She angled her head to the side and shot death rays at him. “You do know it’s like five in the morning? Hell yeah, I’m pressed to get you out of here. I was trying to do a good deed, but you have me regretting that now.”
He chuckled and leaned forward, tugging her hand until she tumbled over, almost falling on him but catching herself at the last minute and landing on the sofa next to him. Vega took the bottle of water from her hands and untwisted the cap.
“Negro, keep your hands off me.”
“Aight, my bad, but chill with me for a minute.”
“Chill with you? I. Don’t. Know. You.” Nyelle clapped her hands as she enunciated each word.
“That’s the point. You should get to know your neighbors. What if some shit goes down and you need help? If you know your neighbors, then you know who you can count on. That might be me.”
“How you know I don’t have a man to count on?”
Vega downed half the water then looked her over. “’Cause if you did, and he was any kinda man, I would have a clip emptied in me right now. So, either you have a man and he isn’t shit or you don’t have one at all. I’ma go with you don’t have one. Your son isn’t here, so he must be with his sperm donor.”
“I wish,” she grated under her breath, causing Vega to stare her down.
“Ah, damn, he really isn’t shit. Dude’s not taking care of his seed? You want me to fuck him up for you?”
“Didn’t you say you just got out of jail? You’re trying to go back over fucking up a dude you don’t know behind a woman you don’t know?”
Vega grinned and nodded. “Hell yeah. I won’t get caught, so I’m not going back. Say the word and it’s done.”
“When did you get out?”
“Today.”
“Today? How you just get out today and have a place here? Don’t you have to do a halfway house or something?” It wasn’t until then that it clicked. The world couldn’t be that small, could it? “Wait, that was your thing at Presidential tonight?”
“You were there?”
“Yeah, but not with your people. Me and my girl Joi were just out chillin’.”
Vega frowned a little, wondering how he missed a woman as pretty as she was.I was fucked up, that’s how.He smirked and shook his head.
“Damn, I fucked that all the way up.” Vega admitted to dropping the ball on not noticing Nyelle tonight.
“Whatever. So how you have a place here and don’t have to do a halfway house?”
“Why you pressing me so hard?” He grinned and turned up the bottle of water again. This time, finishing it. “And how youknow so much about how shit goes when a man finishes a bid? Your dude did time?”
“No, I just know shit.” It was true. Reese was smart. He always said if you got caught, then you weren’t good at what you did. Reese had never done so much as a day behind bars.
“Yeah, aight. I’m supposed to be at a halfway house, but my brother hooked shit up for me. They do in-house visits instead. They’re cool as long as I’m there when they come, but the dude handling my situation is on my brother’s payroll. I know when they’re supposed to fall through, so I can work around it.”
“Who the hell is your brother?”
Vega chuckled, not wanting to talk about Ace. “Not important. You need to be more concerned with who I am.”
“Oh, you think so?”
“I know so.” He winked at her and Nyelle rolled her eyes but still offered him a smile. “But check it, I know it’s late, and your pretty ass needs some rest. I’ma head upstairs. I appreciate you opening the door for me. Just don’t do that shit anymore. There are some crazy people in this world, shorty. Real shit.”
“You’re not one of them, let you tell it.”
“I’m not, but you didn’t know that. I still appreciate you, though. Wasn’t no way I was gonna make it to my condo in the condition I was in. I felt like I was gonna die. I still do. I shouldn’t have drank as much as I did. I went a little harder than I should have but was just happy to be home.”
“Yeah, you did, which I’m sure is a parole violation. I smell it all over you. I guess your brother fixed your drug test too.”
