Removing the cap from his bottle of water, Exodus took a long sip, quenching his thirst. The two mile run he'd just did had him tired, but the room-temperature water cooled him down.

He used his key to unlock the door to his house, then closed and locked the door once he was inside. He threw the empty water in the recycling bin before heading towards his room so that he could shower.

When he pulled his shirt off, he walked around the other side of the bed to see if Siraj was awake yet. She wasn't, and still had her head underneath the covers with her leg hoisted up near her waist.

With a slight chuckle, he continued on his path towards the bathroom. He spent around twenty minutes in the shower, and just when he was about to get out, the glass door opened.

He hadn't even heard her near the sink completing her morning routine a few minutes ago, too absorbed in his own thoughts and J Cole who was playing from his speaker.

"Where did you go this morning?" She asked him, wrapping her arms around his torso while staring up at him, waiting for his response.

"The way you look make me wanna kiss on you all day." He told her, his hand easing around her neck, which made hers go over his wrist.

"You must've missed me huh?" She chuckled, referring to the time he'd spent in jail. He hadn't been able to keep his hands off of her since yesterday. It was a big change since she didn't even openly admit to liking him in a sexual manner until literally two days before his arrest.

Before his incarceration, he only saw her as his niece, and treated her like one too. So it was a little foreign to be receiving affection from him in more of a romantic sense. It didn't bother her though.

"A lil' bit." He leaned his head down, and Siraj didn't let her eyes close all the way as the two of them shared a kiss. The grip on her neck tightened, which made her close her eyes all the way because the kiss intensified.

Her hand slid down his torso, causing him to let out a small groan in her mouth once her hand grazed over his erected dick. Then she brought her arms up to hold around neck, letting him know she wanted to be picked up.

"I missed you too." She mumbled, finally breaking their kiss once she was in his arms with her legs wrapped around his body.

"You did?" A sly smirk fell over his lips, making her amusingly roll her eyes while smiling.

"Don't get too cocky. I miss everybody. Like, my ex." She shrugged, and then she shrieked in surprise after he'd pretended like he was about to drop her, but caught her before she hit the ground.

"Jacere!" She hit his chest, rolling her eyes once again while he laughed, putting her down on her feet.

"That's what you get for playing too much. I'll kill that nigga and you know that." He chuckled, and again, she rolled her eyes.

"That dry ass threat. I know you don't be killing people 'cause you don't have no charges. And yo' lil' workers on the block? They dumbasses for sure ain't cleaning up no murder messes 'cause you would've been caught." She folded her arms across her chest, and he briefly laughed at the last part.

"Ion' like all that cussing. I don't even cuss like that." He shook his head at her, watching as she shrugged.

"Do something about it or shut u-," Her words were cut off once she was grabbed up by her neck again, this time to where she actually couldn't breathe.

"Yo' mouth too smart. I tell you that too much girl. We gon' fix that eventually, yeah? Nod if you understand me." He gazed down at her, and she did as told, then was let go.

"Exodus that's not funny. Don't do that again. I don't like that." She frowned at him, and all he did was stare at her with his naturally low eyes.

"You already look abusive but that just put the cherry on top. Wow, attempted murder? I don't think I can do this no more." She shook her head, trying not to smile once he let out a laugh.

"That wasn't nothin', punk. I wouldn't ever hurt you in a way that you wouldn't like." He kissed the side of her face, and she watched as he passed her a towel to bathe with.

"What does that mean?" She kept her eyes on him, but he ignored her, grabbing his body wash.

"Mmm, my man grown. I keep forgetting. C'mon, hurt me then." She hugged around his torso, this time laughing with him. She'd never had that happen before, she wanted to know what being hurt with pleasure felt like!

"Yo' ass be wilding. No filter at all." He chuckled, unintentionally licking over his lips while she smiled.

They spent another twenty minutes in the shower together, then got out to get ready for the day. Siraj didn't have anything planned, but needed him to take her home to pack a bag since he wanted her to stay longer.

In the midst of Siraj getting dressed, her phone rung. Exodus's eyes glanced at the screen but not too long to where he saw who was calling, then he watched her walk back towards the bathroom with her towel around her body.

He heard the sink water turn on, most likely to cover up the audio of her call. So, Exodus followed behind her for the simple fact that she was going the extra length to be sneaky. He didn't like that.

"I'm not at home." Siraj spoke, her eyes following Exodus as he stood behind her, staring at her with his dark eyes through the mirror.

His frame was almost an entire foot taller than her's since he stood at 6'5 while she stood at 5'5, so he had to literally look down at her as she spoke on the phone. She was already trying to rush the conversation as it was, and now that he was near her, she was growing nervous.

She didn't really know the type of man Exodus was while he was in a relationship, because again, she'd only ever known him as a big brother/uncle, so she didn't want to slip up and say the wrong thing on the phone to make him react in any way. She had to learn him first before she started doing things like that.

"When I know, I'll let you know." She turned around to face Exodus, gazing up at him with confusion struck across her face; as if to ask what he was standing there for.

Before she heard the response from the person on the other side of the phone, Exodus had gently took it from her hands, putting it to his ear.

"You been dodging me Raj. I miss you girl." A masculine voice spoke, and Exodus perked an eyebrow in surprise while staring down at a now nervous Siraj.

"What you missing her for? You know how many bitches it is in New York my nigga?" Exodus didn't have an ounce of emotion in his words, and Siraj's mouth dropped open in shock. She didn't think he'd actually say anything.

"Yo who is this?"

"I'ma make sure you find out if you call her phone again. Find you something safe to do." Exodus pulled the phone from his ear, pressing the red button to end the call.

"Who was that, Siraj?" His full attention returned to her, even though his eyes had never left hers.

"Your competition. Why you ruining my motion like that son?" Her arms folded across her chest, smart mouthing him as usual.

Exodus stared at her, wondering what he should do. Her mouth was beginning to piss him off, but he understood she was used to just having her way, being able to say and do whatever because of the men she'd been with. He wasn't them though.

"Gon' and go finish getting dressed so I can take you home Siraj." He put her phone on the bathroom counter, then walked out to finish putting his clothes on as well.

"What you mean, take me home? I can't stay now?" She remained in the bathroom, and when he failed to respond, she followed behind him.

"I can't stay with you?" She asked again, standing on the side of him as he stood at his dresser, finding a fresh black tee shirt. He really needed to go to the mall to re-up on clothes. He'd gained weight while in jail, so none of his shirts really fitted him anymore.

"Exodus don't ignore me. That's rude." Her eyebrows contorted into a frown, but still, he didn't say anything.

"Whatever. If you think I'm finna beg you to talk to me, you're crazier than you look. You act like I was gone let that nigga come see me foreal." She walked away from him, and back over to the bed where clothes were laid out.

Since they'd left the party last night and came straight here, the only thing she'd brought was an outfit from her old room at her mother's house. She was surprised it could still fit.

It was a simple outfit that consisted of gray biker shorts and a white & gray Gallery Dept. shirt, paired with the sandals she'd worn yesterday. When she finished putting it on, she sprayed herself with perfume out of her purse, then went to the bathroom to see what she could do with her hair.

Almost ten minutes had passed and Exodus still hadn't said anything to her, and it was starting to make her mad. She hadn't even done anything wrong. Nobody told him to talk on the phone and hurt his own feelings.

After she was completely ready, she walked out the bathroom to see Exodus sitting on his bed with his attention on his phone, seemingly waiting for her to finish getting dressed.

Maybe she lied about not caring that he was mad.

"Don't make me stay home. I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around his neck, making herself comfortable on his lap, but he didn't pay her any mind.

Her eyes roamed over his naturally scowled expression, while a small pout rested on hers. She couldn't believe he was actually ignoring her. This was crazy.

She kept her arms around his neck, laying her head down on his shoulder while sighing in defeat. She'd already apologized so she didn't know what else to do.

"Exodus it's not funny anymore. Stop it." She took his phone from his hands, then grabbed his wrists to guide his arms around her waist so that he held her.

"I'm not gon' keep telling you about yo' mouth Siraj." He finally spoke up, causing her expression to soften.

"I didn't say anything bad this time though." Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, holding his face in her hands.

"That's yo' problem. You do it so much that you don't even realize it. Watch out." He pulled his face out of her grip and removed his arms from around waist, causing her to frown again.

"Move Siraj." He said again, the tone he held low-key hurting her feelings. She stood up from his lap, watching as he stood up as well, grabbing his car keys from the hook on the wall.

Siraj decided not to bother him further since it seemed like he was genuinely upset with her. She grabbed her purse and her phone, then followed behind him out of the room while trying not to cry.

She hated when someone fussed or raised their voice at her, even when she was in the wrong. It was the quickest way to hurt her feelings because people rarely did it to her. On top of that, she was already spoiled with having her way as it was.

The whole car ride Exodus didn't say anything to her, but did stop to get her some donuts for breakfast since she hadn't ate yet. Siraj didn't end up crying, so she was at least proud of that. She didn't know how much longer she could hold up though.

When they made it to her house, he parked in front of it, then unlocked his phone after turning the car off. He could feel Siraj's eyes on him, and she became even sadder at the fact that he didn't even glance at her, nor did he get out to open her door.

"You making me stay home foreal?" She asked him, her tone much softer than it had ever been while speaking to him.

"Yeah. Get out." He gestured to her house, and finally, the tears welled up in her eyes. As soon as they slid down her cheeks, she used her palm to wipe them away, opening her door at the same time.

She grabbed her purse and the donuts she hadn't touched, then closed the door behind her and walked around his truck to make it to her walkway.

"Raj, you crying?" He said from his truck, and she didn't respond to him as she pulled her keys out of her purse. She heard his car door shut, which low-key relieved her but she was still sad.

"Move Exodus because you didn't even have to do all of that." Her voice cracked after his arms had wrapped around her waist from behind, walking with her in the house.

"I ain't know you was crying mama. Come here." He chuckled, turning her body around so that he could fully hug her, and she wasted no time to drop her things to hug him back.

"You ain't gotta stay baby. You wanna come with me?" He asked, and she nodded her head while using her hand to wipe away her tears.

"I said I was sorry. You hurt my feelings." She sniffed, fanning her face as he repeatedly kissed the side of it, and she basically melted in his grip once he picked her up.

"Come on, we 'bout to talk about it." He hoisted her up further, and she held on to his body, letting him carry her to her bedroom.

Exodus placed her purse and her food down on her dresser, then sat her down on the bed. She took her sandals off as he sat beside her, and he smiled as she pulled him to lay with her after he took his shoes off as well.

"You sorry?" He asked her, pressing his lips gently across her jaw line, feeling her pull the covers over their bodies as he remained between her legs.

"Yes. I wasn't gon' let him see me Exodus. You know that." Her small pout remained on her face, before slowly disappearing after repetitive kisses on her lips.

"It ain't about that. What you even answer the call for? Then I asked who it was and you was talkin' out ya' neck. I tell you too much to watch yo' mouth with me. You gotta remember that I'm not these young, lame ass niggas you be dealing wit'." He told her, and she nodded her head, gazing up at him.

"I didn't look at the contact before I answered." She answered his first question, putting her hands under his shirt.

"Block 'em. Block all them niggas 'cause if you answer another call like that, I'm gon' handle you and them." He stated, letting her pull the shirt off of him.

"Okay. You finna fuck me?" She asked, a smile replacing her expression once he laughed. She wasn't playing though.

"No. You ain't getting no dick from me 'til you fix yo' mouth. We gon' get that shit under control or I'ma fix it on my own." He kissed her bottom lip, and she sucked his lips into her mouth for an intimate kiss, earning an immediate groan from him.

She wasn't trying to hear that. She had actually expected to have sex with him last night, but to her surprise, he wasn't on that type of timing yet. She didn't understand why not since most of their conversations while he was incarcerated consisted of what they'd do to one another when he was out.

Siraj was completely comfortable with her sex life and didn't ever consider herself to be easy, whether she wanted to fuck on the first night or not. She was grown, safe, and she had needs that needed to be satisfied. And right now, she needed Exodus.

"Raj," He grunted, grabbing her hand before it could enter his jeans, and she looked up at him with her pout, waiting for him to talk.

"Open your mouth." He instructed, watching as she did as told, sticking her tongue out. He let his spit drip out on it, and Siraj swallowed, feeling her core become wetter.

"Mhm. That almost made me fuck you." He kissed her lips, laughing once she groaned in annoyance.

"You are so weird. First you made me cry and now you not giving me dick? This is literally crazy. I've never met a nigga who didn't want pussy. Move." She pulled her legs up so that he wouldn't be between them anymore, listening to him continue laughing.

"That's yo' problem. You used to niggas wanting pussy from you when I don't give a fuck 'bout that shit. I ain't rushing you. I can call a hundred bitches right now to give me pussy. That ain't nothin'. Learn ya' worth." He patted her head, and her mouth fell open in shock while he laughed some more.

"Wow. I'm so done with you. You not my man anymore." She turned over to lay on her stomach, smiling as he laid down next to her.

"You cute as hell. You know that?" He chuckled, and and she nodded with a smile, wrapping her arms around his torso.

"I guess you can be my man again." She buried her face into the crook of his neck, and he smiled, pulling her body closer to his.

Sigh. I have no idea what to do with this book.