I'm a Busy Man, Habibi

Back at the house

She had led the way, rushing through the streets until they arrived at the cafe. Once inside, she all but tossed the blanket aside and locked the door behind him. After allowing him several seconds to place down the basket, she dragged him up to her room and pushed him in.

They came together again in another make out session, Asad seemingly having no more objections. When they made out this time his hands roamed her body freely and hers did the same. They separated only briefly to tear off their clothing before reuniting, bare flesh against each other. She felt his erection dig into her. Then he picked her up and dropped her on the bed.

The act caused her to giggle until he climbed on top of her. He was back to his normal self, complete with the smug grin. Seeing it sparked something within her. The old feeling of not letting him win. She pushed him off of her.

"What's wro-" the wind got knocked out of him as she plopped herself down on his midsection to straddle him. That was more like it. The surprise in his face made it all the sweeter as she looked down at him. She bit her bottom lip as she thought about what to do with him.

She decided to put that smug, stupid, hot face to good use. She held him down as she adjusted herself on his body. She climbed and turned her body around until she was facing his lower half. She looked at the man between her legs and offered a smile. "You better be grateful. It's the best dish on the menu." Then she lowered herself down onto his face.

There was slight resistance. But after situating herself on him, she trembled as she felt his tongue get to work. He had almost assuredly done this before as he quickly found all the right places to make her squirm.

His face felt perfect for this. His mouth worked wonders as his nose dug into her in just the right way. Even his beard felt amazing, the coarseness of the stubble adding extra sensation to her sensitive thighs. As he worked, she was free to bask in all of the pleasures he offered.

At one point, she looked down and noticed his hard-on. Partly because she lacked the coordination to stay upright with the wonders he worked and partly because she wanted to, she leaned forward until his cock was in her face and she was flat on him. This slight adjustment changed how she was situated on his face but he made sure to remedy that by wrapping his strong arms around her thighs, pulling her pelvis back into position on his face.

She felt his core tense as she reached out and touched his cock. It jumped at the contact, looking almost painfully hard. It was pitiful and she loved watching it. She felt him groan against her folds as she lightly wrapped a hand around it. Between her breaths of pleasure she was able to gather some saliva in her mouth and drip it into her other hand. Then, she used both hands to slowly spread it on the cock.

She had fun teasing him. She kept her touches light, letting her fingers glide along his skin with little to no pressure at all. His hips uselessly thrusted upward to get more stimulation. The way it throbbed all the harder when she blew on the tip delighted her. At one point she brought it to her mouth, letting the hot air from it cascade over the tip and increase his anticipation. And then she placed a single kiss on the tip and went back to her slow touches.

Even without real strokes, she could feel him start to throb harder in her hands. But he wouldn't get to finish before she did. His mouth stopped its work as he was brought to the edge and then promptly left to suffer there. She chuckled to herself as she watched it strain to get any last bit of stimulation for release. As it went back down, she used a single finger to stroke, not enough to push it over the edge but enough to slow the descent from it.

He then got the message and returned to his job with renewed fervor. Pulling new tricks from his hat, he tightened his grip and had her all but screaming as she trembled atop him. And when she went over the edge he simply kept going until she physically pried her hips off of his face.

He looked down between them at her, the smile still there. "How'd I do?" Annoyed that the face was still there, she used her hand to quickly jerk the throbbing cock, smiling as that broke his composure.

After the edging, the cock erupted at it in her hands, covering her fingers in his hot cum. Returning the favor, she only stopped when he reached down and physically pried her hand from him.

A minute passed as they each melted into their afterglows. After the moment, she noticed the mood shift slightly back to how it was before, when he was worrying about her too much. She wasn't having it.

Before he could say something sappy and ruin the moment, she reoriented herself above him again and lined him up with her dripping snatch. Then, she looked into his eyes as she sunk down onto it.

For the next several minutes she rode him like there was no tomorrow. She bounced herself on his cock while she placed her hands on his chest for support. She was content to simply use him as a toy, but any good lover was active.

He raised up until they were chest to chest and she sat in his lap. She never stopped her hips as she allowed him to do what he wanted with her body. He cradled her and made her feel safe and supported in his strong arms as his mouth left kisses and hickeys on her neck. The added care only served to push her into another orgasm as he squeezed her in his arms. Shortly after, she felt the warmth as he filled her in the same position.

They laid together after that, her head against his chest, their naked bodies sticking together with sweat and assorted liquids. A few minutes passed and she thought it was over until he climbed onto her. This time he didn't have the smile, but looked at her with passion so she allowed it.

"My turn."

The rest of the night he made love to her. She had to do nothing but lay there as he showered her body in love and affection. The next hour or so blended into a continuous stream of pleasure, and at the dn of it all they collapsed on the bed, wrapped in each other's arms.

The next afternoon

The Amunet was the first to wake, finding herself in his arms. She pulled herself out of bed to get ready for the day of work. She left her room to go shower and do her daily care. She froze when she heard her father call from his room.

"Look who's finally awake. He up too?"

Amunet felt like a teenager getting caught during her first time. An embarrassment she had long since forgotten filled her as she hesitantly responded. "... No. I thought you were going to be out all night."

She heard him laugh. "I was." Her face paled as she looked towards the window. The sun wasn't hitting the hallway the way it did when the sun rose. It looked to be late afternoon. They must have been up longer than she thought. And he had heard them. Before she could apologize or make some other stupid comment he continued. "Don't worry. We closed for the day. Can't exactly run a shop without my two employees."

"Thanks..." To escape from the situation she quickly entered the bathroom. As the door closed, she heard him mutter, "About damn time."

Present

Amunet was jolted from her recollection by Shani. "Jida?"

"Hmm?"

"You said 'Now where was I?' and then didn't say anything."

"Oh. My apologies. Must be the old age. After we made love that night," more groans, "we had a beautiful relationship."

6 months after that night

Asad's place in the family had cemented just how her father had wanted it. And no matter how happy Asad made her, Amunet always held some level of annoyance at him for setting her up like that.

Their life had changed very little. They still shared the same house, they still shared the same workspace, and they still had their flirtation. The only real difference was that Amunet had stopped lying to herself about how she felt. That and a few other, minor changes.

One change was her success in getting him to quit smoking the same way she reduced her father's intake, persistence. Eventually, after enough times of her snatching a lit one from his hand or throwing away a box, he just stopped. He did try to do what her father did, but he did not have the same leverage her father had. No matter how hard she was on her father, he was still her father and had some level of power over her. This meant that while he drastically reduced his nicotine intake at her behest, she couldn't stop him from going out with his friends and smoking with them. Asad on the other hand, did not have that luxury. She made it loud and clear that smoking was a deal breaker and he relented. That was their only "real" fight.

There were other fights, if you can call Asad purposely antagonizing her in minor ways to be fights. He would flirt a bit too conspicuously in front of the customers, he would make small jokes at her expense, sometimes he would simply just poke her and walk away, like a damned child. Sometimes he didn't even need to do anything, just show her that fucking smile. But at least life with him wasn't boring. And it wasn't like being annoyed with him was a new development.

Not that life with him was all bad. Between all the minor annoyances there were good times, like spontaneous flowers or long talks about life or simple being together.

As the days turned into months, she started to notice him change slightly. He started to get jumpy. Sometimes she would tap his shoulder and he would get the same look he had when they first met. The look of being nervous and in a rush to get somewhere. Whenever she asked him about it he would play it off, but she could tell he was lying.

Present

As Amunet told them the ups and downs of their relationship up until she got pregnant, the stories she could tell in her sleep, her mind wandered to one of the few things she hadn't and would never tell anyone in her family about Asad.

Morocco

On a night not unlike their first one together, Amunet awoke around midnight to find herself alone in the bed. Going down to the cafe, she found him once again staring at the night's sky drinking a bottle of wine. This time with a singular glass.

"Asad?"

He turned to look at her, and outlined in the glow of the moon, she could see tears rolling down his face. "What's wrong?"

She approached the table but he just went back to looking at the sky. When she sat down next to him, she noticed a third thing on the table along with the wine and glass. She looked at it and recognized it as a bus ticket. The date and time were set for earlier that very day. She looked from it to him. "Asad?" He didn't stop looking at the stars. "Asad what is this?" She grabbed the ticket and held it up. The silence hung in the air as they held those positions. She stared at him while he looked to the stars. It lasted so long that she thought he maybe didn;t hear her. He startled her when he started talking.

"I thought about leaving. I was going to. I got up today with the intent to just cut all ties and run. But when I got down to the station, I remembered your face. I remembered all the times you got mad at me and how cute you look when you're angry. And I remembered how fun it is to cheer you up afterwards. The satisfaction of gettin you to smile again." He took a deep breath. "And I knew that if I left, you would stay angry. And if we ever met again, I would never be able to make you smile again."

"I don't und-"

"I'm not the man you think I am. I'm not an architect-"

"I know." That got him to look towards her in surprise.

"You do?"

"Kinda figured it out when the gutters broke and you gave father the worst advice I'd ever heard on fixing them."

"Then why didn't you-"

"I figured you called yourself an architect to impress me. And by then we were already together so I didn't much care. But what I do care about is this." She held up the ticket. She wasn't angry or upset. Just confused and hurt. "Why?"

"As I said. I'm not an architect. I'm a con artist." The pieces clicked into place in her head. The swagger, the confidence, the people skills, it all made sense. But then that would mean he was- "No. I am not conning you, nor had I ever planned to con you or anyone in this town." Then his face lit up with panic. "Amunet, listen to me. I'm a liar and a cheat. A bastard, a charlatan and whatever else you want to call me. But I want you to know that if there is one thing in my life that was the truth, it was when I told you, no, when I tell you that I love you."

She didn't know how to take that he just admitted to almost running out on her but she couldn't find it in her to be angry at him in the moment.. He sounded desperate, almost as if pleading with her to believe him. She decided to push past that for now. "Then why did you come here?"

"I was running from something. Someone to be accurate. I stole from some pretty powerful men in Spain. Men more powerful than God himself. So I came here to lay low. But part of the job is to know when to cut and run. Staying in one place for too long makes someone like me... vulnerable." There was a pause in his words. She allowed him the time to collect his thoughts as she stared at the trails his tears left behind.

"The original plan was to hide out here for a few weeks before moving on."

"What changed?"

"I met this beautiful woman. She's feisty and headstrong, but her heart's in the right place." He let that hang for a while. "I met you, Amunet. And for the first time in my life, I found a place I grew attached to. I felt wanted. The people here are fantastic and then you told me I had a home here and-" he got a bit choked up. "The stars were my home. They were my family. But they are so far away. For the first time ever, I had a tangible place to truly call home."

Amunet didn't know what to say. She had plenty of thoughts on the matter but none of them could form into coherent sentences seeing him like that. There wasn't a single shred of his confidence left. He looked scared and alone. She felt as if for the first time she was seeing the real him. She went to comfort him. "Asad-"

"That's not even my real name. It's-"

"Asad." She stated with finality. "Your name is Asad Almasi."

"Bu-"

She pressed on. "I don't care what or who you were before I met you. Asad Almasi's been nothing but kind to me and my father. Asad Almasi is the talk of the town. Asad Almasi has the most beautiful and infuriating smile on this planet." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "Asad Almasi is the man I fell in love with. Not any other version of you."

He stared at her for a long moment in disbelief. It was as if he hadn't expected her to forgive him. And then he smiled. Not the confident smile. Not even the smile from their first night. This smile held with it sadness, a guilt. It looked to be the smile of a man who thought he didn't deserve the kindness being shown to him. But that same smile also held an immense amount of relief.

He leaned over and hugged her tight and she hugged back. And then he started sobbing and she just held him.

"I'm so sorry for even considering leaving you."

"But you didn't. That's what's important." She waited until there was a lull in the tears. "And besides, even if you did, I'd find you to give you a piece of my mind."

After a second he chuckled. "That you would."

After that night Asad was a lot more free with his past. He shared funny stories of the things he'd done and they shared laughs at some of the ways he'd tricked people. She noted that whenever there were women in his stories, he would glaze over them for her sake. Not that I was that naive to believe I was the only one.

More months passed and their love bore fruit and Amunet was pregnant.

Present

"And that's all there is to tell. Pretty soon after that your great grandfather got sick and passed away. I moved to Cairo after your grandmother was born and the rest is history." Amunet finished the story to the now sleeping infant in her arms. She herself let out a yawn as her grandchildren clapped, one of them condescendingly.

Shani raised herself off the floor and stretched. She approached Amunet, reaching down to take her child. "Seems like both of you are pretty tired, I'll put her to bed."

Amunet shot Shani a glare, the one thing in her life that hadn't waned with age. A childhood of receiving that glare whenever she was acting up caused Shani to pull back, confused as if she had done something wrong. Amunet held the child a little tighter. "If you take this angel from me I will disown you."

Kesi stepped in. "Mother, Akila is her dau-"

"I'll disown you too." Just to make her point clear, she sent Asad a glare, but he wasn't even going to try.

"If you'd disown Shani, I never stood a chance. Good night." He left the three of them to decide what to do with the child.

After an intense stare down, both women conceded. Kesi went to bed and Shani opted to sleep on the pillows in case Akila needed something in the middle of the night. Having won custody of the child, Amunet relaxed in the recliner to join Akila in sleep.

As she slept, she dreamed about the last time she had seen Asad. The other story she would take to the grave with her.

Morocco, 1974

He didn't know how they followed him to this town but they did. Men in suits, with guns, smoking cigarettes came into town looking for a man named Francisco. The name may have been different, but the description they gave matched Asad to the letter.

Amunet, being eight months pregnant, was one of the last people that heard because she rarely left the house those days. How she did find out was when one of the locals entered the cafe frantically, telling her boyfriend that he needed to hide. Asad's face paled when he heard the person's story.

After searching everywhere, including the cafe, the men set up shop in the inn, refusing to leave until they found Asad or got their money back. When questioned about how much, they named a number most people in the village could only dream about.

But no one gave him up. Days passed and Asad stayed hidden and the men grew more and more rowdy with their "questioning." But everyone refused to give him up. In the short year he'd been around, Asad became a loved member of the community. In a small town, folks stick up for each other.

The town even secretly pooled their money together. A representative met with Asad and Amunet one night and said that the village collectively had just enough money to pay them off. But Asad refused their kindness.

"I know these men. Their type. You pay them once and they will never stop taking. I'll straighten things out." His voice sounded cool and colleted.

"But they want you-."

"They want their money. So I'll give it to them." Asad corrected her. Then he went into their room to get changed.

Amunet followed him to the room and questioned him. Why not just let the town pay or to run away again? He just casually replied while he got dressed. "That would only cause more problems for this town. These men are like mice. Give them a cookie and they'll ask for more. You guys are good people. I'll go have a chat with them and have this straightened out by tomorrow."

When he finished dressing he appeared in front of her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't wait up. It's bad for the baby." He was dressed the same way as the day they met. Complete with the same brown jacket and paperboy hat. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her father.

Out of the pocket of the jacker he pulled a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out. He lit it and put it in his mouth, taking one long drag. After he exhaled he looked at her with that smile. That damned smile. But it didn't reach his eyes. And then he walked out the door.