Page 133 of Steel

As I sipped my drink, I could feel my man’s eyes on me.

“What?” I asked, setting it down.

“I can’t look at you?”

“I mean . . . you’re staring.”

“I’m admiring you. You look so fucking beautiful tonight, love.”

I blushed. “Thank you. You forgot yourself back at the house. Grabbing my ass like that in front of the kids.”

He chuckled. “I couldn’t help myself. Besides, Nayelli should see us loving on each other.”

“Oh, she’s eating it up.” I poked out my lip. “Is it sad that I miss them already?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I miss them too. We really are together all the time these days.”

“We are. I love it, though. Just us and our babies.”

He smiled. “Can I ask you for something?”

“Anything.”

“I um, . . . I want to take you to meet Donna.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“I know it’s a little weird?—”

“No. No, it’s not weird at all. I’d be honored to meet her. I um, . . . I actually have a question about her. Something her mother said at the water park.”

He took a long sip of his drink like he knew what I was going to ask. When he placed it down, he stared at me.

“Yes. You two look alike. I mean, not just a like, but you could be related. Anyway! That’s not the reason I was attracted to her. Donna was beautiful in her own right, and I loved her personality. In that aspect, you two were completely different. I love you both for different reasons.”

I nodded. “It wasn’t weird for you?”

“No. When I was with her, I didn’t think about you in that sense. I never compared you two. Never wished she was you or that she and I had what you and I shared. I’d learned to live without you, Neha. While I coped with not having you in unhealthy ways at times, I’d accepted that what we had was done.”

“Only it wasn’t.”

“Nah, . . . it wasn’t.”

I sniffled. “I’m so sorry, Kerrion. I?—”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing, love. I don’t have the capacity to be upset anymore. I forgive you, and forgiveness to me means not bringing it up again. I’m not gonna lie and say it doesn’t still sting at times, because it does, but I don’t want tolive in that anger. I don’t like the person I am when I feel like that. You and I are good in this moment. I promise.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He leaned over and kissed my lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Now. Come dance with me.”

He stood to his feet and pulled me to mine before leading me out to the dance floor. The DJ dropped a classic by Aretha Franklin, “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.” Older couples flooded the dance floor. Kerrion pulled me into him and wrapped an arm around my waist while holding my hand. I rested my head against his chest and allowed him to sway me to the music with my eyes closed. The scent of his cologne engulfed me like a warm hug and made me smile.

“This takes me back,” I said softly.