Chapter 7
A s s o o n a s I stepped off the plane, I felt my hometown buzzing. But my body was still somewhere in that airport bathroom stall, pressed behind a soft, soaked woman with her mouth open and my name on her tongue.
Two hours later, Autumn was still heavy on my mind. The way she moved. The way that pussy pulsated around my dick. That woman was trouble. I wasn’t tripping, though. She was fine. We connected. It happened. I adjusted my chain as I stepped into the terminal with my phone buzzing in my hand.
I smirked. Ty was always on ten since we were kids. I was the older cousin by a few years, and that nigga was one of my day ones. I texted back and told this nigga to relax.
As soon as I made it to the exit, I spotted the black SUV bumping music with the windows halfway down and Ty’s loud-ass voice already yelling out the window before I even reached the door.
“Ayyeee! My dawg back in the city!”
I shook my head and opened the door, tossing my duffle bag in the back. Ty grinned from the driver’s seat, grill shining, chains swinging, and a rep cup in the console that I already knew wasn’t just soda.
“Damn, you look like you need a few blunts and a couple drinks, nigga. That delay shit was crazy, huh?”
“Hell yeah,” I muttered, sliding in and dapping him up. “But, uh… I occupied my time during that last stretch.”
“Word?” he laughed, pulling off. “Was she bad?”
“Pussy good too. She was a vibe. Not gon’ lie.”
His eyes got wide. “Nigga.”
“Exactly.”
He laughed so loud the car shook. “You all smilin’ and shit. Oh yeah, she had that good good. Grown woman coochie.”
I didn’t deny it. I just leaned back in my seat, one hand on the console, the other dragging across my beard. “Vibe was crazy, for real,” I admitted. “Whole situation wild.”
“You get her number?”
I shook my head once. “Nah.”
Ty blinked, turned the volume down. “Hold the fuck up. So, you cracked a random, fine, mystery woman in a public bathroom, then dipped? No info? No nothin’?”
“Had a flight to catch,” I said, eyes on the road. “Didn’t even look back.”
He whistled. “Damn. I kinda respect that.” He turned the music back up and dapped me. “Welcome back to the Tavern, fam.”
I pulled out a pre-roll of some gas and sparked it up.
Instantly, the whip smelled like heaven.
The car filled with bass, streetlights flying past the windshield.
I watched the city move outside, people crowding sidewalks, holiday lights blinking on windows, and the energy of Thanksgiving weekend already in the air.
Black Friday ads was taped to gas pumps, aunties out in full sweatsuits and headscarves moving like they ran the city.
I cracked the window a lil’ and let the humid night air filter in.
Ty glanced over at me between sips of whatever was in his cup. “So, you know who all gon’ be at Big Mama’s tomorrow?”
I shrugged. “Same ol’?”
“Mostly. But uh…” He paused, looking like he was bracing for something. “I heard Yohana might pull up.”
I didn’t say anything right away. Yohana and I had been done for a minute now. Three years to be exact. We tried the whole settle down thing when I first started expanding the grow farms. She was around when I opened my second property and started getting serious money.
But somewhere along the line, we grew into different versions of ourselves.
She wanted more structure. More of me. And I was grinding and building something from nothing but a dream.
A nigga was busy. We argued a lot and took breaks, then tried again.
Shit just didn’t work. There was no cheating or betrayal.
Just life pulling us in opposite directions.
She moved on with a lame ass nigga… and I heard another one after that.
And the man I had become didn’t have space for her no more. Ever since she realized I was good without her, Yohana’s energy been a hit or miss. Cordial one minute on social media then petty and annoying the next. I chose to unfollow and keep it pushing.
“If she show up, she show up,” I finally said, eyes out the window. “I’m not trippin’ on that. I’ll speak. Keep it cool.”
Ty glanced over. “You sure?”
“Niggs, I’m here to eat and vibe. That’s it.”
I wasn’t here for no tension. I was here for a break from the day-to-day stress of managing a multi-million dollar operation that still had to run quietly under fed radars.
Being a West Coast grower came with layers.
Muthafuckas that wanted your plugs and your peace at the same time.
This was the first time I’d taken a break all year.
I wasn’t about to let nobody, especially not an old chapter knock me off balance.
“If anything,” I said, cracking a small smirk, “Yohana ain’t the one on my mind tonight anyway.”
Ty raised an eyebrow. “That bathroom pussy got you in a chokehold.”
I laughed under my breath. “Shut the fuck up.”