Page 6

Adonis

"Hurry the fuck up and toss all that shit in the bag."

I watched the sweat drip from under the rim of Smooth's ski mask.

Right now, there wasn't shit smooth about the nigga.

His fat ass was sweating like a nigga getting read his sentence, and I hated he had to be the one on this drill with me.

Dom wasn't in town to hit this lick with me, so I opted for his ain't-shit-ass friend.

When he had tapped me in with who he said could crack a safe, I couldn't even believe it.

That was until I saw him crack one in front of me.

Granted, it was a test run that we had set up inside of our storage unit, but he did do that shit fast as hell.

I think that him actually being on a real robbery with me was getting the best of him.

I knew Dom.

He was family. However, I didn't know his fucking mans, and honestly, hitting a lick with somebody that I didn't know didn't sit well with me, anyway.

The last time I did that shit, I ended up in jail all because a nigga snitched on me.

The white dude that had ratted me out almost two years ago folded under pressure, and I mean lawn chair folded.

I couldn't even toast a piece of bread with the heat that the cops were putting on ol' boy, and he couldn't stay solid.

There was no way that I was going to have history repeat itself.

"Hurry up," I whispered again through gritted teeth.

Because he was moving too slow, I snatched the money, jewelry, hell, even the social security cards up out of the safe and tossed it in the empty pillowcase in my hand.

"This is by far the best one we hit all muthafucking week, huh Drayk—"

The bright light in the basement turning on caught the words in Smooth's mouth.

"Now… now both of you tu-tur-turn around and let me see those hands."

The Stricklands weren't supposed to return from vacation for at least four more days. Smooth and I slowly turned around.

"Don't make me bust a hole in your chest wide enough for his fat ass to fit through. Don't do anything crazy," the man said directly to me.

His old short white ass was leaning over, trying to hold up the double-barrel shotgun.

"Strickland, right?" I asked.

I was breathing so heavily under my ski mask. I wasn't afraid of death. I had looked that shit in the eyes too many times to be scared. I just never wanted to get done so bad that Joy couldn't even have an open casket for me. Judging by how close this old man was with that shotgun, I knew if he decided to set that shit off, the casket would be a closed one for sure.

"You know me? Boy…"

I gritted my teeth because here that word goes again. This time, though, I had to bite the bullet. The nigga had a shotgun facing in my direction. After robbing a few houses, I started to make it my business to do a little homework on the owners of the houses. Ol' girl from the post office who had given us the information would just give us an address and dates. She never gave us the names of the people who placed the mail on hold.

I took the initiative of buying subscriptions to websites that will do a full background check. At this moment, I was glad that my ass took that extra precaution.

"Nah, I don't know you, but I do know that your daughter, her husband, and your two granddaughters live in Cumming. Now, if we don't walk out of this house, we got some people that's gonna pay them a visit."

"Bullshit! You don't know my girl." His old ass hands shook with the lift of the gun.

"Her name is Lizzy. She's a brunette with brown eyes like yours. Do you really wanna pull that trigger and test what I just said?"

He stood there for a while like he was contemplating taking that risk. When he lowered the gun and then placed it at his side, I tapped Smooth's shoulder twice so that we could make our exit.

"God is gonna handle you," he mumbled as we breezed past him.

I didn't doubt that one bit. I had done more wrong than I had ever done right in life, and I knew when my judgment day came, I was taking the escalator to the sub-level. I made peace with that a long time ago.

We didn't get a chance to clean house how we had been doing in all the prior robberies because of our interruption, but this was by far the most lucrative lick we had hit. Cash money was inside of that safe. I didn't know why they didn't have their money somewhere in a bank account, but I was grateful they hadn't. Smooth, and I had gone straight to the storage unit. When I opened the gate to the unit, we still had a little stuff in it from the other licks we had hit. I looked at the bright, purple-colored sectional that we had taken from our first robbery. Some shit we took was harder to get off than others, but that's what came with this shit.

Smooth and I sat at the square folding table in the unit, counting our earnings. Once the last twenty-dollar bill graced my fingertips, I just smiled brightly.

"That number, right?" Smooth asked with a smile on his face, too.

"Damn right."

We had profited two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. With a two-way split, I was walking away with one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. My phone was vibrating in my pocket. I leaned up in the chair and saw that it was Dom FaceTime calling me. The skin on his bald ass head must have been tingling as soon as we finished counting the money.

I had already told Smooth that whatever we had made for the night, we would both give Dom fifteen hundred each for giving us the info to begin with.

"What's up, gang?" I answered.

"Y'all good? I called Smooth's fat ass, and he ain't answer."

I turned the camera Smooth's way before answering.

"Yeah, we're good. We got something for you when you get back, too."

Dom had taken Talia away to the casino in North Carolina. She had been complaining about spending time with him, reminding me that I had to set that date up with Nyoka. I had been chasing the bag, and now that I had hit that shit, I was going to set up the best date night ever.

"Aight, cool. I was just checking on y'all. Y'all had a nigga nervous."

"Aww, you care," I teased him.

"Shut the fuck up, bruh."

I decided to leave out the part where we both could have been shot to death. I figured I would leave that talk for in person.

"Be smooth, bruh, and have fun," I said before ending the line.

Smooth and I had separated the money for Dom, and I had placed it in an envelope for him. When we left the storage unit, the sun was rising.

"Let me know when the next one is, bro."

I just gave Smooth a look.

Ain't no way in hell I would ever let him go on a run with me.

I hated nervous people, and I'm sure that if you googled the word that his fat-ass picture would pop up.

He hopped in his car, and then I jumped in mine.

It took me less than twenty minutes to get to the house.

I went into Dom's room, placed the envelope on the dresser under his television, and then headed to my room.

I was so damn tired I didn't even bother to wash my ass.

I had this date night planned in my head.

I just hoped that Nyoka would go for it.

I had been distant over the past couple of weeks, but I definitely had good reason for it.

With everything in my savings, I had enough to put down on a house and start my landscaping business.

I felt overwhelmed with everything that I had coming up, but I couldn't complain about how much was on my plate when the goal was to eat.

I lay on my bed and thought about Nyoka.

I wondered how she couldn't sleep the last time she was over.

My bed was comfortable as shit.

I guess it was the simple fact that she was lying in a stranger's bed.

I set my alarm for a couple of hours so that I could get the rest I needed to enjoy the evening with Nyoka if she accepted.

I had to take my ass down to T-Mobile and finally turn my phone on.

I dozed off to sleep with a smile because it felt good to be back.

Nyoka

Being in a big-ass empty house while Talia took her little vacation with Dom had my nerves frazzled.

I kept checking out the windows with every bit of noise that I heard.

Big houses made the weirdest noises when the house was still, which I was still getting used to.

I was happy that Talia was going away, though.

She and Dom had a nice little thing going, and it was cute to see her smitten over his ass.

When Adonis had first texted me, it was from an iCloud email address, and right there, I was ready to block his ass.

I didn't pry on why he didn't text me from a number, but he later explained that he didn't see the sense of having a monthly expense that he barely used.

He was frugal, and I loved that about him. Our FaceTime conversations and text message sessions over the past few weeks definitely made me like him.

I had caught myself rushing to my phone whenever a notification went off, or my Apple watch vibrated.

It had been five days, and I hadn't heard from him.

I wasn't the clingy type, and although I did like him, I wasn't going to show him that shit.

I had dipped my chip in some salsa as I lay cuddled up on the sofa watching American Horror Story.

The simple fact that I was still walking around with a bounty on my head made me want to reach out to one of the only people I trusted associated with The Heart Mirage.

I needed to know the bounty's price on my head.

If I had that amount tucked away somewhere, I was willing to make a payment to the head of the organization to dissolve the bounty placed on me.

I made a mental note to reach out to Bombshell.

She was an Asian chick that specialized in bombs and also the only one I had trusted from the organization.

I had done a great job with lying low thus far, and the reason for that is that I didn't have anything in my name.

The phone that I was using was under an alias, and although I did want my own place, I wasn't about to use this alias again, and I damn sure wasn't about to put a place in my name.

No one in the Heart Mirage knew Talia was my family, and I loved that for me.

I was three episodes in and in the middle of my chip bag when my phone had chimed. It was a random number that sent a text message.

Hey, pretty lady.

I stared at the number for a while because it wasn't a Georgia or New York area code.

I didn't know who the fuck it was, and considering that I had just gotten this phone after I made the move, no one had this number.

I googled the 662 area code and saw that it belonged to the northern half of Mississippi.

The corners of my mouth turned upward when I thought of it being him.

Before I could text back, I had an incoming FaceTime call from that same number.

I snatched my bonnet off and quickly slid the bar to the right to answer.

My natural hair was cut into a bob and fell on my shoulders.

When the screen cleared, I saw Adonis in his car with the phone in his lap.

"New number. Who is this?" I asked as soon as the phone connected.

"Yeah, something like that," Adonis replied with a smile.

The way the sun hit his face made his brown eyes look a shade lighter, which made me smile. God took his time when he made him.

"Whatchu doing?" he asked as he looked down into the camera.

"Eyes on the road, Mr. Loving, and nothing being a bum and watching American Horror Story."

"You busy today?" he asked.

"Nope…"

"Let me spend some time with you, then. I got two places I wanna take you, but they are by my way, so can you meet me at the crib, or do you want me to come and get you?"

I always preferred to take my car anywhere because when I was ready to leave, that was what I was going to do.

"I'll meet you at your house," I stated as I flipped the plush blanket off my frame.

I was excited about going out with Adonis. Talia and Dom had been dating since we had met them, and I was waiting for my turn.

"Where are we going so I know what to wear…"

"I'm not telling you, just wear something regular. If you have them, toss on a pair of ripped blue jeans and a white t-shirt."

"Umm, okay…"

I didn't question why he had the outfit picked out so specifically. I did know that I had both, so I could make it work.

"Did you eat yet?" he asked.

I was snacking all day, but I didn't have a meal yet, which was sad because it was damn near four in the afternoon.

"Nope."

"Okay, good. Well, be by my crib by six o'clock. Is that cool?"

"Yeah, that's cool."

"You need the address again?"

My memory was good as hell, so I had the way to his house stored in my memory just by Talia driving us the only time I had gone over there.

"Nah, I remember how to get there."

"Okay, pretty lady…"

He let his last word trail off, and for a moment, we just stared at each other, which made me smile.

"Ooooh, that girl's blushing," he teased.

"Bye, see you in a bit," I quickly said before hanging up.

I didn't even bother to fold up the blanket I had all over the couch. I had to shower, do my makeup, and then get dressed. I was excited about whatever Adonis had planned for us for the day. Since moving, if I wasn't going somewhere with Talia, then I stayed in the house. Getting out could definitely do some good. She had been gone for four days already, and I couldn't wait for her to return.

It didn't take me long to get ready, and it even took me a shorter amount of time to get to Adonis' house. As I pulled into the driveway, I parked behind a gray Charger. Adonis was sitting on the porch dressed in blue ripped jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pair of white Yeezy sneakers graced his feet. I got out of my Jeep with a smile because I now realized that he had wanted to match with me.

"Aw, you're the matching type?" I asked as I walked up the driveway.

"You're not?" he raised his eyebrow as he stood from the chair on the porch.

His robust frame hovered over my small one. He gave me a quick hug before he grabbed his keys out of the chair and then pushed a button on the key fob to start the engine.

"We taking ya car?" I asked.

"Yeah. Back your truck out and take my spot after I pull out."

"Umm, okay…"

"You good?" he quickly asked.

Adonis picked up on my being hesitant, and I appreciated that. I had a .22 in my purse, so I didn't know why my nerves were bad. I was so attached to the self-made arsenal that I had in the trunk of my vehicle.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

I walked to my Jeep and then hopped in to back it out of the driveway. It was the look he gave me as I walked away that did it for me. It was filled with lust, and depending on how the evening went, I was prepared to give him exactly what I knew he wanted. Once I pulled into the park, I got out of my car and made sure to hit the locks. Adonis was getting out of the car, which was confusing to me.

"Did you forget something?"

"Nah," he opened the passenger side door for me, "niggas don't do shit like this for you?"

It had been a while since a man had opened a car door for me. It sucked how in today's society, I truly believed that chivalry was gone because I didn't even expect a man to open a door for me.

I knew I better have gotten used to the treatment by hanging around Adonis. He didn't close the door until I found my comfortable spot inside the seat. Like most men, his car was clean, which shocked me because I had been in his room already, and that shit was clean, too. It usually was one or the other when it came to men.

I sat quietly on the passenger side as we made our way to destination one. When we made it there, I sat patiently and waited for him to come around to open the door for me. Iron Age: Korean Grill. I silently read the sign of the establishment that we were walking in. There was an awkward silence when we sat at the table. I could foresee that we would have many of those, but I quickly learned that Adonis was a man of very few words, which made me appreciate whenever he did open his mouth.

I watched as Adonis cooked our food on the small grill built into the table we sat at.

"How you want ya steak?" he asked.

"Medium well."

"Good. Had you said well-done, we were gonna just end this date right now."

"What's wrong with well-done steak?" I asked with a little laugh.

I needed to hear his logic behind this.

"Man, if anybody eats well-done steak, I know they done got paid once or twice to bite somebody."

I laughed loudly because the shit he said sometimes was hilarious.

We sat there for about two hours, eating and engaging in conversation. I learned Dom wasn't Adonis' blood relative because he was adopted. The way he spoke about the woman that adopted him made my heart warm. I wished that growing up, somebody would have loved me how he said Joy loves him. I reciprocated and opened up about my childhood, but I kept the abuse at a surface level. I realized that whenever I went too deep into all I endured as a child, whoever I told would give me sympathetic eyes. I didn't need anyone feeling bad for me.

As more drinks came, we kept the conversation going. Adonis asked what I did for a living, and I told him I used to work at a library back home and was looking into doing that again. Working at a library was more of a pleasure thing. I told him I had a couple of investments that paid the bills, but I had a passion for reading and writing. He listened intently, and he looked me dead in the eye when I spoke. Every once in a while, I would look away because staring into those brown eyes was indeed doing something to me.

"So what do you do?"

I turned the spotlight on him because I had enough of talking about my financials.

"I want to start a landscaping business out here. Like you, I have a couple of investments back home that pay the bills, but I want a business of my own."

A man who wanted to own his own business was a man for me. I didn't believe in that working for someone else bullshit. I never shamed anyone who did work for someone because to each is own, but I just knew that I always wanted to be my own boss.

"You'll get the shit done. You got this," I gave words of encouragement.

Adonis just looked at me and smiled. The smile was like he didn't believe what I was saying. I hoped I would be around to see his business be a success. I didn't have much success with relationships, and more importantly, somebody could possibly wipe me the fuck out. I had to get ahead of this bounty shit.

"Nyoka…"

"Huh?"

"You good, gang? You just went in your head."

I didn't realize until now how much shit was on my mind. I gotta reach out to Bombshell, I thought to myself as I pushed the possible thought of me being murdered to the back of my mind. Whenever I thought of the future, the facts of my present distracted me so badly.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm sorry."

The server came with the bill, and naturally, I reached for my purse to pay. It was a bad habit I had. I was so used to taking care of everything and everyone that this had to be a form of PTSD. When I had first met Edward, I had done the same thing. My two lovers before him didn't have much money, but they loved me for me, so I footed the bill without care because the emotional stability they were giving me made up for the financials I handled on the back end.

When I looked up from digging in my purse, Adonis was already handing his card and the bill back to the server.

"Don't ever do that shit again." His tone was even.

"I'm sorry."

"It's cool. You're just always good with me."

I felt the need to apologize again, but I didn't. When we made it to the exit, I went to touch the handle of the door, and Adonis just looked at me. That look let me know that I'd better not ever touch another door handle around him. He was such a fucking gentleman, and I was learning that this was the caliber of a man that I should be with. Still, it was this mystery to him that was as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

The sun had set, and the summer breeze was just right. We drove about twenty minutes before we reached location number two. I had never gotten a massage professionally, so I was silently geeked when I read Jeju Sauna. I didn't know how late this place stayed open, and I damn sure didn't want anyone rushing the massage that I had desperately needed.

"What time do they close?" I asked as we walked hand in hand toward the front door.

"They are twenty-four hours."

When we made it inside, we both gave over our IDs. After questioning the lady about their process for intake of identification, I felt safe giving her my real ID card. She assured me they only use our information if something occurs on the premises. We were both given orange suits and directed to separate quarters. There was a women's and men's side where we could get washed down before walking around the facility. I wasn't with another grown-ass adult washing my ass, so I passed on that part and just stripped out of my clothes.

"Oh, hunny, ya body is amazing."

I looked over my shoulder and saw this older Spanish woman smiling with her compliment.

"Thanks, I guess."

I rushed to get dressed in the orange suit so that I could go to the common grounds to meet Adonis. When I made it to the shared lobby, I saw he was leaning up against the wall with his head in his phone as he waited for me. I walked over in his direction.

"Are you ready?" he asked without looking up from his phone.

"How did you know it was me?" I said with a smile.

"I smelled your perfume."

I blushed. It was little shit like that. To me, we were equally yoked. Adonis was observant, just like me.

"Were you out here waiting for me long? You must not have gotten the bath that was offered."

"Hell nah, I ain't get that shit. A nigga ain't washing my ass."

I busted out laughing because we even thought the same. Adonis put his cell phone into his pocket and then reached his hand out in my direction. I had left mine in the locker because I really wanted to enjoy the moment without the distraction of my phone. I grabbed his hand and then let him lead the way to where we would be going for massages.

I lay on the table in bliss as the masseuse cracked damn near every bone in my body. He even cracked my toes. Sometime during the massage, I fell asleep because the Asian man was tapping my shoulder.

"You finish, hunny. Here you go!" He was passing me a card with his Cash App information.

Because Adonis had paid for our entry and dinner earlier, I felt it was only right to pay for the tips for both of our massages. He cut eyes my way, but I quickly ignored him as I had Cash Apped both masseuses fifty dollars each.

As we walked back to the common area, Adonis was chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny, crazy?" I had to ask after his fourth time laughing.

"This reminds me of jail for real. We in these orange ass suits, them muthafuckas over there eating in a group and shit. This is funny."

"You were in jail?" I quickly asked.

"Yeah," he answered with a tone like I was supposed to know that already.

"For what?"

I'm sure he was tired of everyone asking that question once he mentioned jail, but I needed to know.

"Some dumb shit."

Adonis was guarded, and I mean, he had reason to be. There were still things about myself that I didn't reveal to him.

"Not rape or murder, right?"

"Hell no!"

I didn't want to offend him, but I at least had to know that.

"Okay, sorry… just making sure."

"It was for armed robbery."

Just hearing the charge made me involuntarily cringe. One thing I couldn't stand in life was a thief.

"I ain't did shit, though. One nigga who I thought was my boy snitched on me."

You gotta do something for someone to snitch. I didn't say anything because I would just give him the benefit of the doubt.

Adonis opened up to me when he didn't have to. He held the door open to one of the saunas, and when we walked inside, the steam hit us fast.

"This shit is gone sweat my hair out," I complained as I wiped the light trickle of sweat from my forehead.

"Are you 'bout to look like Mya Angelou or something?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up," I said as I slapped him on the arm.

He was in shape, and I loved that about him. He was built like a nigga that had done some time.

"How long did you do?"

I don't know why I decided to bring the topic back up, but I could tell that I had easily offended him, so I wanted to let Adonis know his past was cool with me. What mattered was the person he was now in front of me.

"Six years."

"Damn."

"Yup."

There was that awkward silence between us again. We both just sat next to each other with nothing to say.

"Well, at least you're home now."

"Yeah, I'm not going back," he said with confidence.

To me, anybody who did one bid was liable to do another. It was like the way the system was set up. Once you were given an inmate number, you were gonna use that shit a few times. Since he was optimistic, I was going to be the same.

After going to the gym, eating ramen at the food court, and getting one more massage, we left the facility. A tiny piece of me was sad that the night was ending, but the entire experience was appreciated. He had no idea that he had exposed me to two new things. I had never gone to a Korean grill before, and I had never had a massage professionally done. I loved it when I came across a man who could expose me to new things.

When we pulled onto his street, I saw that Talia's car was parked on the street. Adonis parked on the street as well, so that way he didn't block me in. I waited for him to walk around to open my door.

"They must be back," I noted as I nodded my head at my cousin's car.

He unlocked the door, and as soon as he did, we heard loud music coming from upstairs.

"Of course, they're fucking back."

We both shared a laugh because Talia and Dom couldn't keep their damn hands to themselves, it seemed like. I yawned loud as hell, which was rude, but it was damn near two in the morning, and we were just now ending our date day.

"Did you wanna stay, or are you okay to do the drive home?"

"I don't mind staying."

"Let me get one of these." He held his arms out for a hug.

I fell into his frame and wrapped my arms around his back. We stared at one another, and when he leaned down to kiss me, I allowed him to part my lips and let our tongues meet. At the end of our kiss, he smiled at me and then locked the door behind us before he started to climb the stairs.

Adonis gave me a T-shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in. When he went to the restroom, I took that moment to change clothes. I tossed on the shirt and then put the shorts on the carpet beside the nightstand. I didn't see the sense and putting them on because I knew how I wanted the night to end for me. Being that I had been in his bed before, I didn't act like a stranger. I pulled the covers back and then got myself comfortable.

I felt myself getting comfortable around this man, and I loved this for me. My purse with my gun tucked inside of it was clear across the room, and I didn't have that weird feeling in my stomach because of it. He knocked on the door twice before pushing it open. He stuck his head in.

"I'ma sleep downstairs. Are you good up here?"

"Bullshit…" I pulled back the covers on the other side of the bed and then tapped the spot. "Sleep next to me, please."

The corners of Adonis' mouth lifted, and those pearly whites peeked under those soft lips. I loved he was a gentleman, but badly, I wanted him to treat me like a slut and in the worst way.