Belonging to Lust

The first week was filled with a vast amount of awkwardness, but the second week had finally decreased back into normalcy. Thank goodness this week wasn’t as bad as throwing a whole bunch of cold shoulders to each other, but still, it wasn’t as good as it used to be before Zaiyia had thrown caution to the wind and kissed Heath in the garage. Heath passed by with very little words spoken, and had completely stopped giving her the sacred goodbye kisses that she used to look forward to with anticipation every day. Now, his greetings and farewells were reduced to a simple meaningless wave of his hand before he slipped out the door on his way to work. The distant quickly became too much for Zaiyia, and turned her into a sad wandering zombie-like being drifting from one day into the next. She stopped trying to fix what she had broken, since it only pushed him father away, and allowed their relationship to remain in pieces. The long morning conversations that used to be filled with laughter was now silent, and any form of physical touching, big or small, had ceased completely. They no longer watched movies together, or sought each other’s company after a long stressful day. Zaiyia stayed in her guest house, and Heath stayed in the main house.

Zaiyia didn’t bother looking up from the stove one morning as she made him his breakfast. She heard the familiar sounds of his work boots thud against the hardwood floor, and it caused her heart to skip a beat before sending it racing. Closing her eyes like she seemed to do every morning when Heath came into a kitchen, Zaiyia tried to mentally talk her nerves down as he stepped into the kitchen. She focused on setting up his plate, and pouring him a glass of orange juice.

“Morning.” He mumbled as he took a seat at the head of the table. He kept his eyes on the table top until his plate finally appeared before him, and a full glass of orange juice. Small things like that continued to touch Heath’s heart, despite the distance that he wedged between them. When he heard a chair slide around the floor, he knew she had finally took a seat, and allowed himself a moment to peek at her. As usual, Zaiyia was absolutely stunning, even in a bathrobe, and it only made him all the more restless. Fidgeting in his seat, and picking at his food, Heath couldn’t help but recall the kiss that happened two weeks ago. Hell, it was all he could think about whenever she was around these days. As amazing as it had felt, and as completely hooked as he’d become, the kiss shouldn’t have ever happened in the first place. He never should have let it go as far as it did…but at the same time he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t want it to stop it, in fact, he never wanted it to end. Even now, he still didn’t. If he had to be completely honest with himself, he wanted that kiss to happen again, and again, and again, until the hold she had over him was finally gone, if that was at all a possibility. Not being able to look at her without imagining what she would have looked like naked if he had taken her in his garage instead of walking away, Heath dropped his silverware onto his unfinished breakfast, and loudly shoved his chair back, causing Zaiyia to look up from her plate with concern.

Getting up, Heath yanked open the fridge to grab his lunch, and slammed the door shut. “See you later.” He muttered to her before he strode out of the kitchen, his jaw hardened and his eyes blazing like emerald fires.

Zaiyia let him go without a word, not only because she had accepted the way things are, but also simply because she was suddenly on the verge of tears. She had to tend to herself first to blot out the pain that he now put her through on a daily basis before she could ever confront him, she knew that. A few minutes passed before she was well enough again to clean the kitchen up, and return to her room. For the first time since she moved into Heath’s house, she wished she could go back to school. Yes, the same exact school she was jumped in not too long ago. Hell, she’d welcome another beating if she could magically relive that orgasmic kiss with Heath again. The feeling of his warm firm lips upon hers had ignited a delicious fire within her body that she’d never felt before, and she kissed many lips in the past. It was everything she wanted in a meeting of lips, and more…but alas, that wasn’t going to happen. Not wanting to stick around the house any longer because of how anxious she was quickly becoming, Zaiyia got herself dressed and defied Heath’s order by leaving the property for the first time. She didn’t care what he would particularly feel about her leaving at the moment, she was too sexually frustrated to consider his feelings on the matter. All she cared about at the moment was getting her hair redone since it was getting close to the end of that second month again. It was pretty early in the morning so the sky was barely lighting up. Zaiyia was expecting her hair appointment would take around 8-10 hours, depending on the stylist, and so it was best to get up bright, and early so she’d get it done before Heath got home.

When Zaiyia reached the closest bus stop, she took a seat and called the hair salon in the mall to set up her appointment. She fingered the coins in her coat pocket that she carried with her for the ride, and recalled the wads of money she had collected around the house that Heath randomly left everywhere. She had a good feeling that he had intentionally left the bills around for her, just in case she wanted to pay for something since she didn’t have any income. Zaiyia looked up at the sound of the bus pulling up against the curb. She waited for others to climb aboard and paid the toll before she did. Taking a seat, she watched the scenery shift, until she had to get off and climb onto a second bus, and then a third. In two hours, she made it to the mall that had opened an hour ago. Not wasting any time, she hurried inside. Her goal to locate the hair salon was cut short when she spotted a familiar hater of hers walking through the food court with her family.

Zaiyia stopped in her track as her eyes narrowed in on the young Hannah Davis trailing behind her parents next to, who she assumed, was her slightly older brother. She recognized the kid as Noel Davis, a junior that went to the same school as she, and his annoying sister. Completely forgetting the hair salon appointment entirely, Zaiyia slowly pursued the Davis family at a far enough distance throughout the mall. It didn’t take as long as she thought for Hannah to sense that she was being followed, and swiftly glance over her shoulder for the culprit. When she caught sight of Zaiyia staring right back at her with a vengeful smile on her face, the blood had completely drained from her face, and she nearly tripped over her own two feet. Noel caught sight of his sister stumbling, and saw the horror that was etched over her face. Leaning down he asked her what was wrong, and after a few words were exchanged, he glanced over his shoulder to see Zaiyia. His eyes widened at the gorgeous voluptuous African American woman trailing them. He opened his mouth to say something to Hannah when their mother announced that they were going into the Old Navy store. Taking off like a bullet, Hannah beat her family inside to try and lose track of Zaiyia. Her brother Noel decided to linger outside the entrance so that he could have a few words with his sister’s stalker. He watched as the young exotic woman stopped and turned to face the store’s window to search for Hannah within the store.

Brushing his black hair back with his hands, and then straightening his leather jacket, he approached Zaiyia. “Excuse me, but uh, you’re Zaiyia Halifax, am I right?”

Not glancing his way, Zaiyia nodded. “Yup.”

“My name is Noel Davis.” Reaching his hand out as a sign of greeting, Noel patiently waited for her to acknowledge it. As the seconds ticked by of her ignoring his kind gesture, he lowered his hand back to his side. “I’m uh, Hannah’s big brother.”

“Oh, you are?” Zaiyia muttered sarcastically as her eyes finally caught sight of Hannah peeking out at her from behind the clearance rack. Honing in with a glare, Zaiyia could see Hannah flinch from beneath her penetrating stare, and stumble back to fall right into the middle of one of the aisles in front of a group of customers.

“Yeah, I am.” Noel nodded before he nervously scratched the back of his head. “I uh…I heard about what happened to you, in the school locker rooms.” For the first time, Zaiyia eyes snapped towards him with a piercing intensity that had him taking a step back, and holding his hands up in innocence. “Calm down, I just wanted to tell you that I think it was extremely fucked up for Hannah and her friends to do that to you. No matter what the circumstances were, it never should have gone that far. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it anymore though, she won’t be causing you any more trouble. My parents have been talking about pulling us both out of school, and transferring us to a new one.”

Zaiyia was sincerely offended by that information. Hanna leaving before receiving a well-deserved ass whooping, she wondered to herself, no, that wouldn’t do at all. “Oh, that’s such a shame.” She cooed sarcastically. “Your parents don’t have to go through such unnecessary precautions because of what happened.”

Noel didn’t catch her sarcasm, and instead, nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I agree. As horrible as Hannah acted, I’m sure she could make amends to you, right? I mean, could you ever forgive her for what she did to you?”

Pretending to think it over, Zaiyia flashed him a fake reassuring smile. “Yes, I honestly think I could. I’m a big softie, you see. I don’t have a vengeful bone in this here body.”

“I believe it.” Noel drawled as his eyes quickly looked over her petite curvy frame with appreciation. “So what brings you to the mall today?”

“Getting my hair done.” Zaiyia shared, gesturing to her long braids.

Noel nodded. “That’s cool.” He hesitated for a minute because of the nervous butterflies in his stomach were making him anxious but he took the bold chance. “Say, are you seeing anyone by any chance?”

Zaiyia badly wanted to roll her eyes and groan in annoyance about being asked out by one of her enemy’s brothers, but she didn’t. She encourage herself to be nice, and politely decline his offer. If he did plan on being persisted about it however, she would make up an imaginary boyfriend that was affiliated with some violent gang that was wanted by the law. “Why do you ask?”

Noel shrugged as he stuck his hands in his pocket. “Oh you know, just wondering if it would be okay if I asked you out to the movies or something.”

“Thank you, but I’m not interested in getting involved with anyone at the moment.” Zaiyia informed him as she took a step back from him. “I’m sorry, but I have to get going. I don’t want to be late for my appointment.”

Stepping toward her with urgency, Noel reached out and grabbed ahold of her wrist. “Hold on, wait a minute. What do you mean you’re not interested in getting involved with anyone?”

Zaiyia had to stop herself from rolling her eyes again and opt for cutting to the chase. “I’m dating one of the members from one of the gangs downtown. If you want to keep that hand, you might want to release me and let me go about my day.”

“Shit!” Noel’s naïve mind believed it, and so he let her wrist go like it fire and took several steps back. Not sparing another minute in his presence, Zaiyia walked away from him to relocate the hair salon, the very reason she came to the mall in the first place.