Page 5

Nyoka

"This is cute," I commented as Talia parked behind this smoke-gray Trackhawk parked in the driveway.

"It's kind of small, for real," her bratty tone spat.

"Everybody don't get that silver spoon you had. Chill out."

If I wanted to, I could have had a house the same size as Talia's, but I decided to move smartly with my money. When we exited the car, I could smell the barbecue in the air. One thing about me is that I could eat. Some women would order light when they went on dates, but that wasn't me. I want the appetizer, salad, and main course, and tell that bartender to make the drinks strong and to keep them coming.

"They're grilling something good," Talia noted, reading my mind.

"Mmm-hmm," I agreed as I closed my door and followed her up the pathway to their house.

I tapped my silver Gucci bag to ensure I had put my .40 in there. Talia tapped their Ring doorbell, and I just had to put my two cents in.

"That is what we needed."

"Well, we one have now," she quickly responded before the door opened in front of us.

Talia's bald-headed friend had on this blue and orange apron that said Kiss the Crip. It was a bald-headed cartoon man on the apron holding a spatula in his hand.

"Hey, hey…" he excitedly greeted as he held the door open for us.

The setup of their crib was pretty much an open concept. When you first walked through the door, the first thing in front of you was a pair of stairs. To the right of us was the living room. A sectional wrapped around most of it, and this big-ass television was hung on the wall.

"This is Nyoka, my cousin," Talia introduced as she held her hand out in my direction.

Dom looked me up and down as I gave him a fake ass wave. I hated meeting new people for this very moment. The initial introductions were awkward as shit, and I hated being in awkward feeling situations.

"Okay, okay, My cousin, Adonis, is in the back on the grill. Y'all can follow me." He walked us through the living room. "That door right there is the bathroom," he said as he pointed to the left of us.

We walked through a dining room and then straight into the kitchen. There was another door to the left of us that I was sure was the laundry room because of how close it was to the kitchen. Dom opened the door to the backyard, and when he did, I could see this brown-skinned man turning something on the grill.

"Yo, gang," Dom said once we were all standing in the private backyard.

Adonis' brown eyes rolled over in our direction. His face was stiff, and he looked mean as hell. He picked up a red cup near him and took a small sip from it. I could tell that whatever was in his cup had to be from one of the liquor bottles on the table behind him.

"This is Talia, and that's…" Dom let his last word trail off.

"Nyoka," I spoke up for myself.

I personally didn't think that my name was that hard to remember. Talia had literally told this fool my name less than ten minutes ago. Dom just added another reason to the long ass list of why I hated baldheaded men. The lack of hair on their damn head must be the only explanation for the forgetfulness.

"Aight, cool," was the only response that Adonis gave.

His face was stone-cold, and he looked unapproachable. If this is who they had me set up to chill with for the rest of the evening, I didn't mind.

"Y'all hungry?" Dom asked.

"No, we just ate," Talia was putting on this soft-ass voice.

That girl walked around sounding like she should be saving Gotham City most of the time, so I didn't understand where the change of tone was coming from. It was obvious she had liked Dom's ass, but the voice was irking me.

"Speak for yourself. I'll take a burger," I interjected when I realized that was what Adonis was now taking off of the grill.

"Aye, bruh, help her out," Dom told Adonis when I started walking toward the table with the burger buns and paper plates.

I could feel his light brown eyes watching me when I walked past him.

"Aye, we gone take some shots first."

So he speaks, I thought to myself when Adonis had opened his mouth. He had a country slur that wasn't like everybody else that lived in Georgia. He grabbed the biggest bottle of Espolòn that I had ever seen and then started pouring shots into small, plastic, red shot glasses for everyone. I damn near curled my upper lip over my nose in disgust because I hated tequila straight.

"Do y'all have anything dark?" Talia asked. She must have picked up on my facial expression.

"Oh yeah, bruh, crack that bottle of Henny open for Talia's cousin. This young lady here only drinks dark," Dom said to Adonis as he pointed to the table.

"Oooh, I'm scared of you, young man," Adonis joked as he went to grab the bottle.

I lightly chuckled because I was already used to everyone's reaction when they found out that I preferred my liquor to how I did my men: strong and dark. Adonis went to open the bottle, and I reached my hand out to stop him.

"Aht-aht." I held my hand out, tapping and blessing the bottle before he could crack the seal.

Adonis' distinguished brow lifted in confusion. Talia reached around me and then tapped the top of the bottle in his hand. Although I had the pleasure of traveling a lot because of work, I was still a Brooklyn girl at heart. So whenever a bottle was on the premises, I was going to tap in.

"That is some ghetto shit," Dom said, and then Adonis laughed behind him.

"So muthafucking ghetto, so now is it okay to open it? I don't wanna fuck y'all voodoo up," Adonis added.

Both me and Talia laughed. I could already feel that the night was going to be an interesting one. I loved a nigga that looked good, but if he could make me laugh, that was ten times better. I know that I told Talia that I wasn't ready to date, but Adonis' ass could laugh me right on out of my panties if he wanted to.

∞∞∞

The night was starting to wind down, and when Talia and Dom disappeared, I was sure she was tucked away in one of the rooms, showing him that my uncle had raised a hoe.

"Take a shot, gang."

I looked up from my phone and saw Adonis standing in front of me with a shot glass. It wasn't the red ones we had been drinking from all night but an actual glass cup. I could see the brown liquid resting in the cup, waiting patiently for me to down it.

My head was lightly spinning because I knew about four shots ago, I had hit my limit.

"You drinking or are you thinking?" he asked me as he quickly took a shot of his own.

I reached my hand out for the glass and threw the Hennessy back. Adonis sat beside me on the couch, and his cologne invaded my nostrils.

"You ever played Incohearent before?"

"No," I didn't really play any games growing up, and as an adult, I didn't have the time.

Adonis stood from the sofa and opened a drawer to the entertainment center under the television. He pulled out this box before sitting back beside me. I couldn't help but notice the print in his Nike Tech sweats as he walked back in my direction. He briefly explained the rules of the game before we started playing cards and trying to make these crazy phrases out.

"Man, at this point, I'm beating ya ass so bad you're about to have to take a shot for every card you don't get," Adonis teased with a laugh.

"I'm good on drinks." I leaned my head back on the chair because it was spinning for sure, "I gotta eat something."

"Oh shit, the ribs."

Adonis jumped up from the sofa and headed toward the backyard, so I followed him.

He lifted the top to the grill and then smiled.

"Ooooh, these shits gone be so good. Sit down, pretty lady. I'll toss some on a plate for us."

I smiled at his compliment and then sat at the table. Those ribs were falling off the bone.

"Damn girl, you don't play when it comes to eating."

I grabbed a nearby napkin to clean my face. Just as I was about to give Adonis his props on his grilling skills, moaning sounds from above our heads started.

"Uhhhh… fuck…"

I bunched my eyebrows in disgust and then looked up to the second story, where the noises were coming from.

"Well damn, they ain't waste no time," Adonis said before taking a bite of one of the ribs.

I sighed in annoyance because all I wanted was my bed. I yawned and didn't even mean to.

"Looks like you're staying here for the night, pretty lady. You can have my bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

I really wasn't down for staying, but I was already too damn drunk for the thirty-five-minute drive back to the house. Talia was a lightweight, so I knew she was done for if I was three sheets in the wind.

"You sure? I can sleep on the couch and be good."

"Girl, I'm from the trenches. A damn couch is a privilege. I'm good," he reassured.

Adonis quickly wiped his hand and mouth and then stood from his seat. He held his hand out to help me up from my seat. At first, he seemed mean, but he really was a gentleman at heart. I didn't know who had a hand in raising him, but I wanted to meet them to thank them personally because they had instilled qualities in him that these niggas nowadays were not walking around with.

I grabbed Adonis' tatted hand and allowed him to lead the way. I followed him up the stairs, and then we walked toward the first door in front of the stairs.

The loud music and moans could be heard from the only closed door on the second level. When we walked past an open door to head for his room, I saw it was the bathroom. I broke our locked hands to walk to the restroom, but he called after me.

"The toilet in there is clogged. I gotta look at it tomorrow, so you'll have to use the bathroom downstairs."

I thought about just holding my pee because I hated stairs, but the liquor was sitting on my bladder heavily. "Aight, be right back."

I rushed down the stairs and then went to the half bath on the first level Dom had pointed out earlier in the day to handle my business. As I was walking back up the stairs, I saw Adonis patiently waiting at the top for me.

Seeing him standing there waiting for me had my delusional ass thinking how he would look waiting for me at the end of an altar.

"You good, gang?"

So muthafucking hood. I smirked as I thought to myself. I just shook my head up and down to let him know I was straight.

The door to Adonis' room was cracked. When he pushed it open, I was impressed with his setup. He had a chocolate bedroom set with this big ass bed. On the wall where his television hung was this ugly ass green color. I could tell that was his accent wall because the rest of the walls in the room were colored white. Talia had that same weird-ass green in the bedroom that was now mine in her house. Seeing that hideous ass color reminded me that I had to have someone paint my room white.

"This is nice," I complimented. "So, is this where all the magic happens?"

"No," he quickly answered. "The remote to the TV is on the nightstand, and my iPhone charger is plugged into that wall over there. Goodnight."

Before I could respond, Adonis had walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Well, damn, I thought to myself once I was left alone in the room. I was too tired and drunk to even address whatever that was that had just happened. I took my gun out of my purse and placed it under one of the pillows before getting into the bed and attempting to get comfortable.

Adonis

"These muthafuckas are going like some rabbits," I whispered to myself as I tried to get comfy on the couch in the living room.

I could hear the rocking of the bed above my head. Just hearing it made me think about how I hadn't gotten any since I left Lima. Being so preoccupied with trying to get some money, the thought of pussy hasn't been on my mind. I wasn't even in any bitches' faces since I moved down here. I wasn't up when I first moved down here, and I'm sure it showed in how I carried myself, so the females down here were taking their time with dogging me.

Bitches were out here losing their minds for hot girl summer, and that was cool. I give myself a couple more months to have my shit together. Fuck boy fall was approaching, and I was headlining the shit. I had something for all the women that wouldn't even look my way. I was driven to prove a point, so entertaining a female was the last thing on my mind.

Now that Nyoka, she was something, though. I don't get that weird ass feeling in my stomach when I meet most females. I can probably count on one hand how many of them gave me that butterfly feeling, and Nyoka was definitely one of them.

She was pretty, fun-sized, thick, and she could drink her ass off. Me and her ass were having a ball while Dom and Talia were tucked away being sluts. We took turns playing DJ, and surprisingly, we had the same taste in music. She was putting me on to some New York shit I hadn't heard before. I was lowkey salty that she was drunk as fuck and tired because I missed her company. I wanted to learn more about her because I wasn't given the chance with us turning up and all. I tried to busy myself with my phone as I tossed and turned on the couch. I had a little blanket and pillow but couldn't find my comfortable spot. It was funny to me because the couch I was having difficulty getting comfortable on was my bed for four months before setting up my room.

"You can't sleep either?"

I turned around to find Nyoka standing on the stairs, leaning over the banister, looking at me.

"Hell nah," I answered while I sat up and tapped the spot beside me.

"You want something to sleep in? I can give you a shirt and some basketball shorts if that'll make you sleep easier," I offered.

"Nah, I'm good. I'm from the trenches too," she replied with a smile as she walked down the rest of the stairs and then sat on the spot I just patted.

"You pretty…" I let slip out.

"Am I?"

"You are," I quickly reassured her.

It seemed like Nyoka genuinely didn't believe that she was pressure. Somebody had fucked with her self-esteem, and I hated that for her because I meant what I said. She was indeed a pretty girl.

"You were just down here in silence?" she asked as she sat her little frame further back into the couch and then placed her feet on my lap.

Nyoka was invading my personal space, and I was letting her because I found myself liking her. Even her damn feet were pretty as fuck.

"Yeah, I don't mind the silence for real."

"It drives me crazy," she admitted.

There was a moment of silence, but it wasn't an awkward one.

"Where are you from because you sound different?" she asked, breaking the stillness in the room.

"Mississippi."

"Oh, you country for real. So why did you move from there to here?"

"I moved from Ohio."

"Okay, well, why the move?"

Nyoka seemed eager to learn things about me, just how eager I was to learn her.

I wished she and I were already locked in because then I would have told her why I had fled from Lima, but we weren't, so I kept my mouth shut.

Plus, I still didn't know what the police knew about what had gone down at the reservoir.

"I just wanted a fresh start."

I gave the generic response people would typically give when asked that question.

I could have reciprocated and asked her why she had moved, but I was sure that she would open up to me naturally in due time.

Nyoka and I spoke about any and everything until the sun came up.

By her fiftieth yawn, she was sleeping with her head on my shoulder and her legs across mine.

It looked uncomfortable as hell, but the sleep itself seemed peaceful, so I let her be.

∞∞∞

When Talia and Dom finally brought their asses downstairs, Nyoka and I were watching television.

I was schooling her on Anime, and she was taking the shit in.

She was engaging and seemed interested in what interested me, which made me happy.

I felt like I could be myself around her.

By the time they left, I had gotten Nyoka's number, and I couldn't wait to see her again.

I was planning this dope date idea in my head, but first, I had to lock down my next lick for real.

Dom said that he knew of somebody who knew how to crack a safe, and I made a mental note to tap in with him about that just in case the next couple of houses we hit had a safe.