10. Dominique ‘Dolo’ Shaw #3
I ate like I’ve been a part of the family for a long time.
After we ate, I had that alone time with Riot’s grandparents.
Both of them wanted to have those side conversations with me.
Really just wanting to know what my intentions were with Riot, and telling me the importance of keeping her happy, and safe.
Her granddaddy was a little firmer than her grandmother, but it was cool, and I didn’t take anything the wrong way that he said to me.
I met the rest of her cousins, and her best friend Demi that she was even telling me about.
Amir was a cool lil dude too. I vibed with him for a little bit.
I never really get baby fever, but when I saw Demi’s daughter Daylani, and how cute she was, I got this feeling that I never got before, where for just one second I started picturing what life would be like if I had a daughter of my own.
I noticed that the kids loved Riot. Even during dinner, it was Riot that Daylani wanted to hold and feed her. She was good with the kids. Soft with them. Nurturing, showing off that soft side that I feel like I only see.
All her aunties, the kids, and her grandparents were inside the house, so I decided to go outside with Riot, Demi and her cousins. My talk was over with her grandparents, so I could go out back, and see what the vibes were out here.
The second I pulled the patio door back, and I was in Keyshawn’s backyard, I swear this shit just felt like a home.
I remember when Riot came to my spot for the first time, and although she complimented it, telling me how nice it was, one of the things that stood out to me was her saying that it didn’t feel like home.
Coming out here, seeing these beautiful palm trees, the nice garden, the lake view, and just the outdoor setup that she had going on, this was that home feeling that I’m sure Riot was telling me about.
The vibes were good out here. I could hear the music playing from the portable speaker that they had over there with them.
Riot was sitting under the gazebo area, that had patio seating.
She was sitting on one of the single chairs, with her back facing me, so she didn’t see when I was walking up.
They had multiple hookah’s on the table, music playing, red cups, and a bottle.
I walked up behind Riot, put my hands up under her arms, and I lifted her, picking her up from the couch backwards, and like her best friend, and her cousins weren’t out here, I turned her around in my arms, so that she could wrap her legs around my waist. I thought that she was going to bitch about what I did because she acted like she hated showing me affection in front of people, but she didn’t.
She was cool. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and she smiled at me.
“You leaving? I told you that I would leave with you. My bag is in Ari’s car,” she said, looking at me like she would be disappointed if I left without her.
“I’m not leaving bae. I came out here to see what ya’ll had going on,” I replied, and then I kissed her on her lips.
You could hear her best friend, and her cousins cooing behind us, which had Riot rolling her eyes at them. I carried her over to the chair that she had been sitting in, putting her in my lap. She didn’t straddle me though. She just sat down in my lap, while I wrapped a protective arm around her.
“What ya’ll drinking on?” I asked the girls.
“The bottle that you brought. You want a shot?” Ari asked me.
“Yeah. You can go ahead and pour me one. I appreciate that,” I said, leaning up, so that I could be able to take the cup from her once she poured it.
She handed it to me, I thanked her, and just on some playful shit, I put the cup to Riot’s mouth, as if I was feeding it to her. I knew her ass wouldn’t take it though. She moved it out of the way, and I brought it to my lips, throwing the shot back.
My girl really didn’t drink. Like, she didn’t fuck around with that shit.
She could be in a room full of people, which she was in Mexico, and everybody could be throwing shots back, and she’ll just sit there sipping her water.
I think that it was a good thing that Riot didn’t drink or do drugs.
Shit, she was already turned up without the extra boost, so she didn’t need shit else in her system.
“We the people want to know what happened the other night between you, and Bean. We saw the camera footage, but Riot won’t tell us what happened,” Demi, her best friend said to me, with the hookah in her hands.
She took a long pull from it and let a bunch of smoke in the air. You could tell that whatever the hell she was talking about, that the rest of the girls were in on it and wanted to ask as well because the second she asked, they started laughing.
“What camera footage? What you talking about?” I asked.
I felt like I was sitting around a bunch of my messy ass sisters, and my girl. I fucked with Riot’s people. They were all cool. She had a bunch of strong women in her life that you could tell cared a great deal about her.
Instead of Demi answering the question, Riot turned her head to look at me.
“You know Ari has the Ring doorbell. She has the footage from the other night at her house, when I was running after you, and jumped on top of your car. These bitches been fucking with me about that all day,” she told me and you could hear it in her voice that she was sick of their asses.
I ain’t want to laugh because I could tell that Riot was annoyed, but I was dying to see the camera footage myself. See, at the time, that shit wasn’t funny. She had me hot, and I really wanted to slam her ass. Now that a few days passed, and we made up from that shit, I could laugh about it.
“Let me see the video Ari,” I said, taking my eyes off Riot just for a second, so that I could look at her cousin.
Ari was cracking up with her own hookah tip in her hand. She picked her phone up from the table, and she went looking for the video.
“The thing is, I barely pay that Ring app any attention. While all that was going on, I was at work, and I can’t be on my phone like that.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I checked my phone, and I saw that at two in the morning, I had all kinds of motion at my door.
That’s what made me look at the footage to see what the hell was going on.
The app caught like five different videos.
Tell us the story Dolo because your girl wont,” Ari said, passing me her phone, and the video was playing.
It was on the part where I was yelling at her on the porch, telling her to take her ass in the house.
Then, I went on to the next video, where I walked away, got in the car, and her ass came running after me, beating on the window.
The next video, that’s when she jumped her ass on the hood of the car, and she wouldn’t get down.
Seeing those videos, and how shit went down, and seeing how we were cuddled up with each other right now, all I could do was laugh at it, while shaking my head, as I passed Ari back her phone.
“Your cousin used to being able to saying whatever the fuck she want to say, doing whatever she want to do, without having somebody really check her ass. I had to lay down the motha fuckin law the other night. I told her I was leaving, and she started wilding,” I let them know, only going to say that.
I wasn’t going to fully expose her and let them know how her ass was crying for real back in the bedroom, and that little shit that the camera picked up wasn’t anything compared to the way Riot really showed her ass.
“I hope you know what you getting yourself into, Dolo. We don’t fuck around. Riot got that crazy gene in her blood just like the rest of us,” Zaria, one of Riot’s other cousin’s said to me. I waved that shit off, like I wasn’t fazed by it.
“I hope your cousin know what she getting herself into. I’m the one that don’t fuck around.
We had a little hiccup the other night. We moved on from that, and we’re good now.
Ima make her move out your house, Ari, and in with me.
You got all our fuckin business on front street,” I said to Ari, and she laughed, while waving me off.
“You not taking my cousin nowhere with you nigga,” she said it in a playful way, but I knew she was serious and would probably hate that shit if I made Riot move in with me.
Her ass was just going to have to hate me because the plan was to have Riot move in with me.
Ever since she stayed the night with me, I didn’t want her ass to go.
I do a lot of wrong in this world. I was putting drugs out on the streets, killing niggas when I had to, and just making some wrong decisions, so with that, sleep is not always something that’s easy for me to do.
When I fall asleep with my girl though, my body feels at ease, and I could close my eyes and drift off to sleep with no problem.
I stuck around out here with Riot, and the girls, drinking, and talking shit with them for about 30 minutes more.
Ari’s son was leaving with his grandma, and Demi made plans to leave her daughter here with Keyshawn.
Now, all of them were making plans to go out tonight.
They tried their luck, and asked Riot to join them, but she turned them down, letting them know that she was leaving with daddy.
I mean, that’s not how she said it, but I knew that’s what she meant.
She went around, giving hugs to her girls, and I did the same, hugging them, and we went back inside.
They were wrapping up the party on the inside as well.
I showed respect, going over to Keyshawn, thanking her for having me over, and then I went around the room, giving hugs, and letting everyone know that it was nice meeting them.
Riot gave her hugs too, and before she got in the car with me, she went over to Ari’s car, so that she could grab her duffle bag.