Her First French Kiss: An Exotic BWWM Romance

by Lacey Legend

  “You’re a remarkable lady, Mademoiselle Diamond. I do hope you stay in Veules-les-Roses,” Jaques said with a loving smile.

  “Me too . . .” Pierre mumbled from the corner.

  Diamond couldn’t help it, and finally broke out into both laughter and tears.

  *******

  As Diamond and Baptiste lay in bed that night, wrapped in each other’s arms, Diamond felt a connection and safety that she had never known in her life.

  They were still not sleeping together, but it didn’t bother Diamond one bit. She actually found it endearing. Baptiste had explained that, since hearing of the violence that had been inflicted upon her by a man, he would want to wait until he was sure that Diamond was out of harm’s way, and felt emotionally secure enough, to enjoy intimacy again. Not that Diamond wouldn’t mind making love to Baptiste again, in fact, she was desperately craving it. But in light of that kind of intimacy, a new kind of intimacy replaced it. Baptiste held her in his arms every night, stroking her back and hair, and he was even in the habit of bringing her tea each morning before he went to work.

  On that particular night, a full moon could be seen from the bedroom window, shining its light on the glistening sea as usual. Diamond could still make out her apartment. She hadn’t been back there in days but she had talked to Emmanuelle about things. The apartment had been restored to its original condition, nothing was seriously broken, and Emmanuelle expressed that Diamond should stay at Baptiste’s for as long as possible.

  “You make a gorgeous couple,” Emmanuelle had said over the phone. That brought a blush to Diamond’s brown cheek, and she was glad that no one was there to witness her bashfulness.

  Back in bed, Diamond turned her gaze from the sea to Baptiste’s handsome face, sleeping beside her. He had one protective arm around her midsection. Such bliss, Diamond thought to herself. She was melting into Baptiste’s arm. The comfort of it all lulled Diamond into a heavy sleep.

  Deep in sleep, Diamond had a dream about her future. She saw herself and Baptiste on a hillside, like one that you would find in Veules-les-Roses. The sun was shining bright and the grass was a spectacular green. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin, and Baptiste was grinning at her from ear to ear.

  Just at the crest of the hillside there was a small figure dancing about. From where she stood, Diamond couldn’t tell who it was. Baptiste took her by the hand and led her closer, and she could then see clearly that it was a child, and definitely her own. The little girl had tiny braids, just like her mother, and blue eyes, like her father. Diamond smiled, and felt happiness flow through her.

  “Mommy,” the little girl said.

  “My baby!” Diamond cried.

  “You need to watch out,” the girl said, and Diamond leaned down to hold her.

  “What do you mean, sweetheart?” Diamond asked.

  “He’s here . . .”

  Diamond awoke from her dream instantly. The crash downstairs was what pulled her out of it. She turned towards Baptiste.

  “Baptiste, are you awake?” she said.

  “What?” he asked groggily.

  “I heard something downstairs.”

  Baptiste bolted upright out of bed, as if those were the only words that were required. He got out of bed, wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms and no shirt. He quickly made his way to the closet where he pulled out a gun, concealed in a drawer.

  “Be careful,” Diamond said, hearing another crash downstairs.

  “Don’t leave this room,” Baptiste commanded. “Lock the door behind me when I go.”

  “Should we call Pierre?” Diamond asked.

  “He’s downstairs. Everything is going to be alright. Just lock the door,” Baptiste said.

  He left the room and Diamond did as he commanded, but then she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if Pierre didn’t wake up? What if Baptiste was down there alone? Staying in that room was going to prove too difficult for her.

  It was only when Diamond heard the gunshot downstairs that she decided there was no way she was going to stay put. If Baptiste was hurt, then she’d rather throw herself into harm’s way than do nothing at all. Heart pounding, Diamond unlocked the door and ran down the hall, desperately needing to know what was going on. She made it to the top of the stairs and looked down, seeing nothing.

  Finally, she could hear a scuffle and shouting. She wanted to scream and cry out. Pierre ran by at the bottom of the stairs, and he looked up at Diamond, gun in hand.

  “Stay there!” Pierre cried, running off to the right where Diamond knew the atrium to be. Despite all these commands, Diamond simply couldn’t take it. She slowly crept down the stairs, clutching the banister tightly.

  When she made it to the ground floor, she could feel the cold tile on her feet, and she willed her legs to move forward.

  Another gunshot, and Diamond finally screamed.

  “The alarm has been dismantled!” she heard Pierre cry.

  “Which direction did he go?” Baptiste called back.

  “He’s in the atrium,” Pierre replied.

  Diamond tiptoed towards the atrium herself, concealing herself behind a doorway. She poked her head around and saw Pierre and Baptiste wildly inspecting the atrium, but they could find no one.

  “How did he get in?” Baptiste asked with the urgency of a general.

  “Broke in through the kitchen,” Pierre explained.

  Just as Diamond was about to turn away before she was seen, she felt a hand swoop around from behind her and grab her mouth, then a gun was pointed to her back.

  “Don’t say a fucking thing,” Malik said.

  Diamond was screaming as hard as she could into Malik’s hand, but she could not be heard. She tried to bite his fingers and finally Malik cried out in pain.

  “You fucking bitch!” he screamed.

  This was enough to excite the attention of Pierre and Baptiste, still in the atrium. Malik stepped out from behind the doorway and pulled Diamond with him, entering the atrium and moving the gun from her back to the side of her head.

  “I’m the one in control here!” Malik yelled. “Put down your fucking guns.”

  Pierre looked as though he were trying to remain calm, as that was what he had been trained to do. Baptiste on the other hand, had an expression so pained that he looked like he was on the verge of losing his mind.

  “Stay calm, now,” Pierre commanded.

  “I said, put down your fuckin’ guns!” Malik called out again.

  Pierre began to slowly bring his gun to the ground, but Baptiste would not relent.

  “Baptiste,” Pierre said, instructing him to do the same.

  “What you think you tough, now?” Malik asked Baptiste. “You gonna be the man now? No, you ain’t. Cause that’s my job. This is my property, and I’m the one in charge here,” Malik said.

  “I cannot agree with you on that,” Baptiste said with a measured tone.

  “I don’ care if you agree or not. I say put down your gun so I can get out of here with my property,” Malik went on, clutching Diamond more tightly. She screamed again into his hand, and there were tears in her eyes. The very sight of it gave Baptiste an uncompromising taste for blood.

  “I’m not going to do that,” Baptiste replied.

  “So, you wanna see her dead?” Malik asked.

  “You won’t kill her,” Baptiste said, taking a slow step towards him.

  “Say what?” Malik asked.

  “I said, you’re not going to kill her,” Baptiste repeated, holding his gun up towards Malik’s head.

  “And how you know dat?” Malik asked.

  “Baptiste, please,” Pierre said.

  “Because you love her almost as much as I do,” Baptiste said.

  This statement confused Malik, and he began to back up, retreating from Baptiste’s presence.

  “You full a shit,” Malik said, not knowing what else to say.

  “Your love is not requited, so you turn to vi
olence. This is not what gentlemen do,” Baptiste said, seeing that his tactic was having the desired effect.

  “I don’ even know what the fuck that means,” Malik said, shaking his head and becoming scared.

  “Hand her over to me and we’ll forget all this,” Baptiste said, his tone softening.

  “I’d rather be dead,” Malik replied.

  “Baptiste, I’m begging you,” Pierre said again from where he stood.

  “Very well. Give her to me and then kill yourself. That method works as well,” Baptiste said, continuing his slow approach.

  “You trippin’,” Malik replied.

  “Malik, I want to share something with you,” Baptiste went on. “They say that when words do not suffice, that we turn to violence. Long ago you could no longer express yourself through words to Diamond, and that’s why you had such poor conduct, isn’t it?” Baptiste asked.

  The effect was remarkable. Baptiste’s eloquent words were proving his own point. Malik was becoming confused, disoriented, and off-center. It was the exact effect that Baptiste was hoping to create.

  “I don’ know what you sayin’,” Malik said, shaking his head and gritting his teeth.

  “I’m telling you to do something good for once with your life and let her go,” Baptiste went on.

  “No,” Malik said, stopping dead in his tracks.

  “That’s a shame, because I did give you a chance,” Baptiste said, only two paces away.

  Baptiste changed in an instant. It was like a sly predator finally pouncing on his prey. He leapt from where he stood, not using his firearm to shoot Malik, but rather, using it as a bludgeon and hitting Malik directly in the center of the face. Malik let go of Diamond and flew backwards, his blood spraying in the air. Malik’s weapon was dropped to the floor and Pierre was quick to rush in and grab it. Diamond screamed and ran to the other side of the atrium, clutching the trunk of a tree in order to be able to stand.

  Baptiste stood over Malik, watching as the blood continued to pour from his face. It was not enough. The animal instinct inside him needed more, and so Baptiste began kicking Malik in the side, over and over again. Then, he picked Malik up by the collar and dragged him over to the fountain in the center of the atrium, dunking his head in the water and not letting go.

  “You will kill him, Baptiste,” Pierre warned. To this Baptiste did not reply. He continued to hold Malik’s head under the water, only bringing him up long enough to not die, but to have to suffer another plunge into the water.

  “Please . . . Baptiste,” Diamond finally cried. Although the abuse that she had suffered at Malik’s hands was too much for words, she still didn’t wish the trauma of seeing him being killed in front of her.

  These were the only words that gave Baptiste pause. He lifted Malik’s head out of the water once more, and that time threw him on the tiled ground. Baptiste was heaving and out of breath, and disoriented, in the way that men are when they’re engaged in combat.

  Relief came to Diamond’s chest.

  “Nice work,” Pierre finally said, out of breath himself.

  “Did you call the police?” Baptiste asked.

  “I pressed the button yes,” Pierre replied, referring to the panic button. “By my watch, they should be here in one more minute.”

  “Good, that gives me just the right amount of time to do this,” Baptiste said, picking up Malik once more and throwing him into the fountain. Diamond screamed once more.

  Baptiste then casually walked over to the wall where a little switch was located. He flipped the switch and the fountain was turned on, cascading water down upon Malik’s now nearly dead body.

  “That was the outcome that I was hoping for,” Baptiste said with a demented grin. He turned towards Diamond and his expression changed. He pulled her from the trunk that she was clutching and took her in his arms, holding her tight.

  Diamond finally allowed her legs to give out, and Baptiste was there to catch her.

  Chapter16

  The day following the events of Malik’s break-in was long. There were police all over the estate, taking evidence, questioning Baptiste, Pierre, and Diamond, and Malik was promptly taken to the police station and arrested. Although it was a relief to know that Malik was finally behind bars, Diamond still felt out of sorts. Her body ached all over, her heart would continue to pound from time to time, and she felt exhausted.

  “Are you alright?” Baptiste had asked on several occasions that day.

  “Yah,” Diamond would always say, squeezing his hand tight.

  For the most part, there was a lot of push and pull. Baptiste was constantly doing the pulling, and Diamond was doing the pushing. She felt like she needed to be alone, to process everything. Most of all, she couldn’t unsee the things that Baptiste had done to Malik. Not that Malik didn’t deserve it, but it was still hard to be in the room while a present lover kicked the shit out of a former lover. There was something beastly about it, and Diamond wished to erase the memory.

  It was around the time of the third line of questioning that Diamond thought she couldn’t go any further. She turned her head and looked across the atrium, Malik’s blood still all over the tiles, and she spotted Baptiste looking at her yet again. There was deep concern in his eyes, and he could sense what needed to be done next.

  Baptiste shooed a police officer out of the way and crossed to where Diamond stood.

  “I think that will be enough,” Baptiste said in no uncertain terms.

  “Only a few more questions, Monsieur Laurent.”

  “I said, that would be enough,” he repeated. The police officer was smart enough to sense the situation and he backed away. Baptiste took Diamond by the shoulders.

  “Go upstairs and lie down,” he said.

  “Yah, that’s not a bad idea,” Diamond said groggily.

  “Can I come with you?” Baptiste asked, desperately wanting to tuck her in, and to hold her.

  “No. I got this,” Diamond replied, turning and walking away like a zombie. There was hurt in Baptiste’s expression as he watched her go.

  Diamond felt half asleep, to the point where she barely registered walking up the winding staircase, down the hall, and into the guest bedroom. She chose not to go into the master bedroom, because she knew that Baptiste would find her there. Diamond crashed upon the bed, not even trying to get under the covers.

  “You alright?” a voice said.

  “Mama, that you?” Diamond asked without opening her eyes.

  “Course it me. Who else you think it is?” Bernice replied.

  “I’m so tired,” Diamond said, leaning onto her side. She opened her eyes and found her mother lying beside her.

  “Hm. I wonder why. House was broken into by yo ex man that used to beat you up, then, yo fancy new boyfriend kick the shit outta him. Child, I’m surprised you ain’t joggin’ right now.”

  “Okay, mama. I get the point.”

  “Fact of the matter is, you do need to get some rest. And after you get that rest, it’s time to let go of some old demons. And I ain’t referring to myself.”

  “What do you mean then? Cause you da only old demon I can think of.”

  “Shut yo mouth, you know I yo angel. No, what I’m referring to is Tanesha.”

  “What about Tanesha?” Diamond asked.

  “You gotta patch that up, now. Ain’t no better time to do it. You got Malik outta yo life for good, you don’t want that best friend of yours outta yo life as well,” Bernice explained, stroking her daughter’s head.

  “I know. I guess. . . I just don’t know what to say.”

  “Say the truth, that is what you say. You been hurt, she did a terrible thing, but you can’t blame her and you don’t want to lose her,” Bernice said matter-of-factly.

  “Can I write that down?” Diamond asked humorously.

  “No, you keep dat in here,” Bernice said, putting her hand on the top of Diamond’s head.

  “Mama, can I sleep for a bit first?” Diamond aske
d.

  “Course you can,” Bernice said, leaning in and kissing Diamond on the forehead. “You know I love you, Diamond.”

  “I know you do mama. I love you too,” Diamond replied.

  “And when you done talking to Tanesha, you throw yourself in the arms of dat man. He a good one. And trust me, this comin’ from someone who done seen all the bad ones.”

  “Alright, mama,” Diamond said, drifting off into a cozy sleep.

  As had happened the previous night, Diamond fell to dreaming. The dream the night before had been delicious and wonderful until it turned frightening, but the dream she was having the following day was all about memory. She seemed to recall she and Tanesha growing up as girls, eating pizza and jumping rope, playing marbles in the yard and watching cartoons. Those memories seemed like a world away and just days ago, all at the same time.

  She recalled in particular a time when she and Tanesha bought friendship necklaces. There were two chains and one heart. The heart said, ‘Friends Forever’ and it was broken in two, so that each chain had a piece of it. She and Tanesha wore those necklaces for most of their lives. Diamond reached down to her neck and realized that it was not there. She sat up in bed as though something urgent needed to happen that minute.

  Diamond reached for the phone by the side of the bed. She still didn’t have her cell. She had memorized Tanesha’s number by heart, of course, and she dialed feverishly. It was the middle of the night in Chicago.

  “Come on. Pick up . . . pick up,” Diamond said to herself.

  “Who dis?” Tanesha’s voice asked, obviously having been woken up.

  “T, it’s me.”

  “D, what’s going on?” Tanesha said, her voice suddenly filled with fear. She must have assumed that the only reason Diamond would ever call her again would be to tell her that something bad had happened.

  “I just want you to know . . . they arrested Malik. He tried to break into the house,” Diamond explained.