Page 16 of Welcome to the Table

Athena Black

“ U mmm, give me another kiss like that,” I told my husband as we stood in the kitchen, all in each other’s faces.

I had been in love with Melph since I was a teenager, so to be married to him for twenty-plus years was like a dream come true.

I knew what type of life he led, but that didn’t bother me because he said he would always protect me, and he taught me how to protect myself before Calliope started to grow in my belly.

His arms wrapped around me, and I stood on my tippy toes to peck his neck.

My black hair flowed down my back because I was so short under him.

He gripped it, pulling my neck back and looking into my eyes.

Something was wrong. I already knew from the meeting with our boys that shit was about to shake, but the look in his eyes as he stared at me showed it was more serious than I thought.

I pulled him closer to me. What sent my nerves over the edge was when he requested Jaci come home and didn’t tell me or discuss it with me.

Something was brewing, and he was keeping it away from me.

“Melph Black, what the fuck is going on? Please don’t leave me in the dark, baby, please. I wanna know before the boys get here.”

I begged him to tell me, but he continued to look into my eyes, not saying a word.

He just looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Like he was trying to memorize every feature on my face and etch it in his head so he wouldn’t forget it.

I didn’t like that feeling. Everything we did, we did it together.

Killed niggas, collected money, took trips around the world together, and shared three kids.

We were inseparable, and I didn’t need that to change.

“Nothing I can’t handle, and nothing for you to worry about. You just keep being you, and I’ll handle the rest.”

I hated when he talked like that.

“I see yo’ dumb ass sons out front on the camera, but per usual, Hellcat ass is always fucking late, and he knows I hate that shit. Then, he parked on my damn grass.” His brows wrinkled.

“Nigga would be late for his own fucking funeral,” he said, trying to change the subject, but I wasn’t falling for that shit.

He looked down at me.

“I’m only saying the shit once, so you might as well drop it. Stop worrying so much about nothing.” He kept saying that shit, but the worry lines that formed in his forehead said otherwise.

“Don’t talk about my baby like that. He's coming.” I looked at my sexy ass husband.

He was the perfect shade of toffee with salt and pepper locs that swung down his back.

His skin was so smooth, but we were young parents.

I was forty-two and he was forty-six, but black didn’t crack, so we didn’t look like we had grown children.

Hellcat was my child whom I had to give special attention to.

Calliope didn’t really get along with his father, and I didn’t know why, but Hellcat was a different case.

They couldn’t be in the same room for too long without my furniture being rearranged.

Hopefully, this meeting will be different.

Melph was always hard on our sons, but I had the soft spot.

They knew they could talk to me with emotion, but had to be monsters with their father, and I hated that.

I nurtured my sons, so they knew how to treat a woman, but with the lives that they lived, a woman had to be strong to be with them.

Hell, to be a part of this family, a woman had to be strong.

I was also the enforcer. When business needed to be handled, I stepped in.

When shit got too heavy for them to carry, I helped them carry it because they were still my babies.

It didn’t matter how old they got. They bust their guns; I’m busting mine.

“It’s true that nigga shows up late for everything, but who the fuck is that with Calliope? This ain’t the time to introduce whoever he fucking to the family because this ain’t that type of party. Whoever she is, she’s about to get her feelings crushed,” he said as we both looked at the camera.

I zoomed in to see her face clearer, but it was like the bitch knew a camera was on her because she kept her head down.

Even her body language was familiar. It was like she knew where the camera was because she wouldn’t lift her head, but it was cool.

She was about to enter my domain. I saw her mouth moving, so I knew she was talking.

“Stop being nosey, Thena.” He called me by my nickname, and I chuckled because he knew me so well.

I looked at him, and his eyes were low. I already knew what the fuck type of time he was on, and I was on it too.

The food was already cooked and finished.

The biscuits were cooling off in the oven.

The homemade mac and cheese had the house smelling like heaven.

I had fried chicken, but did BBQ chicken for Hellcat because that’s what he liked.

Hellcat was a replica of me in male form.

His charcoal skin was inherited from his father, but his slanted green eyes and facial features were all me.

I knew my son was gon’ look like me because he was the stomper in my stomach.

I knew his ass was gon’ be a problem, and I was going to love him a little harder than my other two because of his behavior.

Hellcat earned his name. I didn’t believe in all that doctor shit because nothing was wrong with my son.

ADHD and all that other shit didn’t exist. The system just wanted to put a label on my son.

Put him on all types of medicine, but I wouldn’t let them.

He wasn’t about to live his life like a fucking zombie.

He has grown up to be a healthy man. He was a little crazy, but he was functional.

He just needed a good woman to balance him out.

It was coming because I felt it. He didn’t do fried food at all.

I had seasoned my asparagus, fresh, of course, and had corn for Calliope because his ass was picky, too.

Jaci wasn’t picky, but I knew she loved lamb chops, and that’s what I made for her, along with fresh French-cut green beans.

I knew she hadn’t had a decent meal since she was living in New York, so I was glad to give my baby a good meal and make sure she had some to take with her.

I could only imagine how her brothers would feel once they saw her.

Hellcat, not too much because they didn’t get along.

One would think they didn’t have the same mother and father, or didn’t grow up in the same household.

Whatever I cooked, my princess would eat it.

She wasn’t hard to please, and I was so glad about her being home, whether it was a surprise or not.

I kept her far away from the life we lived as much as possible, but she knew what was going on.

She was trained just like her brothers, but she, too, had a fascination with knives.

I didn’t understand that about her because she never displayed it, but she said she was scared of guns, so I left it alone.

I sent her ass to New York for school, and she was in her last year for her Bachelor of Science because she wanted to be a nurse, then a nurse practitioner.

I had a car waiting for her at the airport to bring her here.

I had to make sure I was dressed for the occasion.

I had on my red silk Gucci spaghetti-strapped dress with my Gucci flat sandals.

Melph had on his matching red Gucci shirt with cargo shorts and Gucci slides.

“What you trying to do?” Melph asked me as he pulled me to him and out of the camera room.

We walked back to the kitchen, and I went to check on the biscuits. The table was already set for my kids to have this meeting. I closed the oven, and when I turned around, Melph was right in my damn face.

“We got time, bae, come on,” he said and lifted me by my thighs, then sat me on the countertop. His hands went under my dress, rubbing my thighs until he got to my bare pussy. He knew I couldn’t resist him.

“I’m hungry. You gon’ let a nigga eat before they scary asses come in here and fuck it up? You look like you tense and need a stress reliever before they come.” He spread my legs wide and got on his knees. The first suck to my clit had my legs shaking.

“Grab my dreads, Thena. Pull them back,” he told me, and I used one of my hands to pull his hair back. He pulled my dress up, and I watched as he slurped on me.

“Yo’ shit splashing, baby.”

He inserted his finger in me. I arched my back and moaned because the feeling was taking over my body. My husband has always been my personal pussy connoisseur. I rolled my hips into his face, covering it with my juices.

“Give me that nut before the kids come.”

He hummed into my pussy, and my muscles started to contract. I knew I was on the brink of bliss. I tried to push him away, but he wasn’t letting up. His thunder tongue slid inside me, and the waterworks came splashing. The water sound made me wetter as I rode his face until I was empty.

“Ummmmm, shit. Yo’ pussy gon’ always taste like dragon fruit,” Melph said, standing to his feet.

He kissed me, and I licked my juices from his mouth before he walked away to get a warm towel and clean his face.

I felt bad because this nigga just ate my pussy around all this food.

He came back with a warm, soapy towel to clean me up.

Then, he helped me down off the counter, and we walked into the living room to wait for the kids.