Arriving to the gym Ashton owned, Jahlil hopped out and made his way to the door. Andrew was in stride with him.
“Why you work out so much? Morning runs, weights, practice, sauna, more practice, film, massages.” Andrew rambled off all the things Jahlil did to keep himself in tip-top shape.
“Because I want to be the best and to be the best, sometimes you got to sacrifice. You got to lock in to that shit. You like running track right?”
“Yeah, it feels like I’m flying,” Andrew stated.
“You want to be the best at it?”
“Hell yeah.”
Jahlil nodded with a laugh. “Then you got to lock in. Now watch out for Ashton. Him and Sanaa might be the same height, but he’s fast as fuck.”
Ashton hopped down from the boxes. “I heard that. I’m five foot.”
Andrew looked down at him and grinned. “Jah, I think Sanaa is taller.”
“Boy, I’ll kick you in your knees,” Ashton huffed “Bring your tall ass here.”
Jahlil watched Ashton chase Andrew around before wrestling him into a headlock and laughed. “Stop bullshitting, I got a Sanaa date I can’t miss.”
7 /EMANI
“You not goingto kiss me? Same attitude from two days ago? Bad enough you won’t give a nigga none,” Malik lowly fussed, blocking Donnée’s view of them from the kitchen table.
“With that attitude, you won’t get a kiss either. I didn’t do shit but be your mirror forthreedays. I reflect how I’m treated. Whatever you got going on is making you miss what’s happening in your home,” Emani replied back, never once lifting her eyes from her laptop. “Anything else? I’m trying to finalize my set list.”
“That’s why I got a fuckin’ attitude. You putting this shit over what we need to be doing,” Malik stated.
“What do we need to be doing, Malik? You’re busy with your phone and basketball. You’ve subjected me to plan a wedding with your mother with little to no time to do it. Tell me what we need to be doing and I’ll cancel my dress fitting and do it.” Emani paused her typing to look up at him, blinking slowly and waiting for a response.
“Don’t cancel that,” Malik retreated after kissing her face. “I just want us to get back to what we were, before all of this kicked back up again.”
Emani chuckled softly, getting ready to respond before Sandi and Joanna walked in.
“Final looks are here and I have the dress,” Joanna said in a sing-song voice.
Like Emani was fire, Malik took a step away from her. “I’ll see you after practice.”
Emani dropped her eyes back to the keyboard and closed her eyes. While she was resetting, Donnée caught the look exchanged between Joanna and Malik. She took a mental note and hummed sweetly, “have a good practice, Malik.”
“Mhmm,” he grunted.
“You’re not going to tell your wifey you love her?”
Malik stopped and turned back to Emani, gripping her chin and kissing her lips. “I love you.”
“Yeah,” Emani hummed. “Love you.”
She watched him as he quickened out and closed the door behind him. Joanna was on her way upstairs to Malik and Emani’s bedroom before Donnée’s voice rang out again.
“No one is here, we can do the fitting down here, Joanna,” Donnée said, moving over to Emani. “I’ll finish this. Go try your dress on.”
Emani flashed her a look. The dress, like everything else, was rushed. She had the right mind to say no to all of this but her heart was pleading for something else. “Joanna, is everything packed for tomorrow? Can you get with Derrick and make sure hair matches outfits. He should have like six different wigs.”
“You don’t want me to help you with your dress?” Joanna asked, as if Emani asking her to do her job slighted her.
“D is here and Carson is pulling up,” Emani shared as Donnée took the dress from Joanna and walked down the hall to the guest bedroom. “Everything is in the living room to be packed.”
