Page 24

She laughed, low and wicked, her eyes never leaving his. “That’s the plan.”

She rode him harder. No hesitation, just heat. Skin slapping, slick and loud, mixed with moans and curses that sounded like prayers. He filled her up so good it made her see stars. She could feel every twitch, every vein, every inch of him deep inside her.

“Say my name,” she panted, nails raking down his chest.

“Shit…Aku,” he groaned, sitting up enough to suck on her nipple again, tongue rough and wet as she fucked him through it. “This mine?”

She grabbed his face, forced his eyes to hers. “Ain’t nobody else even close.”

And he believed her. He felt it in the way she moved, in the way her pussy squeezed him like it never wanted to let go. Her pleasure, his pain. His pain, her rhythm. It all blended until there was no line between love and lust—just her riding him on a journey to somewhere dangerous and divine.

She leaned in, lips ghosting over his. “You feel like gravity…”

His breath caught in his throat making him cough a little.

She smiled, with her hips still rolling.

“…puttin’ every fucked up part of me back together,” Malik whispered.

He kissed her like he meant it - Tongue deep in her mouth, hands on her ass as she pressed down and took every last inch of him.

“I don’t know if it’s gravity pulling me down or if my dumb ass is willingly jumping off the ledge, hoping somebody’s there to catch me.” Tears rolled down her face and she didn’t care. Aku wore her shit on her sleeves. The whole family did, so it must’ve been genetics.

“Then fall,” he whispered against her mouth. “Just fall, baby. I’m right here.”

“You promise?”

“On the set.” He smiled.

So she fell.

Hard…loud…shaking as her whole body clenched around him.

He followed right after, spilling into her with a curse, arms wrapped tight around her back like he needed to hold onto something real.

‘Cause that’s what she was…real as fuck…and his – if he stopped being scary.

When Aku opened her eyes, she realized she was in bed alone. Her half open eyes darted around the room, looking for Malik. She got still to hear him moving around the condo, but immediately knew he’d left. At what time, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she felt a way about it.

She reached for her phone without thinking, about to text Malik something slick…but didn’t.

Instead, she hit FaceTime.

“Mama.”

Solar’s face lit up the screen, flawless even without makeup, pixie cut wrapped in a scarf. Behind her, Georgia’s sunlight spilled through the window of the house Aku grew up in. Emerald City—full of greenery, family, and wisdom you couldn’t outrun.

“Well look who finally got time for me,” Solar said, adjusting the camera. “How you livin’, Hollywood?”

Aku smiled. “Busy, but good.”

Solar tilted her head. “You sound good. You eat today?”

“I just woke up.”

“So no...”

Aku laughed. “Why you always know?”

“I made you, baby.”

It was true and Solar prided herself on knowing her kids. It was how she knew Aku lost her virginity her senior year in high school and how she knew Frenchy was infatuated with some little girl in his class.

Solar reached for her cup. “So what’s goin’ on? You callin’ me early. Somethin’ on your spirit?”

Aku leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “Do you remember when you fell in love with Daddy?”

Solar’s expression shifted—soft, knowing. “I never stopped.”

“I mean in the beginning.”

“I know what you meant. I’m just sayin’…for me, love was never just a moment. It was a choice I kept makin’.”

Aku got quiet. Her fingers brushed her lip like she was thinking harder than she wanted to admit.

Solar leaned forward with a smile on her face. “You want the romantic version or the real one?”

There was no need to sugarcoat anything with Aku. She was an adult now.

“Give me the real. I’m grown now.”

Solar chuckled, nodding. “Alright. French was broken when I met him. Not like damaged goods… but cracked. He had a Mama and Granny that he loved too damn much if you ask me, but life didn’t treat him kind. He ain’t have no daddy. He grew up fast. We all did.”

Aku stayed silent, her chest tightening, thinking about her daddy being anything but the greatest daddy ever.

“He didn’t know how to love nobody without protectin’ ‘em. And I…I was the kinda girl who wanted to be seen, not saved. We clashed, but we also held on.”

“Why?” Aku asked. “Why hold on to somebody who don’t even know how to love you yet?”

“’Cause I saw the boy in him,” Solar said softly in that dreamy way she always got when she thought of her long life with French.

“The little boy that just wanted peace, wanted to be chosen without bein’ used.

He was loud back then, but his soul was so quiet.

I knew I could fill him up without losin’ myself. ”

Aku swallowed hard. “And he healed?”

“He still healin’. But that man shows up for me every single day. He had to teach himself what love looked like, and I had to be patient.”

There was a pause. Solar smiled like she could feel the question lingering through the screen. “So,” she said slowly, “what’s his name?”

Aku blinked, lips parting—but she didn’t say anything.

“Mm hmm,” Solar nodded knowingly. “You don’t gotta tell me nothin’. But I see it all in your face.”

Aku shifted. “I don’t even know what it is yet. We’re just…we’re building somethin’. He got this… darkness. It don’t scare me though.”

“Darkness don’t mean danger, sometimes it just mean depth.”

That hit too deep. Aku looked away. “You think I’m pickin’ somebody like Daddy?”

Solar smiled. “We all do, baby, in one way or another.”

Aku stared at her Mama for a long time. Saw herself in her Mama’s eyes - the softness, the strength, the way love never made her weak…it made her radiant. Her skin was always flawless with a sheen that told everyone who came into contact with her, that she was loved and celebrated.

“I ain’t tryna save nobody,” Aku said quietly, thinking about Malik’s words.

“And you shouldn’t. Just love him honest. Let him meet you where you are. If he’s worth it, he will.”

They sat in silence. Just looking at each other. Two women from the same bloodline, trying to make love last in a world that tried to steal it daily.

“But remind that nigga that you are that muthafuckin’ girl! You a daddy’s girl, but you my daughter and one thing I know how to do is make a nigga sweat. Don’t stop dating cause you think you found your one…that leaves you lonely and with questions. Have fun, you’re still just a baby, Aku.”

“I miss you,” Aku said.

“I miss you more.”

“Tell Daddy I love him.”

“You tell him. He talkin’ ‘bout flyin’ out there soon anyway.”

Aku smiled. “Not if I come home first.”

“Now that would be the real flex. Let me know so I can gas up the jet, baby…ain’t no commercial round here,” Solar wagged her tongue.

Aku laughed. “Ma, you swear you her.”

“Little girl, please. I am that girl. You know why?”

Aku shook her head. “Why mama?”

“Cause Lunar always told me I was and your daddy treat me like I am. That’s that pressure, baby.”

Bu’s name flashed across her phone, beeping into her facetime. “Ma, this Bu calling me, let me see what he wants.”

“What you done did ‘cause I might’ve heard something?”

Aku sat up. “What?!”

Solar laughed. “Go’on and answer for him ‘cause I know he calling to fuss. That boy swear he’s older than he is. But he stay on y’all asses and I fuck with that.”

“Bye, since you don’t want to tell me why I’m the center of the family gossip.”

“You know I ain’t ever lettin’ nobody come for my girl too crazy. Just know, yo’ daddy gon’ lose it when he find out about that boy—‘cause he damn near a younger version of him. I love you.”

“Love you too.” Aku accepted Bu’s call. “Yea?”

She could hear a lawnmower in the background. “Don’t answer like that, Aku. Where you at anyway?”

“At my house.”

He could hear the attitude in her voice. Bu grunted. “I heard you was in Crescent last night. I also heard they had some shit go down. You good?”

Rolling her eyes, she smacked her lips. “Do you really care or just being nosy?”

“When have you ever known me to be a nosy nigga?”

“Well, I wasn’t there,” Aku half lied.

“Where that nigga was?”

She inhaled deep. “Bu, I like him.”

“I hear you.”

“Listen though…I like him so if I want him to come around, I need you to put our family before the red one. You think you can do that?”

Bu got quiet then a deep sigh pierced the phone. “You think he know how to love you?”

“I think so…”

“What he think though? ’Cause it ain’t ’bout how much you feel for him… it’s ’bout what he feel he deserve. Lots of good women get broken tryna prove their worth to a man still at war with his own heart.”

Aku threw her head back, letting Bu’s words seep in. “I hear you.”

“Aight, Aku. Let me get back to work these niggas acting like they on a break or something.”

She didn’t say anything else. She just let him hang up the phone while she stared at the ceiling.

But she heard him loud and clear, and he wasn’t wrong.

It wasn’t fair to her to pour into Malik if he was going to run when he started to feel things too .

She’d rather live unloved than to force someone into accepting what their heart was already telling them.

Aku wasn’t in love with Malik, however, she felt strongly for him.

Those feelings showed up last night when that gut feeling black women carried around pushed her belly in.

So she laid her cards out in not so many words.

It was on him to apply pressure now. In the meantime, she was about to be outside.