Page 36 of Her Loyalty

Tiana Next day

"I'm sorry I didn't make sure you were okay before we left the clinic." I expressed to Dom as we laid naked in bed together.

"I know I should've talked to you right away before gloating to everybody including your sister."

"Baby, I understand." He chuckled, wrapping his arm around me.

"I ain't sweatin' it, ma."

"I know babe but I just want to make sure that you know I care about your feelings." I went on, rubbing a hand down his face.

"I really do." I explained and he nodded.

"Aight, baby. We been talking about this all night, I wun' talk about something else na'." He spoke, considering the sun was now coming up and we still hadn't even been to sleep. We'd literally been talking all night.

Smiling, I leaned in and kissed his lips as he looked into my eyes.

"Fine." I gave in.

"I won't talk about it anymore but I just want you to know."

"I know, T."

"Trust me, I definitely get that shit na', baby." He joked, obviously tired of this conversation.

"Okay." I poked my lip out, knowing he was annoyed with me.

"Na' lets talk about sum else.."

"Like what?" I asked as we looked into each other's eyes.

"Like how you gon' be my girl again." He blurted out, making me instantly light up.

"What?" I asked for further confirmation.

"I ain't repeatin' myself, T."

"You want to make this official again?" I asked him as he turned over to look up at the ceiling.

"I wun' make this shit official again, Tiana." He repeated, nodding his head.

"I mean, in my mind, you already my girl and shit but I know I can't keep holdin' this shit off."

"I'm ready to put all the bullshit behind us and make you mine again." He turned over to look at me as happiness and emotions flooded my entire body.

I'd been waiting long for him to say this to me. All of the arguments, all of the time spent and me admitting to cheating on him almost seven months ago, I was just ready to finally be us again. Officially.

"Baby, I'm ready too." I admitted as we looked into each other's eyes.

"Yeah?" He asked and I nodded.

"I just have one condition before we decide this." I explained to him and he raised his eyebrows.

"What's that?"

"I want you and my mom to sit down and finally talk." I expressed and he scoffed, looking up at the ceiling again.

"Fuck no.." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"Babe-"

"Na' you trippin'." He cut me off.

"I'a do anything for you T and you know that. But your moms, na'.."

"That's the one thing I ain't doing."

"But Dominic, plea-"

"No." He spoke sternly, making me look at him with sad eyes.

"Well how are we ever going to work? She's my mom. I want you and her to at least have an understanding."

"Plus she can explain the entire cheating situation to you so you can understand thoroughly." I expressed to him and he shrugged.

"Na' I'm coo."

"So we're not going to get back together because you want to be stubborn?"

"Na' we ain't gon' get back together because you wan' me to do some shit that I can't do."

"Why not?"

"Why?" I spoke getting upset.

"Because of your stupid pride?"

"Na' because I said I ain't doing that shit." He spat, making my lip tremble.

"Na' gon' head with all that shit, T."

"Fine." I said biting my lip, my happiness going away as quickly as it came.

Turning away from him, I heard him deeply sigh as I laid there sulking.

"Why you always gotta make shit harder than it has to be, Tiana?"

"I'm not making anything harder." I quickly turned back around to look at him.

"But just like you, I want this time around to be better than the last. I don't want you hating my mom and I don't want her secretly hating you."

"I just want common grounds." I expressed to him and he scoffed.

"I did it for you, why can't you do it for me?" I said to him, considering he wanted me to make it right with Deja and I did.

"Just please, Dominic. For me." I begged and he shook his head.

When he shook his head, I could feel myself on the verge of tears. Lord only knows how long I'd been waiting for us to get back together and now it was being ripped away because of something so small.

"Okay." I spoke as my voice cracked, if he didn't want to make it right with my mom then I guess we just wouldn't be together.

Though it hurt me, I wasn't risking another ruined relationship because of misunderstanding and miscommunication.

I watched as he smirked to himself while he looked over to me and slowly held his hand out. I grabbed it reluctantly and allowed him to pull me on top of him.

"Please." I asked again.

"Aight, T." He spoke looking up at me.

"You'll do it?" I asked and he nodded slowly, instantly making me happy again.

"I'a do that shit, only because you did it for me."

"And because I love you and I ain't tryn' go another day without you being my girl." He went on.

"But since you got conditions, I got one too."

Playfully rolling my eyes, I looked down at him.

"What is it?" I asked and he smirked.

"We gon' put that mouth and them knees to work." He mumbled and I couldn't help but to laugh.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, you wan' a nigga to do this shit then you gotta at least make it worth my while."

Smiling to myself, he laid there just watching me, awaiting my answer before I nodded in agreement.

"Fine, deal."

"If I do that for you then you really have to talk to her." I smiled and he shook his head, looking at me with hooded eyes.

"Aight, coo."

* Hours later

Sitting in the car, I watched as Dominic sulked, obviously not wanting to get out.

"Babe, come on." I begged him and he sighed deeply, licking his lips.

"Na' fuck it." He shook his head.

"Dominic, no. You promised me." I snapped at him.

"And I allowed you to put my mouth and my knees to work like you asked, might I add."

"Man.." He trailed off.

"Shit wun' worth it." He went onto say and I just stared at him with hurt eyes.

"Dominic, please." I ended up begging him as we sat outside of my mom's house and he sighed heavily.

"Aight, T."

"Just give me five." He went onto say, removing the already rolled blunt from behind his ear.

I simply nodded, getting out of the car and making my way into the house. I sighed deeply as I did, hoping that everything would go good today.

"Mom!" I called, walking in.

"I'm in the living room, Tiana." She answered as I closed the door behind me.

Making my way out of the foyer and toward the living room, I walked in and she looked up at me.

"Hey." I smiled nervously as she sat there with a smile.

"Hey, T." She spoke as I plopped down onto the couch beside her.

"Where's Dominic?" She asked.

"He's in the car, he'll be a second." I explained and she simply nodded.

"What made you want us to sit down and talk today?" She asked and I shook my head.

"No. This was all his idea." I lied, just trying to make it sound good as I heard the front door open.

We both looked up as I listened to Dominic's footsteps approaching, making me more nervous by the second.

"Babe." I called as he finally walked into the room and it seemed as if a cloud of smoke had followed him into the house.

"Hello, Dominic." My mother spoke to him as he walked over to me and sat down beside me.

"Hi, Ms. Wanda." He spoke, grabbing my hand and kissing it.

"How've you been? I'm happy to see the two of you together again." She smiled and he chuckled, licking his lips.

"Yeah, I been good. Your daughter been keepin' me sane these days."

"That's great.." My mom trailed off as the room slowly fell silent.

"So-" I tried to speak up but mom cut me off.

"I heard this was all your idea. You wanting to sit down and talk to me and all." She went onto say and he jolted his head back.

"Na'.."

"Hell na'. This was all T." He went on, obviously offended.

"Well yeah, I set it up but we both came up with the ide-"

"So Tiana set this all up?" She cut me off again, completely ignoring me and talking to him.

He looked over to me with smile before nodding.

"Yeah." He admitted as they both eyed me.

"Well yeah I did bu-"

"How about Tiana goes upstairs while we talk alittle bit?" My mother asked, making me pout.

"Yeah, I think that would be better." Dom agreed, making me furrow my eyebrows.

"But what did I-"

"Tiana." My mother smiled, pointing out of the living room..

"Out."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, standing to my feet.

I could hear Dominic snickering under his breath as I made my way out of the room.

"Y'all better not talk about me." I said, making them both laugh.

* Later that night

"T." Dominic called, making me look up from my phone.

"Are y'all finally done?" I playfully rolled my eyes as he smiled, coming into my room.

"Yeah."

"Damn, I ain't see your room in a minute.." He trailed off, looking around as if he was new here.

"I know." I sighed, thinking about how much time was spent on petty bullshit between him and my mom, leading to him not even being able to come over anymore.

"How'd it go?" I couldn't help but to ask.

"It was aight. We cool." He shrugged, taking a seat on the small couch in front of my bed.

"What did y'all talk about?"

"Don't worry bout' it." He looked at me with a smirk and I poked my lip out.

"Tell me." I begged and he shook his head no.

"It ain't for you. It's between me and your moms." He went onto say, making me raise an eyebrow.

I can't even lie, I wasn't even mad at that. I was just happy that they'd finally come to common grounds. Enough for him to even be in here right now without any arguments between them.

"Fine." I said getting out of bed and making my way over to his lap.

"I'm just happy that the two of you made it work." I told him as I sat down, straddling him.

"Yeah. I mean I guess the throat was worth it." He joked, making me look at him with narrowed eyes as he laughed.

"Na' I'm just fuckin' withcha."

"I love you, ma." He went onto say seriously.

"And I appreciate you for getting me over here. I feel like I got what I needed as far as closure, feel me?" He spoke, making me nodded.

"And I know if it wun' for you, I would've never did this. So I'm glad you encouraged this shit, ma."

"I told you. It just feels better to hear everything." I went onto say, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Did she tell you about my dad?" I asked, just trying to get information and he nodded slowly.

"Yeah.."

"Shit crazy." He went on, looking into my eyes.

"I said the same thing." I told him, laying my head into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

We sat like that for a while like that as we reflected on our day before he patted my thigh twice.

"Come on. You ready?" He asked as I pulled back, looking him in his eyes.

"Where are we going?" I asked and he shrugged.

"You comin' home with me right?" He licked his lips.

"Oh yeah." I nodded.

"Just let me freshen up and pack a bag."

"Aight."