Page 7 of A Player’s Prayer (Mills Brothers #3)

Looking around, I felt tense, and I didn’t like the shit. Not even the sexcapade that led into the early morning hours could keep me from stepping down on her today. My nerves were still on edge with how she handled me, even though I had accepted that I was wrong in the incident.

Twirling my trusted coin between my fingers, I had yet to flip it and decide how I wanted to approach this situation.

I didn’t stop to pick up an apology gift, so my spirit was telling me what was bound to happen once I flipped it.

When I told Skip I was going to flip a coin to determine how I would act, I meant it literally.

With one side saying, “Keep It Cool” and the other saying, “Act A Fool,” I typically used this method to let the universe decide how a nigga was supposed to act.

If it were up to me, the coin would say “Act A Fool” on both sides, but I knew there was only so much covering up we could do if my ass showed out at any given second.

“They really need to shut this place down,” I heard an older gentleman say as he took a seat beside me, groaning through the motion.

He’d just come from the back area, so I assumed he was visiting someone.

“It’s so damn crowded back there. My wife, Helen, came in for a simple bee sting and is still waiting to be seen. ”

“Yeah…” I nodded, not wanting to engage. “I’ve been sitting here for a minute myself.”

“Are you here to see someone?” he asked, sipping his coffee.

It was clear he wasn’t going to let the conversation die.

“I can tell you now, they’re swamped back there.

There’s only one nurse who’s trying her best to make everyone comfortable.

If it wasn’t for my Helen, I would have put the moves on her. ”

Chuckling lowly, something told me he was speaking of Dakota.

Even though she had cussed my ass out, she looked caring and gentle in that video Noemi played back.

I looked around the room once more and noticed the security guard who was allowing people entry through the doors to receive care or visit those admitted.

Glancing back at the old man, an idea came to mind.

“Say, OG, I need a favor.” I leaned forward, removing the hoodie from over my head. “I was trying to pop up on my girl and surprise her with a breakfast date.” Going into my pocket, I pulled out a stack of money, counting out a few bills. “Can I buy that visitor’s pass off you?”

Looking from me to the cash, he didn’t put up much of a fight as he removed it from his jacket. Placing it on my chest, I stood from my seat and stretched my legs before making my way toward the double doors. I flashed the pass for the guard to see and waited patiently for him to let me through.

“Which Wild are you going to get today, Dakota?” I mumbled to myself once I had entered the hallway where the patients were being held.

People were lined up along the wall, waiting to be discharged or seen.

The smell of antiseptic was so damn strong, I started to abort the mission.

Standing off to the side as another nurse passed, I flipped my silver coin, catching it instantly.

Uncovering it, I smiled as her fate for the day was revealed.

“Showtime.”

With my hands in my joggers, I smiled and greeted those I passed as I kept my eyes out for Dakota.

Discreetly, I glanced behind each of the curtains, hoping I would catch a glimpse of her.

After a few minutes, I started to lose hope until I rounded the corner where I knew the supply closets were located.

“Listen, I’m at work and don’t have time to talk right now.” I looked up and locked eyes on her thick frame. Her back was turned to me so that I couldn’t see her face. It didn’t matter because I knew that voice and ass anywhere. “I told you shit with us was over and—what the fuck!”

Coming up behind her, I put her in a headlock and dragged her into the supply closet.

No one was around at the moment, and I was glad because this situation would look crazy to anybody watching.

Dakota tried her best to fight me off, but she was so small compared to my solid six-foot-four frame that it was no use in her trying.

“Be your ass the fuck still before I snap your neck!” I hissed, gripping her neckline tighter with my arm. “I should choke your little ass out. Who the fuck—argh!”

I don’t know how she did it, but her fist connected with my nuts, bringing me to my knees. Tears welled in my eyes, and I wheezed as I held my little homies. Nothing could be heard in the small room but our heavy breathing.

“Nigga! Have you lost your fucking mind?” she yelled as she scooted away from me. “I’m calling security!”

“You’ll be dead before they get here.” I groaned as I stood to my feet, mugging her. “You hit me in my dick, girl!”

“You choked me, nigga!” she countered, eyes wild. “How the fuck—wait! You’re the asshole from the shoe store! How did you find me?” Her eyes squinted before they filled with anger. “This is the perfect place for you to be because I’m about to beat your disrespectful ass!”

Picking up a thick-ass plastic container of cotton balls, she threw it at my mouth with precision.

I felt my lip swell immediately as cotton balls flew everywhere.

The girl must have played softball in her past life because the way she was hurling shit directly at my head and face was unheard of.

From tongue compressors to rolls of bed sheets, I was shifting around to avoid more hits like a lying crackhead.

I was too slow ducking the box of gloves, and the sharp-ass cardboard caught the corner of my eye.

Once she came barreling toward me with a fucking metal bedpan, I knew I had to get a handle on this shit.

“Muthafucka, if you hit me with that piss pan, I’m going to beat your ass!” I huffed as I ducked before grabbing her in my arms. “Calm your little ass down!”

“Nigga, you’re the one that started with me!” She continued to wiggle against my front. “You can’t tell me how to defend myself from you! Why are you even here?”

Peering down at her angry eyes, I couldn’t deny how beautiful she was. Her crooked-ass glasses added to it somehow, and I smirked at her four-eyed ass. Her black scrubs fit her frame perfectly, and I knew she was hell under this uniform. The longer I stared at her, the harder my dick became.

“You know, you really do have the perfect set of lips.” I grinned as she began to growl. “For real… Now, I’m going to let you go if you promise not to throw shit else at me. I just want to talk.”

“Talk?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Too late for that, don’t you think?”

“I’m serious, Kodi?—”

“My name is Dakota.” She stopped squirming, but didn’t make an effort to remove herself from my arms. “You don’t know me to be calling me anything other than my name.” It was then that I could see a light bulb go off in her head. “Hold up… how do you know me?”

I smirked. “I have my ways. The coin decided for me to ruin your day, but now, I changed my mind.” I placed her on her feet but still kept her in my arms. “Let me take you out.”

Rearing her head back as if I cussed her out, she stared at me before she released a belly-busting laugh. She was so tickled that tears streamed down her face, and that pissed me off. Did I look like a joke or something?

“Nigga, unhand me so I can get back to work.” She continued to giggle as she wiped her face. Pushing at my chest, so I could release her, I glared down at her smiling face. “Look here?—”

“Wild,” I said, finishing her sentence so she wouldn’t call me anything else and piss me off. I was enjoying the lighthearted energy currently dancing between us.

She kissed her teeth. “Should’ve known… An ignorant-ass name for an ignorant-ass man.” I frowned at how quickly she fucked up the mood. She folded her arms and mugged me, not caring that I wore a scowl. “What did your mother name you, because I’m not calling you that.”

Making her wait for a response, I studied her face.

For some reason, I wanted to memorize everything about this girl, even though she’d just insulted me again.

From her little button nose decorated with piercings with tiny freckles to the small mole below her lips, something about her was calling out to me.

Not just me, but my dick. And my dick didn’t brick up over pretty faces. There was something else about Miss Dakota Jenkins.

“I’ll let you know what to call me when I drop this dick off in you, baby.” I bit my bottom lip and ground into her. “But, seriously… I came here to choke you out and let you know how you had me fucked up the other day. Now, I’ve got other plans. Let a nigga take you out to eat or some shit.”

“Is this your way of apologizing to me?”

“For what?” I frowned, letting her go. “I ain’t do shit wrong.”

Pushing off me, she walked over to the small mirror over a mounted sink and began fixing herself back up. Shorty’s hair was long as fuck, and the messy bun on her head added to her sex appeal. Looking at her ass eat her scrubs, I never wanted to be a pair of pants so bad in my life.

“You’re disrespectful as hell, Wild, and I would never go out with you,” she stated as she eyed me through the mirror. “The way you talk to me is disgusting, and I would hope your mother didn’t raise you that way.”

“Watch your muthafuckin’ mouth,” I warned in a menacing voice as I stepped to her. “You don’t know shit about me, or my mother. Don’t ever question her parenting again.”

“Oh, you’re a disrespectful-ass nigga by choice?

” She turned to face me, arms folded. “I can tell you’re nothing but a childish-ass little boy that’s used to getting his way.

” Eyeing me in disgust, she shook her head and tsked.

“I don’t even know why women find you attractive.

That reckless shit ain’t even sexy.” Walking closer to me, she stopped and picked her phone up from the floor and frowned.

I frowned, too, thinking she was about to walk into my space again, but didn’t. “You broke my shit, nigga.”

“I’m not childish.” I felt the need to say as she reached the door. “I’m a good-ass nigga?—”

“With a black eye and busted lip,” she said, not even looking my way before opening the closet door.

Sticking her head out, she looked around before addressing me one last time.

“Stay away from me, Wild. Next time, you’re going to be occupying one of these beds, and I’ma make sure you get the lousiest nurse and doctor in here. Chao.”

Closing the door behind her, I stared where she’d left as if she were coming back.

I liked the fact that she smelled clean instead of like a bottle of perfume.

I also liked how she wasn’t taking my shit, which meant she didn’t take shit from any nigga.

The shit she said about me, though, didn’t sit well with me.

I know what type of nigga I am, and her shutting down my advances was hard to digest because I was better than any other nigga trying to get some of her time.

Regardless of our scuffles, her turning me down had me shook a little.

How did my coming here to check her end with me leaving with not only a bruised face, but ego too? Dakota had me fucked up, and I was going to make her hear and feel me sooner than she thinks.