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Please continue reading if you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me.

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About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is a tale of love and sacrifice and a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point, like in the old days, and then the entire book will be posted for full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife, The Other Side of Love, She Works Hard for the Money & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 36✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

AUTHOR’S NOTES Giving some insight into El’s background and his reason for revenge was easier than I thought unless I forgot something. Please let me know in the comments or send me a direct message on my social media.

I will finish Chapter 37 tonight and try to post it by tomorrow. I swear, I feel it and wish it would come out faster.

You’re all in my prayers for my readers in Helene’s path. I hope you’re staying safe. I know I’m thinking of you.

Your author, Sylvia Hubbard

Iris couldn’t believe what he was saying because how had Clem learned something like that.? Looking at her son, she saw that Clem moved his hands behind him. “What are you hiding, Clem?” she demanded. “Show me now.”

Her son took a few steps toward the futon and showed her the bent hairpin. “Uncle Pete showed me. Aunt Rose told him to teach me in case you need help one day since Daddy likes to lock doors when you need a talking to.” He looked over at El suspiciously. 

Drawing his eyes back to her, Iris asked, “And what made it important to come here?”

Clem shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You never lock the door. And I saw things in the backyard.”

She couldn’t get upset at her nephew for being concerned, especially with a strange car in the rear yard. “Clem,this is Mr. Olorun. He’s a friend.”

“I hope so,” her nephew remarked.

A strange noise gurgled from El, but she didn’t address her boss as she was trying to get through this awkward situation. “Why are you out here in your pajamas, Clem?” she demanded to know.

“Aunt Rose asked me to come invite you to breakfast. We’re having pancakes.” Clem glared at El. “Do you like pancakes, mister?”

“I’m not much of a breakfast person,” El answered respectfully. 

“And I wanted to bring you this, Aunt Iris,” her nephew said, holding up a large piece of construction paper with a crayon drawing, lots of writing, and arrows, which had been hidden from sight in his other hand. I made a map for you and Uncle Pete to find my stuff.” He placed it on the window sill. He still had yet to take his eyes off of El.

She felt the tension release from El’s body as if he had been waiting for the child to produce a knife to kill them all. Did El have an aversion to small children? A fear of them? 

Iris decided to break the tension between her nephew and her boss by telling Clem, “Thank you, Clem. I’ll be in there soon. Have your breakfast and work on finishing your weekend packet.”

Clem obediently understood he was being ordered to leave and left them alone, even relocking the door as he went.

“He’s protective,” El said, but he didn’t seem upset like Dwayne would be. 

“He loves me.”

“Why does he still call you Aunt Iris? Your sole guardianship makes him yours. You’ve been his mother all his life.”

She lowered her eyes in shame, and El placed a firm finger on her chin to raise them to his. 

“Iris, why don’t you think you deserve to be called Mom by your nephew?”

“Because I don’t think I’ll ever feel worthy of that title El but I want to make up for it with Clem for the rest of my life.”

“I can understand a little. I didn’t feel worthy to be called my father’s son until I got revenge for his death. Now I can claim what’s rightfully mine.” His fingers moved up her nape and intertwined in her now loose, thick 4c curls. “I can see why. How long is soon to Clem?”

She smirked. “Ooh, does that mean-“

“Woman, you’ve drained me completely,” he said, kissing her. “That kid has hard expectations.”

“Soon means soon as I get there,” she explained, appreciating El’s consideration of her obligation to her nephew. “He’ll be engrossed in his weekend assignment until the afternoon. Aunt Rose created those to keep him busy and ahead of his current grade.”

“It’s a shame you’ve had to prepare him for a hard life with his father, but I will say I admire that about you, Iris.” He started to say something more but tensed up, looking away to finish straightening his clothing.

Iris was honored by the compliment and knew it was something out of the ordinary. “I usually take him over to the park, but I want to get with Pete about getting all of Clem’s things from the old house.”

“That would be a no,” El said, moving from the bed. As he picked up her dress and the map Clem had made, he ordered, “Under no circumstance are you stepping a foot anywhere near that house.” After handing her dress to her, he turned Clem’s map several times until he could understand what it meant. “Plus, I know the semi-layout of this house, so I should be able to get in and out faster. Did you make a list so I can retrieve your items?” he asked as he started to put on his clothes.

Iris put on her dress without hiding the pout of disappointment at more cuddling. 

El rolled his eyes in exasperation, understanding her pout and blinking several times.

She answered his question. “There’s nothing in that house of mine. I would rather start over with Clem than go back there and get any memories of my sister or what my expectations of a sister were. I was going to the thrift shop in the office building lobby to get more clothes and figure out everything I need little by little after I find somewhere else for us to live safely,” she said with incredible frustration. “I assure you it will not interfere with my job.” 

“You are not equipped to find somewhere safe for you and your nephew, Iris, while still trying to put all your energy into your job. Your father will get to you unless someone else stops him, just like your Aunt Rose has most likely deduced. How would Clem feel about moving to a new school in the middle of the year?” 

“What are you saying, El?” she asked suspiciously.

“Answer the question,” he demanded.

“Clem just loves school, and as long as he’s going to a good one and I don’t have to worry about him getting back and forth, then I won’t mind either.” 

El nodded and took his phone out to make a note of something. “And make sure you use my accounts at the thrift store.” He leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “I will contact you with what I find in the house. Adjust your nephew to the idea that he’ll be somewhere else by the time we return from Chicago.”

The feeling she should be grateful he cared, but knowing this was all for him, made her less excited about her boss taking care of her living situation with her nephew. “I know you’re doing all this because you want me to be able to do a good job for you, El, but isn’t this going above board?”

“Nothing is above board if it’s important to me, Iris,” he said without hesitation.

His statement solidified his reasons in his head as for his motives. She forced herself not to overthink that. El wanted nothing to interfere with business and would bend over backward to make sure of that, which is why he was doing all this to help her, but she knew he didn’t care for her deeply despite the amazing sex they had the night before. 

“Thank you,” she still said honestly.  

He started leaving the shed but stopped and looked back at her. “Thank you, Iris.”

She didn’t move from the bed until she heard his vehicle leave the gate. At that moment, Iris ran to relieve her bladder and then stared at the futon, reliving the night before. 

‘You have some explaining to do for Clem. He’s going to want to know what’s going on,‘ she told herself as she fixed her hair up and made sure she didn’t look like she had been thoroughly fucked. 

Bracing herself, Iris entered the backdoor leading to the home’s kitchen. Aunt Rose was finishing breakfast. Pete and Clem were at the table hungrily downing pancakes, bacon and eggs. 

“I’ll wash the dishes,” Iris offered. 

Aunt Rose cut her eyes quickly at her and nodded. “Did you take a moment and talk to Mr. Olorun?”

Knowing what the older woman was referring to, Iris answered, “He brought it up after I told him everything. Agreed, we aren’t safe.”

“I should leave,” Uncle Pete said, wiping his mouth.

“Next time you teach my nephew something, can you tell me?” Iris asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Aunt Rose came to Pete’s defense. “He wouldn’t have had to if we all didn’t worry Dwayne could kill you, and we’d never know.”

“I’m not mad, but I should know things like that.”

Pete affectionately kissed Clem and Rose and then respectfully nodded at Iris. “Let me know when you want to go over to the house.”

“No need,” Iris said.

Aunt Rose looked alarmed. “You aren’t going by yourself.”

“I’m not going at all. Mr. Olorun is going to go there. I gave him Clem’s map.”

Clem looked relieved. “I didn’t want you to go there, Aunt Iris. You didn’t look happy last time you went.”

She came over to her nephew and hugged him. “I’ll try to keep myself out of danger just for you, Clem.”

The small child hugged her so hard, and she knew her nephew would hold her to that promise she just made. 

Pete and Aunt Rose left them alone. 

“Clem, I hope to seeing Mr. Olorun and I together didn’t upset you a lot.”

He shook his head. “I was scared when I woke up and saw you weren’t in your bed, but Aunt Rose told me you stayed out in the shed with a friend. I thought you were working in your stuff.”

Iris smiled, relieved. “He’s going to help us and help keep you safe, but that might mean you could go to a new school, and until we know your father won’t hurt me anymore, it might mean we can’t see Aunt Rose as much.” She decided to keep her father’s possible intentions away from him. Her father was not on any of his forms or had access to Clem other than when she would take her nephew over there.

“Who was the woman listening at the door?” Clem questioned.

Confused, Iris questioned, “What are you talking about?”

“There was some black woman dressed in all black like a superhero, like she was listening at the shed door. I saw her when I looked out your bedroom window, but she was gone when I got down to the kitchen. Aunt Rose said I was probably seeing things ’cause no one could get past her steel gates.”

Her aunt was probably right because why would some strange woman be listening at the door to the shed when there was no way to get into the yard? And Iris would have heard the heavy gates opening. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Clem.” 

Clem returned to the previous conversation. “I wasn’t upset about Mr. O. I can tell he’s not like my Daddy. Mr. O really likes you. Will he be giving me a little sister?”

Iris blushed and avoided his question. “Eat your breakfast and get to your weekend package, Clem.” 

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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