“Our spot,” Jahlil stated, grabbing the bottle and a couple bags of snacks before leading her out of the VIP through the back.
They walked through the dark in silence before reaching the amphitheater. Jahlil removed his sweatshirt and placed it on the cement slab so Emani could sit on it. After she sat down, she nudged him. “I raised you right.”
Jahlil laughed softly. “A joke but you’re right. Set the bar high as hell too.”
Emani shrugged and opened a bag of popcorn. “What can I say.”
“You can answer my question.”
Emani pulled in a deep breath, threw a handful of caramel and cheddar popcorn into her mouth and groaned.
“Hungry?”
“Starving. I don’t eat before a show. Nerves are always too high. I haven’t ate since that fruit you sent this morning. Thanks, by the way.”
“It’s nothing,” he replied, his gaze still on her.
“To answer your question, if this were a perfect world…now, then, whatever. I probably would’ve told you how frightened I was of watching you leave me when you got to the league. So I figured the safest way for my heart to handle it was to end it before then. I don’t regret stealing, dealing, lying or none of that. I regret that though. Daily. So this isn’t all on you.”
“I can admit we fucked up some good shit. Before it even got started for real. Watching you do that shit like a fan at home gutted me.”
“Same,” Emani replied quietly. “So, in a perfect world?”
Jahlil shrugged. “My daughter would be yours too. Don’t get me wrong, I love her cursin’ ass with all of me. But we would’ve done it together.”
Emani looked up at him. “I hate that you make me want to talk nice and shit.”
Jahlil smirked. “It’s not soft, it’s just in a different tone. Not right now at least. I can make you soft again.”
“With what, your dick?”
Jahlil laughed. “Dick makes you listen, action makes you soft. For me at least. I don’t give a damn about these other niggas.”
Emani rolled her eyes again and nudged him. “What I was going to say was that it’s not too late. You know in a perfect world, if you were mine again. I’d accept all that came along with you. That perfect world is bullshit, though.”
“Why?” he mused.
“Because our world has never been perfect. We just made the best with the shit we were handed. It was real, raw, and unrelenting. It didn’t glimmer like it does now. There wasn’t bright lights magnifying everything we did. It was just us. I miss us.”
Jahlil hooked her chin. “I miss you. Like a muhfucka. I need that back, E. Not tomorrow, not when homecoming is over. Not when you tell that nigga he’s done. Right now.”
“I-”
“Don’t talk to me about that nigga,” Jahlil muttered against her lips. “His time is up. If he wanted to do some shit, he would’ve locked you down before I got back. He knew I was coming.”
Emani chuckled against his lips. “I shouldn’t kiss you, considering your announcement turned my house upside down.”
“But you like that shit, though.”
“Love it actually,” Emani grumbled as Jahlil caught her lips in his. “I’m famous now, I can’t sit on your lap and ride you out here.”
She pulled away and looked at him, desire in her eyes.
“You’ve always been a bad influence on me,” Jahlil joked. “Had me out here balls out.”
Emani snorted in laughter. “Does that orange couch ring a bell?”
“I still have it,” Jahlil admitted. “Couldn’t make myself ditch it. It’s in my mancave.”
