Page 50 of Adonis Gates

“That’s cool and all, love, but I’m gon’ see about him too.” He pulled me back into him. “Youmygirl now and niggas know I don’t play about my people.”

“I don’t want you to do anything stupid and get into any trouble.” I pouted, tossing my arms around his neck as he leaned against his Jeep, gripping my ass.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m gon’ be straight.”

“Do you want to come in and speak to my parents?” I asked.

“Yeah, come on.” He stood and took my hand before leading me to the door.

When we made it inside, everyone was in the living room. I didn’t have to really make introductions because my family knew him, but since it had been years since my parents had seen him, I did a refresher and made the introduction to Rhea.

“How’ve you been, Adonis?” my mom asked. “And little Apollo.”

“Little Apollo is not so little anymore.” He laughed. “We’re good though.”

“Are you still staying in the same area?”

He shook his head. “I got us an apartment not too long ago because we needed a change but we still own our childhood home. I’ll probably end up giving it to AP when he’s older to let him do what he wants with it, but I wanted to get him into a better area and better school system.”

“Oh, he not at Abe Hawthorne anymore?” my dad asked.

That was the school we went to when we were younger, and my dad taught there for a few more years after.

“No, sir. He was into trouble a lot when he was there, so I got him into Atlyn Prep.”

“Go Tigers,” my sister cheered for her school.

“Oh, Atlyn Prep is a good school.” My dad nodded. “Their new engineering program is top tier.”

“It is. I’ve been trying to get AP to look into it, but you know how teenaged boys can be,” Adonis replied.

“Oh, I don’t think the stubbornness is a boy thing.” My mom smiled. “I believe that you guys carry it with you into manhood,” she teased. “Why don’t you two come over for dinner one day, and maybe Jake can talk to him about it. Sometimes all they need is to hear it from someone else to reallyhearit, you know?”

“Yes ma’am, we can make that happen,” Adonis agreed. “Just let your daughter know the date and time, and we’ll be there.”

“Perfect.” My mom beamed.

“Aight, I need to get out of here to go see what he’s up to.” Adonis stood and so did I. “I haven’t been by the crib to check on him yet. Gotta make sure he not in there throwing a party or nothing.” We all shared a laugh. “Rhea, it was nice meeting you. I hope we all get to chill someday.”

“Of course.” Rhea leaned up to shake Adonis’s hand.

“Geri.” He nodded at my sister.

He tried doing the same to my parents, but my mother stood and pulled him into her embrace.

“It was great to see you, Adonis.”

“Likewise.” He smiled.

After shaking hands with my father, I walked him to the door. I was going to walk all the way to the car with him but he insisted that I stay inside. He promised to call me as soon as he got home, so after sharing a quick kiss, I closed the door and joined my very nosy family in the living room to answer their million questions about what my future with Adonis looked like.

Chapter Fifteen

Adonis.

“Okay gentlemen, I know it’s the weekend, so I’m going to be quick.” Vado began. “Some of you have met me while others haven’t. That was intentional, and so is this meeting. I wanted to get everyone together today, so you all could hear it from the source; I’m retiring.”

A bunch of mumbling and chatter broke out at the announcement, but Vado held up his hand to gain everyone’s attention again.