Ch 𝟷𝟾:
Aftermath
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8:58am
THE NEXT MORNING
𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗, 𝚃𝚇
With a groan of internal pain, Aijah rolls over on the bed. She snuggled deeper into the cold, fluffy comforter and let out a relived sigh. The sound of heavy breathing behind her stopped her from closing her eyes and going back to sleep.
She abruptly turned her head to the side and swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn't need to reposition herself to know that Rell was the one laying next to her. His bare, tattooed chest was on display, rising and falling with his heavy breaths. Judging by the fact that Aijah was completely naked with the exception of a baby blue lace thong, she guessed that Rell was also completely nude — confirming all of hear fears of what went down last night.
"Fuck!" Aijah whispered to herself, turning over on her back and resting her palm against her forehead.
The pain of her hangover was already making this morning a messy one. And as the memories of the last 10 hours started to burst through the floodgates of her mind, Aijah couldn't fathom how quickly her life had gotten more complicated.
Rell bending her over the bed...
Rell fucking her against the shower wall...
Rell eating her pussy with her legs behind her head...
The sound of a groan escaping his lips made Aijah focus her attention on him again. One problem at a time, she took a deep breath and thought to herself. She turned over to face him, propping her head up on her elbow and staring at Rell like it was the first time she's ever seen him.
Aijah could tell by Rell's body language that he was in pain, most likely his hangover-induced headache getting stronger. His eyebrows were pinched together slightly and he looked uncomfortable, even in his sleep. Without thinking, Aijah took her thumb and gently smoothed the crease between his eyebrows. Noticing the little sigh he let out, she lightly ran her palm over the top of his muscled chest and down to his torso, watching his body relax under her touch.
Just as the blissfulness left, Aijah gained her sense back and immediately pulled her hand off his chest, mentally cursing herself for even trying to comfort him right now. Rell was quicker though, gripping her wrist before she could move it and keeping her palm flat on his chest.
"Where you goin'?" He spoke with a raspy voice. His eyes were still closed as Aijah tried to wiggle her hand out of his grip. She ignored the throb of her clit at the sound of his raspy voice. She didn't know how to feel right now, but horny definitely wasn't it.
"Getting up, Rell." Aijah spoke. He instantly recognized the hard edge to her voice and opened his eyes, turning to look at her. But as usual, Aijah's nonchalant face was unreadable.
Before she could get too lost in his dark, captivating eyes, she sat up, trying to get up from the bed. Rell pulled her back down, forcing her to face him again. "Speak Aijah. Now."
"What do you want me to say?" She irritatedly waved a hand around, clutching the duvet to her bare chest with the other hand.
"You regret it, don't you?" He stared into her eyes.
Aijah let out a sigh. She didn't know. It was obvious that her drunken brain clearly hadn't thought about the repercussions she would face after sleeping with Rell last night. "It's too early to tell." She muttered in response.
Rell turned his eyes to the ceiling. He knew this would be the outcome of last night. But in that moment, he didn't care. Every disappointment and turn down he's received from Aijah over the years became a blur, and his only focus was her in that moment.
"If you let this change anything between us, you'll regret it." He spoke, breaking the momentary silence. "I don't regret it. At all. We might've been drunk, but we're grown. Drunk minds only do the things that sober minds don't have the courage to do."
Aijah thought about his statement but immediately dismissed it. Sleeping with Rell was never on her agenda as of recently, and she was convinced last night was an in-the-moment type of thing. Clearly he didn't think the same.
"It's kind of hard for things to not to change between us, Latrell. We weren't even on speaking terms before last night. Are you saying you want to go back to that?" Aijah turned to look at him with her eyebrows raised. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Rell's silent treatment broke her heart a little more every time she received it.
"Nah. It's hard as fuck to look at your beautiful ass face and not be able to approach you." Rell spoke thoroughly. Every time he's seen Aijah and considered speaking to her, he was reminded of the promise he made to himself to stay away. But he got weak in the knees every time he saw her.
Aijah tried her hardest not to blush at his words. She turned over on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't know how to feel at all and Rell's words only added to that confusion.
"What are we gonna do? We can't just go on and act like this never happened. It definitely happened." Rell spoke up, bringing her out of her thoughts.
She groaned before speaking. "I don't know. I can't think about this right now." This conversation was adding to her headache and she didn't have the mental capacity to decide whether or not she regretted last night's actions or not.
Rell watched her slowly get up from the bed. She bent down and picked his shirt from last night up off the floor before sliding it on her naked body. He enjoyed the view of Aijah's naked body, with her tattoos on full display and her plump butt sitting up just right in her thong; but there was something more intimate about seeing her in his clothes.
Aijah trudged to the bathroom slowly, silently declaring that she'd never drink again. This hangover was by far the worst she's ever experienced — and Aijah was definitely a drinker who's had her fair share of hangovers. Her feet felt heavy and it felt like her head was going to fall clean off of her shoulders.
Entering the bathroom, Aijah closed the door behind her before beginning the process of starting her shower. Steam quickly fogged up the bathroom air, causing her skin to damped. She slid open the frosted glass door of the shower and stepped inside, her body instantly being coated with the soothing hot water.
Aijah dropped her head back, letting the water stream down into her scalp. She sighed to herself, momentarily forgetting that Rell was laying naked in her bed.
I just fucked up. Bad, Aijah thought to herself.
* * *
Samiron walked up the all too familiar steps of the home he once considered his own. The concrete path leading up to the two story house was pristine, just like he'd last seen it three years ago. The greenery that wrapped around the right side of the house was also perfectly in tact. Looking at the house in itself, you would've never thought it was a two minute drive from the ghetto.
He knocked on the door before stuffing his hands inside the pocket of his Off-White Beige Arrow hoodie. Glancing around the neighborhood, it looked like your typical family oriented black community — kids of all ages riding their bikes in the street or playing basketball, teenagers posted up in little cliques, and old heads basking in the May warmth on the porch.
"Mir?"
Samiron turned his head, his eyes instantly landing on Cheyenne's. Unexpectedly, her face broke out into a warm smile before she held her arms out towards him. Samiron gladly engulfed her in a hug, wrapping his arms around her small frame.
"Boy! You done got bigger or something?" Chy arched an eyebrow as she pulled away from the hug and eyed her once son-in-law.
Samiron chuckled with a little shrug of his shoulder. "Ain't nothing to do in prison besides work out."
If his time locked up wasn't spent being tormented or abused, the gym was his safe haven. The muscle burns and increased heart rate he experienced while working out were the slightest distraction for him.
Cheyenne shook her head with a smile on her lips. She stepped aside, allowing him to step into the house before she securely locked the door behind him. Chy led Samiron to the living room. It didn't look too different in his eyes, besides the added decor and additional family photos that were hung up, most of which included his son. Cheyenne took a seat on the armchair as Mir took his spot on the couch, his eyes still taking in the familiarity of his surroundings.
"Sani sleeping?" Samiron asked. Since he and Mari were both working all day today, Mari had her mother pick Sani up after school. He hadn't seen his grandparents since Mir was released, so he spent the rest of the day with Cheyenne and Layva with Travis being at work.
"Yea. I just put him down for a nap about 20 minutes ago. I took him and Layva to get some ice cream and he had a lil' sugar rush." Chy spoke with a chuckle, averting her eyes back to Samiron. He nodded, smiling, and looked back at the family photos that were stuck to acrylic glass and hung up on the wall.
"I'm sorry, I know I keep staring at you. But it just feels so weird to have you sitting in front of me after all this time." Chy spoke up, making Samiron chuckle at her. He hadn't even noticed she was staring. But still, he'd take her shock over her disappointment with how he treated her daughter.
"How's the business and everyone else doing? I miss the little twins so much." Cheyenne pouted, referring to Kania and Kairo.
"Everyone's good. Put the twins definitely ain't little no more. Kania is looking and acting more like my momma everyday." Samiron shook his head with a smile on his lips. Nia was turning into a reincarnated version of Harmoni, whether that be looks or personality.
"I just seen her at my baby's studio last week. She's so grown up now." Cheyenne commented, making Mir nod his head in agreement. Even though in his eyes Nia was still a baby.
"But how have you been?" Chy retorted, leaning back and relaxing into her seat.
"Just trying to get used to stuff I guess, it's been rough." Mir shrugged. She nodded so he took it as an opportunity to continue. "It doesn't even feel like I was gone for three years — It feels like it's been way longer. It's weird to see how everyone's lives moved forward over the past few years. Meanwhile I'm... stuck in the same place."
Cheyenne nodded again. She understood where he was coming from, but not to the fullest extent. "It makes sense that you feel that way. You couldn't help but to get set back. Now you just gotta work to catch up to 'em."
"For sure. It's just easier said than done." Samiron admitted, a silent understanding passing through him and Cheyenne. Getting back on his feet after prison sounded easy — he had the money, the business, the support, and most importantly; his son — but getting back to normal was the complete opposite.
A frown formed on Chy's face as she stared at Samiron. His admission had reminded her of what he went through alone in prison and it broke her heart. After seeing how in love he was with her daughter and vice versa, she considered Mir her son. And after Zion visited Samiron and got him to admit to practically being tortured in prison, everyone was shocked and hurt; especially Chy. Regardless of what he put her daughter through, which Cheyenne took major offense to, she still didn't believed he deserved to go through everything he did.
She shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Have you ever considered like... therapy?"
Samiron shook his head, ultimately dismissing the idea. In his eyes, he was fine. He just needed a few years to get over what happened to him. He felt like therapy was just going to reopen wounds he was trying so hard to heal on his own.
"Mir, after what happened to you, you need therapy. You won't truly heal if you just try to forget what happened to you." She spoke empathically. She didn't want Mir to dismiss his emotions now and regret it later on down the line when it came back up.
Samiron shrugged his shoulders as he glanced around the room. Looking back at Chy, she was already staring at him patiently waiting for an answer. He let out a breath before speaking. "That therapy stuff ain't really for me. I'm good. I just need some time to recuperate."
Cheyenne sighed to herself and shook her head. It seemed like all of the men she knew that dealt with trauma and needed therapy didn't want to get it. "You're not good. It'll do you good to start admitting that to yourself."
"No one who was beaten everyday, got their medicine withheld, went years without seeing their son, and was basically isolated from their family is "okay." Do you know how damaging that is to someone psychologically? It doesn't make you any less of a man to admit that you're hurting, and you need help."
Samiron turned his eyes to the floor and bit the inside of his cheek. Everything Cheyenne spoke was the truth; but he isn't ready to admit that to himself. He knew how mentally damaging his entire jail experience was. But he's been in the streets all his life — he was accustomed to being traumatized and never really dealing with it.
"I don't want to force anything on you, but I'm telling you this because I care about you. You're the father of my grandchild and you are still an asset to Mari's life. I don't want you suffering in silence." Cheyenne expressed.
Mir rested his elbows on his knees, running a hand over his face exasperatedly. Therapy was never something formally introduced to him, but Cheyenne made it sound so easy. He barely liked talking to his own father about his feelings, let alone a stranger.
"I-"
"Just think about it." She cut in, already knowing Samiron was going to degrade himself. "If you think therapy is the route you want to go, Aijah's mom, Jocelyn, is the perfect person."
"If she's anything like her daughter I might as well not go."
Cheyenne laughed and shook her head. "She's not. Jocelyn is great at what she does, I promise. She specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy which deals with PTSD, childhood trauma, things like that."
Samiron sighed but eventually nodded, taking in what Chy was saying. He opened his mouth to respond, but paused when he saw Sani walking towards him, scratching his eyes with the back of his hands.
"Hi daddy." Sani muttered quietly, still trying to register being awake. He stood in front of his father who smiled before gladly picking him up and laying him on his chest.
"What's up, baby boy? You been sleep?" Feeling Sani nod against his chest, Samiron placed a kiss at the top of his head. Sani isn't a big talker when he first wakes up, just like his dad is.
Cheyenne rested her chin in her palm, smiling as she watched the two. Samiron may have been dealing with a boatload of stuff mentally, but his ability to parent was never even a question. Everyone who knew he had a son, knew that he loved Sani with his entire soul.
Noticing Sani beginning to doze off again, Samiron lightly rubbed his back before looking up at Cheyenne. "I know it's the wrong time to bring this up, but I'm sorry. I already apologized to Mari, and I talked to Travis, but I feel like I owe it to you too. Prison me was a whole different nigga. Your daughter didn't deserve to be my outlet for anger when I was self destructing.."
Cheyenne's smile dropped, but she nodded as she stared at him. She was glad Samiron took accountability. Did she feel like he was completely wrong in the way he treated Mari? Most definitely. He knew Mari's heart was a fragile thing, and he stepped all over it. But Cheyenne recognized that if her daughter wasn't holding that big of a grudge against him, she had no place to do so.
"I understand that. I just wanted you to understand that you hurt us as a family by saying the things you said on the phone. Mari didn't even tell me what was going on between y'all for a whole year while you were locked up. Me and her got into it, and she broke down and just told me everything.." Cheyenne sighed, remembering how hurt her daughter was. She's seen Mari heart broken before, but never to that extent.
Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Cheyenne met Mir's cautious eyes again. "I'm not going to grill you on all that because I'm sure Mari already did, and the difference in energy between y'all should tell you a lot about how you hurt her. But right now, there's nothing I can really do now other than be thankful that you're taking accountability."
Samiron nodded understandingly. He saw why Cheyenne wasn't forgiving him 100%. Thinking about it, he definitely wouldn't have forgiven someone for treating his child the way he treated Mari.
Mir was just trying to right a bunch of wrongs, and that was all he could really do.
* * *
LATER ON THAT DAY
"Stop being greedy dawg.." Rell gave Eli a look of disapproval. He hated people who hogged the blunt and fucked up their entire rotation. Eli might as well have been smoking on his own.
Eli rolled his eyes as he blew a line of smoke through his slightly parted lips. "Stop bitching." He mumbled, leaning forward on the couch to hand Rell the blunt.
Rell often liked to go over to Eli's place to chill. They were the only two left — with the exception of Samiron — without a girlfriend, fiancé, or kid holding them down. Out of everyone they considered family, they partied, drank, and smoked the most. In their defense, they weren't going to be young forever.
So any party or function? Rell and Eli were definitely in that. They had their fun together before going their separate ways for work. But both Rell and Eli knew they were each other's first call options when they wanted to go out and just get fucked up.
Rell held the pearled blunt to his lips before taking a long drag and letting his head fall back onto the couch. After the night he had, and Aijah's dismissiveness this morning after it, he desperately needed this.
Eli glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "You been spaced out like that all day bruh. Aijah must've gave it to you good." He teased.
Rell sucked his teeth, keeping the blunt between his lips as he picked up the PS5 controller. "Fuck up, Elijah."
Eli couldn't help but chuckle. Rell didn't have to tell him what went down last night, he just knew. Judging by the grin that stayed on Rell's face all day or the blissful look he'll get in his eyes when he zoned out, Eli knew him and Aijah had finally reconciled — in bed.
"What she say this morning?" He asked.
Rell fought an eye roll as he thought about Aijah's attitude this morning. He could've guess she was going to be dismissive about everything they did together. But a small part of Rell was hoping that she didn't regret it because he definitely didn't.
If anything, sleeping with Aijah helped him see that he really couldn't leave her alone. And now that Thirty was out of the picture, he could finally get to her like he's been wanting to.
"You know Aijah," Rell took the blunt from between his lips and blew out smoke. "She wasn't even trying to talk about it. Her ass was trying to slide out of the bed before I woke up. I caught her ass and forced her to speak but she wasn't saying anything for real. Just a whole bunch of 'I don't know's'." He rolled his eyes.
Eli chuckled, looking back at the 70" tv screen. "Either y'all sleeping together finally helped her find her feelings for you, or shit just got 10x more complicated."
"You're telling me.." Rell shook his head.
Eli set the PS5 controller on the glass coffee table in front of him. He stared off, looking at nothing in particular as he thought about his run-in with Noelle last night. Like Rell, that was the only person staying on his mind.
"Lemme' ask you something gang." He finally spoke.
Rell turned his eyes towards him. When he saw the flat expression on his face, he knew Eli wasn't playing. So he put his controller down on the table too, giving him his undivided attention.
"What's up?"
"So... you remember the twins' grad party, right?" Eli put his elbow on the arm of the couch and pinched his chin hairs.
Rell furrowed his eyebrows at his homeboy before realization washed over him. "I see where this is going."
Eli rolled his eyes while taking the blunt from between Rell's fingers. He held it to his lips, taking a quick pull, before inhaling the smoke through his nose. "Alright. That means you remember you and Noelle's interaction?"
"Kinda."
"I need you to tell me what went down. I know you explained your version of it a few days later, but I just need... clarification I guess." Eli stumbled over his words. He didn't even know why he was reopening this topic, it happened over a year ago. But seeing Elle in the club last night made him want to dig deeper.
Rell shrugged again, confused by Eli's sudden interest in a situation he thought was done and over with. "What are you talking 'bout? I told you shorty was high as hell and she came on to me. Being flirty and all that."
Eli nodded his head, staring off again. He didn't know why he expected a different answer from Rell. Noelle was in the wrong and her trying to reach out to apologize days and even weeks after the grad party confirmed just that. No one goes out of their way to say they're sorry if they know they didn't do anything worth apologizing for.
Leaning back on the couch, Rell studied his friend. Eli wasn't the type to stress over a girl so he was intrigued. "You thinking 'bout giving her another chance ain't it?"
Eli's shoulders dropped at the question he wasn't even willing to ask himself. "I don't know. It's like... I'm going to be giving her another chance to do it again. And I don't got time for no bitch drama, man."
"Well you have your answer then." Rell shrugged, taking the blunt from him again.
Eli didn't respond. He didn't want to give Noelle a chance to embarrass him again. Even though no one besides Rell really knew why he cut her off, he wasn't willing to deal with that again. It seemed like the first time he tried to give someone a real chance, they fucked it up for him.
Whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not, he really did care about Noelle a lot. Did he miss their adventures? Yes. Did he yearn for the ability to pop up on her at 3am and tell her to get in the car with no idea where they were going? Definitely. But her being in Rell's face like she wanted him outweighed all of that.
As if he could read his mind, Rell glanced over at Eli before pausing the game and looking back over at him. "If you're in this deep with ole girl — she got you thinking about her a year after you cut her off — just give her another chance."
"I seen her at the club last night, a little after you and AJ left. She came up to me, pulled me to the side and acted like she didn't know why I cut her off. Shit stupid." Eli spoke irritably.
Rell raised his eyebrows, now seeing why Eli was so bent up about her. "Maybe she was high or something, Eli. Shit, I don't know."
"Still, she obviously knew she did some shit if she looked for every possible way to reach out to me so she could apologize. I'm not falling for that shit." Eli waved a dismissive hand. "That got me even more hot 'cause it's one thing to be in my homeboy's face in front of me, but it's another thing to act like you never did it."
"Just talk to her about it. Get your answers from the source." Rell looked at him like the solution was obvious. There wouldn't be any confusion on Noelle's end if Eli just explained to her why he cut her off. "Even if it does piss you off to explain everything to her, do it. What if she actually doesn't remember? We sat there and smoked out the entire backyard after the twins went in the house. Maybe her slow ass gon' remember if you explained it to her."
Eli pinched his bottom lip between his fingers as he thought about Rell's suggestion. Either Noelle knew what she did that day, but was acting oblivious to it; or she was too high to remember any of it. Either way, Eli still wouldn't excuse her actions regardless of what her explanation was. He just wanted to know why she did what she did.
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w/c; 4378