The Unusual Suspects Book 2

Dom

I was sitting in the pool house finishing up my English course. It's amazing that in 2 days, I was able to complete everything I needed to graduate. As I submitted my last assignment, I just thought back on everything that had transpired and it just seemed unreal. How much this year has really changed my life, I wasn't able to put into words at all. I was starting to feel a little more like myself. It's amazing what you gain when you lose. I was now just thinking clearly about what was best for me no matter what anyone else said or thought. I had been more involved in the studio and with Open Mic. Things were starting to look up for me, but I just wasn't happy. I literally probably doubled how much weed I had been smoking since I lost the baby. It kept me mellow. Writing was my sanity in the end, everything just flowed so naturally now. Maybe I had encaged myself by not speaking up when I should have and now this was my release. Between the poetry and the music, it was helping me relieve a weight. But my heart...my heart was still heavy as hell.
"Hey, your brother let me in. I hope that was okay." I heard Little Man say as he walked into the pool house and closed the door behind him.
"That's fine. I'm sorry, did I lose track of time?" I said.
"No...I'm early actually. I wanted to talk to you for a minute." he said sitting across from me.
"Okay, what's up?" I said as I looked over at him.
"Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about. What's up D? You feeling okay? You've been real distant the last few days. I know I'm usually the one to initiate conversation, and that's okay. But you've been kind of dry in responses." he was right, I had kind of been off. Ever since I flipped out in class that day, I just...Idk.
"I'm sorry, it's not you. I appreciate you and everything that you've been doing. I jus..." he stopped me.
"No, you're not sorry. You're the complete opposite. I told you, don't apologize to me for anything that you're going through. Just talk to me, you can lean on me."
"You don't deserve to carry this weight. I d..."
"It's not a weight. I told you, I accept you and everything that comes with you. I know you're not used to a dude like me. You was just attached to a nigga. You've been with bitches. If a real woman or a real man had you, you wouldn't be like this now. That's okay. But don't push away a good thing D. I'm not telling you to be with me, I'm not telling you put all your faith in me. I'm telling you to lean on me. I got you. Haven't I showed you that?" he asked me. Man...he was right.
"Yes and then some. I appreciate the fact that you were there for me when I made the hard decision of donating my baby's body to science. You've attended group with me. You come to every Open Mic and then even in the studio, you sit in on my sessions when you can. I mean you're absolutely everything that I needed and then some. I wish I could show you more how appreciative I really am, but..." he came over and sat next to me.
"You can show me. You're just guarded as fuck. I understand it though. I'm patient, I will never rush it at all. I just know when you first met me, you never expected this to be how I am. I also never expected for you to be so down to earth. We both were wrong. And I'm glad I was. But at the end of the day self-preservation is the first law of human nature." he said as he leaned in and stared in my eyes. I was about to be warped into him when I heard the door open and Martin walked in for a moment.
"My bad, I just came out here to let yall know the fellas is all here and shit. Didn't know if yall wanted more privacy or..." Martin said.
"It's all good, we about to leave." Little Man said as I closed my laptop.
"Alright. Be safe out there yall." Martin said.
"You already know. Plus, you know I'll protect her with my life G." he told Martin as they shook and Mar nodded.
"I'll run this up to my room and then we can slide." I told him as we walked through the house and I ran upstairs for a moment. When I was coming back down the stairs I saw Justin walking in. I just kept it moving for real.
"D, let me talk to you for a m..." Justin started when Little Man came from the opposite direction.
"You ready, Queen?" he asked me. Justin literally shot him the look of death and he was completely unbothered.
"Yes, I'm ready." I said as he opened the door for me as I walked out and he followed behind me. Timing was so crazy, but it is what it is. We walked over to his Cadillac SRX and he opened the door for me and helped me in before he got in himself. We started out the driveway and on our way to Open Mic. "Thank you." I told him.
"Don't thank me. You show gratitude every time you gain more of the old you back. Don't allow someone who didn't add value to your life destroy any moment of it." he said to me. We pulled up to a red light and I leaned over to him and turned his face in my direction and kissed him. Don't get me wrong, we had kissed several times, but this one...this one felt the deepest. The way our lips touched and tongues literally danced with each other was crazy. I pulled away slowly and we locked eyes for a moment before we had noticed the light change. We rode silently til we pulled up tot he venue.
"You can't be doing that." he said softly and I looked over at him confused as to if I read that wrong. "Not like that. I mean I have never in my life been that turned on by a kiss."