Co-Workers With Benefits

D I O N

Venice comes out of the closet in one of her rompers with her hair packed up with a scarf around it, shuts all the curtains and shuts the door, making the room dark whilst I lay on the bed. She turns on the tv and walks over to hand me the remote before getting on the bed and climbing onto me.

She wraps her arms around me, resting her head on my stomach and laying between my legs.
I grab her hand, playing with her fingers as she closes her eyes.

"What's the remote for mama?" I ask her, quietly.

"So you won't be bored waiting for me to fall asleep." She mumbles.

"Oh okay."

I turn the volume on the tv down to 12 and open Netflix to continue watching my unfinished episode of black lightning.

~

After around 3 hours, I carefully slide out from under Venice's limp body and place her onto her stomach pillow, turning off the tv and sliding my feet into my slides before leaving the room and heading back down to the kitchen to make dinner.

I decide on grilled salmon and mashed potatoes. I wash my hands at the sink before playing some music and getting the fish out of the freezer.

Halfway into making the mashed potatoes, I hear Venice's footsteps coming down the stairs and through the hallway before she walks in, rubbing her face with her hands.

I drop the bowl on the counter and walk over to her, wrapping my arm around her waist and kissing her forehead.

"Hey baby."

She holds her belly as she stretches slightly. "Hey."

I move back over to the countertop, picking the bowl back up as she sits at the island.

"You slept for a while, you gon be able to wake up tomorrow for work?"

"Ion know, I hope so. I only have two days left, and since the kids gone for the summer, I'm just clearing out my classroom."

"Okay. You hungry again?"

She nods. "Yeah. I wanna go check the gifts they got us after we eat. I'm excited to see 'em."

"They got lil mama a lot. We got shoes, clothes play pens, and even one of them baby bouncers that you hang up in the doorway."

"Really?! Oh gosh, we won't have to buy anything at this rate. Imma be right back, I need to pee."

She hops off the stool and runs to the bathroom in the hallway.
I check the salmon in the grill and take it out, placing it on an iron rack.

I serve up the food and place her plate on the table in front of her seat then I start digging into mine, leaning against the countertop.

"Okay daddy." She says, walking back in. "Food looks bomb as hell."

I lift my eyes towards her face, immediately turned on at the name she called me and I give her a sly smile.
I watch as she takes a bite of her salmon, holding in a laugh. She constantly glances at me and looks away, taking more bites.

"Stop staring at me like that." She giggles.

"You knew what you was doing." I check.

"And did." She mumbles, nodding her head.

Is she really doing this right now?