My inner-musings were interrupted by another haymaker from Jaden, and the subsequent arrival of his father, fresh off a plane from a medical conference he’d tried his best to get out of attending. Devyn was still a month out from her due date, but he’d been adamant about not wanting to be so far away from her.
He’d had to go anyway.
He was back now though, and she was still pregnant, so it seemed to have worked out in their favor.
“Jay – how’s that hip?” was the first thing out of his mouth, his eyes concerned when he spotted me on the floor. I gave him a look that must have said it all, cause he raised his hands, indicating that he was letting it go, then reached for Jaden.
While he was occupied with Jaden, and then Bri, who wanted to talk to him about some Medical Mystery Teens books she was reading, I got myself up from the floor to convince Pops and Imara to come up for air.
“Do you need something?” Pops asked, his voice stern and his expression annoyed, probably because I’d interrupted his public grab-ass with his wife.
“Yes, actually,” I chuckled. “Just… real quick, and then I’m heading out. It’s about Reese.”
Immediately, Imara’s eyes went wide. “Is she okay? What happened? I had a dream about her last night, but I—”
“She’s good,” I assured. “I talked to her a couple of hours ago, she was finishing up her office hours. She’s probably at home, cuddled up with the remote.”
Imara put a hand to her chest. “Oh, good. My poor girl. My poor kids,” she corrected herself, reaching to squeeze my hand. “You’ve been so strong.”
“Uh… thank you,” I replied, honestly not really knowing what else to say to that. “But uh… this is about Christmas. Specifically, Reese’s Christmas gift. I was kinda thinking about a dog… you know, bring some energy to the house, give us…”
“Something to take care of,” Imara finished for me, after I hesitated over those words. She was exactly right, but it sounded so… inadequate.
A dog wouldn’t replace what we’d lost.
“I think Reesie would find it very, very sweet, and she’d love it,” Imara answered, wearing a wistful smile. “But… I think it would hurt some too. It might be too soon for it not to. She’d love you for it, though.”
“So… you think the good would outweigh the bad?”
“I do. Something fluffy, with a big gorgeous bow,” she suggested, and I nodded.
“Got it. Thank you,” I told Imara, reaching to give her a hug once I’d stood up. I patted my old man on the shoulder, then gave my goodbyes to everyone as I headed out.
I needed to find a bow.
Five
Aiight lil nigga… don’t make me come out of character on you…
Jaden’s “bedtime” had come and gone, but he was still bouncing around his room like it was midday – or like my father and Imara hadn’t bothered keeping him on schedule the few days he’d stayed with them while I was gone, and Devyn was working crazy hospital hours.
I wasn’t too bothered by that – they were grandparents, doing us a major favor. It was their right to do what they wanted in their house, it wasn’t like they hadn’t raised kids of their own.
Damn.
I’m even starting to sound like them.
“Jaden…,” I warned, catching him by the ankle as he tried to crawl to the other end of the bed. I easily towed his giggly body back to his pillow, relieved when I caught the big yawn he let out. That meant he was on his way down, for real this time.
“Play, daddy,” he grunted, frustrated that I’d tucked him in again.
“Not tonight lil’ man,” I told him, snagging a book from the shelf that was out of his reach – his little ass liked ripping pages – then sitting down beside him on the bed. “Daddy is tired, and it’s late -too late for you to be up still. So…” – I flipped the storybook to one I hadn’t read before – “We’ve had the bath, had a snack, kissed mommy, got tucked in… and now I’m going to read the story, and we’re going to sleep, okay?”
…
No answer.
I looked down to find Jaden passed out, hands spread over his head, and a line of drool already making a puddle.
Guess I bored him to sleep.
Shaking my head, I carefully got up, not wanting to disturb him. I took a second to lift the protective railing at the side of his bed, to keep him in if he decided to start rolling around. I lowered the lights, turned on his space projector, and tiptoed out of his room, pulling the door almost closed behind me.
Now it was my turn to kiss mommy.
I was barely two steps down the hall when the doorbell rang.
Shit.
I jogged downstairs and to the front door, trying to get there before whoever was interrupting me getting into my wife rang the bell again and woke up my kid. Without even a glance at the screen showing the feed from the doorbell camera, I snatched the door open.
“What the hell do you want?”
My neighbor, Levi, took a step back, eyes wide. “Is this a bad time?”
“I haven’t seen my wife in a week.”
His eyes went wider, concerned. “Like… she’s missing?” he asked.
“Motherfu—nah! I’ve been out of town.”
“Ohhh,” he nodded, finally picking up what I was putting down. “My bad. I just got home myself, saw your car in the driveway. Thought I’d let you know your painting was finished. It’s dry, packed and ready to be installed whenever you’re ready.”
A little of the tension left my shoulders, since he was here to deliver good news. Levi Anders was an amazingly talented artist, who’d donated that gift to the children’s ward at University Hospital last year. After seeing the mural he’d done, I contacted him as soon as we found out about Devyn’s new pregnancy, to commission something for our nursery.
She still didn’t know.
“Could we get it in for Christmas?” I asked, knowing I might not get the affirmative answer I was looking for. It was exactly two weeks away, and everybody was busy now.
Levi shrugged. “Not a problem. I’ll share my schedule with you via email, and you let me know if you see a time that works. I’ll get my guys over here, and we’ll make it happen.”
“My man,” I told him, extending a hand in his direction. Originally, I’d intended for the portrait to be a “push present”, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a better Christmas gift.
If the baby’s head was as big as Jaden’s had been, that deserved diamonds, not canvas.
“Ay – my bad for answering the door like that,” I said, as we parted ways. “But like I said… I haven’t seen my wife in a week.”
Levi grinned, and nodded as he stepped away from the door. “No hard feelings man, handle your business.”
Right.
Now it was my turn to kiss mommy.
I found her in bed, curled on her side with her body pillow and a bowl of watermelon chunks. “Who was at the door?” she asked, pushing her hair back from her face.
“Just Levi dropping by. Where the hell did you find good watermelon this time of year?” I asked, changing the subject as quickly as I could and climbing in beside her. My hand immediately found a resting place on her rounded belly.
“I didn’t,” she answered, wrinkling her nose. “It’s just watermelon. Not good watermelon. But baby girl wanted it.”
I smiled, dipping my head for a taste of her fruit-flavored lips. “Look at you. Already spoiling her.”
“Mind your business,” she teased back, grinning as my loving caress of her belly turned into a hand in her panties.
“This is my business, and I’m about to mind the hell out of it.”
Her eyes closed, and a little hiss escaped her lips as my fingers ran past her clit, dipping into her for ever-present moisture before I came back to that sensitive spot.
“I missed you,” she murmured, her lids fluttering open as she ran her fingers through my hair, bringing her hand to re
st at the back of my neck. I leaned in more, capturing her lips with mine, replying to her declaration with one of my own as I rid her of those panties.
Devyn grinned against my mouth, using her free hand to unbutton the pajama top she wore, revealing nothing underneath but honey-toned skin, her stomach and breasts both baring the signature swelling of the third trimester.
Damn she’s beautiful.
I accepted her obvious, but unspoken invitation, moving down her body to taste her breasts, paying particular attention to those sensitive, butterscotch nipples. She was still propped halfway up on her body pillow, giving her a perfect view as I tugged and licked and teased, did everything she liked, exactly how she liked it – I hadn’t seen my wife in damn near a week. I’d do anything she wanted.
With her hand on top of my head, she signaled exactly what that was, urging me downward. I kissed my way there, paying proper homage to her bump before I settled between her legs.
Home. Finally.
I didn’t tease like I usually would – I dove right in like a man starved, because I was. I buried my face between her thighs, content to barely breathe until I was on the verge of drowning, and had eaten my fill with her legs trembling on my shoulders as she came.
She greeted me with a lazy smile when I came back up, grabbing the back of my neck for another kiss. I obliged her, then offered a sleepy grin of my own as I stripped off the clothes I’d thrown on after my shower.
We were both exhausted, and it was barely eight at night.
As doctors on a hectic hospital schedule, sleep was already a luxury, especially once we added Jaden to the mix. Factor in the pregnancy, and then my trip, and the last few days had been rough, for both of us.
But this was necessary.
“Mmmmm,” we moaned together, gratified by the sweet friction and heat of that first stroke as I pushed into her from behind. From her position on her side, she made herself comfortable with one of my arms as a headrest. I slid my free hand between her legs.
And then it was on.
She rolled her head, sinking her teeth into my bicep as I stroked her. That spurred me to push harder, faster, plunging deep as my heart rate sped up. Her thighs squeezed my hand as I teased her clit, working until I could feel her body clenching around me. Milking me.
“Shit,” I whispered into the back of her neck, kissing her there as she rolled her hips backward. We were both panting now, perspiration building on our skin, giving it all the energy we had.
“Joseph,” she whimpered.
I pumped harder, cause I knew what that meant.
She was almost there.
A moment later, her whole body tensed, followed by those frantic involuntary contractions that always pulled me over the edge with her.
Neither of us moved to pull away.
We stayed there, stuck like that, thoroughly entangled with each other. My only adjustment was to move my hand from between her legs to cup one of her breasts instead, letting that soft warmth soothe me to sleep while I was still inside her.
Exactly where I wanted to be.
I was sleeping so good that the next time my eyes opened, I barely registered where I was. It only took a second to figure out I was still at home, in my own bed, being shaken awake.
“Joseph!” Devyn hissed, with none of the honey and seduction of a few hours before. Now, her tone was frantic, and… pained?
“What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up as soon as I processed that realization. I reached for the switch beside the bed, flipping the lights on.
She gasped, but didn’t answer.
It took my eyes a second to adjust to the light, but I quickly picked up on what her gasp had been about.
The bed was soaked.
I looked at her, her hair wild from not being tied down, still naked from what we’d been doing before we fell asleep.
Still beautiful.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, and with wide eyes, she nodded.
“Yeah. My water broke.”
Six
Aiight lil nigga… don’t make me come out of character on you…
I pressed my teeth together as I pushed out a deep breath through my nose, trying my best to not say what was really on my mind. Cause that would mean cursing Ferdinand Vance out, and Toni loved Ferdinand Vance, but Ferdinand Vance wouldn’t fucking work for us anymore if I didn’t control my mouth.
Damnit.
Now he had me thinking of his annoying ass as “Ferdinand Vance”, instead of “Freddy”, which I was reasonably sure his real name was. He was selling that shit waaaay too hard – Ferdinand Vance would never, Ferdinand Vance would rather be caught dead, Ferdinand Vance is above, and that is beneath, et-fuckin-cetera.
Ferdinand Vance was about to get a foot up his ass.
“Now, for the last time, Mr. Wright,” he grumbled, pushing a bundle of fabric swatches in front of me. “This is a wedding – not a fish fry. Can you dig deep within yourself and find some elegance to call on to choose your linens?”
Did this motherfucker just…
“You know what… I know you and Toni are trying to keep me involved in these plans, but… I don’t care about linens, bruh. So what’s going to happen right now is… I’m going to leave this table. You’re going to take your swatches. And when Toni gets back, you’re going to talk to her about all this, and I’ll write whatever size check you need. How about that?”
For the first time since this meeting started, hours ago, Ferdinand Vance smiled. “Mr. Wright, that’s the only respectable decision you’ve made all day. I approve,” he said, pointing with a flourish. “We can pretend this never happened, and I will not have to suffer through ecru centerpieces and ivory programs.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t darling, but you’re very handsome,” he assured, gathering his random swatches and books from the table. “You show up on the right day, and make sure everyone gets paid.”
“Works for me,” I called after him, as he practically ran out.
Shit.
You’d think I was the one being annoying.
In any case, I was glad that shit was over, and hoped Toni wasn’t going to be too pissed at me when she found out how this ended up. She hadn’t wanted to be one of those brides who completely took over, not looking to the groom for anything except paid invoices to the vendors.
But… that was exactly the kinda groom I wanted to be.
This wedding was Toni’s thing, and I was perfectly happy to let it just be that – to show up and look good in my tux, and to make sure the night ended with a big smile on her face.
That was all I cared about, not whether the napkin rings matched the flowers.
With that in mind, I got up to leave the coworking space where our meeting had taken place. I’d promised Bri we’d get hot chocolates and go see the Christmas lights downtown, but that meeting had gone so long it was cutting into the time I’d planned with her. She wouldn’t be that bothered, but I didn’t like it – the last thing I wanted was for this wedding to impede on spending time with my daughter.
Especially now that she was getting older.
Ten was fast-approaching, and though she got along really well with Toni now, any negative memories would be ammunition for acting out in her teen years. The thought of that put a little extra pep in my step, so I could get to my car.
At this time of year, the area was packed with people – Christmas shopping, sightseeing, all that. I kept my head down and kept moving, and I was almost home free when I heard my name, from an unfamiliar source.
“Justin Wright,” I heard again, and I stopped to look around. This time, I noticed someone coming straight toward me, a sturdy-built young man wearing a huge grin and pointing a cell phone in my direction.
“Yooo,” he gushed, throwing an arm around my shoulder as he approached me, adjusting the phone so that both of us were on screen. “I’m out and about, minding my own, tryi
ng to get a little live-stream Christmas season action, and look who I ran into, Blakewood’s own bestselling author, muhfuckin’ Justin Wright. If y’all don’t know who this is, read a damn book or something, get your mind right. Can’t read? He’s got you anyway. I can’t think of the title right now but I know you niggas saw the movies with the fine ass ballerina jewel thief and the FBI and the drug kingpin and all the sex, lies, betrayal and all that shit, y’all know what I’m talking about.” He finally took a breath, and pointed to me. “He wrote all that shit. Put some respect on my man.”
I didn’t know what the hell was happening, but when I squinted at the screen, I could see the big “LIVE” in all caps in one corner, and a steadily climbing number of viewers – in the thousands – in the other corner. At the bottom was a steady stream of reactions from people watching the stream.
“Wave to the people or something man, you look washed right now,” he told me quietly, prompting me to throw an awkward deuce at the screen.
“Uh… thanks for watching?” I said, and the young man shook his head, pointing the screen to himself.
“Aiight see, this what happens when you catch the old heads off guard, they can’t stick and move with it like I do, so I’ma shut it down for now. Later.”
Did this lil boy just call me old?
“Yoooo, Justin Wright – bruh, I’m a huge fan. You write ya ass off, man,” he told me, raising his hand in a gesture he clearly expected me to return.
I did, to not be rude, but as soon as it was done, I told him, “Thanks youngin’, but I’ve got somewhere I have to be right now.”
“Oh my bad, definitely understand that, but listen… can I get a business card or something? I’m a young brother out her trying to break into the business, any way I can. I can act, I can joke, I’m handsome as fuck out here you know, anything you could do to put me on, I’d appreciate.”
Even though I was annoyed by the interruption, I stopped, pulling out my wallet. “What’s your name man?”
“Theodore Graham, TeddyGramsNoMilk on IG, five hundred thousand followers, over a million on You—”
Christmas With the Wrights: A Wright Family Holiday Short (Wright Brothers Book 4) Page 3
