~~~Chapter 3~~~ #2
Nevertheless, by the end of the evening, I was fat full from the food at the restaurant.
We’d ordered so many drinks, and the shit seemed more potent than any time I’d ordered there before.
I knew that we’d run up a tab, and was completely thrown off when the waitress told me that I owed nothing. The night was on the house.
Big Baby was looking around, like she was lost, not giving the waitress any eye contact, and kept her head low, as we exited the building.
“Say, you really aint gone tell me what that’s about?” I finally asked her, after we were back in my Rover.
“What are you talking about?” She questioned, with fluttering lashes.
“That whole situation at the restaurant. Who paid for our food?” I wanted to know, as I pulled away from valet.
“Ummumm.” She shrugged. “You gotta learn how to stop questioning your blessings.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep.” She nodded.
“So, are you just gonna keep dancing around my questions?”
“Right now? Probably so.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I like the fact that you know nothing about me.”
“And that’s how you wanna keep it?”
“Hmm,” she seemingly pondered. “The verdict is still out. So, far, I like you…and that’s even more of a reason why I don’t want to get into anything about me. Besides…your mama didn’t name you Malice . So, don’t act like you’ve given me your life’s story or something.”
“You might not know my life’s story, but I aint ducking dodging people, neither,” I rebutted.
“Me neither.”
I had to laugh at that. “Say, the way that the lies just roll off your tongue is crazy.”
“The lies?”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Nigga, bye.” She reached over and mushed my head.
“Aye,” I warned, cutting my eyes at her.
“Aye, what?” She teased. “The fuck are you gonna do?”
Nodding my head, I abruptly pulled into a random parking lot. “Now, what was you saying?”
Reaching over, she bopped me over the head.
When I tried to reach over and grab her, she opened the passenger’s door and hopped out of the jeep.
Pettily, I jumped out too, and ran after her.
Ironically, with all that thickness, she was quick on her feet, forcing me to pick up the speed.
Eventually, I caught up with her ass, grabbing her from behind.
“Now, what?” I spoke in her ear, as I lifted her feet off the ground.
“Noooo!” She kicked her feet, while laughing hysterically.
“You think this a fucking game?” I questioned, while carrying her back to the truck.
When I placed her back on her feet, she placed her palms on the leather seat, as she stood in the ajar doorway. Giggling, she booted over, while cars zipped past us in the busy parking lot.
“Come spank me.”
“What?” I found myself laughing at her randomness.
Like it was nothing, she wobbled those ass cheeks, enticingly. Without a second thought, I parked my dick up against her ass, while gripping her hips.
“You better stop playing with me, before you start something.”
Naughtily, she glanced back at me with a smirk. “That’s the point, nigga.”
Licking my lips, I rubbed her booty. “Damn.” I glanced around, remembering that we were out in the open, in a shopping center’s parking lot. “I can’t get caught slipping like this.” I popped her ass, making it jiggle. “Come on. Get your ass back in the truck.”
She stood upright, and climbed into the Rover, before I jogged back to the driver’s side. Once I got resituated, I gazed at her, and found her staring back.
“So, Malice, I take it that you’re the predator out here.”
I smirked, as I pulled out of the lot. “What made you say that?”
“Cause. You’re overly observant. You don’t mind having a little fun, but not to the point where you let your guard down.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. It’s just an observation.”
“I hear you.”
“But there’s one spot that’s flawed.”
I glimpsed at her. “And what’s that?”
“You aint too careful in the streets, if you fucking with me and don’t know me from a hole in the wall. What if I have bad intentions?”
I smiled. “What if I do too? Who’s at the bigger disadvantage here? Me or you?”
She shook her head. “I aint gone answer that.”
“Exactly.”
“This is fun,” she sporadically acknowledged. “But it’s ‘bout time that I go back to my reality.”
“So, you ready to leave me?” I gazed at her, as I pulled up to a light.
She tucked her lips into her mouth. “Why do you have to put it like that?”
“Because that’s what it is. My wife is tryna run off. Is there a nigga at home, madder than a muthafucka? Tell me. Let me know what’s up.”
She sighed. “How do you know that it’s not work?”
“So, you telling me that you got a nine to five, Big Baby? Is that how you manage to run it up at the Galleria?”
“Why it gotta be a nine to five?”
I licked my lips. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Right. And what kinda job would a twenty-one-year-old have to purchase designer on a regular?”
She rolled her eyes. “The hell if I know.”
Shaking my head, I smiled. “Do you even have a job?”
“Something like that.”
“Whatever that means.”
“It means that I don’t feel like breaking down the details tonight.”
“So, you don’t have plans on me getting to know you?”
She stared at me, while I gripped the steering wheel. “You got a girlfriend?”
I frowned. “That was random.”
“It really wasn’t.”
“How wasn’t it?”
“Because I just wanted to point out how a lot hasn’t been discussed in the past two days.
It’s been fun, but it’s surface level. And I noticed that your phone never rings.
And with you being…in the streets…that tells me that you probably got a hot line, but keeps that ringer off.
That’s a red flag. But I aint tripping, because I’m just living in the moment.
And the only way I’ll let you get any closer… is when I have no more questions.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “So, tell me this. If you so apprehensive, then why did you go so far with me?”
“If you’re talking about the fact that we didn’t wear protection…I was reckless. There’s no other way to put it. But you should also know that I take PrEp that prevents HIV.”
“Damn. I wasn’t expecting that. What made you start taking that shit?”
“When I realized that no matter how much a man says that he loves you, you can only trust your actions. Not his.”
I nodded, understanding exactly where she was coming from.
“And just know that it’s not often that I’m in a situation where I see a guy I like and go for it, like I did with you. I was trying something different.”
“Oh, yeah? Do you regret it?”
“No. Not yet, anyway.”
“Not yet? Damn. You aint got no faith?”
She rolled her eyes. “You never did answer my question.”
“What question?” I pulled up to the Airbnb.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Oh. Well…what about you? You got a nigga?”
“Huh? What is that?” She gazed up at the tall home. “I bet those balconies give you the perfect view of the city’s skyline.”
I gazed at her. “Shit, let’s go to the rooftop and see.”
She tittered. “Your nasty ass would suggest that.”
“So, you aint going up to the roof with me?” I creased a brow.
She gradually nodded. “Yeah, I’ma go.”