Page 2 of A Player’s Prayer (Mills Brothers #3)

Looking her over, the baby tee and leggings she was sporting clung to her body just right.

She’d pulled me into her apartment one night after I fucked Talena, and I’d been taking her down since.

Lena found out about the shit the very next day when she popped up at her spot and I was leaving.

I minded my business and kept it moving, letting them work that out amongst themselves.

“Come on.” I nodded and gestured down the hall toward her unit. “I ain’t got time to fuck, but you can suck this dick.”

Smiling like a kid at Christmas, she grabbed my hand and all but dragged me down the hall.

I glanced over my shoulder as Talena glared in our direction from the ajar door.

Giving her a finger wave as her man called for her to come back inside, I laughed.

She would hopefully learn from this interaction about playing with me.

If I happen to lose my favorite eater behind it, hoe well.

It ain’t a woman alive that can make me trip over some pussy.

It ain’t a woman alive that can make me crash out over anything except my respect.

For every hoe I drop, I’m picking up two more, and I plan to live this way until my casket closes.

“Mama!” I yelled as I entered my parents’ home, slamming the door behind me. “Where you at, girl?”

Walking through the foyer, I grinned as the smell of lasagna filled the air.

No matter what we had going on, Sundays were designated for us to spend time together as a family.

Even though Sundays had been set aside for us to bond, there was never a time I didn’t feel love or at home when I came over to my parents’ house.

The closer I got to the kitchen, the louder the tunes of old school Marvin Gaye grew.

In the middle of the floor, I looked on as my father wrapped my mother in his arms and sang to her.

For a moment, I leaned against the threshold and watched them.

When he groped her ass, I knew it was time for me to intervene.

“Man, if you don’t get your hands off my mama.” I frowned as I entered the room. “What have me and my brothers told you about that, Pop?”

“Didn’t I tell you lil’ niggas I was working on giving y’all a sister?” my daddy fussed, still holding onto my mother. “I was about to get down to it before you interrupted.”

Feeling myself become sick, I rushed over toward the sink and grabbed a glass of water. Every time Antonio got to talking that baby shit, it would make me hot all over.

“Tony, leave my son alone before you make his dramatic ass pass out.” Mama swatted his arm before kissing his cheek. “We will have plenty of time for that when our clan leaves.”

Slapping her ass once more, he mugged me before leaving us alone in the kitchen. I wasn’t slow; I knew my parents still did the nasty, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to hear about that shit.

“So, how have you been doing, baby boy?” Mama called over her shoulder as she pulled the garlic bread out of the oven. I don’t know where the rest of the crew is, but I’m about to eat all of this shit the way it was smelling. “You must have a new flavor of the week?”

“Mama, you know I’m not stunting these hussies.” I smiled before pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek. “I’ve been going between both stores and chillin’. You know how I do.”

While I dabble in the illegal scene with my brothers, fashion has always been my thing, specifically shoes.

Since I was a little kid, I never really cared about the clothes I wore as long as my shoes were fresh.

Urban Sole and Wild Kicks were my babies.

I had done the work behind building both stores from the ground up.

While one store’s main objective was to be affordable for the hood, the other store carried more high-end products, including exclusive releases and deadstock shoes.

With the ties that I have to the streets, it’s only right that I serve them in more ways than one, and everyone knew my stores were the places to keep your shoe game up to par.

“Don’t let that nigga lie to you, Mama. You know any time your son is not here, he’s out acting a fool.” I glanced over my shoulder as Uno walked into the kitchen, followed by Skip, their wives, and all of their kids. “He’s out here breaking up homes one trick at a time.”

Skip walked over toward us first, pushing me out of the way so he could love on Mama.

I’ve seen such a noticeable change in him this past year since he’s been with Noemi.

The nigga talks and laughs a little more than before, and he doesn’t trip as much about the little things now.

I was thankful to her for the love she’s shown his uptight ass.

Between her and Gianna, my brother had become somewhat normal compared to who he was before.

Marriage and fatherhood had leveled him out, leaving me to be the only odd brother in our family, and I was happy to carry the title alone.

“Hey, Uncle Wild!” Gi Baby ran around the corner and jumped into my arms. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“My favorite girl!” I spun her around, making her giggle uncontrollably. “I’ve missed you too! You’ve forgotten all about your uncle now that you have your mama, aunt, and Big Bri.” I fake-pouted, causing her to pop my lip. “Damn, Gi! What was that for?”

“Daddy said you’re too big to do all that whining.” She giggled as I began to tickle her all over. “Stop before you make me wet myself!”

“Nigga, unhand my baby.” Skip walked over and placed me in a headlock, causing me to let Gianna down. “Don’t make me choke you out in here.”

For the next fifteen minutes, he and I played around in Mama’s kitchen, causing her to cuss us out something serious. In return, her wannabe Incredible Hulk of a husband came in and made us all go outside until it was time to eat.

“So what’s been going on with you, bro?” Uno asked as we sat on the back patio.

We watched as his two-year-old son, AJ, tried his best to wobble his fat ass behind Gianna as she skipped through the yard.

His baby girl, Addie, and Skip’s son, Kenyon, were inside the house, knocked out. “Been living up to your name?”

“You know he has.” Harley and Noemi giggled as they sipped their margaritas. “Ava said she called you last night, and you answered in the middle of a threesome and asked her if she wanted to join.” She looked me over and frowned slightly. “You’re a pig.”

“Correction…” I held up my pointer finger, wagging it at her.

“I’m a whore; a slut, if you will. If you think about it, I’m doing God’s work.

I bless these bitches when they need a nut, and I send them on their way until it’s time to help the next.

I’m a selfless man, and I think I should be treated like the king I am. ”

“Let me move before I get struck by lightning for sitting beside this nigga.” Noemi hurriedly slid her chair closer to Skip. “Have you always been this way? Who hurt you?”

As I sipped my Hennessy, I chuckled at the seriousness of her tone.

There isn’t a hoe alive who can say she ever hurt Adrian Mills.

I wasn’t some heartbroken-ass nigga that decided to fuck the pain away with every bitch he ran across.

I, on the other hand, knew who and what I was.

I’m fine, young, and paid. The deadliest combo to a bitch ready to throw her pussy for some Benjamins and some notoriety.

What I look like turning down pussy when it’s always served to me at the drop of a dime?

I’m single, and I’m safe when I indulge in my sexcapades. That’s all she wrote.

“It ain’t nothing like that, sis.” I stood from my seat when Mama came outside and told us to come in and eat.

“I know how to treat a woman, but I’m going to handle a hoe accordingly every time.

” Glancing over my shoulder, I locked eyes with Harley.

“Tell your homegirl to stop running her mouth before I come to her spot and put something in it. My lil’ homie misses her throat anyway. ”

Ava and I used to have some of the best times together.

She and I had an understanding that it was going to be nothing but sex between us, and we were both cool with it.

Before she moved away for work, she came to me and said she wanted to fall back because she wanted more than to be a man’s fuck, and I respected it.

I would never stand in the way of her wanting more from her partner.

I knew that man wasn’t me, and so did she.

“My friend is in a happy relationship,” Harley came up behind me and mushed my head. “Leave her alone.”

“Ain’t nobody stunting your friend.” I stuck my foot out, tripping her up. “Tell her to stop telling my business, though. It’s not ladylike.”

“Aye! Don’t find yourself footless tryna trip my girl, Wild. You’re lucky she caught herself or you would’ve been catching these hands,” Uno’s voice carried across the space as we filed inside the kitchen.

“Man, ain’t nobody scared of you or grocery girl.” I joked, causing Skip to spit up his lemonade. Mama turned from the stove and gave me that look that let me know if I didn’t shut the hell up, she was going to go upside my head with a wooden spoon.

For the rest of the day, we all sat around and enjoyed each other’s company.

From good food, good drinks, and great laughs, this is what I loved the most. Looking from my screaming nieces and nephews to my brother’s loving on their wives, to my parents whispering and giggling, I was content.

I loved that everyone around me was happy and had found a love that suited them.

However, no matter what they said or tried to drill into me, I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be tied down.

Pulling my vibrating phone from my pocket and seeing an attachment of Talena and Erica tangled together was further proof that a life of bachelorhood was for me.

Lena did all that tough talk to be right back on my dick with her bestie.

When I left her house last night, it wasn’t even twenty minutes later before she was beating down Erica’s door, wanting to be tagged into the ring.

I respected any man who was cool with just one woman; I just knew it wasn’t me.

Closing my phone, I lay out on the floor and commenced to take a nap.

I was going to need my energy for what I knew was going to be a long night with the Doublemint Twins.

A family man wasn’t in the cards for me if I continued to have pussy thrown my way.

I didn’t feel as if I was missing out on anything, either, because all of my hoes adore me.

My life is lit just the way it is, and I have no plans to slow down anytime soon.