Love Don't Live Here Anymore (The Love Collection Book 3) (15 page)

Summer awoke to the smell of breakfast and her stomach growled in anticipation. She looked around the room for Braxdon but he was nowhere to be found. She removed the covers and looked down at her naked bottom. Her nakedness only confirmed the night she’d had. Summer’s body ached, but in a good way. The euphoria she felt gave her the impression that she was floating on air. Her legs were wobbly and her insides queasy. She never felt so drained and energized at the same time before. She located her panties, cami, and jeans and slipped them on. She found her socks and shoes and finished getting dressed. She looked in the mirror and fixed herself up. She rubbed her hands over her face to smooth the sleep wrinkles and retrieved her purse. Summer reached into her bag for a brush and hair tie. The clock read eight-thirty a.m. and she noted that it was way too early for someone who hadn’t closed her eyes until after four that morning.

When Summer walked into the kitchen, Ms. Honey was in there, putting some dishes away. Braxdon sat at the table with a plate in front of him.

“Good morning,” Summer greeted everyone. She half-looked at Braxdon and walked over to Ms. Honey and gave her a kiss and a hug. “Can I help you do anything?” Summer offered.

“No, no. I was just finishing up those dishes and now I’m about to go in there and read my Bible,” Ms. Honey told her. “Go on and sit down. I’ll get your plate.”

Summer went to have a seat and Braxdon smirked at her but resumed eating and reading the sports section. Summer also saw that he had the classifieds close by, with some things circled. That made her smile.

“Morning, Braxdon.”

“Good Morning, Miss Lady. How you feeling?” he asked.

“Probably tired,” Ms. Honey chimed in. “Y’all just went to sleep.” She was silent for a moment. She started to say something and stopped. “Eat, chile,” Ms. Honey said as she set Summer’s plate in front of her. “I’m sure you’re hungry after all that calorie burning last night.” She waltzed out of the kitchen.

Braxdon laughed, but Summer was mortified. She couldn’t believe Braxdon’s grandmother had implied that she’d heard them having sex.
No way
, Summer thought. She was embarrassed and it showed on her face and in her stomach.

“Chill. It’s cool. Gram just fucking with you. She’s cool like that, and real. Shit, we young; she expects that.”

“Yeah, but that is so disrespectful. We shouldn’t be sexing in your grandmother’s house.”

“I live here too,” Braxdon argued.

“I know, but I don’t know. It just seems so wrong.”

“My Gram always told me that she’d rather me be home than out in the streets. She always told me to wear protection, always, and no means no, not nothing else.”  That didn’t mean he would bring random women to his crib just to have sex, but the specials ones, he did, and Summer was beyond special.

“Why you have Gram up cooking breakfast? You could have done that,” Summer said to Braxdon.

“She cooks breakfast for me every morning. During the week, it’s something quick but on the weekends she goes in. Some type of meat, grits, eggs, either pancakes or French toast, and home fries. She’s been doing it for years. And me, I just clean up afterwards.”

Summer knew it probably was Ms. Honey’s doing because her Grammy used to cook large meals all the time. So for her to do the same for Braxdon brought back a different slice of nostalgia that she hadn’t encountered in a long while. Her cell phone started to ring and Summer jumped up to go get it in Braxdon’s bedroom.

“Hello.”

“Hi, is everything okay?” Eugene asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because you were supposed to go have your car taken care of at nine.”

“Oh shit!” Summer exclaimed.

Braxdon had entered the room and stood there. He’d heard her reaction to the call and wanted to check on her.

“Oh my goodness! I totally forgot. Okay, can you do me a favor and let him know I’m on my way? I can be there in a half hour,” Summer told Eugene. She ended the call and quickly looked for the rest of her belongings. “I’m sorry, Braxdon. I have to go. I was supposed to bring my car to get the interior done and I totally forgot. Do you mind dropping me off at home?”

“Nah, not at all. Let me throw something on.”

Summer wondered if Braxdon could hear that it was a man on the other end. Braxdon finished getting dressed while Summer went to fare Ms. Honey well. “Hey Gram, I’m about to go. I will be here on Thursday to fill your machine and check your pressure, okay?”

“Okay, baby. Come by any time. Oh, and don’t you worry about nothing. Braxdon got it from his daddy and his daddy got it from his daddy, my husband, so I know how it is,” Ms. Honey whispered and winked.

Summer flushed and hugged Ms. Honey, glad that her face wasn’t visible at that moment. Braxdon watched as Summer walked out the door and headed to the car. She smiled when she got in.

“Ooh, it’s nice and toasty in here,” Summer said. “Thanks for warming it up.”

“No problem.” Braxdon leaned back and side-eyed Summer.

“What?” she said with a grin.

“About last night … you aiight? Ain’t tryin’ to talk about it?”

Summer inhaled gingerly. “Braxdon, last night was amazing. I can’t say enough good things. I’ve never—” Summer stopped. She looked Braxdon in his eyes. “I’ll say this: I’ll never forgot you or how good you made me feel.” She leaned over and kissed Braxdon on the lips. The two of them closed their eyes and lip locked for what seemed like hours. Summer’s heart was throbbing, which felt a little unfamiliar but recognizable. Her blood felt as if it was rushing through her body and her body was floating. She didn’t have to ask and he didn’t have to tell, but Braxdon felt what she felt and possibly more.

The banging on the driver side door broke them from their kiss. Summer was facing that way so she caught who it was before Braxdon. As soon as he saw her face, he cussed. “Fuck this bitch want?”

Summer whispered. “Just chill. Try talking to her nicely.”

Braxdon rolled down the window.

“I should’ve known!” Siyahna yelled. “This why you can’t answer your phone? You got your face all between this bitch’s legs.”

“I think you should address Braxdon without disrespecting me,” Summer interjected.

“Whatever. This is between me and him,” Siyahna said, waving her hand back and forth. Braxdon reached over and patted Summer’s arm, asking her to let him handle it without her involvement.

Siyahna saw that and got upset. “I need you to watch your kids. I got called into work,” she said with a little more flare than necessary.

“Aiight, no problem. Gram is in there. Just bring them in with her and I’ll be right back.”

“You know I don’t feel comfortable leaving Gram with the kids. You need to be in there. I’m sure whatever you got to do can’t be more important than your children,” she argued.

Braxdon sighed and rubbed his temples. “Can we not?”

“Not what, Brax? You bring this shit on yourself. My girl told me you left the club with a chick last night and now I see for myself why you not answering my calls or responding to my texts.” 

Summer went to open the door. “Braxdon, it’s okay. I can just call a cab or something,” she offered.

“Nah, you ain’t catching a cab. Hold on.” Braxdon got out of the car and slammed the door. He brushed passed Siyahna and walked to her car. He opened the back door and told his son to get out and go get into his car. He went to the other side and unbuckled his daughter, grabbed her bag, and took her out as well.

“Where you taking them?” Siyahna asked with an attitude.

“Bitch, didn’t you just tell me you needed me to watch them? You don’t want them with my grandmother, so I’m taking them with me.”

“They don’t need to be with her. I don’t know her.”

“Siyahna, you don’t need to know her. I do. Now go the fuck to work and get out my face.” He walked over to the car. After he’d gotten both the kids buckled up and closed the door, Summer used that time to talk to the kids to try to distract them from the madness. 

Siyahna was still popping shit. “You know what you need to be doing? You need to be trying to step your shit up and do more for the kids and work on trying to make us a family instead of chasing these smuts!”

That pissed Braxdon off and he slammed the driver’s side door and grabbed Siyahna by the neck, pushing her up against the car.

“Listen, bitch, the only smut out here is you. We could have been that and then some but you fucked up by sleeping with my best friend. So you and I will never be. My kids will always be good as long as I got air in my lungs. Me not fucking with their flunky-ass momma will never come in between me and my kids. So take your trifling ass on and don’t ever disrespect me or anyone I’m with again.”

“Braxdon! Get off her. Don’t do this. Your children are in the car and they don’t need to see you hitting on their mother. Let her go,” Summer urged.

Braxdon sighed heavily, released Siyahna, and climbed back into the car. He let his breathing return to normal before pulling off. Summer looked at Siyahna and went back to get into the car while Siyahna stood there looking foolish.

“She probably didn’t have to be at work. She just wanted to embarrass me, but she ended up embarrassing herself,” Braxdon huffed.

When he pulled up in front of Summer’s house, she thanked him for the ride and told him that she would call him later. She kissed him on the cheek and offered her partings to the kids. Summer ran inside, brushed her teeth, and washed her face. She was already a half hour late and reasoned that she would shower when she returned home. As soon as she arrived at Manny’s Mint Interior, she hopped out and jogged inside.

“I am
so
sorry I’m late. Can I still get my car done?”

“Of course. Eugene gave us the heads up. We’ll take real good care of you,” the owner said.

Summer had a seat in the waiting area and before she knew it, she had dozed off. Three hours later, she was awakened and told that her car was ready. Of course there was no bill because Eugene had taken care of everything, including the tip. But because she was late, she tipped them again and thanked them for their work. Summer was pleased with her new interior and couldn’t wait to show it off. The charcoal gray was much better than the tan color she’d had and she felt it made the inside pop even more.

When she got home, she undressed and hopped into the shower. She always did her best thinking in the shower and used that time to reflect on the past twenty-four hours. It dawned on her that she had slept with three different men in the same day and she almost felt disgusted. She had never done that before and couldn’t believe she had done it, nonetheless. She had to admit that even though it seemed very ho-ish, it excited her. Being with Vincent was refreshing. Sleeping with Eugene was enticing. But Braxdon … he took the cake. He had fucked her like only a hood boy could and made no apologies for it. That was the best rough sex she had ever had and she felt like he had totally taken over.

She smiled at her sexcapades and didn’t feel bad about it at all. She still missed AJ immensely but he had told her to move on and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was finally returning to normal. Exiting the shower, she tried calling Autumn to check in and see how things were going. Jessica had texted her and let her know that they were on schedule and she was still planning to arrive at seven.

Autumn didn’t answer her phone, so Summer left a voicemail message, asking her to call her back. Still feeling sleep deprived, Summer stretched out on her bed and took a quick nap. That was short lived when her cell phone started ringing. She looked at the clock on her nightstand and it read 1:15 p.m.

“What’s up, Moet?”

“Summer, I am sorry to bother you, but Kareem just showed up bugging. I’m here all alone and I just wanted to know if you could come over while he gets the rest of his things. I’m a little scared that he’ll do something crazy,” Moet said nervously.

“Okay, hun, no problem. I’m throwing something on now and I’ll be right there. Let me call Larita to see if she can meet us too.”

“I tried calling her already but her phone kept going to voicemail,” Moet said.

“Okay, no worries. I’m on my way.”

Time was of the essence and Summer had no time to answer her ringing house phone. Whoever it was would have to call her cell. She put on AJ's black hoodie, threw on an old pair of Timberland boots, grabbed the metal baseball bat that she kept for good measure and walked toward the door. As soon as she opened it, the people on the other end sang, "Surprise!"

Summer was both surprised and shocked to see her sister at her door, carrying one of the babies and her brother-in-law behind her with two carriers. Autumn smiled but the look on Abaki's face was the opposite. He was keen. He had immediately assessed Summer's facial expression, attire, and the accessory she’d quickly tried to hide when she saw who was at her door. Summer had a serious dilemma. She either had to stay and acclimate her family and risk something happening to her friend or tell them what was going on and quickly leave the house. Without much time to contemplate her options, Summer quickly helped them with the babies and explained what was going on.

Abaki wasn't about to let Summer go anywhere alone, especially since she had just revealed that Moet's boyfriend was a known woman beater. "I'm coming with you. Let's go," Abaki told her. Autumn didn't put up a fight because she was genuinely concerned about Moet. Summer had told her some of the stories and Autumn's heart ached for the girl. Abaki kissed Autumn on the lips and followed Summer out of the house.