Make You Mine. Niobia Bryant

messed up. Especially since she left them to do the do.

      What right did she have to throw Karina out on her ass?

      What right did she have to demand that Julius send her and her too tall, too thin, too hungry-looking self from there.

      No, instead she took the high road and left her baby’s daddy to his booty call…and he let her go.

      Caress rolled her eyes as she felt the need to pee. That and the constant morning sickness—that wasn’t isolated to just the mornings—was her reminder of the baby she carried. She wasn’t showing yet at just twelve weeks but her body was starting to feel it.

      She turned around and went back inside the movie theater on Springfield Avenue and Bergen Street. She decided that trying to risk getting back to the house before she relieved herself was risky.

      “What’s up, mami?”

      Caress saw the tall dark-skinned brother trying to get her attention as she practically ran to the ladies room, but she ignored him. She didn’t mean to be rude, but when you gotta go…you gotta go.

      She was walking back out of the bathroom when she almost walked into the same man. She stopped short and the bathroom door swung closed and bumped her solidly against her full behind.

      “How you doing?” he said, his white teeth shining brightly against his smooth, dark complexion.

      “Uhm, I’m good,” she said with obvious hesitation before she took two steps over to get some space.

      “I—”

      Caress held up her hand and released a breath. Her nipples were starting to throb and she really wanted to climb into bed and forget about Karina, Julius, Karina and Julius, and everything else too. “Listen, I’m pregnant and I live with my baby’s daddy,” she told him with no nonsense. His whole face changed just like that as his eyes darted down to her flat belly and back up to her face.

      Caress bit back a smile. Poor baby , she thought as he turned and walked away. He was cute, too .

      She slid her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket as she made her way out of the movie theater again and into the cold winter air. As she made her way to her car, she thought about just what her situation meant in terms of dating. She snorted as she pulled her keys out of her purse.

      “Let’s see…” she said aloud to herself as she unlocked the driver’s side door.

      “I’m unemployed. Homeless. Pregnant.” Caress slid inside her car and laughed, just a touch bitterly, as she said a quick prayer she’d have a drama-free start of the engine. “Yes, men of the world, bring…it…on.”

      The car started without major fuss and Caress was more than glad to drive her little Jetta out of the busy parking lot and onto Springfield Avenue headed toward…

      Toward where? Home? Well, it wasn’t her home and she was very aware of that fact. Just as aware as she was that Julius was not her man.

      Was Karina gone? Was she spending the night?

      Caress felt her cheeks warm noticeably as she pulled to a stop at a red light. She thought about heading to Tamara and Kendrick’s when she left Julius to his date, but her embarrassment pushed her to come up with something else. Who in her right mind would want to admit the truth about why she had to leave the house?

      As she accelerated her little car forward, Caress thought of the other woman. Humph. So that was his type? Tall, thin, flashy…pretty as a model.

      Caress couldn’t deny the woman’s beauty no matter how much she wanted to. Of course, Julius wanted her…had her…was having her right now.

      “Oh shit,” she muttered, tapping her hand against the steering wheel.

      The radio had long ago stopped working, and needing a distraction, she pushed play on the CD player. Soon the sounds of Lauryn Hill’s voice filled the interior.

      Living with Julius was just not going to work. In fact, the whole idea of it was almost as stupid as them having unprotected sex and making this baby that neither was ready for. And now? Now they were in one hell of a fix.

      She had to get another job and find her own place. No doubt about it.

      Caress was relieved to see Karina’s flashy silver Benz gone from the spot where it was parked in front of Julius’s house. Perhaps the tryst was over.

      Or maybe it was more than a tryst?

      She paused as she sat in the driveway and looked up at the house through the windshield. She did know from Tamara that Julius didn’t have a steady girlfriend, and during her brief time at the house she didn’t answer his phone, but she’d overheard plenty of sultry-voiced women leaving messages before she finally turned the volume down on the machine.

      It was hard to swallow being one of many.

      Shaking her head at the shame of it all, Caress left her car and made her way into the house through the side entrance leading directly into the kitchen. Her steps faltered at the sight of Julius standing at the kitchen sink.

      He looked up and their eyes locked.

      She immediately noticed that he looked annoyed.

      “Welcome back,” he said, his tone short.

      She stiffened. Her eyes shifted quickly about the room. She was looking to see if he was alone.

      “She’s gone,” he said with finality.

      Caress’s lips formed an O and she looked apologetic as she stepped in and softly closed the kitchen door. “Listen, Julius, I’m sorry about all of this. Please don’t think I’m out to trap you or screw up your life—”

      “Caress.”

      She shifted her eyes up to his and then shifted them away just as quickly. “This shit is…all of it is…is…embarrassing, frightening, foolishness…”

      Julius nodded as he turned sideways and leaned his hip against the sink to cross his strong arms over his chest. “I won’t have women over while you’re living here, Caress,” he told her as he cast those intense eyes on her.

      “That’s not necessary—”

      “Yes, it is,” he insisted in a strong voice.

      She hated to ask. She really did…but she had to. “Karina?”

      “Left right after you did.”

      He continued to watch her closely, and it made Caress feel nervous. “I appreciate you helping me out, Julius,” she said, not sure what else to say. “I know you don’t know me, but it’s been awhile since I’ve asked somebody for help or even had anybody that I could ask.”

      His eyes squinted as he continued to watch her.

      She ran her hands over her hair as she felt tears build. Damn hormones , she thought, hating the feelings she had officially designated as “the weepies.”

      Julius pushed off the sink and Caress couldn’t help but notice everything about him.

      The way the soft hairs on his chest peeked above the open buttons of his linen shirt. The strength in his walk. The soft and subtle scent of his cologne. The fullness of his bottom lips. The intensity of his eyes. The man was impossibly sexy.

      She saw his hands reach out to take her. Comfort her. Hold her.

      It was way more than she could handle in that moment. Way more.

      “I’m gonna turn in,” she said softly, shifting past his embrace to walk fast as hell out of the kitchen. She never looked back as she raced up the stairs and into the bedroom. As soon as the door closed, she pressed her back to it and slid her hands down to lightly rub her belly as she waited for the longest time for her heartbeat to slow down.

      Something as simple as a hug from Julius would have turned her knees to jelly and her senses