15. Baby
BABY
I’ve never been to this place before, but when we stepped inside, I instantly knew I was gonna like it. He brought me to some urban restaurant in the middle of the city.
Soft R&B music was played from the speakers directly above us.
You can tell by the décor that it’s a black-owned business, but it’s nice as hell and the food is more expensive than I thought it’ll be.
I told Love he didn’t have to bring me somewhere so high priced, but he just waved me off like I was talking nonsense.
He glanced over and smiled sweetly. He’d been doing that all night, and every time, I squirmed under his gaze. I can tell he liked what he saw, and it was worth every second it took me to put it on. I thought about turning him down when he asked, but in the end, I just couldn’t say no to him.
When I was in my room earlier, I was losing my mind about what I should wear.
I ain’t plan on going out, he caught me completely off guard.
I had to call Jayda for some assistance.
She confessed that she left another fashion nova dress hanging in my closet, in hopes I’ll wear it sometime soon.
I don’t know how she be knowing these things, but my cousin knows.
I struggled for almost thirty minutes to zip this up, but I'd do it again just to see the look he had in his eyes right now.
She gave me a quick tutorial on how to straighten my hair and add a little mascara to my eyes. I lost count of how many times I poked myself in the eye, trying to get it right.
“How you like the food?” he acquired.
I noticed that he always maintained eye contact when he spoke to me. As if everything I say is important and he doesn’t wanna miss a thing.
“It’s good,” I muttered, cutting through a piece of steak. “I never had anything this good before.”
I dipped it in the A1 sauce, before popping it in my mouth. He smirked when a moan slipped from between my lips.
We made small talk through dinner, but neither one of us knew what to say that’ll be appropriate enough to discuss without crossing the line.
He makes me nervous, my body ached to get closer to him, but I don’t know whether to talk to him as my parole officer or the man I’m on a date with.
Because make no mistake about it, this is a date, no matter what we try to call it to make ourselves feel better about what we’re doing.
My eyes scanned the room, briefly glancing towards the TV screen at the bar. It’s a news clip, a manhunt from what I could see, but I was too far to hear anything.
Love tapped his feet gently against mine to get my attention.
“Hey,” I said softly, gesturing towards the middle of the room. “You wanna dance?”
A frown made its way on my face when I surveyed the crowd, and the empty dance floor. “But nobody else is.”
“So,” he countered, wiping his mouth with the cloth napkin before he stood up. Coming around the table, he reached out for my hand. “All you need is me.”
Looking deeply into my eyes, he spoke with so much conviction that I believed every word. My hands trembled when I placed it inside his. I'm sure he noticed, but he didn’t mention it.
He slowed his footsteps when we reached the center. I gasped in surprise as he tugged me close to his chest, wrapping one arm gently around my waist. He laid his open palm flat on my lower back, using the other to grasp my hand in his.
“You never danced before?” he asked when I stepped on his toes for the second time.
“Not like this,” I admitted shyly, peaking down to make sure my feet were a safe distance away. “I used to dance at parties, I guess, before I went to prison. People in the hood don’t dance like this.”
He chuckled, the vibration in his chest warmed my heart. That came out wrong, and he’s probably thinking I’m insulting him.
“Not you,” I fumbled over my words, tryna retract my statement. “Other hood people.”
He laughed harder, and I averted my gaze in embarrassment. I’m making a fool of myself.
Releasing my hand, he used his index finger to turn my head towards him. “I know what you meant, Baby. I didn’t know either until I started going to a bunch of fundraisers and shit for my job. I had to teach myself a thing or two. I do alright now though.”
I rolled my eyes at his cocky smile, showing dimples in his cheeks I didn’t know he had.
‘Perfect’ by Otis Kane started playing on the speakers, and it’s one of my favorite songs, so I singed along.
I lost myself in the lyrics, sensually moving my hips to the beat of the melody. I was so into it that I hadn’t realized I closed my eyes until my eyelids fluttered open. His eyes collided with mine, and I giggled at his lopsided grin.
“What?”
He shook his head. “I ain’t know you can blow like that, Baby.”
He tightened his hold on my waist, the pressure of his hand made my body tingle. I had my arms loosely around his shoulders, my fingers latched together at the back of his head.
“How could you know?” I teased, giving him a knowing look.
We have yet to talk about the fact that we knew each other for real. I know the reason I didn’t bring it up. My past reminded me of T. K, and he’s the last nigga I want to be thinking about, especially right now. But why Love didn’t say anything?
After a few seconds, he sucked his teeth, “Alright. You caught me.”
I giggled at his foolishness. “So, you do remember me?”
“How can I ever forget you, Baby?” whispered, licking his lips sexily.
The song continued to play, but we stopped swaying as our eyes collided. I feel like eighteen again, sneaking glances at him from across the room and watching him look at me with the same heated gaze. I slowly raised my hand to his face, cupping his jaw into my palm.
His eyes were glued to my mouth. I can see the struggle in his eyes, and every glance towards my lips, his jaw tightened.
I never wanted anything more than this. For him to kiss me.
It’s all I thought about since I saw him again.
Mentally cursing myself, I lean in anyway.
I don’t care about the consequences. I needed him.
We were so caught up in each other, we didn’t see the S.W.A.T. team come up with their guns, boxing us in from all sides of the restaurant. “Mr. Hamilton! Get on the ground, NOW!”
We both jumped away, and, in an instant, Love was forcefully thrown to the floor.
“Wait, what’s going on?” I screamed loudly, my eyes widened.
At the same time, Love shouted, “What the fuck? What did I do?”
Everything happened so fast, and I couldn’t even keep up with what they were saying. One minute he was holding me in his arms and the next, he was on the floor in handcuffs.
“You’re under arrest for the armed robbery of Frescani’s Savings and Loan and the Attempted murder of Antonio Frescani.”
I gasped out loud, placing my hand over my mouth.
“You got the wrong nigga man. It ain’t me!”” Love blurted out, twisting around the best he could, peering at the officer holding him down. But the man already had it in his mind that Love was guilty. “When this happened? You got the wrong man.”
He glimpsed down at him with a sickening grin. “You know where you were two hours ago, Mr. Hamilton, and you know what you did. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I was shaking my head before he even got the rest of his sentence out. I hate these smug muthafuckas.
I took note of the way Love hung his head in defeat, as if he’s accepting his fate even though he was innocent. He couldn’t have robbed anybody when he was with me at my house two hours ago.
Two-armed guards lifted him up off the floor, and I tried to talk to them, but Love locked eyes with me briefly.
“No, Baby,” he spat, moving out of my sight.
Somehow, he must’ve known what I was gonna say. I was dumbfounded and confused.
What the fuck does he mean ‘no’? Why would he rob a store, then take me out to a public place two hours later?
“I don’t understand.” I tried to run up beside him so he could explain, but a swat officer gripped my arm to hold me back.
“Love!” I choked out, yanking my arm out of his grasp.
Pulling at my hair, I watched helplessly as they loaded him into a van.
I asked the first person I saw if I could use her phone.
I needed a ride to the station. I had to tell them the truth.
I started dialing, then my hands froze over the buttons.
In that moment, I realized why he said no.
As much as I want to get him out of this, I can’t help him.
I can’t have any ties. I’m his alibi, but I’ll be sent back to prison if I talked.
My breath coming out in short pants, tears rolled down my eyes.
“Fuck!” I yelled, tugging on my hair. I dialed my auntie’s number, and she picked up on the third ring.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Auntie, it’s Baby.” I heard a lot of noise in the background, before it suddenly went silent.
“What’s going on? Whose number is this?” she questioned frantically.
“I need you to pick me up,” I choked out, wiping under my eyes with my thumb. I looked around so I could get the name of the restaurant. She told me she’ll be here soon, and hung up, so I gave the phone back to the person I borrowed it from.
I stood outside, and cried for the next ten minutes before she pulled up. She asked me what happened, and I didn't have an answer. I didn’t know either. There were so many things I'm confused about.
I completely ignored her and Kenny. Both of them staring at me with a look of worry from the front seat. Once the belt was trapped in, I laid my head back and cried some more. Auntie couldn’t help but be in my business.
“So, you not gone tell me what happened?”
Sighing, I raised my head up to stare at her. Kenny was driving, trying not to listen.
“Not now, auntie. I’ll tell you later,” I muttered, before closing my eyes.
I had a split fucking headache. I can’t believe Love got arrested right in front of me. I hated that he’s going through this, and I can’t do anything about it. I felt so helpless.
When we pulled up, Leah’s car in the driveway and I'm glad she’s home. I needed to tell somebody about this.