Ace pushed out a sigh. “Yes sir.”
“They’re good. I don’t even know why you tripping.”
I watched Ace intently as he picked his fork up with a slight scowl on his face. He had my curly hair, but his skin tone was like that of peanut butter. He was a few shades darker than me, and a few shades lighter than his mother. Ace was the perfect combination of the two of us.
After he placed the greens in his mouth, the scowl disappeared. “Hm,” he bobbed his head.
“Good right?” I grinned.
“Yeah, they are good.”
When the food had been cleared from all four plates, I picked up the check despite protests from Apricot. I paid, left a tip, then we walked to the door, and Ace held it open for the ladies. He was nosey as hell, so I eased my phone from my pocket and locked Apricot’s number in quickly. When I got settled for the night, I was going to see what she was about.
Hours later, I was laid back in bed chilling barely watching an NBA game with my phone on speaker. “So, what is it that you want to pick my brain about?”
“You got me feeling like I’m losing my touch, and I need to figure out what’s up with that?”
“Got you losing your touch? How?”
“Normally, I can tell when a woman is interested in me, but you give mixed signals. I can’t tell if you’re being polite for real, or if you’re feeling me. My instincts tell me that you are, but I’m not sure about that. You strike me as the type to not like men that are in the streets.”
“Just put me on the spot,” she chuckled. “Wellllll, I do think you’re cute. I just wasn’t sure if you had a girlfriend, and you’re kind of correct. I don’t typically go for guys that are in the streets, but friends is okay I think.”
My left brow hiked. I had never second guessed myself so much with the opposite sex as I was with Apricot. I didn’t want to come off as rude or disrespectful, but it sounded like she was saying she wanted to be friends with benefits.
“I am single, and you can never go wrong with being friends.”
“Are you the typical playboy, dope boy that doesn’t do relationships?”
With a laugh and shake of my head, I sat up and grabbed a blunt off my nightstand. “You have stereotypes for days. Playboy and dope boy? That’s what you think of me?”
“I mean, I can’t say that you’re a dope boy, so let me scratch that. I don’t know anything about what you do.”
I simpered as I grabbed my lighter. I hustled under one of the most notorious kingpins in the city. I didn’t like talking about anything illegal over the phone, and it seemed that Apricot had remembered one of the golden rules from her father. She knew I worked for him, but she acted clueless over the phone just like she was supposed to.
“I’ll just say that you’re young, handsome, and single. It has to be by choice. Unless you’re a cheater or an abuser or something and women always leave you.”
“Shorty, you can be an author the way you paint pictures.” I took a deep pull from the blunt. “After me and my son’s mom parted ways, I was focused on me. On stacking my bread, being an active father, and perfecting my craft when it came to boxing. I love boxing, and I even give lessons. I wasn’t against relationships, but they weren’t at the forefront of my mind either. I think when you meet the right one, you’ll know. And I haven’t met the right one.”
“What happened with you and Ace’s mother?”
“Nothing major. I didn’t cheat, and I damn sure didn’t put my hands on her. We were young, and we grew apart. She’s married now, and we have a great coparenting relationship.”
“I love that.” Apricot sounded a little sad. “I get in my feelings sometimes, because I want that for my daughter. She wasn’t planned or expected, but I couldn’t terminate the pregnancy. Now, I just worry that she’ll grow up with daddy issues, and I don’t want that for her.”
“I’m not sure how many male role models she has, but I know she has at least one that will paint the streets red about her. Plus,she’s still young. You have time to meet someone that can have a positive impact on her life.”
“Yeah, you’re very different from most guys,” she chuckled.
I held weed smoke in my lungs for a bit before pushing it out. “How so? More stereotypes?”
“No,” Apricot giggled. “Dating with a child isn’t easy. I already feel guilty about working so much and spending time away from her, so I have to be very mindful about being away from her. On top of that, there are so many immature men out here. The mindset of some of these guys my age is so trash. They want to club every weekend, barely have credit scores over 400, no bank account, not a primary health care doctor in sight. Just some funky bullshit.”
I almost choked on weed smoke from laughing so hard. “Damn that’s tough. I will step in a club or lounge once in a while, but it’s not an every weekend thing. My credit score is definitely over seven hundred, and I had a physical two months ago.”
“See, like I said. Different.” There was a slight pause. “I assume you heard about Kiwi’s father.”
I was still being mindful of what was said over the phone. “I heard some talking, but I’m not big on gossip. You can’t believe everything you hear. What happened with you and him though?”
