Page 11

“Like Cs?” Her eyes tangled along the letter above his brow.

Malik licked his lips. “Big Cs, baby.” Malik threw his sign up, making her giggle.

And just like that, the night folded around them. Cool and quiet, but not still. The kind of night that made you question who you were before it. Made you remember the exact moment someone started mattering.

Aku leaned back on her palms, stealing another glance at him. “You gon’ show me how to play dominoes for real or you just tryna charm me to death?”

Malik chuckled, getting off the hood of his car to grab the box of dominoes he always kept with him. Reaching into the backseat, he pulled out a worn black case and cracked it open on the hood.

“Nah,” he said, pulling out the bones with a grin. “But I am tryna keep you here longer.”

She shook her head, fighting a smile. “Boy, you dangerous.”

“I believe you like that dangerous shit.”

“What if I do? But not for the reasons you think…I ain’t no pampered princess tryna get my parents’ attention.”

Malik turned his head so fast, his braids moved with him. “What’s your reason then?”

“I don’t know yet, Malik.” She rolled her eyes playfully. “I’m just tryna learn dominoes right now.”

Malik stared at her before his smiled widened. “You something else. You know that?”

“Is something else a good thing?”

“I don’t know yet,” he tossed her words back at her. “You ready to learn?”

“We still talking about dominoes or something else?”

He tapped the side of her head. “Save the slick talk for this ass whooping I’m ‘bout to put on you.”

Her head fell back with laughter. “My daddy ain’t never whooped me, so I know you can’t.”

His dick stirred. “Oh, trust I can…watch and learn youngin’.”

Before they got into the game good, Malik decided to grab an old beach towel for her to sit on so she wouldn’t scuff her little fancy-ass shorts.

She was posted up all cute with designer bracelets stacked on one wrist. Looking like money and smelling even better.

Her nails sparkled every time she picked up a domino, squinting hard like they were about to whisper the right move to her.

“Okay, okay,” Aku muttered, chewing the inside of her cheek. “I got a four…and a six. That means I can go right here, right?”

Malik smirked without lookin’ up. “That’s a six and a blank , Dorothy. You tryna cheat me already?”

Aku gasped, snatching the piece back. “I thought that was a four!”

“You don’t know what a four look like?” he teased, stretching his long legs out and letting his head lean back. “Goddamn. All that private school money and they ain’t teach you dominoes?”

“I went to a performing arts school, boy,” she protested, lightly smacking his arm. “And for the record, I was raised in a house that played Uno and Spades, okay? Not this penitentiary shit.”

Malik barked out a real laugh that reached his eyes. “Aight, Miss performing arts. First rule—respect the board. Dominoes is chess for hood niggas. You don’t just play what’s in your hand… you play what you think I got in mine.”

She looked at him sideways. “You ain’t tryna teach me strategy already, are you? I just learned what a damn blank was.”

“Nah, see dominoes teach you life,” he said, ready to spit some real shit. “Sometimes you stuck with a hand that ain’t hittin’, right? Nothin’ but blanks. But you still gotta play that shit smart…make the best outta what you got.”

Aku stared at him, the teasing smile on her lips slowly giving way to something softer. “Damn…that’s deep.”

“I’m deep,” Malik said with a grin, but it was mellow now, like he knew she saw past the surface and he wasn’t tryna hide it. “You ain’t the only one that read books and watch TED Talks.”

“I don’t watch TED Talks,” she laughed.

“Oh my bad. You look like the type that do. All that lip gloss and ambition but no TED Talks.”

She bumped his shoulder, her nails clinking against the dominoes as she shuffled them again, this time with more confidence. “So…what happens if I put this six down right here?”

Malik leaned over, their arms brushing as he looked at her play. “Now you forcing me to play off your energy. Smart. That’s a block move. You gon’ trap me?”

“Maybe,” she said with a grin. “You look trappable.”

He shook his head, but his dimple cut deep when he smiled. “Don’t get cocky, Dorothy.”

“Stop callin’ me that,” she laughed.

“Imma call you Dorothy till you learn how to slap bones for real.” His voice was so euphoric. His Cali accent slid smoothly like he grew up with the ocean’s breeze in his lungs and kept Nipsey lyrics tucked under his tongue.

She pouted, but Malik just handed her another tile. Their fingers brushed and lingered, the air between them shifting just a little.

He didn’t look away.

Brown eyes weren’t nothing special, but his seemed to be. Aku could look into them for hours if he let her.

“You know,” he said low like he’d been fighting himself about saying what he wanted to say, “it’s somethin’ about you.

Like you tryna act like you just passing through, just here for the weekend or whatever…

but you got roots. The way you talk to folks, laugh with people, the way you just…

be . I watched you with the kids that day you was out here on your super star stylist shit.

They fuck with you and Crescent Park don’t fuck with many. ”

Aku blinked, her throat tightening. She hated that he saw through her so quickly. “I don’t know if I’m ready to plant no roots,” she said, barely above a whisper.

There was a time when she knew for sure she was ready but Devin didn’t want that. Now, she questioned everything. Every feeling…every glance.

Malik nodded, picking up a domino and letting it tap against the hood of the car. “Ain’t nobody said you gotta be, but sometimes you fall before you even know it. And gravity? Shit, it don’t wait for no one.”

That made her quiet. She pushed her tongue into her cheek.

The song bumpin’ from the speaker shifted into an old R&B track—Joe or Avant or some old head joint she knew from car rides with Stephanie, her Granny. And for a second, it felt like the world had slowed down to make room for whatever was happening between her and Malik.

She looked down at the pieces, then back at him. “Teach me how to slap the bones, Malik.”

He smirked, eyes twinkling. “Say less.”

And with that, he grabbed her hand, adjusted her wrist just right, and helped her slap the next tile down on the hood with just enough force to make it echo through the block.

Aku giggled.

Malik leaned in closer. “You learnin’, Dorothy.”

She leaned a little too. “You teachin’, Malik…and I wanna learn.”

They weren’t just playing dominoes anymore. Unbeknownst to them, they were playing for each other’s hearts, one piece at a time.