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SALT

B aby Mama: Pick up Neriah before they close.

The text sent my nerves on edge as usual. I didn't mind picking up my daughter, but could her mother, Tanya, give me some kind of warning? The last two times that she sent me down to that daycare, the women were vultures. They'd swarmed in so quickly that you'd thought that I was giving away dick by the dozen. I wasn't. When I assured them that Neriah was my child and that I had a woman, they'd disappeared just as quickly. Though, I was sure that one of them said she'd still fuck if I knew how to keep a secret. The girl whom I picked her up from explained that I'd have to get Neriah on time or she was calling child services. She didn't mind if I was a few minutes late when I let her turn up her stank-ass booty as she wiggled around, trying to catch my attention. I'd tolerated it to get my baby, but now she was pissy. Getting there on time was impossible when the time was currently 4:45 p.m. and Neriah needed to be picked up by 5. I didn't bother to text back. I just got in the car and busted my ass to get there.

Thirty minutes later…

I pulled into the lot to see the pickup line gone and the closed sign flipped on the door.

Shit!

As soon as I entered, someone gave me a disapproving look. Here we go.

"Picking up Neriah St. James," I said to the receptionist.

"My boss wants to speak to you. Neriah has been picked up twenty-eight out of thirty-one days late."

Wait.

"Tanya drops her off on the weekends, too?" I asked.

"She does."

I cursed to myself. I usually spent evenings with her and she stayed at my house on the weekends, but with shit on the streets being hectic, I'd slacked on the overnight stays. Not anymore. I'm sure the only reason Tanya kept Neriah when she found out that she was pregnant was that she thought I'd wife her gold-digging ass. I didn't, and she was too damn selfish to give her up to me. Tanya also knew that I worked for the Ekon mafia crime family and held on to it as leverage. She didn’t know enough to get herself killed, but she could point fingers my way if she wanted to.

I nodded my understanding, and she stood and disappeared. She came back a few minutes later with a smirk on her face.

"She'll be right out. She's on a call."

I sat down in the chair and waited. It took twenty minutes before her boss opened the door. I heard little footsteps running my way, and I smiled as Neriah rounded the corner.

"Daddy!" she squealed.

I picked her up and rained kisses all over her face. She giggled and held onto my face.

"Tickles." She said through laughter.

"Salt?" I heard the voice and froze.

"Lauren?" What the hell was she doing here?

"Are you Isiah St. James?" She looked down at her clipboard.

"I am." I raised my eyebrow and waited for her to say something more.

"Can I talk to you outside?" She smiled nervously.

"Sure." I walked out before her and held the door.

She followed and let the door close entirely before she spoke.

"I don't know how to say this." She sighed.

"Just talk."

"Not picking Neriah up on time is a red flag to children’s services. I've spoken to Tanya about it already, and she has done nothing to change her habits. If anything, they've gotten worse."

"Okay." I nodded, waiting for the rest. "I pick her up when Tanya can't, so when she texts me at quarter til five to get her, I do what I can," I admitted.

"That's understandable but doesn't change that there will be an investigation. Neriah is three years old and needs constant attention. You guys have to make sure someone is here by five. Nothing I could do about the investigation because her timestamps were all over the place. When they come to your house, you guys need to have everything together." She sighed before looking at Neriah. "I'd hate to see her suffer over something that can be fixed. From what I understand, Tanya has a long list of complaints."

First time I’ve heard about this.

"Not my baby girl. I'll talk to Tanya and see if we can work something out. This is getting out of control." And I wasn't about to let her unfit parenting skills be the reason I lost my baby.

"Not to get into your business, but why won't you take her? She seems to have a strong connection with you."

Neriah had her face squished against mine while she watched Lauren talk, arms around my neck.

"She knows what's up. Like I said, I'll handle it." I gave her a look so that she'd drop the topic. I didn't want Neriah to hear anything more.

"Daddy … I want pizza." Neriah kissed my cheek and then went back to holding my face.

"That's cool because I want wings," I said to her.

"I want wings." She turned my head toward her face to make sure I heard her. I snickered at her bossy behavior.

"You said pizza."

"And wings." She squished my lips, and I chuckled, making her giggle.

"Daddy got lips like a duck."

I moved my lips together and apart and she mocked me before it tickled her silly.

"Well, I'll let you go." Lauren put the polite smile back on.

"Join us. You're off, right?" I suggested.

"Yes, but it's a conflict of interest." She said.

"Maybe, but I won't hold it against you. It's just pizza."

"Salt, I—"

"Mine, right? I can feed you if I want."

Lauren nodded once and turned on her heels. She went inside and grabbed her things and then I drove us to get food. We ate inside and it didn't take long to get seated. I ordered pizza and wings for me and Neriah. Lauren went with salad and wings.

Neriah insisted that the chicken tasted better off my plate, so I cut her pizza into strips and she lived her best life. Lauren and I laughed and joked most of the evening. She even played games with Neriah on the coloring sheet they gave her. They bonded all the way down to falling asleep in the car together. Tanya wasn't home, which benefited me since I didn't want Neriah with her, anyway. But there was the issue of getting Lauren home when she wouldn't wake up.

I drove home and carried Neriah inside to put her to bed. When I returned, Lauren was half awake.

"Now you wake up." I joked.

"It was the car door closing." She mumbled.

"Good to know."

"I guess I was more tired than I thought." She yawned.

"Well, I can get you a car home. With Neriah asleep, I can't take you." I offered.

"Sure." Another yawn surfaced and her eyes drooped close.

"Lauren, how about you come inside, take a nap, and then I'll send you home when you can be more alert?"

"Mhm…" she nodded.

I helped her from the car and upstairs. I didn't bother taking her to the guest room, since I wanted to feel her in my arms. Had wanted to since I met her. Removed her shoes and got her settled in before I took off my own and my shirt. Lying next to her, I pulled her into my arms and exhaled when she wrapped her arms around me. Head on my chest, knee on my thigh, hands holding me back, I was in heaven. I put my arm behind my head, the other around her waist, and I kissed the top of her head.

Yeah … the good doctor was on to something. Lauren felt good in a lot of ways. If the scale kept tipping in her favor, she'd have a bigger problem on her hands. One laced with diamonds and a tale of forever. When I told Dr. Cushions that I needed a submissive woman to marry, she said she had the perfect remedy. She had met my requirements on many levels, and she felt right from the moment she walked in. There was still a lot to discuss, but for now, things were as they should be. I didn’t have to wonder if she was in it for the money or my lifestyle, because she didn’t know who I truly was. She’d see me for who I am before she learned what I was into.

I woke up to Lauren kissing on the side of my neck while she caressed my chest. My dick was rock hard, and she pressed against me, grinding her pussy against my thigh. Somebody needed some attention.

“Before I roll over and grab this condom, is this your way of saying that you’re ready for me to get that car for you or are you trying to stay and play?” I didn’t bother opening my eyes since it was pitch black in the room. Often it was late when I came home, so I slept in and hated the light shining in. Not that it was anything close to being daylight outside.

“I’ve been good…” she whispered. “I haven’t touched myself and it’s been days.”

“Are you staying… or going?” I asked again.

“Staying.”

“Then take off your clothes. You won’t wear a single thing when we’re in bed together.” I instructed.

“Yes, Sir.” She sat up and took off her shirt. The rest of her clothes followed. So when she curled back into me, all I felt was skin and softness.

“Yeah…” I pulled her back in close to me. “Now we can talk business. What were you saying?”

“That I’ve been good.”

“And you want some kind of fucking reward, huh?” I scoffed. “Nah. I don’t do those. What else you got?”

Silence.

“Speak up.”

“I … don’t know.”

“How about you ask for what you want? Not because you deserve it, but because you want it. Need it. Crave it. I’ll satisfy your appetite every time. Give you what you're missing. Remember?”

“I do. Can I have you?” She asked.

“You want dick. To be fucked. That ain’t all there is to me. So say what you want, beautiful slut.”

Lauren squirmed beside me, and I knew I made her uncomfortable. If she wanted everything that she’d said, she’d have to work for it. Own her desires and not shy away from them all the time. Outside this room, she could be the shiest woman on the planet, but when we were doing our thing, she’d have to speak her truth. It was just us in here.

“I want to be fucked, Salt. Hard… relentlessly. I need…” she moaned when my fingers found her dripping pussy and slipped against her folds.

“Keep going.” I pushed.

“I need to feel used. Oooh…”

I teased her plump clit, enjoying the texture of it. Moving slowly, I could feel the slickness of it as well as the grooves.

“What else?”

“Pain…” She gripped the far side of my neck and breathed into the closer one. “Salt…”

“Yeah?” I let my fingers trail downward, teasing just inside her.

“Please don’t let me wait any longer. The texts from you this week…”

“The ones where I asked if you were being a good girl for me?”

“Yes, and the teasing…”

“Couldn’t have you thinking that I lost interest,” I admitted.

“No,” she sighed. “I didn’t.”

“Big girl shit … remember?” I fucked her with my fingers and she shivered in my arms.

“Yes, I do…”

“What are you thinking now? Think I mind that you have added curves? Hmm?”

“Noo…” Somehow, it was hard for her to breathe. Maybe it was the depth I’d got my fingers in.

“You sure?”

“Yes!”

“Shh… my daughter is sleeping and you will not wake her up.” I removed my fingers from inside her and smacked her on the ass.

“Yes, Sir. Please…” she begged.

I moved my hand up to her throat and gripped it. “Climb up on top of me.”

She did, but I never moved my hand.

“Unfasten my jeans and move them out of the way. Boxers, too.”

As she did, I let her go to retrieve two condoms from the drawer. When she had me undressed from the waist down, I was putting on the condom. She got back into position and so did I. Hand on her throat.

“Put my dick inside you. Take your time. I want to savor this first time.”

She did, and I closed my eyes as she lowered onto me.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah…” I pulled her to me, kissing her mouth when her lips touched mine. I controlled the kiss, how hard she rode me, and the way her body surrendered to me.

She rode me with finesse, rolling her hips to take me deeper, bouncing to create delicious fucking friction, wetting me up to make it sweet enough. I almost forgot the good stuff since she felt so damn right. I bit down on her lip and she winced. Tightening my grip on her neck, she groaned. But how I knew she liked it was that she rode me harder, struggled when she came down, shivering and trying not to come, though it was inevitable.

“Keep that same energy,” I said to her when I broke free from her mouth.

I bit the side of her neck, down her chest, and sucked on her nipples as she bucked against me. Now we were getting somewhere. Her moans grew louder, and I moved my hand from her throat to inside her mouth, fucking it with my fingers. It was then, with the two digits being sucked, my dick deep inside her, and my other hand gripping her ass, that she came the first time. The second time was when I put my fingers inside her anally. But the third…

I’d moved on top of her, fastened her ankles to the headboard, and dropped my shaft into her like she was the last thing I’d ever get into. She felt magnificent and pounding into her from this angle made her squirt onto my stomach. I knew it hurt, cause I felt the pain too, but it was the good kind. The one that clapped back and made you focus on it instead of whatever the hell else existed. Getting back to the sting, the wetness, her heat, her quiver, the squeals she tried to hide into the pillow that I desperately wanted to hear. Her pussy spoke to me, taunted me to hit that same spot again. It was like an earthquake lived in her body and was about to tear that shit down. I thrived inside her. Made shit happen. It was about to get worse because the shaking wouldn’t stop and neither was I. She gripped the pillow in a bear hug to her face as she screamed out her orgasm.

“Fuck!” I roared. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!”

I came too, giving her that same body-seizing momentum she’d given me.

I exhaled long and hard as I kept coming inside her.

“What the fuck?” I cursed when it felt like it was never-ending. My leg shook, and I gripped her thighs tight as I tried to hold on. Knocked on my ass, I did the only thing I could do. Moved the fucking pillow from her face and kissed her.

Maybe rewards weren’t so bad after all.