Page 9

Adonis

I had told Nyoka that I was heavily considering purchasing a home, so she had tapped me in with Talia.

House hunting was exhausting, for sure.

It took a while for Talia to understand just what kind of house I was looking for.

I had considered switching to another realtor, but she was like family now, and I was going to stick beside her.

Plus, I still felt bad that before meeting her and Nyoka, Dom and I had cleaned their crib out.

I felt the need to replace what she had lost by her receiving commission pay on the house I purchased.

Once she understood my taste, she understood the assignment and showed me properties that had a nigga stuck trying to make a decision on which one should be my forever home.

The house I had my heart set on was in Buford and had just enough room for me, Joy, Adira, her kids, and Javier.

I was second-guessing on asking Nyoka to move in with me.

She was content with staying with Talia.

I knew her family was a comfort zone for her, and her cousin was her only family.

Nyoka had shared with me how growing up had gone for her, and I hated the shit.

Black women were the most precious shit in the world to me, and I hated when a muthafucka mistreated them, especially our children.

I was blessed to have Joy in my life.

I acted out because of the inner feelings I was harboring toward my mother.

Joy's parental guidance had nothing to do with my behavior growing up.

I wanted Nyoka to see that she could see me as family. She had an abusive mother, and I'll take my absent mother over that any day.

"Adonis, are you ready to sign? This is the fifth time we have revisited this property this week."

Talia's voice brought me out of my thoughts. We had been looking for the longest. I just wanted to ensure this house was the one for me. I was ready.

"Yeah."

The corners of Talia's mouth turned upward because I knew she must have felt some kind of relief from me finally making a decision.

"You want me to FaceTime my cousin?"

"Nah."

I wanted to surprise Nyoka with me finally choosing a house. Talia pushed the paperwork across the kitchen counter in my direction and widely smiled as she handed me a black gel ink pen.

I printed and then signed my name in the designated areas.

POP!

"The fuck?" I jumped at the sound of the champagne bottle top flying off.

"Woohoo! You are officially a homeowner and the first house I sold!" Talia was jumping up and down in excitement.

"My cousin is going to be so happy for you," she said as she pulled two champagne flutes out of her bag and then poured us some drinks.

Her ass came prepared like a muthafucka, I thought to myself as we cheered, and then both took a sip. The insides of my cheeks tingled from the bitter taste.

"Don't say nothing to Nyoka about this with ya big-mouthed ass. I wanna surprise her for Christmas."

I had a lot of shit on my to-do list. I wanted to have the place fully furnished before even showing Nyoka where I wanted her to live.

"Aw, that is so cute! Tell your cousin to get some romance with him. He got my ass, and now he done fell off with keeping me, but that is a story for another time.

Here go your keys, Mr. Loving. Enjoy and create joyous memories in your new home." Talia slid my keys across the granite kitchen island counter.

She placed her cup into my deep farmhouse-styled sink. The sound of her heels sounded against the stormy gray hardwood flooring as she made her exit.

When I heard my front door shut, I kicked my Timberland boots off and then hopped my ass on top of the island counter, pulled my phone out of my pocket, and then FaceTimed Javier.

"Aye, bruh, what's up?" he answered on the second ring.

"Where's Joy at, hoe ass nigga?"

"Boy, I'm right here. You better mind that mouth." I could see Joy peeking her round face into the frame.

"I'm sorry, gang, but look, check this out, old lady." I raised the phone above my head so she could see what I was standing on.

"Who countertop you got ya stankin' ass feet on?"

"Ooooh, Joy cursing 'round this mug," Javier joked.

"Mine," I declared with a big ol' grin.

"Yours?" they yelled in unison.

"Un-huh." My ass started moonwalking.

"You better stop before you fall off that counter," Joy warned.

"Do I got a room, bro?" Javier asked in an excited tone.

"Everyone does."

I had finally done something in life that could make my little brother proud, and that made a nigga feel good as shit.

"I'm proud of you, baby," Joy expressed.

I couldn't do shit but smile. I did my big one by pulling this shit off and pleasing them had me feeling like the shit for real.

"Aight y'all let me go. I got a lot to do now that ya boy is a homeowner."

They both laughed before telling me they loved me and ending the line.

My family was pleased with me, so now I had to get the same stamp of approval from my girl.

After all, Nyoka had been helping me for the past two months to better my credit, and because of that, my down payment wasn't as high.

Nyoka had been bettering a nigga, and it was scary as fuck, but I loved it.

She was showing me a side of life that I had never had before.

I couldn't wait for her to see how I was gonna have this crib decked out by Christmas.

I was lowkey geeked about telling Nyoka.

I could see us building like a muthafucka under my roof.

I wanted this to be her roof, kitchen, and bedroom too.

I couldn't wait to furnish that room and then fuck her all over that bitch. I couldn't wait to ask her to move in. I just prayed that her skeptical, emotionless ass was with it.

I hopped down from the counter and then propped the phone up on the mosaic-tiled backsplash.

I set a timer and took a couple of pictures sitting on the island counter.

I had left small-ass Lima and made shit happen in a whole different state.

I was muthafucking proud of myself.

I needed the city to see that Drayko was moving in silence for months for this very moment.

I was done being humble.

I posted two pictures to my Facebook account with the caption New beginnings… talk to me nice.

After posting, I logged out because I already knew that I was about to break the damn internet and get a shitload of comments and likes.

Although I kept in contact with some people when I left the city, nobody knew where I had gone.

I was a ghost for seven months, but now I was back.

I was back on my bullshit.

I felt like I was back on top, and the shit felt great.

Nyoka

December in Georgia was nothing like experiencing a winter in New York.

Snowflakes fell from the sky as Adonis maneuvered his car onto the highway.

One thing he was going to do was push that v8 to the limit.

As soon as the flakes touched the ground outside, they disappeared.

It was no fun in that.

Christmas, to me, was always the most beautiful when there was snow to add to the beauty of the holiday.

"Where are we going?" I asked for what had to be the fifteenth time.

"Chill out."

I looked over and saw his high cheekbones were raised with his smile.

Adonis was excited, and it was rare to see because not much moved him.

I already knew what had him so geeked because Talia couldn't hold damn water.

I was surprised she never blabbed about how I was an assassin.

I think Talia knew that kind of information was some life-or-death shit, so she was able to keep those big-ass lips sealed.

While she and I were watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas the night before, she seemed antsy about something.

The damn girl was just jittery and smiling.

"What's up with you?"

"Girl, nothing," she responded.

"Okay."

I was the queen of leaving some shit alone. I would ask somebody only once if something was bothering them, and if they didn't open their damn mouth, I never pushed the issue.

"Well, it's one thing, but I shouldn't say."

"Oka—"

"Adonis bought you a house!" she shouted, cutting me off.

"What?"

I dropped popcorn in my lap and almost choked on a damn kernel.

"Well, he didn't buy you a house, but he purchased one. He finally got one, and he wants to surprise you with it."

Well, there goes the fucking surprise, I thought to myself as I sat there silently, just taking the information in. The entire week prior was starting to make sense. Adonis was being weird, and so was Talia. Now I knew why.

"I'm sad you're leaving, but hey, girl, build your life. You deserve it."

"Who said that I was leaving?" I asked with a raise of my arched eyebrow.

I liked Adonis, I did, but moving in with someone was a big-ass commitment. I didn't know how to process exactly how I felt about Adonis, but I knew I cared for him deeply.

"We almost there, Ny," Adonis' country slur that I had learned to love broke me from my inner thoughts as I sat passenger.

He had purchased me the outfit I was wearing, and of course, it matched his.

We both wore blue knitted sweaters and black distressed jeans, and I wore a pair of black UGGs while he wore a pair of black Chelsea boots.

We turned into a very nice subdivision.

Talia had spilled the beans on him purchasing a home, but she reframed from explaining the layout or giving me the address.

I'm sure if she had given me a location, I would have googled it just to see what it looked like.

I waited for Adonis to park the car in the driveway of an enormous ass house before I started to put my acting skills into play.

"What are we doing outside of this house?" I asked in a confused tone.

He cut the engine to the car, got out, and opened the door for me.

"You know I fuck with you, right?"

"And do," I replied with a smile.

The way that Adonis showed his care and love was so unorthodox, but it fit him well. When we got to the front door, he reached into his pocket and then unlocked the door.

"Is this your fucking house?" I hoped that my tone sounded surprising enough.

Adonis ignored me as he ushered me into the house.

We walked past a set of stairs and into a living room with an open concept.

The kitchen was off to the side, and I loved how much countertop and storage space it had. The smell of apple cinnamon hit my nose. Adonis had gone with a festive scent, and I loved that.

"Is this your house?" I asked again when our travels ended in the kitchen.

On the island counter was a big ass bottle of Hennesy with a gift bag in front of it.

"I want it to be ours."

Although I knew the proposal was coming, the knots in my stomach just couldn't subside.

I looked at Adonis for a while, and he looked nervous as fuck.

You would have thought he was asking me to be his wife, but I understood that facial expression all too well.

Rejection was one hell of a feeling.

I had killed a nigga for rejecting me before. I didn't love often, but when I did, I loved hard, and one thing that I didn't play about was my feelings.

"You want me cooking in this kitchen, Mr.

Loving?" I asked as I dragged my pointer finger across the top of the countertop.

Adonis smiled before biting down on his bottom lip.

When he tilted his head and then glared at me with those brown eyes, I couldn't help but blush.

He invaded my space as he walked up to me.

"I want you cooking in this kitchen, and I wanna put ya little ass up on these countertops and do nasty shit to you," he clarified.

"Oh?" I grabbed the bottle of Hennesy.

Adonis rushed to tap the top of the bottle before I broke the seal.

I smiled brightly because it was little things like he remembered.

He had always been a tequila drinker, but I had him switch up real quick.

I took a sip straight from the bottle and handed it to him.

He took a sip and then placed it back on the countertop.

"So?" he questioned.

"I just don't know, babe."

I could see the excitement leaving his eyes, and I hated that shit.

I don't know why I just couldn't say yes to living with him.

We damn near slept next to each other every night, either at my place or his, so living together shouldn't have been a problem.

"I don't get why you be so closed off to a nigga.

On Joy, I love the fuck outta you.

I know I do.

She raised me with so much love.

I just chose to push that shit away because of some other demons I got going on with me, but I promise you I know I am capable of love, and I know I love you."

"Yes," I blurted out.

He raised his eyebrow in confusion, so I quickly followed.

"Yes, I will move in here."

The smile that Adonis gave me made me fucking smile.

He hugged me hard as hell before kissing me deeply.

When it ended, he tapped my lips.

His saying that he loved me had me scared as hell.

I had only loved three men in my life, and Adonis was one of them.

The first one I had killed, the second one had gotten killed, and he was the third.

I prayed he didn't do anything to break my heart because then he would be the third and final muthafucka that I had given love to.

"Grab that bottle, babe, and walk straight to the back that way and make a right."

I grabbed the bottle and turned to walk in the direction that he had pointed. Once my back was facing him, he slapped the hell out of my ass.

"Babe!" I shouted when I felt the sting to my backside.

"Come on now, you should have known that one of those was coming."

I playfully rolled my eyes as I followed his instructions to a tea and led the way.

"Make a right…"

This was a whole lot of house for what was supposed to be for just me and him, but I liked it.

For the longest, I could have placed myself in the lifestyle to live this way, but I chose to be very lowkey with my purchases.

When I rounded the wall and walked into the next room, my mouth fell open in shock.

The ceilings were already high as fuck in this house, and this man had the tallest Christmas tree I had ever seen before in my life standing right in front of us.

He knew that my favorite color was blue, and the ornaments were silver, white, and blue.

What caught my attention more than the decorations that dressed the tree were the presents under them.

The silver, royal blue, and white wrapping paper was done perfectly.

I looked back at Adonis, and he was smiling brightly.

I quickly thought about how the night would have ended for him had I not agreed to move in.

He had put so much into our first Christmas together, and I was glad I was finally allowing myself to let go and be loved.

Talia always preached about how I just needed to allow a man to love me.

She would always say that there was someone out there who was going to love me exactly how I deserved to be loved, and I now knew that I was looking at him.

My eyes started to water as I smiled at him.

"Is this for me?"

I was a gift giver, and I told Adonis months ago that it was one of my love languages.

"Hand me this and go open ya shit, babe."

Adonis held his hand out for the bottle of Hennesy that was in my hand.

Like a child, I took off toward the tree.

I hadn't told him that I had never even celebrated a Christmas, so he had no idea just how much this shit meant to me.

Adonis

I took a seat on the nearby sectional that damn near wrapped around half the room.

I smiled like a proud parent as I watched Nyoka tear through the wrapping paper.

I had gotten her purses, clothes, a bunch of shit that could fill the massive walk-in closet she had upstairs.

I was so happy that she had agreed to move in.

It bothered me a bit that my confession of loving her wasn't reciprocated, but I understood.

I didn't want to rush her feelings.

When she finally did come around to loving me, I wanted it to be organic.

My phone vibrating in my pocket made me slightly lift up from the chair to get to it.

When I saw a private number calling, I sent it straight to voicemail.

I had ignored private calls ever since I posted that picture on my Facebook.

When niggas saw a nigga doing good, they felt the need to reach out with their hands out, and on Joy, I didn't have shit for anyone.

I got a notification on my Cash App, and I immediately went to it.

I didn't know who was in a good mood and possibly sent me some money, but I would take it.

When I opened the app, I saw Lola had sent me a dollar.

In the notes section, it simply said Merry Christmas, you should buy my SHEIN cart.

There was a smiley face emoji next to the message.

I had blocked her number and blocked her on everything the day I had said goodbye to her.

I didn't know if the holidays made her feel the need to reach out, but she had to have wanted to get my attention badly by choosing to use Cash App as her outlet.

"Babe, is this the damn foot massage thing I said I wanted from that damn commercial," Nyoka asked as she ripped open another present.

"It is."

One thing I prided myself on was paying attention.

It wasn't much that Nyoka said that I didn't hold on to for later use.

"Take a shot," I said to her as I held the Hennessy bottle up.

Nyoka stood up from the floor and then walked over to me.

She was kicking wrapping paper out of her way.

Did I overdo it? Hell yeah, I did, and mainly because when I reached out to Talia to get Nyoka's sizes from her, she had gone on and on, telling me how Nyoka never celebrated a Christmas growing up because her mother didn't allow her to.

She even shared with me that one year, her father tried to send for Nyoka at least so she could experience a Christmas that any child deserves to get, but her mother had declined the invitation.

That shit pissed me off because, from the little that I did get from Nyoka about her childhood, she was so mistreated.

I couldn't see how she was even as sweet as she was.

Yes, Nyoka was rough around the edges, but so was I.

I had my share of goody-two-shoes ass bitches, and I was actually relieved that I finally had a woman in my corner that was as thorough as me.

"Shot of what?" Nyoka seductively purred as she got on her knees directly in front of me.

Her freaky ass was another thing that I loved about her.

I took the top off the Hennessy bottle and raised it above her head.

She tilted her head back and opened her mouth, so I poured some liquor into her mouth.

She lifted her hand and then moved it in a circular motion to motion for me to keep pouring.

"You gone be drunk as fuck," I warned as I kept pouring.

When I thought about it, I had never seen Nyoka drunk around me. Now, I always got torn the fuck up. I would never let her know it, but I felt like maybe her tolerance was higher than mine. She put her hand up, and I stopped pouring.

"I need the other shot now."

Before I could say anything, Nyoka was undoing my belt.

I threw my head back as she took me into her mouth.

I loved it when she put her mouth on me because she did it with so much love that it made me want to go out and buy a ring and then drop down on one knee.

I let Nyoka have her way with me, and when it was time for me to reciprocate, I ate her with such precision that she squirted all over my, I mean, our new sectional.

We had gone round for round with little breaks in between.

By the time Nyoka and I had finished drinking, I had to carry her up the stairs.

"I ain't ever been this drunk before.

I love you, babe," she admitted as I gently placed her into the bed.

We didn't even put our clothes back on from our homemade porn just about an hour ago. That was the end of round three, by the way.

"I love youuuu," she sang.

She wasn't this affectionate, so it was throwing me off for real.

I knew exactly how I felt about Nyoka.

I was confident in my feelings for her, but I felt like she was battling with her inner self when it came to me.

I understand she considered herself damaged, but everyone was in their own little way.

Before we got good into drinking and in our second round, I had taken photos of us in front of the Christmas tree.

I was excited because Nyoka had agreed to move in and that to me felt like a step in the right direction.

The pictures came out dope, but when I went to post them on my Facebook, she basically flipped out about her being on social media.

I wanted to show my lady off because she was heat, but with her reaction to what I considered a thoughtful gesture, I would never do something like that again.

I didn't know what the big deal was, but I wasn't going to push to show her ass off anymore.

"You're drunk, babe," I said to her as I put her bonnet over her hair and then started to take her lashes off.

Talia had helped me with getting some of Nyoka's things over to the house.

I was actually glad that she had agreed to move in because had she not, I'm sure I would have been throwing all of this shit out on the front lawn.

I set the lashes neatly on the nightstand because I knew she reused them.

Her ass was snoring with a smile on her face.

It made my day that I was able to make Christmas special for her.

I knew Nyoka was grateful and appreciative of my and Talia's hard work because she kept saying thank you between her taking my deep strokes.

I kissed her forehead and lips before whispering that I loved her back.

Nyoka was way drunker than me because she was throwing those shots back.

I had slowed up on drinking after our little spat over the pictures.

Besides my ex, I didn't have any other woman I would have even considered posting on my social media.

I sat on the sofa butt-ass naked beside the wet spot we had created.

I was just admiring the Christmas tree in front of me.

The white, silver, and blue colors went well together.

When I told Talia to make it pretty, she did just that.

There was matching wrapping paper still on the floor.

We fucked all over that, too.

It was a peaceful moment to be sitting in my own home, in front of my own tree, celebrating with the new woman in my life.

I had to find out how to really get Nyoka to where I was emotionally.

Her expressing in great magnitude just how much she loved me when she was drunk wasn't enough.

I would shout from the tallest building in the city just how much I loved her.

I didn't realize I had left my phone downstairs until it started vibrating on the couch beside me.

I was getting a Facebook Messenger call from Lola.

I ignored it because it was late as hell and because I was sure it was because of her crazy request.

It was obvious she wanted attention, which I wasn't about to give to her. She was honestly lucky that she was unblocked.

When I left Lima, I went ghost on all socials.

When I had purchased my house, I returned to social media mainly to flex.

While doing so, I went through my blocked list to check who was up for parole.

At first, I really thought that Lola trying to make contact with me was insane, but when I really thought about it, this would be her first Christmas without me.

Even when we were broken up we would still share holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day together.

Last Christmas we wore matching pajamas and everything although we weren't together.

One thing about Lola was she allowed me to show her off.

With all the weird hating bitches in Lima, she actually preferred that I did.

We were definitely the "it" couple to everyone out there.

It sucked that things ended how they did, but that's life.

I waited for the call to finish ringing out before I went snooping on her page.

To my knowledge, when I left, she was happy with whoever.

When her page loaded, I saw she had shared a relationship meme with the caption, saying I miss little things like this.

The meme was of flowers and gift bags.

I sucked my teeth as I locked the phone.

People always missed things they were ungrateful for when they were receiving them.

That ship had sailed, and I was finally okay with that.

I took another sip out of my glass as I thought about how I could get Ny to open up to me.

I had missed Ohio, and since Javier had told me that the police had found a suspect in the murder that I had committed, I figured it would be safe to visit.

I already knew and was locked in with the only family that she had.

Talking to my brother, sister, and Joy over FaceTime was cool, but I wanted her to catch my family's vibe in person.

Just as Talia had welcomed me with open arms and Dom had done the same to Ny, I wanted her to see that the woman who had raised me was the same way.

I was kind of excited about letting Nyoka meet my people.

I was even more excited to show her around my city.

I couldn't wait for her to wake up so that I could tell her that I wanted to visit home and she was coming with me.