Part One Hundred and Five

I closed her bedroom door behind me softly and took a deep breath. I was so aroused it hurt and I walked downstairs to the kitchen and out to the patio to clear my head. The past eight months had been hell because everything she did just made me like her more.

There was absolutely nothing I could say that I didn’t like about her. She was a great person, she was great with Kalen, patient and understanding. She kept the house in order, managed the bills and she did things without me having to ask her, making appointments for Kalen and doing all the shopping.

I had been somewhat shocked the first time I came home to find that she had bought me clothes and for some weird reason I found it kind of hot that she had bought my underwear. She was perfect actually and I didn’t know how long I could keep this friend act up.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Katiya asked from behind me.

“I didn’t mean to …”

“It’s okay, I could give you my schedule,” she said and smiled at me.

“I can’t keep doing this,” I said looking at her.

“Doing what?” she asked me.

“Trying to pretend that I don’t want to rip your clothes off,” I said.

“Maybe I want to rip your clothes off too,” she said.

“Don’t say stuff like that to me.”

“Did you get aroused watching me?” she asked me.

“Yes.”

“I liked you watching me,” she said.

“Shit Katiya, I’m seconds away from kissing you,” I said as I took a step towards her.

“Don’t be gentle,” she said as I put my hands on her thighs and lifted her against the outside wall of the house.

We were kissing and her hands were already underneath my t-shirt. She was moving her hips against mine and when her nails dug into my back I was gone. I moved us to the couch in the living room and pulled my shirt off.

She was already working on my jeans as I pushed her hands away and pulled her shirt off. My pants followed next and the short shorts she was wearing disappeared as I threw it over my head. She had her legs around me and I hesitated for a second.

“We need a condom,” I said.

“I’m on the pill,” she said and at that moment, I didn’t care if she was or not.

I pushed into her slowly and instantly we sped up, skin slapping against skin as she bit me lightly on the shoulder and locked her ankles behind my back. I could feel her legs shivering as I kept on thrusting, giving her everything inside of me.

There was no Lorraine, no past memories trying to stifle me. There was just Katiya, her smell, the way her muscles squeezed me, there was my dick inside her, pushing deeper and harder. There was just this moment of perfect clarity that I realized I already loved her.

I was still inside her as we tried to regulate our breathing, my heart still hammering as she kissed me slowly, gently. The muscles in my arms were burning as I held myself up and the kiss ended almost too soon.

“Stay with me tonight,” she said softly as I pushed away from her and pulled my jeans on.

“I’d give you anything you wanted,” I said as I sat down on the couch again.

Upstairs we showered and climbed into her bed naked and for the first time in a year I went to sleep feeling at peace. She wasn’t in the bed next to me when I woke up at ten past seven. I pulled my boxers on and I heard her and Kalen in the kitchen as I descended the stairs.

“Good morning,” she said with a smile as I walked into the kitchen.

“A good morning it is indeed,” I said with a smile and kissed her forehead as she snaked her arms around me.

“Breakfast?” she asked me when I released her.

“Coffee,” I said.

“Daddy eggy eggy,” Kalen said as she stuffed her mouth with scrambled eggs.

“You eat like a real lady, Kalen,” I said and Katiya laughed.

“She’s one, leave her alone to eat her eggs any way she wants,” she said.

“No, I like it, no way she’ll ever have a boyfriend if she eats like that,” I said.

“Unless she gets one that eats that way too,” she said.

“Is it too early to buy a shotgun?” I asked and she laughed again.

“It’s Sunday,” she said.

“What are we doing today?” I asked her.

“I thought maybe we could go out today, maybe the aquarium or the park,” she said.

“The aquarium’s great, Kalen will love it,” I said.

“It’s a date then,” she said.

“On one condition,” I said as she turned to face me again.

“What?”

“You wear something that covers your ass,” I said and she laughed.

“I thought you liked my ass,” she said.

“I love your ass but I don’t want everyone else to love your ass too,” I said.

“Spoil sport,” she said as she dished up a plate of food for me despite me having asked for coffee only. I hadn’t actually realized how hungry I was until that plate was in front of me and I started to eat.

“Yes, I’ll have your coffee ready in just a bit,” she said as I smiled and a piece of Kalen’s cold scrambled egg hit me in the face.

“Nice, ganging up on me,” I said as Kalen laughed and Katiya handed me a wet cloth to wipe my face.

“Chicks before dicks,” she said and my eyes widened as Kalen kept giggling and the news came on.

“Turn that up,” I said as I looked at the television mounted on the wall.

“Seven foster children living together in a group home have been taken to the hospital and will get medical attention. We don’t have more details at this time yet, only that the man and woman looking after these seven kids have been arrested for abuse and assault,” the woman on the television said.

“Shit,” Katiya said as she watched the screen.

“It’s sad that this is the reality for so many kids,” I said.

“It brings up so many memories,” she said.

“I used to live with my darkness for so long but the one thing I cling to, the one thing that has gotten me through is to inhale your future and exhale your past,” I said.

“Does it work?” she asked me.

“It depends on how much you want the darkness to go away,” I said.

“Sometimes it’s hard, you know?”

“I know. The darkness seems suffocating, like the bubble you put yourself in won’t be able to withstand the pressure of it all, but when you focus on your future, focus on the light in your life, it becomes easier,” I said.

“It’s sad that you even have to think like that,” she said.

“Yes, but it’s also made me tougher, having endured all that, having come out on top,” I said.

“I wish we could save them, even if it was just one child,” she said sadly.

“The system’s fucked up, too many kids, too little people that really care, that really wants to make a difference,” I said.