“Okay, I’ll go. I don’t even care what we eat but I don’t want to go home yet. There’s no telling when I’ll get to do this again.”
“Cool. Come on and let’s go before you change your mind.” He stood up and held out his hand and I looked over at Aphrodite. She was hugged up with Anthony but as soon as Aldrich stood, Anthony was on the move too.
“You good?” Anthony acted as though he was checking in with Aldrich’s mental which I more than appreciated.
“Yeah, y’all wanna eat?”
Aphrodite’s eyes lit up like she knew exactly where she wanted to go. Her mini skirt and see-through shirt were sexy but very tasteful. “Strip club wings?”
“That wasn’t what I had in mind…”
She looked at Aldrich and then again at Anthony. “Oh. Damn I thought we were gonna live like ballers for the night.”
“You trying to throw some ones and watch some ass?”
“I mean…maybe?”
“Nah, AP you're not stripper ready yet. Let’s have a good night tonight. You’ve had enough shit happening.” Anthony was clearly protective of her but even I knew both of us were too naïve to act right in a strip club.
“Why do you say it like that?” Aldrich glanced between the two of them before Anthony responded.
“Like what?”
Aldrich hesitated but I guess he felt they were cool enough for him to speak his mind. “Like she’s been locked in a tower or sum.”
Aphrodite contemplated her words for a moment before she nodded her head. “I mean, I kinda have. My season differs from y’all’s. My father is very strict so I’m always in the house. This is probably the most fun I’ve had in years.”
Aldrich tapped his chest like he was sorry he’d brought up something painful. “My fault about that.”
Aphrodite smiled as Anthony pulled her back to his front. “No need to apologize. A father that’s going to stick up for hisdaughter will be nothing but good in my book.” She said it in a way that had Anthony rubbing her back and I could sense there was deep hurt or something in her words.
“Between that and talking about Ling out the side of his neck, he’s lucky all he got was a punch.” Aldrich stepped closer to me as he spoke and put his hand on my elbow. It wasn’t possessive but it was…something.
“Yeah she was about to hop her ass in between y’all like she could dodge a jab.” My mouth dropped hearing Aphrodite rat me out with ease was comical.
“Sterling, I know like hell you weren’t.” Aldrich’s face looked shocked at my actions and I truly wanted to remind him that he was Ami’s daddy not mine. But since he’d been drinking I wasn’t sure what might come out of his mouth.
“I didn’t want your first time out to be messed up with your going to jail—”
He and Anthony started to laugh and I could only look between the two of them confused. “What is so funny?”
“You think we’d go to jail for fighting. That’s funny.” Aldrich looked like the thought of consequences for his actions was a foreign concept and now I was even more intrigued.
“Why is that funny?”
“They wouldn’t have called the police on us unless there was a lot of damage. And you saw how Money slept his ass. There was no way it was going to get out of hand.” Anthony gave me the rundown on how things worked and I nodded, understanding that people gave them a lot of leeway.
“You were worried about me, Ling?”
“Of course I was.” We stared at one another for longer than I liked and I needed to make light of the situation. “You’re my ride home and I’m not about to walk in the house without you and face your mom.”
He kept watching me like he knew I wanted to lighten the mood but he wasn’t going to let me. At least not immediately. A few more seconds passed as he held my gaze before he finally blinked and released me from his web. “Big facts. Nobody wanna tussle with that lady. But we good. Let’s go eat.” He tugged on my elbow that he was still holding like that was going to jumpstart my movements. I mean it did, but it was still insulting.
He grinned like he knew he was annoying me but I let it slide and followed where he was pulling me. Aphrodite took my hand and Anthony was behind us and damn it was crazy how they just naturally had us protected so that no one could bother us.
They were discussing where we were going to eat, and I was just soaking in the moment. The moments I’d daydreamed about when I was stuck in my room doing some boring tasks I’d been assigned to. I was heading to an after-hours spot with a group of famous people who wanted to spend time with me. I’d never been one to chase clout but I wouldn’t lie that I was excited. I felt like I was in an urban fiction novel and we were getting ready to hit up a Waffle House to eat.
“You good?”
