“Nah, like… actual grass. When I first met her, she told me not to even buy her flowers.”
“And youlistened?” The nigga looked absolutely repulsed. “Listen, please don’t take offense to this, but is everything okay? If you need to hold something, I can slide you a few dollars,” he said like he was trying to be as delicate as he could while his eyes involuntarily glanced at my hand that held my phone.
“Nigga,” I scoffed. “I’m good. I promise I got it.”
“Aight, I just wanted to be sure. Well, do you at least take her out?” he asked.
“We uh…” I thought about it and realized that we hadn’t even been on an official date yet. Yes, we had been spending all our time together, but it was inside her house because she didn’t want anything to get leaked. “I guess not... Fuck, man. We been chillin’ at home because she isn’t ready for everything to hit the public, but evidently, I need to step it up.”
“Don’t even trip. I’ma put you on. They don’t call me Trick Daddy Tahmir for nothing,” he chuckled and patted me on the back.
“Who the fuck calls you that?” I asked with my brows raised, because plug or not, there was no way in hellIwas about to start calling his ass that.
“Them,nigga! Anyways, I got some homies that will shut shit down for y’all to have a private dining experience, and I’ma get you in touch with my plug so you can get her some shoes, a bag,somethingnigga. Trust me, I seen how they livin’ and these women are spoiled as hell, so it’s our job to ruin them even worse. I want Mona’s chest hurtin’ if she even thinks about leaving me again.”
“Bet,” I said with a nod.
I sat there for the entire ride back to the house listening to this nigga give me a lesson in Trickin’ 101. Once we made it back, we finally gathered their asses up to leave for the barbecue.
“Listen, if an old lady tries to throw you some ninety year old snatch, just ignore her. Find one of us, and we’ll take care of it,” Amaya said as we pulled into the driveway.
“Shit, I forgot about Geraldine’s old ass! She still on that?” Mona asked with her face all frowned up.
“It’s worse!” she huffed. “Like her nasty ass is in heat or something.”
“May… I’ll smack your auntie behind this one! I’m not playing with her old ass no more,” Mona spat.
“Girl, I’m right there with you.”
“Sweets, you not about to be out here two-piecing no old lady. Relax,” Tahmir teased as he parked the truck.
“Who not?” she asked as he helped her out of the car.
“Aye, you better calm that shit down before I...” his voice trailed off as he leaned down to whisper something in her ear.Whatever he said made her skin turn five shades redder and a silly smile spread across her face. Having had a few encounters with the two of them, I knew it was some freak shit. I took my own opportunity grab a few kisses from Amaya since we were supposed to be on our low-key shit.
“You ready for this?” I asked, pulling her between the two open doors of Tahmir’s truck so I could sneak in a few pecks.
“I’m good… Areyouready for this?” she teased as she pulled me closer for another kiss.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I shrugged. As incredible as she was, I already knew how they would be coming behind her if I fucked up, so I vowed not to fuck up… again.
“Aww dammit,” she mumbled as she looked past me. “Really, y’all?”
I turned around to see a small gang of people, half of which shared the exact same face as Amaya. Everyone looked at the four of us expectantly.
“This is… awkward,” Tahmir mumbled under his breath, making me chuckle.
“Oh my God! Let’s get this over with,” she said as she and Mona introduced us to her mom Ana, her dad Andre, AJ, her younger brother Amari, niece Kadence, and her aunt and uncle Chanell and Brian.
“Nice to finally meet you, son,” Andre said sternly as he shook my hand. “Usually, I’m more of a Leopards fan, but I guess you can stay.”
“Umm… thank you,” I said stiffly.
“Daddy!” Amaya huffed and it took everything in me not to turn my head. “He’s joking! Hehatesthe Leopards… In fact, he’s been a fan ofyourssince your college days,” she teased.
“Damn, Baby Doll!” he fussed. “Now why would you go tell this nigga I’m a fan so he don’t think he has to work to get my approval? You still gotta impress me, Mr. Two Time Super Bowl, Heisman, and MVP Winner,” he said with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Sir,” I assured him. Nowonder Amaya was so funny—the whole family was made of comedians. We finished up our introductions and joined the rest of the family for… more introductions. My soul withered a little more each time I was introduced as Tahmir’s friend and not Amaya’s man, but I respected her wishes. My soul was redeemed just a little bit every time one of her female relatives tried to push up on me and she got so mad that I saw the smoke coming from her ears. I politely declined their advances because I’d prefernotto wake up with a knife to my neck. I was happy as hell when the four of us moved to our own little corner of the yard because I could at least speak freely without inquiring eyes and ears.
