Page 23 of Her Loyalty

Tiana Same morning

"You play too much." I continued to fuss at Dom about his stupid joke.

He was still going on about it, he thought it was so funny but I really couldn't even be mad. I was honestly happy that he was able to joke about it now. Lord knows we've came a long way since then.

"So now what?" I asked taking a deep breath as we laid in the bed together.

"Watchu mean, T?" He asked, looking up at the ceiling while I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

"We had sex last night. You initiated it." I reminded him.

"So what's next now? What are we doing?" I asked, fully turning around to him and he reverted his eyes to me.

"I don't know, ma'." He went onto say, making me sit all the up.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked in disbelief and he just looked at me.

"I don't know." He repeated and I could feel the hurt in the pits of my stomach.

"Oh okay. You don't know." I nodded, feeling like a complete idiot.

"But you were completely sure about having sex with me though right?" I asked, becoming emotional. I'd knew having sex with him last night came with risk such as this but I was hopeful. Hopeful that we could try to work on us again afterwards.

At least he'd made it seem that way when we were having sex.

"Watchu gettin' all defensive for, T?" He knitted his eyebrows as if I wasn't supposed to feel a way.

"We're havin' a good morning and you sitting' here tryn' start arguments."

"I'm not trying to start an argument but I have every right to be defensive."

"Yeah?"

"Yes! We had sex last night, Dominic.

"..a lot of it. So I deserve to know if you actually want to make this work or not." I fussed and he sighed deeply, looking away from me.

"I don't know right na', T and that's just what it is."

"Yeah, I wanted to fuck on you last night but that don't change the circumstances. It ain't all good with us and I'm not gon' force it to be."

"Yeah, I missed you and I'm happy to have you around again but shit don't just disappear. We got a lot to figure out."

"What is there to figure out, Dominic?!"

"Do you love me or not?" I went onto ask and he just stayed quiet.

"Do you love me? Yes or no? I asked again, awaiting his answer. If he didn't, I would go and say forget all of this.

"Yes." He ended up saying, easing my mind a bit.

"Yes, I love you, T."

"And I'm always gon' love you but that don't change shit." He shook his head.

"I told you before and I'm gon' tell you again, love can't save us."

"I need to be able to trust you, ma and right na', I just don't."

"Oh, you still don't trust me but you were about to have sex with me with no condom on last night before I reminded you." I scoffed, standing to my feet.

"You're really full of it, Dom." I began to put my clothes back on.

"But that's okay because I expected this."

"Tiana." He called as I began to get dressed, completely ignoring him now.

"Why you tryn' turn this shit into something it don't have to be?"

"No. Don't blame me." I shook my head, feeling tears brewing in my eyes as I looked over to him.

"You did this and you know it." I pointed to him as I got all of my clothes on, now looking for my shoes.

"Tiana." He said as he finally got up out of the bed and made his way over to me.

"Look at me, ma." He went on but I ignored him, still searching the room for my shoes.

"Where are my shoes?" I fussed before he roughly grabbed me.

"Look at me." He spoke sternly, pulling me to him.

My lip trembled as I looked up into his eyes but I refused to cry for him anymore. This was my fault, I should've never put myself back in this position. He made it clear he didn't want me so I should've never allowed him to touch me.

"Why can't we just let that shit come naturally, T?"

"Why do we have to rush back into some shit?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Because you were quick to rush into sex with me." I defended.

"If this wasn't what you wanted, you should've came to my graduation and then left. Not bring me back to your house and then fuck me."

"But no, Dominic. You're playing with my head and you're enjoying every moment of it. You like seeing me suffer like this." I went onto say and he smacked his lips.

"Tiana, stop being so fuckin' dramatic, yo."

"I'm not being dramatic, I'm being real." I snaked my neck.

"And you know it's true. You're seeking out revenge on me or something, just trying to make me hurt like I hurt you." I went on and he simply started laughing while I rolled my eyes, trying to pull away from him.

"Tiana, if I wan' hurt you I can do that shit without touchin' you, ma. We both know that." He scoffed.

"I ain't out for revenge and I ain't fuck on you last night to be spiteful. I fucked you because I wanted to." He spoke sternly.

"And I wun' try to make this shit work but I'm not gon' force shit because you in your feelings right na'."

"I'm in my feelings because you're not being clear what you want, Dominic!" I snapped out. It was like he'd turned into the person he was before we got into a real relationship. Unsure of his emotions and afraid to express his feelings. I hated this him.

"I just told you what the fuck I wanted!" He spat back, making me roughly pull away from him as I got my glossy eyes under control.

"Look." He slowly pulled me back to him, placing his forehead onto mine.

"I don't wan' rush, T."

"But I do wan' try and do this with you again but slowly."

"Can we do that?" He went onto ask, while I looked into his eyes.

"Is that what you really want?" I asked and he angrily licked his lips.

"Ain't that what I just said?"

"Fine." I spoke softly, finally giving in as we backed away from each other.

"Yeah?" He asked and I nodded my head slowly.

"Aight, coo."

* An hour later

"Yo, bro. That nigga on the corner waiting for you." I heard Deja say as I sat at the dining room table, eating the food Dominic made for us.

"Aight, give me five." He told her as he made his way into the dining room, sitting down across from me.

"It's good?" He asked and I nodded, scooping more grits into my mouth. His food was always good and I'd genuinely missed days like this.

"Aight, coo."

"So look, I'm about to go handle some business, I'a be right back." He told me and I nodded, looking down at my food.

"Aight?" He asked for further confirmation.

"Yes, Dom." I told him after swallowing my food.

"Aight." He said, getting up again, leaving me by myself.

Maybe five minutes went by as I waited for him to come back, the door then opened and I thought it was him but it was Deja instead. I rolled my eyes, continuing my food as she walked into the dining room, passing by to go into the kitchen.

She stayed silent but I heard her scoff under her breath and I simply shook my head at her childish ass. But I continued to enjoy my food, I wasn't even going to acknowledge her like she'd wanted me to.

Moments later, she ended up coming back out of the kitchen with a beer and a blunt, passing by again.

"What's up, little hoe?" She ended up saying to me