Page 61 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

Squatting between my legs, he nudged me onto my back and pulled at my pants.

My bare thighs were on display, and he canvassed them slowly with admiration.

I liked the feel of his rough hands against my smooth skin, reminding me that I was dealing with a man.

Kissing along my legs, he arrived at my already puddling middle and slid my panties to the side.

His warm breath against my nub left me panting and anxious as his tongue swiped against my pearl.

Latching on, he swirled his tongue in slow circular motions and went back and forth between slurping and sucking until I was clawing at the sheets.

The pressure was starting to be too much, and the pleasure of what was to come crept up my spine and into my chest. After he slipped a few fingers inside me and continued the steady motion with his tongue, I lost the battle.

“Shit!” I whimpered, a gush of my essence dripping on his tongue.

“We can finish this up tonight. I gotta go handle something with my brothers.” Looking me in my eye, he kissed my lower lips and towered over me.

This man left me dizzy and trying to collect myself when he was gone.

Eventually, I got up and went to the bathroom to shower quickly and change.

I was sure everyone was done eating by now, and it was mandatory that I cleaned the kitchen before bed.

In a two-piece, red, silk pajama set and my gray Ugg slippers, I arrived in the kitchen just as the kids were clearing plates.

Rossi and Sol were still seated at the table, but Staten was alone at the counter with the plate I’d set aside in front of him.

He winked when I strolled past, and my walls clenched anxiously.

“That was so good, Cambrie!” Piaget complimented.

“Ten out of ten for real,” Saga agreed, rubbing his stomach and belching from his chair.

“Ten out of ten and will eat again!” Rogue chanted, pasta sauce all over his little face.

“I’m not hungry.” Tavi nudged her plate from her face and glared at it resentfully.

She ate like a bird most of the time I cooked anyway, and I wasn’t going to force it down her throat.

“Aw, thanks y’all.” I stopped at the sink, and Saga walked over with his and Rogue’s plates. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it. That’s one of the dinners me and my mama liked to make together.”

“I can help you with the dishes if you want,” Saga offered, looking around at the counters cluttered with all the utensils and dishes I’d used to cook.

Not only did he shock the hell out of me, but his father damn near choked on his bite of food. Pounding his fist against his chest, Staten slowly chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth and took a breath. He sat up tall on his stool and cleared his throat.

“What you say?” his father checked with him.

“Haha.” He rolled his eyes and bobbed his head.

“I got it,” I assured him. “It’s Friday night. Go talk to all your little gamer friends. I’ll make you a snack platter for later when you get hungry. You did finish your homework, right?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe they piled all that on me my first week though.” Saga shook his head. “You think you can hook me up with a retwist Sunday?”

“I got you. Wash your hair tomorrow.”

“Bet. Thanks, Cambrie.” He strut toward the hallway behind Piaget and Rogue.

“So now she’s your best friend?” Tavi sneered. “You’re such a traitor.” She dropped her plate at the counter, making a loud clank sound, and stomped toward the exit.

“Oh, hell no, the hell?” Sol hopped up from the table. “You are not going to let her talk to you like that.”

“Staten, you better check that child,” Rossi spoke up, tossing her napkin from her lap onto the plate on the table.

The fact that she had cleared my plate made me smile.

“It’s okay—” I chimed in timidly.

“No, it is not okay for her to walk around with an attitude like that with someone who is taking care of her,” Rossi declared. “We need to nip that in the bud now.”

“I’ll deal with her.” Sighing, Staten nudged his plate out of his face and slid off his stool.

“I’m used to Tavi and her attitude,” I mentioned once he was gone. “I don’t hold it against her because she’s a kid, and I get it. She doesn’t know me. I’m not her mother.”

“Doesn’t mean she gets to be disrespectful, Cambrie,” Sol chimed in. “I take that out of a child’s ass. She better come and apologize. I blame Nadia for it too because I bet you she’s in that little girl’s ear.” Sol’s eyes drifted between me and Rossi.

“She is her mother,” Rossi noted, pushing her chair over to the sink with her empty plate in her lap. “Dinner was delicious.”

“Thank you.” I paused, not expecting that from her.

“I’ve noticed little differences in the children since you’ve arrived in their lives.

I think you are just what they need, so don’t let them walk over you.

I understand wanting to be their friend, a safe space for them to come, but you also gotta make sure they know that you are an adult, and you run things, not them,” she advised.

“I don’t want to overstep. I’m not their parent.”

“Listen, I love my son, but it’s obvious these kids lack structure.

Tavi and Saga spend half the year with him and the other half with their mother.

Who’s to say what type of environment Nadia has them in.

She’s never been a bad mother, but I do worry about how present she is,” Rossi divulged.

“She reached out to me, wanting to know what’s going on and how she can step up, but I don’t think Staten is open to that.

At first, I thought it might be a good idea for them to get back together and try to piece back what they once had. ”

Her revelation didn’t surprise me. She was his mother, and she knew the history of Staten and his ex better than I did. For all I know, she was the perfect woman for him and their timing was just off.

“Rossi, you do not believe that after that woman walked out on that man the way she did,” Sol spoke up with clarity.

She’d also brought her plate over so that it could be washed but lingered at the island counter.

“You called her weak willed and self-absorbed. Not to mention selfish and superficial. Nadia enjoyed the fortune, spa trips, the houses and cars. The minute Staten decided he didn’t want any of that, she switched up.

She tried to hang on in Chicago, thinking he would eventually change his mind, and when he didn’t, she hopped the first flight across the country to start a new life. ”

“That was a long time ago,” Rossi voiced.

“And I bet Staten remembers it vividly,” Sol quipped. “Let Nadia be, please. I think Cambrie is the influence these kids need.”

The familiar chime of the doorbell had us staring around at one another in confusion. The sink was almost filled with water, so I shut off the faucet and reached for a towel to dry my hands.

“You expecting someone?” Rossi questioned.

“I don’t think so. Maybe it’s Ivo. He pops up from time to time. I’ll get it.”

I checked through the peephole before opening the door to the brown-skinned woman on the other side.

Very pristine in a black two-piece suit, she gripped a luggage bag at her side and immediately took me in slowly.

With high cheekbones, full lips covered in a plum-tinted, matte lipstick, and oval-shaped, champagne-tinted eyes, there was no denying she was gorgeous.

Sweeping some of her layered, jet-black weave from her face, she seemed irritated already.

“Can I help you?” I asked, looking past her at a car pulling off.

Immediately, my curiosity got the best of me.

“I’m Nadia, and I’m looking for my children,” she introduced herself.

Her admission slapped me in the face and left me without words.

Crazy how Rossi and Sol were just talking about her, and now she was standing here on the doorstep, serving attitude.

I skimmed her slim frame, noting that she wore nothing but designer and smelled like money.

Obviously, she was doing alright in life, given her fresh set of acrylic nails and a lace-front wig perfectly melted against her scalp.

Staten surely had a thing for beautiful women.

Nadia’s presence had stirred every insecurity I had.

Why is she here? And what does this mean?

I couldn’t keep up with one thought before another entered.

“Okay.” I snapped out of the temporary daze and stepped aside. “Come in. I wasn’t aware that you were coming.”

She waltzed right in, lifting her eyes to the ceiling and examining the home.

“Didn’t know I needed an announcement to see my own children,” she muttered, setting her bag down near the door.

Yup, this is Tavi’s mother. Their mannerisms were the same.

She might have looked like her father, but Nadia’s personality had seeped through.

Standing about my height but probably thirty pounds lighter than me, I could see her appeal to men.

Her ass wasn’t over the top, and she made up for it with big breasts that practically spilled out of the top of her blouse.

When Staten came stampeding down the steps, he slowed his stride when he found his ex lingering in the foyer with me.

Shock altered his expression, and his gaze volleyed between me and her.

I was trying to read the reaction, but he seemed genuinely thrown by her being here.

I noticed how she appraised him carefully but tried to act as if she wasn’t admiring him.

“What you doing here, Nadia?” he demanded, shoulders slumping.

“I decided I needed to come and see my kids, Staten. I still have that right.” She set her purse on a nearby table and rested her hands on her waist.

“You should have told me you were coming.” He stopped on the last step and rested his hand on the post of the railing.

“I thought Rossi would have. She’s the one that took care of the flight,” Nadia concluded, throwing her hands up in defeat.