Lethal

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

Morning light peeked through the blinds in Jibri's bedroom as we lay awake together, still buzzing from the night before. Instead of sleeping, the two of us had decided to stay up all night talking about nothing and everything- the future, the present and even our pasts. Before him, I always made it a rule to keep my cards held close to my chest and avoided sharing too much of my history with others, but I trusted him completely with every single part of me.

"Why did your last relationship end?" Jibri's fingers danced along my spine while I lay on my stomach, draped across his chest.

I shook my head, unsure where to even begin. "Neither of us could actually handle being in a relationship." That was the short answer, and I wanted to keep it at that in fear that too much information would upset Jibri. "What about you?"

"You could say that I made it a habit to only do casual situations before you." He chuckled, "The last girl that I tried to be serious with was a complete nutcase, I swear Za. That girl could make an issue out of anything with her paranoia."

My stomach turned, "That must have been rough." I sighed, "How long were you two together before you ended things?"

"A little under six months, she was too crazy to put up with." Jibri laughed, a reaction that made me clam up a bit, crazy seemed to be his favorite way to describe his girlfriends, a realization that woke me up from the fog that I'd been in.

Slowly, I rose into a seated position before continuing our conversation. "What do you mean she was too crazy?" I picked at my cuticle, unwilling to meet his eyes. "Are you okay to talk about it"

"She tried to control my life Za and she always wanted to be in the mix. You know me, sometimes I like to chill alone." Jibri pulled me back onto his chest. "The girl was obsessed, always checking in and she never trusted anything that I said to her." Jibri shrugged nonchalantly.

My fingers traced his tattoo covered chest as he spoke, "I can't see anyone successfully controlling you." I sighed; in all honesty I wasn't convinced that he was telling the truth. The wheels turned in my head as he continued to talk about his previous situation; Jibri has made a point about expressing his need for alone time, but I had only known him to hate it- if he wasn't with me, he was with his family or Yanise. He didn't have the capacity to enjoy complete autonomy. I finally checked my phone and noticed a few work messages. "I need to go to the studio and prep for tomorrow."

"Already?" Jibri brought one of my hands to his lips and placed a soft kiss there, "When can I take you on another date?"

My schedule was going to be packed during the next week, two of my clients had major events to attend while Pardison was filming a new music video. "Oh papa, I'm gonna be so busy this week. What if I cook dinner for you tonight, how does that sound?"

"Perfect." Jibri promised. "I'll be over there tonight, and I'll even bring you a bottle of the best non-alcoholic wine I can find."

I smiled at him, before finally sitting up. "I would love that, now I really need to go."

Despite my words, Jibri pulled me back onto his chest and kept me there for a while longer, kissing me and telling me how happy he was to have me back. When he finally let me go, I knew that I had to leave without even showering if I had any chance of getting out of his apartment before the day ended. I pulled one of Jibri's oversized T-shirts on and tried to fix my disheveled hair while he watched from his place on the bed.

"You know you can just stay here, right?" His eyes had a mischievous glint as he spoke, "Especially if I'm just going to see you again in a few hours."

I shook my head in admonishment, "I need to get this work done pa, I think you can live without me until tonight." He was already contradicting him former assertion, though I chose not to mention it. With no time spared, Jibri snuck up behind me and held onto my waist while burying his face into my neck. A soft sigh escaped my lips as one of my hands reached up to rub the top of his head. "No, I seriously need to leave."