“Oh yeah. I haven’t shown you my babies,” she gushes as she rotates the phone. “This is my baby, Romi, and that’s Averi.”
“They’re really pretty,” I comment.
“Thank you. They’re my whole heart. God did his big one when he made me their mother,” she says, still flashing her beautiful smile. “That was fast,” she says abruptly and I look up and see a server with our food. The server holds out the plate with Adora’s food first. “Right here,” Adora tells her.
After placing Adora’s food in front of her, the server places my plate and bowl in front of me. We both bow our heads and I utter a quick prayer before eating. Everything is natural as fuck with Adora, even eating. When she cuts a piece of her croquette and holds her fork out for me to taste it, I don’t even blink before eating it. She grabs one of my wings and takes the drum part for herself too. Before she eats it, she laughs.
“My bad. I’m so used to sharing food with my girls. I can’t help it. I like to have a little of everything,” she says. “If it bothers you, I’ll try to stop.” She tastes the chicken then says, “I’ll try that next time. I kind of want to taste your potatoes too. That wing is good.” Saying the word next time grants her access to my whole damn plate. I push it toward her so she can get some of the potatoes. While laughing, she says, “I’m not going to eat them all.”
“You straight. Next time, I’ll order extra potatoes,” I tell her.
“So you do want to see me again?”
“I’m selfish; I want to see your pretty face every day,” I admit and she smiles.
“I like that. We can work something out.”
“Every day is my preference but I know you got your job and your daughters. I’m on whatever time you’re on. What you give me, I’ll take.”
She forks a few more of my potatoes then slides my plate back over to me. She finishes about half of her food and I kill all of mine. After getting a small to-go container, she packs her food and I drop a bill on the table for the tip. Then we leave the restaurant. I walk her to her ride, and when we’re almost to it, we hear a male voice calling her name.
“Adora! A! A!” he yells and we turn to see some busta walking over to us.
“Shit,” Adora huffs, then shakes her head. Annoyance and anger is plastered all over her face and I don’t like that shit at all.
“You know him?” I ask right before he approaches.
“You foul as fuck, Adora. This why you can’t give my—” he begins but I shut his ass down because he’s being disrespectful as shit and has too much bass in his voice.
“Ay, my man. Calm down and lower yo’ fucking voice,” I grit.
“Who the fuck is you?” he asks.
“The nigga telling yo’ ass to step the fuck back. ’Cause you not ’bout to talk to her like that,” I say sternly.
“Adora, man, you need to tell this—” He tries to speak to her again, and again, I check him.
This time, I step in front of her, directly in his face. The mug on his face drops and I just shake my head. When I was in the street, I dealt with clowns like him, all bark and no fucking bite. The words never match their heart or energy.
“I promise, this ain’t what you want. Wrong place and wrong fucking time. Back up. Go on to wherever the fuck you wereheaded before you thought it was a good idea to step to her on this shit,” I warn, and just like I suspected, his bitch ass cowers.
“I ain’t got time for this shit,” he says then steps back and quickly dips.
“Thank you,” she sighs when I turn back to her. “That’s Rush’s cousin,” she says. I’m sure my face registers that I don’t know who the fuck Rush is because she quickly adds, “Rush, the girls’ dad. He’s locked up and I’m not accepting his calls or visiting him anymore. He’s using his family to try and reach me.”
“And they all coming at you like that?” I ask.
“No,” she says while shaking her head. “They’ve just been calling and I’ve been blocking them. Mekhi is just extra.”
“I don’t like that. He ran up on you wrong.”
“Trust me, he’s all talk.”
“I can tell that shit but I still don’t like that. What’s the nigga Rush’s full name?” I ask. I’m not on the blocks any more or running a spot but I know the game and a few still in it. I can have someone make it clear to him to leave her alone.
“Xai, I’m good. Trust me. Rush, Mekhi, hell, nobody in that family scares me. They ain’t gon’ do anything but be childish as hell and play on my phone. I’m not giving you his name because I don’t need to. I’ve been dealing with him and his goofy ass family for years. I promise; I’m good. They’re just aggravating but it’s all good,” she says firmly. “Don’t let him ruin our morning. I want to leave here with a smile on my face.”
“I can handle the smile,” I say before crowding her. I grab her chin lightly to gain her total focus. When her big eyes are locked on mine, I say, “When it’s not all good, you gonna let me know, right?”
