love and forgiveness, yet and still, you can’t forgive your daughter for what you think she’s done so wrong.”

“Are you done?” he nonchalantly asked.

“Yes…yes I am,” she calmly replied while folding her arms as she continued to watch him.

“Good. I’m going down to the church to prepare for today’s noon Bible study.”

“Wait!”

“This discussion is over,” he boomed as he walked out of the kitchen to leave without having breakfast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Shanitra gave me the okay to come in a couple of hours late, I was on my way down to social services to discuss setting up supervised visits with my son at the approval of his adoptive parents.

I was just about to step into the kitchen to fix myself a cup of coffee, my doorbell was ringing.

“Hi, baby,” Momma smiled as we stood face-to-face.

“Hi, Momma,” I smiled back while opening the door for her. “How have you been?”

“Fine,” she smiled as we shared a small hug. “I just thought I’d drop by to tell you thank you.”

“Have a seat. For what?”

“For talking your baby sister into coming back home.”

“Oh. Well I just wanted her to do the right thing.”

Momma took a firm hold of my hands and stroked the top of them with her thumbs.

“You okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she smiled with a nod of her head.

“I was about to make myself a cup of coffee before I leave for an appointment. Would you like a cup?”

“No thank you. I’ll go so you can do what you have to.”

“You can stay here, Momma. I’m not leavin’ for another twenty minutes or so.” I proceeded to lean over to give her a soft kiss on the cheek before standing up and heading back to the kitchen.

While I was gone, she noticed the large brown envelope with a return address from social services sitting on the coffee table. I would be taking it with me to my appointment to discuss everything they had sent to me.

“Pardon my intrusion, Hannah, but are you interested in adoption or being a foster parent?” she asked me as soon as I rejoined her.

“What?”

She held up the envelope while watching me. “I didn’t mean to be nosey but I couldn’t help from noticing this.”
“No, I’m not thinkin’ about anything like that,” I sighed as I quickly grabbed the envelope from her.

When I could no longer take her staring at me as I sat down and sipped my coffee, I broke down and told her about my appointment.

“Do you think that’s a good idea to become involved in this child’s life?”

“Momma, his parents explained to me in the letter that they were going to tell him the truth about me when he turned ten because they felt like he’d be old enough to understand the situation by then. They also said that he was the one who asked to see me. I’m obligated to do that much for him because he is my child although he’s bein’ raised by two people who love him just as much as I do.”

I watched her as she placed her hand up to her mouth while looking downward.

“Who knows? Maybe it’s my motherly instinct that wants to love and protect him just the same although I never had a chance to have him with me because I had no one to do the same for me,” I found myself snapping at her. When I realized what I had just said from the hurt look on her face as she glanced up at me in surprise, I immediately began to apologize as I went over to sit next to her on the sofa.

“I didn’t mean that, Momma. It’s just that, I…,” I deeply sighed before I grabbed the envelope from the table to pull Alexander’s picture out for her to see.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she stared at his picture, realizing that he looked exactly like Daddy. She began to sob heavily as she sat the picture to the side before pulling me into her arms while repeatedly apologizing.

After we were both done having a good cry while holding each other, I told her that I’d love nothing more than having her accompany me to my appointment. She readily agreed to do so.

[glow=blue,1,200]***Part 4 Comin' Soon***[/glow]

[*~*Lady K*~*~]

ohhhhhh this is good CC! keep it coming! That moment between Mario and Hannah was sooo sweet. sighs...i need a bf