Brother's Keeper✔️

33. Magic Feeling

Taj POV

He stayed in Bloomington-Normal over the Thanksgiving Break. He thought he would be all alone, but was surprised that Faye stayed in town. Not only that, she called him over for a Thanksgiving dinner with her and her daughter.

That was big.

Faye introduced him as a friend, and he was still working on changing that. Faye made a small turkey with all the fixings. She was a great cook. Afterward, they watched some football, and she was into it as much as he was.

This was his kind of woman.

When she finally put Kelandria to sleep, he thought he could get some adult time in, but he would not push it. He helped her put all the food away and clean everything and then they went back to her living room and found a movie they both were interested in.

"Thanks for inviting me over and let me hang with you and Kelz. I would have had a frozen entree thing for dinner."

"I cooked enough food Taj, and I knew you were here, so why not."

"You still did not have to. You're keeping me in the friend zone, and that's cool, but-"

She smiled at him. "Maybe we're ready to move out of the friend zone."

He knew he had a stupid grin on his face. Faye was his dream woman and he did not want to mess this up. Better yet, he did not want to get hurt again.

Sherry was his dream woman before, or so he thought. He paid for a vacation with her, treated her like a queen, fell in love with her, and wanted to spend forever with her. He never thought she was the type to cheat, especially since her ex cheated on her throughout their relationship.

Hurt people hurt people, that's what she was.

How was Faye any different? She was hurt too, from what her ex-husband did to her. She could turn around and do the same thing Sherry did.

Now he questioned moving on into the relationship, after wanting this so bad.

"Faye, I just want you to be very sure. If we need to be friends a little longer to see if this could work-"

She stopped his talking by moving in close, grabbed his face in her hands, and kissed him. Sweet intoxicating kisses that made his heart flutter. He forgot everything he previously thought, she was the one.

He wrapped his arms around her as they continued to kiss. He could stay like that all night, so close to her, kissing her. From the first kiss, she had him. He was so glad that he gave her a chance and her having a kid did not distract him.

Well it did, that's when he momentarily had a lapse of judgment and got with Temira. A decision that could have changed his life forever. That did change him. He wondered if he should tell Faye about that. It seemed only a while ago when it all happened, but he and Faye were not together.

No, he did not want her to think less of him.

He finally pulled away from her kisses, still thinking too much about everything, as he always did.

"What's wrong?" She rubbed a hand down his chest, and his thoughts immediately went to them naked in bed rolling around. "You're second-guessing being with me?"

"No, no, that's not it." He moved her hand and held it so it would not be a distraction. "Just...I was hurt badly by my ex, just like you, and I don't know...it's made me feel some kind of way."

"Oh yeah, that sorority girl, I met her."

What? She never told him that.

"You met Sherry? When?"

"Yeah, I didn't remember her name, I wasn't checking for her like that. She came into the office to see Jossie, I think Homecoming weekend. Jossie introduced me, mentioned that you and her dated or something like that."

Why did he feel some kind of way about this? He shouldn't. Sherry made her decision, cheating and then dumping him. He was over her, but still, she had a part of his heart and he did not want to admit that.

"Why would Jossie mention that?"

Faye shrugged, not understanding that it was not a light matter to him. "I don't know. She doesn't know about us for one, and I think she was hinting that we favor each other."

Unfortunately, they did. That's what attracted him to her in the first place. Now he wondered if Faye only thought he was with her because of that.

"You're nothing like her," he quickly added.

"I know I'm not. Those sorority girls are a mess! Think they're hot shit and better than everyone else. A hot mess."

He had never heard her opinion about sororities like that. He did not like it at all. He was friends with lots of Greek members from all the organizations.

"You do know Jossie is in that same sorority."

"Yeah, but she's older, I bet she was a wild one back in the day."

He shook his head at that because he knew it to be true but that was beside the point.

"And I'm in a fraternity. What do you think about that? You know they say fraternity guys are nothing but dogs and sleep around."

"Well," she moved closer to him, her hands rubbing all over his chest. "I know the ladies are all over you because you are that gorgeous, but I know that since I've known you, I don't see that in you. You're sweet. Romantic and not a dog or I would not be wasting my time."

"So, we have both been hurt in the past, I'm hoping that means we would never hurt someone else that way." He took her hands and kissed them. "I have a feeling about you Faye. I want to be the man I'm supposed to be with you. I think we will be great together.

They continued to make out again. He wanted to take things further, like to her bedroom, but she pulled away when it got heated.

"Just a few ground rules. My daughter comes first."

"Of course." Though he worried about what that meant. He was not a parent, and not planning on being one any time soon. Her having a child was one of the reasons he hesitated with her.

"And I will not let her see me carrying on with a guy. I mean, she's too young to understand all of that, but I want her to stay a kid. She could wake up and come out here any moment."

"What does that mean?"

"No sex."

"No sex, like now?"

"Like ever, here."

He scratched his head, trying to figure out what she was saying.

"So my place is cool?"

"Like, I don't think we should rush into the sexual aspect of the relationship so fast. We're still getting to know each other. I'm not going to leave my daughter somewhere just so we can have a night of sex."

Then what the hell? He never dated anyone and not have sex since he was sixteen years old. He was supposed to agree to this?

He did not sleep around but he liked sex just as much as the next person. Especially when he was with someone he found attractive. She could barely keep her hands off him, constantly rubbing on his chest, but he could not go beyond that.

How was this going to work?

A/N: Is anybody seeing red flags with Faye? I see them and I wrote this not trying to make her such a case. Anyway, I hope things work out with them (yes, I wrote this, but I have no clue what will happen. NONE!). Taj is one of the good guys. I have tried to write him as normal as possible, well, hung up on Sherry a bit, but it's the romantic in him.

Ah well! Maybe no one will have a happy ending in this book like Sister Circle which ended with three of the four meeting their "soulmates." Or have they?