Victoria

Seven

How you late to your own house?

But she's always late so this is not surprising.

"Nothing, dad."

"Why you always lyin," he sang, looking at me like the dude did in the video.

"Please stop," I begged while laughing at him.

My dad always knew how to make me smile, no matter how bad I was feeling.

"It's that boy ain't it?"

"I'm kinda falling for him, honestly. But I don't want to get hurt-"

He sighed and relaxed into the couch. "Un uh. You can't do that DeShay. You cannot compare him to Jeroe."

"His name is James-"

"Do I care? Absolutely not. But like I was saying, you cannot compare the present to your past. Just because the last one didn't appreciate you and see how much of a wonderful woman you are, does not mean that Kareem is gonna treat you the same."

"I'm scared." I leaned onto my dad, and laid my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around my shoulder and pulled me closer.

This reminded me of when I was younger and we would have our deep conversations when I was in my feelings.

"I can understand that. But guess what."

"What?"

"The first day that I met Kareem and Kaseem, they made a good impression. They're genuine, and that's something that I respect. You know that if I didn't see some kinda good in them, dinner that night would have been hell. "

I nodded my head, agreeing with him. The first time that he met James, my dad gave him hell. And he never liked him throughout our relationship.

So for him to give good feedback on Kareem, that really made me a little happy.

"Give the man a chance. And if he fucks up, I'll two piece Tuesday his ass."

"Thank you, dad," I spoke, laughing.

"You're welcome. I love you, DeShay."

"I love you too."

"Let's go eat."

He ran to the kitchen and almost immediately, I heard my mom yelling at him to get out of her pots.

I love my family.

*

"Hello?"

It was 2:37 in the morning and I was getting phone calls.

Whoever this is better have a damn good reason for calling me. I was sleeping good.

"Come open the door," Kareem spoke before hanging up the phone.

I laid back down, wondering how the hell he found out where I live and also why the hell he feels like it's okay to wake me up out of my sleep.

After a few minutes, I got up and sluggishly walked down the hall of my loft and to the front door, shivering and pulling out a wedgie in the process.

I was dressed in one of my brother's old tee shirts and some pajama shorts. It was freezing, just like I liked it, making me wanna say fuck the door and go crawl back in my bed.

"Why and how are you here," I asked as soon as I opened the door.

"Hello to you too." Kareem kissed me on the cheek before going and making himself comfortable on the large black sectional couch.

"Why did you leave," he asked after he was comfortable.

"You didn't answer my question, Kareem." I mugged him as I closed and locked the front door.

"I'm here because I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to see you. As for knowing where you live, I can find out anything that I want if I need to."

Kareem watched me intently as I walked past him before grabbing my waist and pulling me down in his lap.

"Answer my question," he demanded, putting his face in my neck and kissing it.

All while making me weak in his embrace.

"I left because I don't have time to deal with the baby momma drama. Let me get up, Kareem."

"Nah, you good."

His hold on my body seem to get tighter, but it was comforting. I relaxed back onto him and enjoyed the moment while it lasted, taking in his intoxicating scent in the process.

It was quiet for a few minutes and I could feel Kareem staring a hole into the side of my face.

"Stop staring. You're making me uncomfortable."

"That isn't my intention, beautiful," he replied, caressing the side of my face with his hand.

"I know I'm moving fast, but I can't help it. There's something about you. I don't know if it's your ambition, the way you treat my daughter even just as her beautician, your smile, your skin, your attitude... I don't know, Victoria. I don't know who hurt you, but I wanna heal you and love you like nobody ever has."

"You could never love all of me, and I'm sure of that."

His eyebrows furrowed at the sound of my voice as I tried to hide the fact that I was choking on my tears.

"Kareem, I'm terrified of love, okay? I don't want to put you through hell because of my past experiences and all my problems-"

My words were cut off with a kiss from Kareem. 

Tongue and all. My goodness.

Somehow I ended up facing Kareem and straddling his lap as our passionate kiss progressed. 

Releasing from the kiss, Kareem placed a few more lingering pecks my lips. I wrapped my arms around him and put my face in his neck like he'd done me.

His presence made me feel comfortable and secure.

"Look, I ain't perfect. I have flaws. I'm not looking for a perfect woman. I'm looking for somebody who I know that will accept me and will grow with me. I'm not trying to force you into being my lady, but we both know that the connection is there. I just want you to give me a chance to heal your wounds and show you how valuable you really are, Victoria."

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I didn't edit this chapter.

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