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PHASES TO MAKE YOU MINE

The night was loud. Velvet South was packed.

I was in the cut, watching. That’s what I did—watch.

Southwave thought I was just the muscle in my clique, the heavy hitter, the one you sent when you needed bodies moved or niggas pressed.

They didn’t know I peeped everything. The way Coast moved like the boss, Mula quiet but deadly, and Yummi. ..

Man, Yummi. She was always something different. She had this way of looking good like she wasn’t even trying, like she floated, and niggas was too scared to step. That’s because she was Coast’s little sister, and Coast didn’t play about her.

But tonight?

Coast was finally sliding out with Nina all on his arm. He didn’t even look back. I watched them leave, and the crowd swallowed them up. Mula stayed posted in VIP with a baddie still on his lap, smoking like the king of the fucking ocean, but he wasn’t paying no mind to Yummi.

That’s when I moved.

She was standing at the bar with a drink in her hand and her cute laugh in the air. I stepped up behind her, close enough that she could feel me.

“What you sippin’ on, lil mama?”

She turned slowly, eyes flickering like candles. She had a playful smirk on her lips. I could tell that she was already half-annoyed.

“Hurricane. Don’t start.”

“Nah, I ain’t starting. I’m just saying. You out here by yourself, now? Ain’t no big bro watching. What you on tonight?”

I let my eyes drop, just a little, taking her in. Her all-black fit. Her curves. Her attitude. Yummi was a vibe and always had been. She was younger than I by a year, so we were on the same level.

She narrowed her eyes.

“I’m grown, nigga. I go where I want.”

“Yeah, you grown. Grown enough to let a nigga take care of you.”

She sipped her drink, not backing down, but I saw that flicker in her eyes—hesitation, maybe curiosity. She wasn’t used to anybody pushing up on her like that. Not in Coast’s territory, but he wasn’t here now.

“Why you always acting so hard, huh? You don’t need to be.”

She stepped back, but not all the way. Her voice dropped, just a little.

“Because I don’t trust no nigga in this city, that’s why. I got Coast.”

I leaned in, close enough that she could feel my voice in her ear.

“Maybe you just ain’t been with the right one yet. You ain’t gon’ always have your brother either. That nigga can’t give you no dick.”

She froze for a split second, then slipped out of the space between us, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Boy, I gotta go. You’re talking crazy.”

“I ain’t crazy, I’m real, and about you. You’ll see.”

“Bye, Hurricane.”

I watched her walk away, hips swaying like a problem I wasn’t trying to solve, but I knew—this wasn’t over.

Not even close.