As they rattled off what they wanted, I ignored Tonya and hoped she got the message as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I found Jelai’s profile on Facebook and sent her a friend request. Initially I didn’t want to get on social media, but I felt like that was a good way to talk to her until she felt comfortable giving me her number. The only people on my friends list were family members, Sonny and Cole, and people in the club, and I planned to keep it like that.
When Jelai accepted my request, I sent her a message.
Wicked YH:
If you don’t want anyone to know I’m coming through, open your garage tomorrow evening at eight. I’ll wait until the sun goes down.
Jelai Williams:
Yes sir.
Wicked YH:
I expected you to make it hard for me.
Jelai Williams:
There is something I want to make hard but it’s not this
Wicked YH:
That happens around you without you even trying. What’s gotten into you though? You done playing hard to get?
Jelai Williams:
Not yet. Just making sure you know I’ll let you catch me if you keep chasing.
Wicked YH:
I got my running shoes on bae. See you tomorrow. Let me know if you need anything.
Jelai Williams:
After we took our shots, I prepared to go get Pops. I was even more ready to leave, have dinner, and go to sleep. Tomorrow couldn’t get here fast enough. At the sight of the trash being picked up, I chuckled. Maybe this nigga wasn’t a dummy after all.
I wanted desperately to talk to my mom or one of my friends about what I agreed to tonight, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. The last thing I wanted was for them to tell me I was crazy for letting Wicked come over. While Ma was grateful for what he’d done for me, she had her prejudices about the MCs here too. I was afraid, like Chris, that she’d say he was dangerous and that I needed to avoid him.
I tried to convince myself that Chris was right. That the protection I admired in my youth was violence I needed to avoid attaching myself to as an adult, but that didn’t feel like the case. My intuition told me I was safer with Wicked more than anyone else. There was a slight part of me that felt like if he had problems with The Outlaws that they might do something to meif we were out together and outnumbered, but I couldn’t live my life in fear of something that may or may not happen. If I felt like he was bad for me, I’d stay away.
For now, I was okay with getting to know him in secret. It felt crazy being a grown ass woman entertaining a forbidden relationship, but that’s where we were now. As Wicked requested, I’d left my garage open. His arrival wasn’t too inconspicuous, because I heard the motorcycle as soon as he arrived. The only benefit of him being in my garage was it not being in my yard if someone randomly drove by or pulled up on me. Feeling the rumble of the garage close in my bedroom, I took a deep breath and looked myself over once more.
I didn’t want to look overly relaxed, but I also didn’t want to put too much effort into my look since we weren’t going anywhere, so I dressed in a two piece leggings and sports bra set. I tossed an oversized shirt over the sports bra and wrapped the back of it around my bra strap like I did when I went to the gym. As I made my way downstairs, I heard the door slowly creak open. Biting back my smile, I put my hand over my chest as my heart raced in excitement. The boy I’d crushed on since I was fourteen was here with me. Except he wasn’t a boy now, and my father wasn’t here to tell us we couldn’t be together.
“Aw,” I muttered at the sight of him. He’d pulled his backpack off and was setting its contents on my kitchen island. Wine, weed, roses. My eyes zeroed in on the stack of envelopes he pulled out, and curiosity had me walking in his direction.
“Hi,” I spoke, wrapping my arms around him from behind. I’d missed being in his arms since the first day he showed up on my doorstep.
Wicked turned in my arms and wrapped his around me. He dropped a kiss to the top of my head before replying with, “Wassup, bae? You good?”
“Truthfully, I do feel pretty good now that you’re here.”
His smile was warm as he brushed my hair back and off my shoulders, then cupped my cheeks. “I missed you so much,” Wicked confessed. “I didn’t think it was possible to miss someone that I barely got to experience, but my soul missed the fuck outta you, Jelai.”
“I missed you too. Now that I’ve had time to process my feelings, I’m not just happy you’re out. I’m happy you’re here with me too.”
As his eyes lowered to my lips, he asked, “Can I kiss you?”
A soft whimper escaped me as I nodded weakly and whispered, “Yes.”
