by A'zayler
When he finally pulled into his parking lot, he kept the car running before tossing her the set of house keys he had in his armrest.
“Go inside and sit your ass still. Don’t go no fucking where until I get back.”
“You ain’t about to leave me here.”
Angel looked at her with the same frown he’d been wearing since she told him he wasn’t her man. “Emelia, just do what the fuck I told you to do.”
She snatched the keys from her lap and her purse from the floor, and pushed his door open roughly before letting herself out and slamming it behind her. Angel wanted to cuss her out for slamming his door, but gritted his teeth instead. He waited for her to go inside before pulling away. He needed a minute to calm himself down, so versus joining her inside, he drove around the block to the store.
Though she’d been fighting against him and everything he’d been saying for months, something deep inside him knew she was going to listen to him and stay at his house until he got back. All he hoped was that she was obedient enough to make them some food as well. He was in the checkout line with an array of breakfast foods for her to cook once he got back.
Snow, the queen of the streets, may have been used to bucking back against everything people told her, but Emelia, the woman, was going to learn today. Angel wasn’t the rest of the men she was used to—he could and would tame her ass. He was confident enough in himself to be the dominant man she needed. It was clear running dope in California had her thinking she could run whatever man she came in contact with, but that stopped at Angel. He was the perfect one for her hardheaded ass.
Chapter Thirteen
Second time, shame on me
The red tips of her long nails held Angel’s blinds open as she checked to see if that was him pulling back into his yard. When she noticed it wasn’t, she walked away and retreated to his room and undressed. If she had to be there, then she would at least be comfortable.
She rummaged through his drawers, looking for a nightshirt. When she found nothing but a tank top, she grabbed that along with the small makeup bag she kept in her purse for times like this. In it were panties, soap, a toothbrush, and a host of other feminine products she might need if kept from her home for too long.
Next, she showered and got relaxed in the pair of low-cut blue panties and the worn-out tank top she’d found. Her hair was pushed back with a thin headband as she padded up the hallway to his kitchen. She was hungry, and since that nigga had her trapped, she was about to eat his food. He had her fucked up if he thought she was just about to do whatever he said. He was lucky she was already tired and could feel that his patience was wearing thin with her, or she would have never walked into his house in the first place.
When she couldn’t find anything that matched enough to make a complete meal, she grew even angrier. Not only had that fool practically kidnapped her, but he was obviously going to starve her to death as well. With an attitude out of the world, Snow walked into his living room and plopped down on the sofa with her arms crossed over her chest.
Snow sat on his sofa fussing to herself for only a little while longer before she heard the engine of his car outside. Unable to help herself, she jumped up and marched toward the window. When she saw him unloading a handful of bags, she rolled her eyes. That nigga had some nerve. Past irritated and ready to confront him, Snow stormed to his front door and snatched it open.
His tall, lean body moved smoothly up the sidewalk to his front door as he held his head down, shuffling with his keys. Snow watched him intently and her heart rate began to speed up. From his wavy hair to the sexy scowl on his face, Angel’s presence was having such an unnatural effect on her.
For some reason, she felt a tad bit nervous. His rudeness and continuous mean streak toward her made it so hard for Snow to understand why, in that moment, her mind was telling her to kiss him, and her heart to love him. Whatever it was about Angel, she had to get herself together quickly before he took notice to her vulnerability.
“It took you long enough.” She spoke sarcastically.
Obviously just becoming aware of her presence, Angel looked up at her while simultaneously dropping his keys on the ground. His mouth parted a little as his eyes trailed over her body shamelessly. He observed her face for only a minute before tucking his bottom lip into his mouth and clearing his throat. Angel looked at her for an awkward moment longer before bending down to retrieve his keys. Once he had them secured in his hand, he continued up the sidewalk and took the two stairs to his porch before stopping directly in front of her. Snow’s face was level with his chest as he looked down at her.
“What you doing out here with no clothes on?” he asked her.
Totally forgetting that she was barely dressed, Snow looked down at herself and pulled at the bottom of the shirt. It was already barely covering her ass, so she was sure pulling at the bottom of it was pointless.
“I forgot.” Her voice was low as she backed away from him and into his house.
Angel stood in the same spot watching her until she’d backed completely into the condo. The way his eyes roamed from her bare face down to her breasts before stopping at the panties hardly covering her bottom, only to continue down the length of her thick legs again, made her immediately uncomfortable in her attire. She hadn’t actually considered the possibility of him gawking at her like that when she’d put it on, though now she wished that she had. Snow shifted some, crossing one ankle over the other before holding her hand out for the bags.
“I can help you,” she offered.
Angel shook his head and walked into the house. “I got it. Just close the door.”
Snow hurried to close the door and lock it before following him into the kitchen. Gone was her attitude. It had been quickly replaced with apprehensiveness the moment Angel laid eyes on her. Now all she felt was a stomach full of butterflies, and she needed to do anything that might help her get rid of them. The way he looked at her made her think of all the good times they’d shared in California, when he would stare at her for what seemed like forever only to eventually relay his love for her.
Get yourself together, Snow!
“You could have called me. I would have come and helped you get the bags.” She spoke nervously.
Angel’s small eyes surveyed her clothing once she rounded the corner. “Like that?”
Snow wasn’t sure whether he was disgusted or if he was really asking. His tone was unreadable, so instead of copping an attitude like she normally would have, she remained cordial. “I could have put my jacket back on or something.”
He nodded. “That wasn’t necessary, I had it. Plus, I like looking at you in that.” Angel looked at her once more before removing the food from the bags. “You feel like cooking? I bought food.”
Snow blushed and nodded. “I’m glad you did. I was about to cook when I first got here until I realized you’re living like a poor man.”
Angel smirked. “Cut it out.” He chuckled and headed for the kitchen door before stopping and turning back around to face her. “Can you cook?”
“Can you fucking eat?” she asked with a frown on her face.
Angel’s face didn’t frown. Instead, it curved into a small smile. “I’ll let you have that one, but yeah, I know how to eat.”
“Well then.”
Snow didn’t waste any more time playing around with Angel. Instead, she moved past him and into the kitchen to prepare them a late meal. When she noticed he’d gotten all breakfast foods, she wasn’t surprised. He’d been hooked on cheese grits since they’d been young. He loved them so much, Empress would make him a small pot with almost every meal that she prepared. Snow loved grits as well, but not as much as Angel.
Thirty minutes passed before Snow finished making their late-night breakfast. Angel had long ago left her to go watch TV and hadn’t returned since, which was fine by her. She wasn’t sure how much cooking she would have gotten done with him staring at her like she was the last woman on earth. Though it made
her feel good, she also felt uncomfortable. His eyes disarmed her in a way she couldn’t withstand.
After fixing their plates, she walked into the living room, carrying only Angel’s food. She had his plate in one hand and his bowl of grits in the other. She’d go back for her plate once she’d served him.
Snow placed his plate on the end table next to where he was seated on the sofa. His eyes went to the plate of steaming hot eggs, bacon, and biscuits and the large bowl of cheese grits. The way his eyes lit up at the bowl of grits had Snow smiling.
“I know you ain’t that happy about some grits.” She chuckled.
When he smiled up at her, Snow felt her insides melt. He was so handsome. “You know I love grits.” He picked his plate up and stirred his food around before looking back at her. “They better be good, or I’ma talk about your ass.”
Snow giggled. “Boy, please. They’re probably the best grits you’ve ever tasted.”
“That’s a lie. Ain’t nobody’s grits better than my mama’s.”
“Taste mine and see. I bet I gave Empress a run for her money,” Snow yelled to him as she returned to the kitchen to grab her food.
Versus sitting on the sofa next to him, she made herself comfortable on the love seat across from where he was seated. She shifted around, getting situated before looking up. When she did, she looked dead into his face. He was watching her with a calm expression on his face.
“What?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just trying to figure out why you would put something like that on around me.”
There was that uncomfortable feeling again. Snow shrugged and stuffed some eggs into her mouth.
“It’s not like I had much of a choice. You kidnapped me, remember?”
“Man, ain’t nobody kidnapped your ass.” He chuckled.
“So, throwing me in your car and telling me to bring my ass in your house and be still was what exactly?” She looked at him with a confused look on her face. “I mean, if it’s not kidnapping.”
Angel stretched his long legs out so that they were resting beneath the coffee table and gave her a smile sexy enough to melt her panties off. “That wasn’t kidnapping, that was me teaching you how to obey authority.”
Snow raised her eyebrows with a smirk on her face. “Obey authority? Angel, you are not my daddy.”
Angel stuck a fork full of grits in his mouth before shooting her a lazy grin. “Good, because obviously Mack ain’t taught you shit. All you do is fight the power.”
A fit of laughter took over Snow as she covered her mouth to keep her food from falling out. She laughed so hard she almost started choking.
“A’ight now, girl. Don’t sit over there and kill yourself being silly.” Angel laughed with her.
When Snow was finally able to calm down, she set her plate to the side and looked back at Angel. He was stretched out on the sofa in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. He scarfed down the food on his plate with a smile.
“You make me so sick. I don’t fight no damn power. I just be myself.”
“Well, yourself is hardheaded as fuck and be about to have me putting my foot in your ass.”
Snow waved him off and stuck her feet beneath her body. “You’re all talk, Angel. I watched how you used to act with Genesis. You let that ho get away with anything but be ready to hop down on me for nothing.” Snow made eye contact with him and rolled her eyes playfully. “That’s whose daddy you should have been trying to be.”
Angel was quiet for a minute. So quiet that Snow almost thought she’d gone too far with her comments, until he sat his plate down and leaned over so that his forearms were resting on his knees.
“I wasn’t trying to be her daddy, I was trying to be her man. She just didn’t have enough sense to know that.”
“Well, I’m sure you’re not trying to be my daddy or my man, so why must you come for my neck the way you do?”
“How do you know what I’m trying to do?” He licked his lips as he waited for her to answer.
“I don’t.”
“Exactly. I could be trying to be your man and your daddy, but you’re so busy being a little tyrant, you can’t see that shit no more than Genesis could.”
Snow snickered at him calling her a tyrant. She needed something to ease the tension she felt building in her core from him referring to himself as her daddy and her man. Those were two things that she wasn’t sure she wanted to bring to the forefront right then.
“Emelia.” Angel paused until she looked at him. “You need a daddy?” His face was straight and penetrating as he owned everything he’d just said.
Yes, Angel! Be my daddy, baby, she screamed on the inside, but kept her poker face on the outside as she watched him watch her. “I don’t know about a daddy, but I do need a man,” she forced herself to say.
The living room was quiet as they sat gazing at one another. Snow wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but she knew one thing for sure, she wasn’t making another move until he did. The last thing she wanted to do was be too forward and he leave her again.
“You need a man, huh?” He sat back on the sofa and stretched his legs out again.
She nodded.
“If you had one, would you know how to be submissive?” Snow shrugged, because she truly didn’t know if she could. She didn’t necessarily try to fight against everything people said, she just couldn’t help it. It was like second nature to her. She’d been taught to fight in every aspect of her life, so it was hard not to in certain situations.
“I could try . . . I mean, I could try if the man was worth submitting to. If not, I’m bucking on his ass.”
Both of them burst out laughing. Angel laughing a little longer than Snow. When he finally calmed down, he stood and grabbed his plate and hers before walking into the kitchen to put them away. Snow sat in her same spot feeling awkward because of how their conversation had turned from serious to joking in a matter of seconds. She almost hated that she’d made a joke, because she’d actually wanted to explore the topic of Angel being her man. She kicked herself for being too immature to keep up a real conversation.
“You staying here with me tonight, or you going back to my people’s house?” He stopped in front of her.
“You taking me back?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Hell nah.”
“Well, why would you even ask that?” Snow asked with a hint of attitude.
Angel picked up on it immediately and lost the smile on his face. “You can lose that li’l shit. You ain’t about to cut the fool at my house,” he told her as he proceeded down the hallway.
Snow rolled her eyes and smacked her teeth. Angel got on her nerves. He was the only person in her entire life who had the ability to make her happy and mad at the same time. She hated it, and him. If he thought he was about to just tell her what to do, then he had the wrong idea. Nobody controlled her . . . well, almost nobody.
The more she sat there fuming to herself about him, the angrier she got. Before she could stop herself, she was up and marching down the hallway to tell him about himself. When she got to his room, he wasn’t there, so she looked around the hallway. When she saw the bathroom light on, she pushed the door open and walked right in without considering his privacy.
“Ang—” She stopped herself. “Damn, my fault,” Snow said when she bumped into him wrapping his towel around his waist.
He had been standing in front of the door with the towel halfway around his waist when she walked in. The moment the back of the door hit him, a corner of the towel dropped from his hand, exposing the mouthwatering male part that Snow had been secretly dreaming about for years.
Thanks to the mirror he was in front of, Snow had caught a glimpse of it from where she was standing, and now she couldn’t take her eyes off it. The silky black hair that lay against his stomach and leading down to it made Snow weak in the knees. It was crazy how just the sight of the thick caramel-colored collection of throbbing
veins and blood weighed so heavy on her mind that she suddenly couldn’t feel her legs.
It was as if the perfectly shaped tip of it had touched her brain and erased every coherent thought that had been there before. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move her eyes or her feet. It wasn’t until it was taken out of her view that she regained all of her senses.
Dazed and looking just as guilty as she felt, Snow made eye contact with Angel through the mirror. He was staring at her while securing his towel around his waist. The way his muscles bulged with every movement he made was making her just as weak as she had been moments prior. His chest and arms were covered in tattoos and oh so sexy. She’d always known they were there, but seeing them glistening beneath the droplets of water while being encompassed in the heat from his shower made them appeal to her even more.
“Don’t even do yourself like that. You ain’t ready for me.” Angel spoke coolly, but sexy enough to drive Snow crazy.
He was torturing her something terrible right then, and he knew it.
“You don’t know what I’m ready for,” Snow shot back.
Angel stared at her in the mirror for a few more seconds before he reached behind him and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her until she was standing in front of him in the mirror. The moment she was steady on her feet again, Angel’s hands went to her breasts. With one in each hand, he massaged her nipples while maintaining eye contact through the mirror.
If Snow thought she had been barely hanging on before, she was damn near on her deathbed when his lips found her neck. The way his tongue moved around in circles, wetting and warming up every spot that he touched, had her near combustion.
“I can tell you you’re not ready for me, because I know you’re not,” he whispered in her ear before dipping his tongue inside it and sliding his hand down the front of her body and into her panties.
Snow’s back arched when his long fingers dipped into her sticky, wet tunnel. “Angel, yes, I am,” she moaned, her eyes on the verge of closing.
