Page 38 of Quiet as Kept
The ex was stressing Kept out. I liked to keep the sliding glass door that led from my room to the side deck open so that I could enjoy the ocean breeze. I figured the deck was where Kept disappeared to after he left my room. The deck was quiet and serene. It offered the silence he required.
From there, he would able to watch the sunrise that gave him so much contentment. It would also give him time to get his social meter up for the day ahead. There was going to be a lot of stimuli, verbal and otherwise. I was happy he was getting the time alone, particularly because I knew it would probably be the only time he was alone that day.
But not the ex bitch. She didn’t care about interrupting his solitude. She didn’t care about putting him on the spot and asking him questions that he shouldn’t have to answer.Shewalked away.Shechose the other dude over Kept and the girls. Why did she get to question him about whether or not he still had feelings for her? Couldn’t she see that he was in a whole different space in life?
I shouldn’t have been surprised though. She had the same spirit as Tasha, and of Vivienne, even though she claimed to be reformed. It was a selfish spirit that put their own needs before anybody else’s. I couldn’t honor that spirit.
“What’re you doing, baby?” he asked when I dropped down to my knees right in front of him.
I looked up at him with a grin on my face. “I like when you call me baby. Keep doing it.”
I pulled down the joggers and the drawers he was wearing. The scent of a masculine shower gel hit my nose when his dick bounced free. It smelled like fresh air, cedar wood, and a hint of musk. I produced saliva in my mouth, then licked the head.
“Damn, baby.” His hands immediately went into my braids.
“I want you to be surrounded by calm right now. You need to be relaxed in order to deal with your people today.”
With that, his dick disappeared into my mouth.
The Butterfly Garden at the Dorothy G. Jackson Community Center on Jackson Island was a magical place. It was a large field. One side of the field featured an immense variety of flowers and milk weed plants meant to entice butterflies to stop by to feed, lay their eggs, and pollenate. There were several mid-sized trees that would shelter the butterflies from wind and rain as well as benches and fountains. The other side was an open grassy knoll with picnic tables so visitors could enjoy the butterflies without interrupting them.
“My little cousin is the world’s biggest sweetheart, but I don’t know about this butterfly shit,” Yahirah muttered as the two of us worked together to cover the four picnic tables with butterfly-themed tablecloths.
“Butterflies are creepy as hell to me. Those legs, those antennae.” She shivered. “Eww. They give me the creeps.”
I gave a small smile. She stopped what she was doing and watched me intently.
“What’s going on with you, bestie?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop playing in my face, Xari. You’re acting weird.”
I gave her a genuine smile. “I’m acting completely relaxed and totally . . . I’m talking totally satisfied.”
“What does that mean?” Yahirah’s lips were pulled up into a cute grin. “What are you telling me?”
“Me and?—”
She cut me off before I could finish. “You and Kept? Are y’all having sex? Wait. Are you all a couple?”
“We’ll see. Right now? We’re just good. So good.”
“Well, he needs somebody to be good with right now. I can’t believe both Vivienne and Jayla showed up this weekend.”
“I don’t know what Vivienne wants from him, but I definitely know what Jayla wants. I heard her this morning asking him if thefeelingswere still there after she told him about how much she regrets leaving because the other dude is dogging her out.”
“Is that why she’s out here all blonde haired and blue eyed? What did Kept say?”
“He basically asked her what feelings she was talking about.”
Yahirah laughed heartily. “Yes, cuz. Let that bitch know.”
“Let what bitch know what?” Vivienne asked.
Apparently, she and Mama Reese had snuck up on Yahirah and me.
“Mama!” Yahirah cried. “I asked you to stop sneaking up on me.”