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“Which she refuses to use to help promote mine,” Solar said loud, hands on her hips. “Sol’s Tresses been rebranded, relaunched, and I can’t even get my own daughter to be the brand ambassador.”

“Mama…” she whined.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Solar lifted her hand dramatically. “Are you booked and busy or just caught up and cuffed?”

Everybody in the room went Oooop! like a gossip drumline.

French walked in behind them all with a toothpick in his mouth and a slow-ass smirk spreading across his face. “She cuffed…look at her neck. I told y’all.”

Aku covered it with her hand instantly, blushing. “Y’all not about to tag-team me. Damn!”

Frenchy burst out laughing. “Aye, sis got hickeys! Big sis in love or lust?”

“I vote lust,” Apollo said. “You back with Devin?”

“Mind y’all business,” Aku fired back, walking toward the kitchen for a bottle of water. She opened the fridge, but French’s voice followed.

“Just don’t let no nigga play with your engine. You know my baby slick a mechanic.”

“Daddy, stop.”

“For real,” French nodded, pulling her into a side hug. “She been fixin’ shit since she was little. Took apart the blender just ‘cause she ain’t like how it sounded.”

“She also used to paint her Barbie doll’s wigs with my leftover dye,” Solar added.

“Young entrepreneur,” French said proudly. “That’s why we knew you was gon’ be somebody.”

Kiyah smiled from the couch. “Your family so funny.”

“We hilarious,” Frenchy said, throwing his arm around her, ducking Apollo’s punch. “That’s the love language around here.”

And it was, between French swatting Solar’s ass every time he walked past and her threatening to bleach his clothes for leaving tools on the dining table.

Between Apollo roasting Frenchy about not having waves, and Frenchy clapping back that at least he didn’t look like a young version of Dave East without the hair.

Between all that and Aku stealing her daddy from his wife on purpose, laying across his lap while they all watched TV like she was five again.

It was loud. It was ghetto. It was love that had roots.

Aku basked in all of it, though her mind was still back in Crescent.

They ate late that night. Solar’s gumbo hitting like always, cornbread buttery and hot enough to burn fingers. The air buzzed with jokes and smacks and French threatening to cut the Wi-Fi if somebody didn’t take the trash out.

She loved it here.

When Aku finally went up to her room, it was close to midnight on the East coast which meant it was almost nine on the West.

Her room hadn’t changed. Still had her old pink LED lights which looked childish now.

Her plaques were up on the wall beside a framed flyer from her dance days.

A few awards rested on her dresser, catching the moonlight like it was proof that she made it.

But her favorite thing—the blanket her Granny, Stephanie sewed for her out of all her old school uniforms and dance recital clothes—was still folded at the end of the bed just the way she left it.

She plugged in her phone, slid under the covers, and Face Timed him.

Malik answered on the second ring. Shirtless, laid back against his headboard, that sleepy glint in his eye like he already knew what time it was. “You made it?”

“Yea,” she smiled, propping the phone on her pillow. “Back home. Daddy picked me up.”

“I know,” he grinned. “You got that glowy look, like he done made you laugh all night.”

“He always do.” She tilted her head. “Kinda like you.”

Malik licked his bottom lip. “Yea? You miss me?”

Aku reached up and ran her fingers along her neck where his hickeys had faded just slightly. “Mm hmm. You tryna make me miss you more?”

“Always.”

They just smiled at each other. He rubbed his jaw, his confidence showing up in how he squinted at the screen like he was building a fantasy in his head.

“I was thinkin’,” he murmured, voice thicker now. “You ever fall asleep on the phone while somebody was talkin’ nasty to you?”

“Malik—”

“Nah, I’m serious.” He adjusted the camera so she could see more of him, arms folded behind his head now. “You got that sleepy voice on. You curled up in them lil’ silk shorts?”

She looked dead at the screen, biting the inside of her cheek. “Why you tryna get me started, Malik?”

“’Cause I can’t stop thinkin’ bout how soft you felt,” he said low, “how you was talkin’ me through it…slow like you knew I needed that.”

Her breath caught in her throat.

He dragged a hand across his abs. “I ain’t never had nobody touch me like you. Like you knew how heavy I was but you wanted to carry it anyway.”

She shifted under the covers, thighs squeezing. “Malik…”

“You wet just from hearin’ me talk, huh?”

She didn’t say anything, but he could see it in her face. That slow inhale. That lazy smile. That look that belonged to him now.

“I miss your mouth,” he whispered. “I miss how you say my name when you about to let go.”

“You tryna make me float.”

“Am I?” His eyes dropped lower. “You want me to stop?”

She shook her head slowly.

“Nah,” he murmured. “Didn’t think so. Tell me how you look right now.”

She pulled the blanket down just enough to show the silk strap falling off her shoulder, her bare collarbone catching the light. “Like I been thinkin’ about you since I walked in the door.”

He exhaled through his nose. “I wanna see you. All of you.”

“Then come get me.”

He sat up. “Say the word.”

“I will. Just…not tonight. I needed this first…to come home, to remember who I am when I’m not just your girl.”

She stamped them…she was his.

He nodded slowly, loving how she took charge and told him what it was. “You always gon’ be more than that.”

“Good,” she said, eyes fluttering. “Because I’m fallin’.”

“Fall then,” he whispered, voice like a promise only her soul could hear. “I’m right here.”

“You better catch me, too,” she murmured, the corner of her mouth twitching in a lazy, dangerous smile.

“I will…but let me see you catch that nut,” Malik’s voice dropped into a thick, hungry growl. His hand slid down under the sheet, gripping the base of his dick. “This shit hella hard right now.”

“Oh, yeah?” Her brows lifted, tongue flicking out to wet her lips. Her eyes dropped low like she could see it through the phone. “Show me.”

He spit in his hand to lubricate his throbbing dick. The camera panned down smooth, giving her every blessed inch. His dick stood tall in his palm - thick, dark, and glistening already from precum. Veins stretched along the side, twitching with need.

“Shit, Aku…” he hissed, stroking slow. “You got me feelin’ like I’m ‘bout to bust just hearin’ your voice.”

She leaned back against the pillows, phone propped up, as her other hand slid between her legs. Her nails, almond-shaped and white-tipped, disappeared between her folds before spreading her pussy wide open. Wet, glistening, and already pulsing like it knew his name.

“This what you do to me, Malik,” she said, voice syrupy sweet with a filthy undertone. She dipped two fingers in deep and moaned, holding them up to the screen, coated and dripping. “My pussy so fuckin’ wet for you.”

He groaned, dick jerking in his grip.

“You see that?” she teased, eyes heavy, breath quickening. “You got my shit creamy, baby.”

Malik licked his lips, his grip tightening as his hips started to move on instinct. “I’d eat the fuck outta you right now. You know that, right? Have your legs shakin’, tongue so deep in your shit you’d be cryin’ for real.”

She whimpered, rubbing her clit in slow, torturous circles. “Say it again…”

“I’d have you screamin’ into that pillow,” he growled. “Face down, back arched. My dick buried so deep you’d feel it in your fuckin’ throat.”

“Malik,” she gasped, fingers moving faster now. “Baby, I’m…fuck…almost there.”

“Good,” he grunted, pumping faster, muscles tense, eyes locked on her like he could reach through the screen and finish the job himself. “Let that shit go. I wanna hear you cum for me.”

Her thighs started to shake. Her breath caught. And then?—

“Ohhh fuck, Malik!” she moaned, body arching, legs quivering as she came hard, loud and sweet and soaked in desire.

He followed right after, biting his lip, eyes rolling back as he let loose, cum painting his stomach as he let out a rough, deep groan that hit her in the core.

They were both panting now…silent and spent, and smiling.

That kind of peace? Only existed with them. Even when they were dirty.

Especially when they were dirty.