Thy Neighbor II: Lovin' The Crew

Chapter Sixteen

Trevante loves staring at Ciara as she catches the ultimate high from his touch.

Ciara wanted to forget about Y'lan's question. She wanted to remember who she now belonged to and who was now hers. She answered Trevante's text by showing up at his door, work clothes still intact. She needed an unwind, an escape. She knew Trevante would give it to her. In unlimited positions.

Trevante watches Ciara bite down on her bottom lip, almost breaking skin. It is the only way to stop herself from moaning Y'lan's name in the midst of Trevante taking her over the edge.

Trevante isn't an escape. He is a salve. She still wants Y'lan.

"Why do you have to go away this weekend?" Trevante can't stop pouting in Ciara's direction.

"Because I need a retreat from this paper and I need to see my girls. I miss them, Tre."

"I wanna see my girl though..." Trevante right hand traces up Ciara's inner thigh. She gives him the space to go back to work and the convulsions grow rapidly. "You're my girl, right?"

Ciara is too caught up in Trevante's torture to utter full words. He takes all of what he hears as a "yes."

Ciara's lack of a "yes" to Y'lan aches him as he sits on his couch surrounded by silence, thoughts swirling on why he would ask her if she still wanted to be with him. Y'lan thought himself to be over his desire to try again with Ciara. He egged Winston on to send Ciara that message with the playlist, telling him that it would be a safe move. He didn't realize that an hour after encouraging Winston to shoot his shot, Y'lan would haphazardly shoot his own.

He looks down at his phone to see an email from Ciara. She confirms that her organization secured him staff until Spring Break of next year. That was the purpose for their meeting until Y'lan felt called to confront her about Trevante. She kept her word despite Y'lan always breaking his promises. He drops his phone to his side, exhaling loudly as he closes his eyes, thoughts of Ciara running through his mind. His thoughts go unclean and his coping mechanisms of the past come into play. He stifles himself from saying her name as he hits the sweet spot.

Trevante's nerves grow as he paces around his kitchen. He doesn't know how to word all of what he feels. After his conversation with Y'lan, he wants to make things official with Ciara. He can handle her, he thinks, even if Y'lan's warnings are coming from a good place.

Trevante grabs Ciara's hand as she walks into his living room, his favorite t-shirt cascading her body in all the right ways. Ciara yelps loudly as Trevante picks her up and sits her on top of his counter. Ciara can't take anymore from Trevante.

"Tre, I'm gone for three days. Not three months. I'm coming back, I promise."

Trevante pulls her body closer to him, nearly sliding her off of the counter with all of his force. He kisses Ciara so deep that her body jolts.

"Yo, Tre. Chill." She reluctantly pushes him away.

"My bad..." Trevante releases Ciara from his hold. She gently tugs on both of his arms so he can come back to her. "Look at you. You don't want to leave me this weekend either."

"Heh. Not really."

"You never answered my question though?"

"Which one, Tre?" Trevante can't help but fight the disappointment he feels. Ciara's attentiveness to every detail of Trevante fails to show up in this moment. The one time he would want for her to notice all of his idiosyncrasies, she doesn't see it. It would have also hidden the fact that Trevante doesn't know how to word his request.

"You know ... about you being my girl."

Ciara's mind breaks this moment of joy with thoughts of Y'lan. Y'lan is her past that she so desperately wants to be her present but knows she has no future with. Her future is standing right here, tugging on her body, trying to find the words to tell her how he feels. She senses Trevante's nervousness. She goes in to ease his mind.

"I've been waiting so long for you ask me. I would love to be, Trevante." Ciara playfully fights off Trevante as he goes to pick her up from his counter. As they barrel over to his couch, she knows she won't be left in her own mess.

Y'lan cleans up his mess. Just like Mahalia, he awaits a green light to break up Ciara and Trevante. Winston isn't going to be enough.