Always Us (Always and Forever 2)

Trey.

Standing from the bed, I don’t bother to right his oversized shirt on my body. My legs and hip on display where his shirt is tucked into the side of my panties. I don’t want to wait any longer. I rush into the hall and my eyes immediately tear up when I see my love. Walking toward me, meeting me halfway.

“Baby,” I cry, leaping into his arms, my tiptoes pushing me up and off the ground where he collects me. It feels like centuries since we last held each other, when really it hasn’t even been a day.

“Hey, beautiful.” His warmth feels glorious against me, his embrace owning me.

“Where did you go?” I become overly clingy, not ashamed one bit when I start to kiss his neck, his jaw, his lips, anywhere my mouth can touch. I’m not trying to start anything or have sex; I just want to cling to him. I’m like a leech.

“I went to see Kathy.” I smile into his neck, where my mouth is latched.

“How did it go?” He starts walking us backwards as I inquire about his visit with Mama Kathy.

“You have no idea, I needed that, baby. I needed her—so bad.”

“Yeah?” I question as he carries me, effortlessly, back to his bedroom. He walks us into the bathroom.

Placing me on the counter, he leaves me and I admire the way he moves in his worn-out jeans and T-shirt. The sight of him beyond intoxicating, drawing me in after a disastrous night.

I remove my shirt, my burgundy hair falling down my arms, then resting messily against my chest.

Turning around, he removes his shirt, looking at my bare chest and cotton covered lady bits. He’s standing in front of me as he reaches out to me with his fingertips, sliding their way up

my bare thighs until they reach the band of my panties.

Patting my hips, he lifts his chin. “Lift your hips.” I balance my weight on my hands and lift my hips until my underwear clear my body. We’re being intimate, but it’s a unique kind of intimacy, it’s more about two souls nurturing each other. He never takes his eyes off of mine. My hands roam his triceps, massaging their way to his biceps.

“I trust you, you know that, right?” he questions.

“Of course, given everything that happened tonight, I would say you trust me.” He smiles knowingly, his muscles bunching under my palms as I knead them with my thumbs.

“You didn’t deserve it.”

I shake my head, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I should’ve trusted you, I didn’t even need to ask you, I knew you wouldn’t lie to me.”

I shake my head rapidly. I understand exactly why he asked, not because he didn’t trust me but more so for clarity, a gentle reminder that I’m real, the realest thing in his life. “No, baby, it’s fine, I would have done the same thing. I also should have told you about what she said to me, the times she threatened me.” He shakes his head.

“I still want you to tell me what she said, but I shouldn’t have asked you if you attacked her. That isn’t you, it would never be you.”

“Don’t be so sure, Trey. I nearly knocked her psycho ass out yesterday when she said what she said.”

“Yeah.” He nods.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought…I mean now that the dust has settled.” This shocks me, what happened with Kathy?

“I’m sorry?” This isn’t like Trey, he left so upset. I watched him cower down like a meek child when she said what she said. Now, in the early hours of the morning, less than twenty-four hours later, he stands here…fine.

“Kathy and I talked, she made me realize some important fucking things, baby.” He finishes stripping down to nothing. Standing from the sink, we move to the bathtub and just like a well-rehearsed dance, he climbs in first, sitting with his back against the tub. When he’s settled, I climb in next, fitting myself between his legs and resting my back against his chest.

“Go on.” I want him to finish telling me about Kathy and how exactly she got him to move on so quickly, as if yesterday never even happened.

“Shayla, I have spent the past eighteen years battling with myself and the damage my mother left in her wake. But I never really noticed all the good that I had in my life. All the love that I was completely surrounded by. I thought for years that I wasn’t deserving or good enough for true love, when I already had it in so many fucking people. You, Pops, Lana, Kings…Kathy. I had true love, and the one person who didn’t love me was the one without love for herself. If she can’t even love herself, how can she love me?” I nod, astonished by his revelation, yet thankful he sees the truth finally, the meaning behind it all. Gwen was the problem, she was the monster. Never him.

“We do love you, how could we not? You’re so easy to love, baby.” I turn, laying myself along his strong body. I kiss his chest and his hands plant themselves on my ass, squeezing me to him.