Heaven Between Her Thighs: Stealing His Heart (9 page)

Six Months Later

“Hello?” Chey answered her work phone. She had just a few more things to take care of before she could enjoy her four-day weekend with her bae, and she couldn’t wait. This would be the weekend that she would be introduced to Qyree’s parents as his girlfriend.

To say that Chey was surprised by the relationship would be an understatement. The Qyree that she had met in college and even the one she reunited with a few months ago, was a totally different Qyree than he was now. His past may have been one that should have turned her away from him, but it was something deeper there that she couldn’t deny. During the week, it was hard to see one another, but they had been making it work and she was happy. When she wasn’t on the phone with Qyree, she was spending time with Von, who just so happened to be on the other line.

“Hey sis!” Von said. It had been such a blessing to be around Von and watch the changes that she went through for her son. Amir was now coming to see her twice a month, holidays, and would be staying with her once the summer started. The love that little boy had for his mother was unreal, and Chey couldn’t wait for her time to become a mother.

Many would have thought it would be a tough transition for the two of them, being that Von was missing out on so much of his life. But God had a way of lining everything up where it worked out for everyone involved. He had placed Amir with two people who were after His own heart, when He put him with Nivea and Terrance. Now that Von was no longer in the halfway house and in her own, she could finally be the mother that God called her to be. Chey was so proud of her and they had really become like sisters. Even the three of them would hang out a bit when Nivea would come to drop Amir off.

“What you doing?” Von asked.

“Just finishing up in the office before I call it a day. I was just given a new file so I was trying to go over it real quick before I leave,” Chey told her.

“Girl, if you don’t go home and get ready to spend time with your boo you betta! I know he can’t wait to get you all to himself,” Von laughed.

“Unt uh, you know it’s not like that with us… yet.”

“Ooohhhh, you gonna be fassss this weekend, huh? You better do it then sis!” Von cackled.

“No, nut! You know we not going down that road. I need a ring and a husband before that jumps off.”

Von sucked her teeth and laughed because she still found it unbelievable that Chey could still be holding out. She felt like one of them had to get some so the other could live through the other, and they knew it couldn’t be her. There was no way that she could get involved with a man, tell him her status, and he would stick around. So she would just focus on her baby boy and live through Chey and Qyree’s relationship.

“I know, girl, I’m just messing with you.”

“Hold on sis, let me get this other line. It’s like they know I’m trying to get out of here by noon and they finding every reason to stop me,” Chey said.

“Well go ahead. I got to get back to work anyway. Don’t forget to call me when you see your surprise,” Von said excitedly before hanging up. She knew what she was doing by telling her about a surprise, but not telling her what it was.

Before she could even begin to wonder what the surprise could be, the line beeped again. Taking a deep breath she was prepared to tell anyone that needed her to stay later than noon ‘NO’.

“Hello?”

“Heyyyy giiirrrllll!”

“Natalia?” She hadn’t heard from Natalia since she called and said that she wouldn’t be able to make her performance, and that was almost six months ago. Every time Chey would try and reach out to her, she was too busy with her man. Chey still didn’t know his name.

“Don’t act like you don’t know your best friend’s voice,” Natalia scoffed. She knew it had been a while since she had been around, but all of that was about to change.

“So what’s going on?” Chey asked ignoring the ‘best friend’ comment. They had fallen off so bad it wasn’t even funny. Von had been more of a best friend lately than Natalia.

“I’m coming down that way this weekend so we should catch up,” she said smacking her gum all loud.

“Well, we are going to miss each other because I’m coming to the city,” Chey said looking over the new file. Her breath seemed to get caught in her throat as she looked at the name and mugshot of the person.

“Did you hear me?” Natalia asked annoyed.

“Hum… wha…what? No, my bad, I was looking over this file before it was time to go. What did you say?”

“I said what you coming to the A for?”

“Oh, bae is bringing me to hang out. We haven’t had much time lately so since I have these few days off we’re going on a little getaway,” Chey informed her, getting excited all over again. She decided to close the file and reopen it when she got back to work. The last thing she needed was anything that took her away from her man. She just prayed that the information in that file was all a coincidence and not at all what she was thinking.

“Bae? Since when this Miss Stiff Booty get a man? I was beginning to think that you were waiting for Jesus Himself to come down and marry you,” Natalia laughed like she had just told the funniest joke in the world, but she was the only one that found it humorous.

“And if I was waiting for Jesus to come marry me it would happen before anyone decided to marry you,” Chey shot back, putting an end to the laughter. Chey may have been saved and loved the Lord, but she had a little petty still stored away for the days that people decided to get cute.

Before either of the two ladies could say anything else, there was a quick knock on her office door followed by Qyree’s handsome smiling face. Immediately, all of the attitude Chey had been feeling seconds before thanks to Natalia, was now gone.

“Hey beautiful. You ready?” he asked coming further into the room. His scent reached her nose even before he got close to her and she couldn’t help but to close her eyes and enjoy it.

“Is that—” Natalia started but was cut off.

“Bae is here so I’m about to head out,” Chey said not giving her time to respond. Quickly, she put in the code that she needed for all of her calls to go to voicemail and to let the caller know she was out of the office.

“Oh, so you finally decided to tell your other man about me?” Qyree laughed walking over to Chey.

“Mm hmm. I figured it was time that he knew he was replaced with something better,” she smiled, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Say word. I got the top spot now?” Qyree smiled. Chey loved the way the corner of his mouth would turn up when he was happy. It was something small but it was so big at the same time.

“Well not the top spot. You know that belongs to God.”

Turning his lip up and squinting his eyes as if he was thinking, he finally said, “I can play that position. But that’s the only one I’m gonna play second to,” he said seriously.

“You’re such a big baby.”

“You love this big baby though,” Qyree said stopping suddenly, noticing what had just come out of his mouth. The both of them held their breaths because neither had said those three powerful words to one another yet. It was something they both felt but didn’t know if the other felt the same way. Qyree was quietly waiting on her response and Chey was quietly wondering how he would take her response.

“I do love my big baby,” she almost whispered but he heard her. Looking into her eyes, he knew that she meant it and he prayed she could feel it from him as well.

“And your big baby loves you more,” Qyree said honestly, as he pulled her closer to give her a kiss.

Chey had sealed the deal on the direction that he was willing to take their relationship and she didn’t even know it. She was the first woman besides his mother and late grandmother, Norma that he had ever said those words to and meant it from the bottom of his heart. Even when he was playing the field, he had never uttered those words just to get what he wanted from a woman. He had seen how those words affected his mother when his father said them, but then his actions would show something totally different. Although he never saw himself getting married and he really didn’t respect those women, he would never get her hopes up about having anything with him other than something physical.

Speaking of physical, this was the very first time that the two of them had been this intimate. Of course they held hands or hugged, he had even given her a few pecks on the cheek, but their lips had never collided until now. The power that he felt through that kiss was like nothing he had never experienced, and he wasn’t sure what this woman was doing to him. Everything that he thought he knew was nothing like he was living.

The type of women that he used to run around with weren’t even worthy of his lips touching theirs because he knew what they did with those lips. Nothing he did with them was intimate or meaningful like he was doing with Chey, and it kind of made him a virgin in a sense. Not the physical sense because that was gone a long time ago, but everything he was doing was new with her. She was bringing a side out of him that he never knew could exist.

He didn’t know if he was just tired of the life he was living, or if God was opening his eyes and heart. Could have been both. Either way, he was ready. From the first day she had crossed his path again, she was constantly on his mind. And when she got on that stage, she broke something in him that she wasn’t even aware of. When he left Fatima and her girls at their house and the other girl at the hotel without hopping in the bed with either of them, he knew why. Chey had somehow woven her way into his heart without his permission, but he found himself accepting her in.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. I have a surprise for you,” he said, unwillingly breaking their kiss.

“Is this the same surprise that Von told me about?”

“Man, sis can’t keep her mouth closed for nothing. I bet I don’t tell her anything else,” he pouted.

“Aww, don’t be mad, she didn’t tell me,” Chey laughed.

“She lucky my nephew gonna be there this weekend or I’d go cuss her out,” he smirked.

“And she will cuss you right on back out too. With y’all potty mouths.”

“Wait a minute, I’m getting better with that I thought. You know the Lord ain’t through with me yet,” he said trying to look offended.

Chey couldn’t help but to laugh at the face he was making. She had to give him credit in that area though. Since he had been spending time with her, going to church, and even spending time with her father, Qyree was really trying his best to be a better man. Not for her, but for himself first. Before he could be the man that she or any woman needed, he had to learn how to be a man first.

She knew that inviting him to church with her in the beginning didn’t mean a thing. That was something that women didn’t seem to understand. Just because they wanted a deeper relationship with God didn’t mean the man they were with or trying to get with wanted the same thing. Inviting him to church didn’t mean a thing if it wasn’t what he wanted. So many times that theory ended up backfiring on the woman because the man ended up leading her away from God. They would use the fact that she loved him so much or his opinion mattered to her so much that he could sway her thoughts from the church. A man should want that relationship with Christ for himself, and not for any other reason. That went for the woman too.

Qyree was tired of the logic he was given from Jaxon about God, and was finally returning back to what his mother had tried her best to instill in him. He wasn’t a stranger to God, but he hadn’t been in his face for some time and if he wanted to lead a better life than what he had been, it was time. All of the cars, clothes, money, and women were getting old, so when he popped up at church one day unbeknownst to Chey, he had been coming ever since. He made sure that if he had gotten busy and couldn’t make it down the night before, then he would get up real early on Sunday and make that trip in time to make it to Sunday School.

“You’re right, baby. He’s still working on the both of us ‘cause I’m struggling to keep these thoughts cast down,” she said trying to pull away from his embrace but he held her tighter.

“Say word? What thoughts?” He knew what she was feeling and he was too, but they weren’t ready. He was going to do this relationship right for the first time in his life. He just liked to see her squirm a little.

“Unt uh boy, let’s go. You are not about to make me speak those things that are not as though they were.” Her imagination was running wild and the last thing she needed was to speak those impure thoughts into existence.

“They gone be one day though,” he said sharing a laugh with her. The look on her face was one of trying to figure out if he was serious or not. Pecking her one last time on the lips, he grabbed her hand while she grabbed her purse. He wasn’t about to answer the question lingering in her eyes with words, he was just going to have to show her with his actions, he thought, as they headed to spend what neither of them knew would be one of the most memorable weekends together ever.

As soon as they had put her bags in Qyree’s car, they grabbed something quick to eat and got on the road. She didn’t have to worry about her car considering the fact that she had let Von use it while she was out of town. Von was still trying to get established and didn’t have a car, so on the days where she needed to do a lot of running around, Chey would let her borrow hers. Any way Chey could help Von and make sure she didn’t go back to her old ways, she would.

Canton Jones was playing through the speakers while Qyree drove and Chey read a book on her Kindle. In the past, you couldn’t get him to listen to gospel music, but here lately that’s all he played. Praise and worship music had graced his speakers a few times, but not as much as the gospel rap did. He related a little more with those lyrics, not to mention they were still upbeat enough for him to groove to.

“What you reading?” Qyree asked, turning the music down some. Whatever it was had her attention and her finger constantly swiping the screen.

“This book called
Damaged Goods
by Jenica Johnson
,” she replied, never taking her eyes away from the words she was focused on. It almost sounded like she was in a hurry to tell him so that she could focus back in.

“You mean the one where that girl Shy was catching the beat down by that dude Amond, or something like that?” he asked. This time he saw her look at him out of his peripheral with a shocked look.

“Ahmod, and yea, that’s the one. What you know about this book?” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“What, I can’t like to read?” he asked faking like he was offended.

“You can read, but I didn’t know you would read this type of book.”

“You mean a Christian book?”

“Yea. I took you for a street or urban reader,” she said. Her assumptions would have been dead on a while ago, but now those books didn’t appeal to him anymore.

“I’ve always liked to read and you’re right, I was into those type of books. But now it seems like they are all the same. And since kicking it with you, some of my interests have changed, that being one of them,” he explained.

“I agree. I still read a few urban books but not as many as I used to. These Christian books have really stepped up their game over the last year or so. They are so relatable to everyday life and still give you a good message, too.”

“Yeah. That’s true,” Qyree said as Chey went back to reading.

He couldn’t wait until they got to Atlanta. He had so much planned for them to do, including dinner with his mother. Zaria was so excited when she found out that the two of them had reunited and were now in a relationship. She made sure to tell him every chance she got when he would come by the house, how he’d better not mess this up. She had always liked Chey and to know that her son had a woman like that in her life made everything she put up with worthwhile.

Qyree didn’t go by his parents’ house as much as before, but he talked to his mother every day. The moment Natalia popped up at their house that day, it was a done deal for him. He hadn’t been anywhere near his father or the office since then and he only talked to Jaxon by phone, where it concerned the company. Even then, Qyree wasn’t in the mood to talk considering the fact that the position he was working towards was snatched away from him by someone he didn’t even know.

Shaking his head, he still couldn’t believe how his father had played him but he should have seen it coming long ago. Qyree had lost count of the many times his father went back on his word if the situation wouldn’t be beneficial to him. He was sick to his stomach the day that he found out his father had been sleeping with Natalia. The moment his mother told him everything, it became clear that both Natalia and his father had played him. Qyree had taken her to a couple of company events in the past, nothing major, and had never introduced the two. In fact when he thought about it, every time he wanted to introduce them he would look up and Natalia would be missing. For them to have hooked up meant that Jaxon had seen them and went after her or he was already messing around with her. Jaxon knew his son and knew how Qyree treated women. Jaxon just had no idea how that one decision would change his world forever.

Chey was glad that they would be beating the Atlanta rush hour traffic by the time they got into town. She absolutely hated being at a standstill for sometimes hours, waiting to get to her destination. That’s one of the reasons she chose to stay in a smaller town. The city life just wasn’t appealing to her and she didn’t think it ever would be. If the relationship between her and Qyree was taken to another level and marriage was involved, she didn’t know how he would take the fact that she didn’t want to live there for the rest of her life. Would that be a deal breaker for them? Deciding to put those thoughts to the back of her mind, she focused on the scenery.

“So what is this surprise you have for me?” she remembered, and turned to him smiling. She was so anxious and didn’t know if she could wait any longer to find out what it was.

“You’ll see in just a few minutes,” he said, not giving her the answer that she was looking for. Chey was the worst when it came to surprises. She couldn’t wait to get them and she couldn’t wait to give them. If it was someone’s birthday, she would give them their gift all early. She felt like because they expected a gift on the day, that it wouldn’t be a surprise at all, so she would give them out days before. She was weird like that.

“Can I get a hint?” she asked.

“The hint is you’re going to love it,” he laughed.

“That is not a hint.” Qyree laughed at the pout on her face as he grabbed her hand and gently kissed the back of it.

“Just hold on lil’ mama we almost there. I promise it will be worth it.”

“It better be,” Chey smiled.

“Have I ever let you down before?” he asked seriously. He knew that this relationship was new for the both of them but when he made the choice to pursue Chey, he already knew he had to come correct. She wasn’t like the women he was used to so he did his best not to mess up what they were building. Chey challenged him to be better whereas his jump offs only challenged him not to strangle them for getting out of line.

“No baby, you haven’t let me down,” she smiled and went back to her reading.