Let Me Hold You Read online

  I stood there in my office for a couple of minutes, trying to make sense of that exchange, and then I also left, joining Leland in his SUV.

  “So, tell me again how you found this place?” I asked, eying my sketchy surroundings—dim lighting, and not the “creating ambiance” kind, but rather the “low bulb wattage because we ain’t got no money” kind, tables with chairs that did not match the table or each other, worn laminated menus, and the yucky brownish booth we sat in definitely looked like it’d seen better days. As far as Chinese restaurants go, The Lucky Sun was not impressing me at all.

  “I Googled hot pot and this was the first place that popped up,” he answered nonchalantly.

  “So, you’ve never eaten here?” I asked, inspecting the artwork of geishas and fountains that hung on the walls.

  “Nope, but I had a taste for hot pot, so here we are.”

  I fixed my eyes on him to find his on me. “So, what exactly is hot pot? Some kind of spicy soup or something?”

  He grinned as he shook his head. “You’re close, but no. You see this thing right here?” he asked, pointing to what appeared to be a hot plate or stove surface element embedded in the center of our booth’s table.

  I nodded.

  “It’s like a hot plate. The controls are here at the end of the table.”

  My eyes shifted to what he was pointing to. “Okay…”

  “So, they’re gonna put this big stainless-steel bowl of soup base on the hot plate, and it’ll boil. I’ma ask them to make one side mild and the other spicy, because it’s actually not that spicy. They use this divider thing in the bowl and the soup base will have seasoning in it for each side. Once it starts boiling, we’ll cook our food in it.”

  “What food?” I asked, with a slight frown.

  “Well, it comes with a starter platter of stuff like enoki mushrooms, baby bok choy, shrimp, fish balls, sausages, tofu, probably a few more things. They provide us with little net things and ladles and chopsticks that we’ll use to put the food in the base, let it cook, and then fish it out and eat it with rice or udon noodles. I prefer the noodles, but we’ll have to cook them, too.”

  I leaned back in my seat across from him. “So, let me get this straight, we are paying these folks to cook our own food in their restaurant?”

  He shrugged. “Well, yeah. I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

  “Leland Randall McClain, that is the whitest thing I have ever heard in my life.”

  He chuckled and rubbed his hand down his beard. I loved when he did that. “Naw, baby. It’s actually fun. The food cooks real quick, too. I love hot pot. Been addicted to it since Ev introduced me to it years ago. I promise you it’s good. I mean, you said you like Asian, right?”

  “Mm-hmm, we’ll see how good it is.”

  “Aye, we can add more stuff like pork, beef, extra shrimp. You wanna do that?”

  “Yeah, may as well go for it, right?”

  He gave me another smile as the server came and took our order which amounted to a ridiculous amount of food that I didn’t think either of us would ever finish once it was placed all over the table.

  The soup base started boiling almost as soon as they set it on the hot plate thing and turned it on, which shocked me. And as I slid my eyes up to our uncooked spread, I almost jumped out of my seat. “What the hell are those?” I asked.

  “What?” Leland asked, holding a clump of bok choy over the boiling bowl.

  “Those,” I said, pointing to what I was referring to.

  “Oh, those are the mushrooms I mentioned.”

  “Why do they look like stalks of grass? I don’t know about this, Leland.”

  Grinning, he said, “It’s gonna be good, baby. You’ll see.”

  “Yeah, and can you turn those around. I feel like they’re looking at me.”

  “You talking about the shrimp?” he asked, sounding completely confused. “This your first time seeing shrimp with the heads still on them or something?”

  I shook my head, my eyes on the plate of shrimp. “No. I’ve seen that before. I just don’t like seeing it.”

  “You scared of them?”

  “N-no. They just…it’s like I said; it feels like they’re looking at me. It’s just something about seeing them intact. I can’t stand to look at a whole lobster, either. Creeps me the hell out.”

  He gave me a smirk, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh at me, “So, I guess I’ma have to peel them by myself, huh?”

  “Hell, yeah! I ain’t touching them sum-bitches!”

  He burst into laughter.

  “Stop laughing at me because I have a crustacean phobia. It’s not funny!”

  “A crust—wow, baby. Okay, I’m—woo, shit! That was funny. The look on your face? Damn! But I’ma stop laughing, though.”

  “You are such an asshole.”

  “But I’m your asshole.”

  “Whatever.”

  He slid out of the booth and scooted onto the bench I occupied, moving close to me and nuzzling my neck. “I’m sorry, baby. I was just playing.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like I said, whatever.”

  He kissed my cheek and left my side, sliding back into his own seat and chuckling the entire time.

  “So, did you enjoy lunch?” Leland asked, as we left The Lucky Sun with full bellies.

  “What do you think? I’m about to pop! Everything was so good! Thanks for taking me there and letting me experience something new.”

  “See, I told you it was good. Even the shrimp, huh?”

  “Fuck you,” I muttered, smacking him on his arm.

  He wrapped said arm around me and pulled me close to him as we approached his truck. “You so damn violent with your sexy ass.”

  I smiled. “You need to stop being mean to me.”

  “I ain’t mean to you. Hey, I been meaning to ask you something.”

  “What?” I asked, as he opened the passenger door for me.

  “You wanna come to my game in Mexico with me?”

  I waited until he’d climbed behind the wheel before I said, “Mexico? What would I do?”

  “Shit, go to the game, and after that, there’s a break in my schedule so we can just hang out there and chill for a few days.”

  I thought for a second, and said, “Yeah, I think I’d like to go. I’ve never been out of the country.”

  “For real, baby?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well that’s definitely about to change now that you’re with me. And hey, make sure you pack some of them ho’ clothes you got in that ho’ closet.”

  “I thought I wasn’t supposed to wear those clothes out in public anymore.”

  “The exception to that rule is when you’re with me. You can wear them then, because I’ll be present to fuck anybody up who looks at you.”

  “Wow.”

  “And some extra waist beads.”

  “Any more requests, Mr. McClain? Should I pack panties or just forgo them altogether?”

  “Shit, since you taking requests…can we take a private jet and you just go naked, no luggage or anything?”

  “Really, Le—” A knock on my window interrupted me, and when I turned to see who it was, my heart jumped into my throat.

  I fumbled with the window control button for a few seconds and then just decided to open the door, snatching it open and jumping out onto the parking lot. I must’ve confused the hell out of Leland, because in seconds flat, he was standing beside me.

  “I thought that was you! I had just parked my car when you walked out of there,” Scotty, my son’s best friend damn near since birth, said as he pulled me into a hug.

  As I returned his hug, I could hear movement—Leland’s crazy ass.

  “Good to see you, Scotty!” I gushed, as I backed away from him a bit. “Hey, do you know Leland McClain?”

  Scotty’s eyes shifted to Leland and narrowed. He was Armand’s ride or die friend, so that, of course, made Leland an enemy. They were so close; the
only reason Scotty was in St. Louis instead of following Armand around the country was that his parents had made him stay in college. “I know of him,” he replied.

  “Well, let me introduce you two. Scotty Smith, this is Leland McClain. Leland, Scotty is one of Armand’s closest friends.”

  Proffering Scotty his hand, Leland said, “Nice to meet you, man.”

  Scotty looked at his hand for a moment, and then smiled at me. “I gotta grab this food and head back to campus, Ms. Hampton. I’ll tell Boogie I saw you.”

  That’s what I’m afraid of, I thought, but managed to give him a weak smile as I said, “Okay.”

  As he drove me back to work, Leland asked, “You all right?”

  I glanced at him and nodded. “Yeah, why?”

  “Because I been talking to you for the last five minutes and you ain’t said nothing.”

  “You have? I’m sorry. Guess I’ve just been in my head.”

  “You worried about what dude said about telling your son he saw you?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not.” Of course I was lying, but I wasn’t about to go down that road with Leland. I loved my son, but I also loved Leland, and shit, I was trying to keep him now that I was fortunate enough to have him again, because he was truly good to me and I really believed he was good for me, too.

  “You sure?”

  Now he was beginning to irritate me by making me lie repeatedly, so I sighed, and said, “I’m good, Leland. Just don’t feel like going back to work.”

  “Shit, then don’t. Take off the rest of the day and come home with me.”

  I turned and looked at him, took in his handsome face, the thick hair that was in a huge Afro at that moment, and saw into him to that big heart of his that made me feel so special and loved, then I reached over and grasped his hand. “Okay.”

  25

  “What’s up with you and Leland McClain?”

  I adjusted the phone on my ear as Leland bent down and kissed my cheek before leaving for practice, gave him a smile and a little wave, and then answered my son’s question. “What are you talking about?” I replied, although I was sure Scotty had already reported back to him, probably told him about Leland’s arm being around me as we walked to his vehicle.

  “I’m talking about you and him kicking it.”

  “Kicking it?”

  “You was over at The Lucky Sun with him, right? Scotty said y’all looked real friendly.”

  “Yeah, we had lunch together. He’s a nice guy. You’d know that if you took the time to get to know him.”

  “Naw, he’s a thirsty nigga who’s tryna get with you, Mama. That’s what he is. He been sniffing in behind you since I made the team last year.”

  “You think every breathing man is sniffing in behind me. Son, your mama looks good, but not that good.”

  “Naw, I know what I know. Why you think I can’t stand him? I caught him looking at your booty one time.”

  Really?! If my child only knew just how hard I was grinning at that moment. “Why didn’t you tell me this before now? You had me wondering what was going on between you two.”

  “I didn’t tell you because you’re too nice to people. I didn’t want you to get sucked into being all motherly with him because his folks are dead and then let him flip it on you and end up getting you in bed.”

  “Boogie, you need to stop. So, how’ve you been? Getting ready for your game tomorrow?”

  “Uh-huh, and that’s another thing. I heard you been going to a lot of Cyclones home games. What’s up with that?”

  “You heard?”

  “Yeah, I got folks everywhere. I be knowing what’s going on.”

  “So, it’s a crime for me to support the home team?”

  “Yeah, when you ain’t been to none of my games.”

  “I did go to your game when you played here, Boogie. I can’t follow you around the country. I have a job, you know?”

  “You ain’t never got to work and you’ll still get paid and you know it.”

  “But I don’t want to do that, son.”

  I could hear him sigh into the phone, then I heard a female voice say something and knew he was about to hang up. So I said, “Go ahead and take care of whatever whoever that is is talking about.”

  “Why you gotta say it like that?”

  “Because you have a different ‘friend’ hanging around you every time I talk to you.”

  “Man…I gotta go. Love you, and stay away from Leland McClain, for real. Don’t make me have to mess him up.”

  “Love you, too, son. Bye.”

  This thing with Kim was going so well, I didn’t know what to think. We were together as much as we could be with me working all the time. We had lunch together most days when I was in town and even went to the movies together a couple of times. We were deep in that regular, normal couple shit and I was loving it just as much as I was loving her. And my ass didn’t even think I could fall in love, never really wanted to, but I also didn’t think I’d ever be with Kim Hampton.

  I spent Thanksgiving playing ball in New York while she stayed behind in St. Louis to celebrate with her grandmother, whom I hadn’t met yet, and some of her other family members, including the mother she didn’t get along with. From what she told me, she’d have been better off in New York with me. She talked to her son a couple of times a month, but he was just as busy as I was, too busy to try and micromanage her life. So as he’d always been, he really was a non-factor when it came to me and Kim unless she made him a factor, and she hadn’t done that since we reconciled in Detroit.

  I was honestly shocked that we hadn’t hit the gossip blogs yet, but then again, I wasn’t exactly LeBron or Steph. Shit, I wasn’t even on Mike Conley’s level of famous in the league. I was more like Tristan Thompson before he got with Khloe. And plus, my brother’s fame pretty much overshadowed mine, not that I minded. I didn’t want the kind of fame that required bodyguards and shit like that, anyway. I mean, there were stories about me with women, never Kim, but the thing is, the women were famous, super-famous like Honey Combs. They were all more famous than me, so the stories were really about them with me as the blogs’ favorite co-star for some reason, despite the fact that all these chicks were my age and it was common knowledge that I didn’t mess with women my age. That just goes to show you how inaccurate their information was. Kim was probably happy they were missing the true story, and me? I didn’t care. I was just glad she stopped tripping about us being together in front of people. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been in this club in Mexico City on Christmas night, grinding on me to some Latin-electronic song. She was lit as hell and hadn’t had a drop of liquor. She didn’t seem to care about the fact that we were in that club with several of my teammates and their dates. While I nodded to the music, not really dancing all that hard, she spun around and backed up to me, rolling her ass on me and making me want to attack her right there on that dancefloor in front of everyone. Then she turned to face me, dropping into a squat and rubbing her face on my groin. My eyes shot around us, and yeah, half my damn team was staring at us with their mouths hanging open. So I reached for her, pulling her to her feet. She smiled up at me with low eyelids, slipping her arms around my neck and kissing me as she jumped on me, wrapping her legs around my waist and grinding against my now rock-hard dick. My baby was on fire! Here in this club, she was freer that I’d ever seen her be.

  She had on some of her ho’ gear—some little white shorts and a low-cut sparkly gold wife-beater shirt thing. Only I knew she had on blue waist beads, too. Man, I loved sliding my hands over them through her shirt. This woman, my woman, was beautiful, the finest thing in the club, hot as hell, and it just made me happy to see her have so much fun. It didn’t hurt that Kendra had made the trip, too, and was out on the floor egging Kim on. We lost the game the night before, but you couldn’t tell from the way we were all turnt all the way up in that club in Mexico City.

  “I’ma suck you into a damn stroke when we get back to the roo
m. Tyrone ain’t ready for me,” she said into my ear, then licked my earlobe.

  “Damn, I love you,” was my reply.

  *****

  “Leland,” she moaned, her voice heavy with exhaustion. It’d been a long night, we’d danced until the club shut its doors, and the sun would be up again soon, but all that damn dancing and her teasing had me ready before we got in the suite good. So I had to get a taste of her before I went to sleep.

  “Oooooo, Leland,” she whimpered.

  She had a mean grip on my head as she slid her pussy all over my damn mouth, riding my face as my tongue tried to keep up with her pace. She liked the way my mustache and beard scratched her down there, and I liked the way she moaned and wiggled and whined.

  “Oh…oh…ohhhhhhhh!” she screamed, as she jerked and vibrated and then fell onto the bed on her back.

  I climbed out of the bed and smiled down at her as I unfastened my pants with one hand and rubbed her pussy with the other. Then I buried my face between her legs again and felt her twitch from the flick of my tongue against her clit. “You taste like candy, baby. Best tasting pussy on Earth.”

  She whimpered her response as I let my tongue play with her clit, licking it then pulling it into my mouth and sucking on it until her whining became screaming, her body began to convulse again, and I could feel her walls squeeze around my fingers. Then I spread my body over hers and settled between her legs as I slid my tongue in her mouth, letting her taste herself. She kissed me like she hadn’t kissed me in years, like she missed kissing me, and I kissed her with the same passion.

  As our tongues collided, I slid inside the hottest, wettest, tightest pussy I had ever had the pleasure of experiencing, closing my eyes and mumbling, “This pussy right here! I will never get used to how good you feel.”

  In response, she raised up and clamped her mouth to my neck, sucking on it so hard that it actually hurt, but shit, I couldn’t think about anything at that moment but what was between her legs and how it made me feel. I closed my eyes, rested on my elbows, and kept with a slow pace as I eased in and out of the woman I loved more than I loved my own damn self, would fuck up the world for her, would fight a damn lion for her.