Page 16 of All The Smoke

Grabbing the bookbag with my weed and a bottle, I followed my boys to the door.

They must’ve called ahead to let them know we were coming because we were able to walk past the receptionist desk and go straight to her place.

When we got to the door we were immediately met by a sweet scent I assumed came from that candle burning right by the door.

“Brothers!” Kaori sang when she noticed Bino and Scoot, then ran over to them with open arms. I tried to fight it but was unsuccessful keeping the jealousy I felt at bay.

I wanted her to be on my body as soon as I hit the door, not these niggas.

“Y’all have to take entry shots,” she said, handing the two of them small cups.

“They the only ones you see?” I asked.

Smirking, she sashayed her fine ass in my direction and wrapped one of her arms around my waist, giving me a weak ass hug. “Of course not. Hi, Solomon Sr.”

“Solomon Sr.?” Scoot snickered. “You gotta chill on the governments, sis.”

“Those are your God given names.” She smiled and grabbed me a shot too, which I tossed back then tossed the cup in the small trashcan next to the table.

“Man, quit playing and give me a real hug,” I said, collapsing her small frame against mine and leaning down so my mouth was close to her ear. “Done tasted every one of your body parts and you tryna play me with that church hug.”

Her body shuddered and she cleared her throat as she pushed away to create space between us.

“U-um, th-there’s food over there if you’re hungry.” She pointed toward the bar. “And drinks.”

Bino and Scoot immediately walked in the direction she pointed with their greedy asses while I went to the living room to take a seat so I could roll up.

“Hi, Smoke,” a chick named Vedra said. I knew her from high school along with a couple of other chicks there.

“What’s up, y’all?”

“I know we’re about to smoke good now,” Gwen, another one of the chicks, said. “You always have the good shit, Smoke.”

“Keep some gas.” I smirked. “But you know ain’t shit free over here, love.”

Gwen was definitely a blunt monkey. Whenever we were out she was the first one to run over with her fucking hands out.

Bino and Scoot were way friendlier with their shit than me.

I was about my bread, so if you wanted a blunt from me you had to pay for the shit.

My baby wanted new shit every day so I was gon’ get the bread by any means necessary.

“Come on, Smoke, it’s a party.”

“What that mean? It ain’t my party and I ain’t agree to supply the party favors.”

She sucked her teeth and sat back in her chair. “You’re so stingy.”

“Can’t call me broke though.” I grinned then looked in Kaori’s direction. “Come here, baby girl, let’s talk.”

“Talk about what, Solomon?”

“For starters, didn’t I tell you to call me Smoke?”

“I don’t want to call you what everyone else calls you.”

“Oh, you want to be different?” I asked as I lit my blunt.

“Correction, I am different,” she replied, taking the blunt from my hands and hitting it herself. Shit was so sexy to see her take a long slow pull. Hell, everything about her was sexy.

“Where ya lil puffer shit at?” I asked. “Can’t have them lips getting black on me.”

Laughing, she pointed and said, “It’s on that table next to you.”

After grabbing it and handing it to her, I asked the question that had been lingering in my mind since the morning I woke up to an empty bed.

“So, why you bounce without saying something to a nigga?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Cap.” I chuckled.

“No it’s not. You were snoring and all. I figured you needed the sleep.”

“Naw, what I needed was to wake up to head or something.”

She nudged me and said, “Shut up.”

“So what’s up with the games?” I pointed to the table. “What y’all got going on?”

Shot glasses and candles lined the coffee table as well as card games that hadn’t been opened yet.

“This is Blow Me,” she answered and my brows hiked. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“What?” I laughed.

“Anyways.” She rolled her eyes. “There are different shots in these cups, a variation of dark and white. You have to blow the candles out in one breath and wherever the candles stop being blown out, that’s the shot you have to take.”

“I’m on white though.”

She smirked. “Then you better stop on a shot that has white in the cup.”

“What if I blow them all out?”

“I doubt your lungs are that strong, but in the event that you do, you won’t have to take a shot.”

“Let’s spice that up,” Scoot said, wearing a goofy ass wide grin on his face as he approached, holding a deck of cards in his hand.

Kaori took the cards from him and opened them. “Spicy truth or dare?”

“Yep.” He smiled and took a drink from his cup. “Let’s make this a game night to remember.”

“I’m not doing a lot of this stuff, Elijah.” Kaori frowned as she thumbed through the cards.

“Then yo’ ass gon’ drink.”

“How are we going to incorporate these into this game?”

“Easy.” He took the cards and shuffled them before placing one on the opposite side of the candle that the shot glass was on. “Blow the candles and wherever you stop, you read the card and either do whatever it says or drink.”

“Some of them require a partner though.”

“Good thing the bodies are plentiful in this bitch,” he said as he fell down on her couch.

“There are more women than men, and you two are like my brothers.” She pointed between Bino and Scoot with her pretty face all frowned up.

“Then Smoke is in for a good night.” He smirked. “Plus you can decline, sis. You just gon’ be fucked up by the end of the night.”

“And if the partner doesn’t want to participate in the dare?” her homegirl Morgan asked.

“Then they drink too.” Scoot shrugged.

“Aight, bet.” Bino rubbed his hands together and descended into the chair he was next to, pulling Morgan into his lap. “And we having fun tonight, so don’t get mad when one of the ladies chooses me.”

“Oh, I’m not. You just have that same energy when I choose one or both of your homeboys.” She smirked and I chuckled while shaking my head.

I didn’t know Morgan like that, but Bino told me all about her and this little sister when we were growing up.

He’d just never mentioned Kaori by name.

It was always “sis this” or “sis that”. Morgan was just like he described her: a pretty firecracker.

I’d only been around her twice, but both times shorty was no nonsense with him.

She challenged his ass with every fucking thing.

Shit was funny as fuck, but I knew it wasn’t some shit I could deal with.

I didn’t want a girl I could run over, but I for sure didn’t want one as vocal as her.

My girl would need to know when to chill because I wasn’t with all the mouth and shit.

“Let’s get it started,” Scoot said, volunteering to go first.

The shit went smooth as fuck. I opted into taking shots every time Gwen’s thirsty ass chose me to be her acting partner in her dares but indulged with Vedra, Leah, Morgan, and Kaori.

I really wanted to take a shot every time any of them outside of Kaori volunteered me, but I didn’t want to seem too pressed and I loved getting under B’s skin when his girl chose me.

We ended up playing three more games after that one; drunk Uno, a board game they had made, and we ended it with some shit called Pull A Tab.

It was a big ass poster with sticky notes on it.

Under each sticky note was instructions that ranged between Android users taking shots, lighting up, which was my favorite, chugging contests, taking random shots, drinking water, and so on.

Shit was a vibe. That was actually the first time I had been to a game night.

I was always about my business or my kid so I didn’t do much of that shit, but it felt good to just chill and have a good time with my homeboys and some chicks.

By the time the shit was over, we were all tipsy as fuck. I ended up excusing myself and going to the bathroom because we’d had so much to drink. I took a quick call from my brother who was just checking in before he went to bed.

On the way out I ran into Kaori, so I stopped her stride and backed her into the wall behind her. “Kiss me like you did in that game.”

I didn’t give her a chance to protest before crashing my lips into hers then slipping my tongue into her mouth.

She was the only one I allowed to do anything sexual or intimate to me while we played.

She drew the dare to pass a piece of candy to your partner using only your mouth and of course we took it too far.

It would have been easy to blame it on the alcohol and shit but the truth was I just simply wanted to.

I missed the feeling of her lips and the feeling I got when hers were on mine.

“Solomon.” She sniveled and pushed away. “We shouldn’t. Everyone is still here.”

Reaching for her hand, I pulled her back into me and kissed her lips again then across her jaw and up to her ear before saying, “Then go tell everyone it’s time to go.”

She studied my face for a second before nodding and walking in the direction of the living room while I went in the opposite direction to find her bedroom.

I immediately knew which one was hers because it was bleeding red when I opened the door.

I made myself comfortable while I waited, taking some weed and a cigar out to roll up.

“Everyone’s gone,” she stated timidly when she entered the room moments later.

Nodding, I placed the blunt between my lips and sparked up, then waved her over. I was seated on the side of her bed, so I pulled her between my legs when she was close enough.

“Why you acting all shy and shit?”

“I’m not,” she lied. “I-I just need to shower.”

“Aight, go handle ya business.”

“Okay,” she stepped back and grabbed the remote from her dresser. “I won’t be long, but you can find something to watch while you wait. I have pretty much all of the subscriptions.”