Chapter 6 #2
Always on alert, my eyes scanned the parking lot before spotting the line formed outside of the club bathed in neon lights.
The three of us walked over and joined it, waiting to be let in.
It didn’t take long for us to make it past the bouncers with more brawn than brains, checking IDs at the door.
I paid the cover charge for everyone before we got our hands stamped with the club’s logo.
Upon entering, it glowed under the blue light.
The potent aroma of sweat, liquor, and marijuana wafted past my nose. My eyes scanned the entire first floor as I braced myself for a night of reminding niggas I would break their fuckin’ hands if they touched my sister or Lex. I didn’t care how old they were. I didn’t play that shit.
Neon-colored strobe lights pulsed throughout the club as the DJ spun a mix of Kendrick Lamar’s controversial verse on “Like That” over the “Snap Yo Fingers” beat and then blended in the “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” by UGK.
I bobbed my head to the beat while scrunching up my expression as if I smelled something foul, but in reality, I was thoroughly impressed with the music mashup.
The bass rattled through the speakers as women dressed in next to nothing, from wall-to-wall, twerked and popped their asses so hard on the dance floor that I could’ve sworn I felt the floor vibrating underfoot as we approached the bar.
I waved down the bartender to buy the first round of drinks. “Let me know what y’all want.”
“Shit, anything you buy, I’ma drink. I can’t even focus on anything else but dancing right now. This DJ got me ready to be on my Coyote Ugly shit. I’m ready to climb on top of this bar and twerk, twerk, twerk!” Liv’s tipsy ass squealed while swaying her hips to the pulsing beat.
My brows crushed together in disapproval. “Don’t do no shit that’s gon’ make me catch a fuckin’ charge tonight, Liv. I’m serious.”
“I won’t, Oak, damn,” she said playfully, still openly swaying her petite frame to the music.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, aight. Don’t get fucked up on your birthday. That goes for you too,” I called out to Lex over the loud music.
Lex’s brows creased. “Me? How’d I catch a stray?”
“I’m just lettin’ you know wassup.”
Lex sucked her teeth. “We ain’t kids no more.”
“So what? If you think I’ma sit here and let one of these broke-ass, dusty-ass niggas put his hands all over my sister or you, y’all drunk asses got another thing coming.”
“Yeah, yeah. Can we get a round of tequila shots?” she challenged, changing the subject.
“I gotchu.”
Two hours and several drinks later, I felt like I’d been in the club too fuckin’ long, and the only woman I was interested in—the only one I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off all damn night—still had a fuck nigga in the way.
I was still 90 percent sober, but I had enough liquor in my system to tell her pretty ass a thing or two.
But I’d been holding my tongue out of respect for her bruised heart.
I knew she was in a weird place emotionally, and I didn’t want to make things worse.
I was posted up at the bar, watching other niggas watch Liv and Lex let loose and twerk on the dance floor.
A chuckle slipped past my lips as I watched Lex.
I loved a multifaceted woman who could do hood shit and could go back to being classy and articulate in the blink of an eye.
Plus, I never missed an opportunity to watch the way her ass moved in that short ass dress.
With that liquor in her system, she was the type of goofy drunk that would bust out in the Electric Slide to a random ass song in the middle of the dance floor and be so charismatic about it, she’d actually get people to join in on her shenanigans.
Still, I stayed ready to bark on any nigga in here if his hands wrote a check his ass couldn’t cash.
But all that mattered was that they were having fun, which was exactly what they’d set out to do to celebrate my sister’s special day.
I wasn’t trying to ruin it, but I wouldn’t hesitate to shut shit down if I had to.
My head bobbed to the music as my eyes scanned the room. I paused when my gaze locked onto Lex’s. She was making her way through the crowd on the dance floor to come over to me. She approached me with a wide grin and a sheen of sweat across her forehead.
Out of nowhere, she reached out to hug me and moaned a little in my grasp. “Heyyyy, Oak.” She slurred her greeting. “Damn, you smell good.”
“Thanks. You do too. Where’d Liv go?”
“To the bathroom. Said the tequila is running through her pussy like a faucet,” she answered with a giggle.
I shook my head. I could tell from the light bounce in her step, the glazed look in her eyes, and her bubbly little voice that all the liquor in her system had her feeling like she was walking on the moon.
So much so that she hadn’t noticed she’d given me too much information when it came to my sister.
Both of their asses had been getting wasted as if they’d turned twenty-one again.
One look at her, and I could tell she had all the telltale signs of being intoxicated—from the way she smiled at nothing, how she concentrated on trying to stand up straight, and how her arms hung loosely at her sides.
I knew it was gon’ be one of those nights where she ended up eating something greasy with her eyes closed to soak up all the liquor in her system.
“You havin’ a good time?” I inquired.
“I’m having a greaaatttt time,” she said in her best impression of Tony the Tiger. “What about you? You’ve been drinking too?”
I nodded at the watered-down drink I’d been babysitting for the last thirty minutes. “Yeah, but not nearly as much as you. I’m good, though. I just want to make sure y’all asses get home safe.”
She frowned. “Home? I’m ready to buy the next round,” she offered before trying to wave down the bartender.
I caught her hand in midair and put it down. “Nah. I’m cuttin’ yo’ ass off. You’ve had enough.”
She smacked her lips. “You might be older than me, but we’re both grown-ass adults, Oak.”
“I said what I said, Lex,” I asserted. “And don’t bother arguing with me either, because we both know you’ll lose.”
Instead of responding, Lex started seductively swaying her hips to the bass from the club speakers blasting “Lover Girl” by Megan Thee Stallion.
“Oooh, this my shit,” she stated before starting to try and rap some of the lyrics, but she was so twisted, she wasn’t gettin’ half of them right.
The sight made me chuckle. I stopped cold when she invaded my personal space by putting her hand on my thigh and slightly opening my legs before turning around and slowly rubbing her ass against me.
“Whatchu doing right now?” I mumbled in her ear.
She looked over her shoulder at me and flashed a devilish smirk. “Whatever the liquor tells me to.”
Her ass knows exactly what she’s doin’.
I sighed. The liquor in her system had her freak level activated. The more she drank, the slicker her fuckin’ mouth got.
My jaw clenched. “Get the fuck from ’round me before a nigga rearrange yo’ guts like a pumpkin, Lex,” I answered back.
“Mmm. I like the sound of that.”
“You know yo’ ass is drunk, right?”
“Who? Me?” she asked cluelessly.
“Yeah, you, girl. You said you weren’t gonna get that drunk.”
She giggled. “First of all, you should’ve known that was a lie.”
A ghost of a smile lifted one side of my mouth. “You right about that.”
Lex turned to me and leaned in close. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Wassup?”
“Liquor always goes straight to my pussy.”
I held out my hand to put some distance between us. “Yo, Lex. You gotta chill right now, forreal.”
“I am chillin’. I’m chillin’ like a villain right now, Oak.”
“You ain’t got a chill bone in your body right now. But you better find some calm before I take yo’ ass home.”
“And then what? You gon’ put me over your knee too?”
“If it comes down to it.”
She smirked before playfully rolling her eyes. “Again, I like the sound of that.”
“You drunk and you sayin’ shit you don’t mean.”
“What if I do?”
“Even if you do, you won’t mean it in the morning, and I’m not the type of nigga to take advantage of you when yo’ frisky ass is drunk like this.”
She giggled. “Frisky? Me? Never.”
“Yeah, you. You already know I don’t play about you, Lex. So, if I give you this dick, that mean nobody else touchin’ you. Figure yo’ shit out at home before you come barkin’ up this tree because if you keep campaigning for this dick, you gon’ fuck around and get elected.”
She glanced around. “I don’t see my man around right now. Do you?”
“No, but I heard you talkin’ to that nigga earlier,” I finally admitted.
She rolled her eyes. “I really don’t wanna talk about him or his excuses right now.”
“Then what you wanna talk about?”
“You . . . and me.”
I chuckled before taking another swig of my drink. “What about us, Lex?”
Before she could respond, Liv rejoined us. “Whew! That was the longest line for the bathroom I think I’ve ever stood in! Wassup? We ordering another round or what?”
Lex pouted. “No. Your buzzkill of a brother cut me off. So, if I’m cut off, you are too.”
“Me? What did I do?” my sister questioned while pointing her index finger at her chest.
“Both of y’all asses need to get some food in your systems so you can start to sober up a lil,” I advised, stepping into full big brother mode.
Liv and Lex traded glances before my sister looked back at me and nodded. “Okay. We’re ready to eat. To the car, chauffeur negro!”
We stopped at a late-night fast-food restaurant before returning home from the club, bags of greasy food in hand. Liv had fallen asleep during the car ride, and I had to carry her into the apartment. She was passed out in her bedroom before even eating her meal, leaving Lex and me alone.
“I’ma go take a shower,” I announced, watching her slip her heels off at the door.
“Can I join you?”
I swung my head. “Damn, you still ain’t found no chill, woman?”