I knew what my brother was doing. He was giving me a chance. And I wasn't about to waste it. That nigga made it clear that Iain’t need to bother Nyla if I wasn’t ready because that would only cause problems in his household.
I called her number straight up, no hesitation.
"Hello?" she answered on the second ring, and I could already tell she was curious about who it was.
"Aye, it's Namier," I said, keeping my voice smooth but real. "Kaseem's brother. The one from the other night."
There was a pause. Then I heard a smile in her voice.
"Oh," she said, and that one word told me she'd been thinking about me just like I'd been thinking about her. "Hey. How did you get my number?"
"My brother sent it to me cause I damn near begged for it.”
“Okay. I like persistence. But don’t introduce me to a vibe that you don’t intend to keep up.” she joked.
We ended up talking for over an hour. Not the kind of surface-level conversation where you ask fake questions and give fake answers. Real conversation. I told her about growing up in Dallas, about what it was like being part of this family, about the weight of responsibility that came with being a Carter. She told me about her job, about her friends, about what she wanted out of life. And the whole time I was on that phone, I was smiling like a fool, doing exactly what my brother had been doing with Tattiana.
Selling dreams. Making plans. Painting pictures of what could be.
At one point, she asked me what I was looking for, and I laughed because I knew what she was really asking.
"What do you mean, what am I looking for?" I asked back. "The question is, what do you got to give?"
"Well, what do you have to offer?" she said, playing right back with me.
"I ain't gonna lie to you," I said, getting real with her. "I don't got a lot of time for all the relationship stuff. Work got me busy most days. But I can try and make time for the right person, and I definitely got some dick to give.” I said, being straight forward.
She laughed.
"Well," she said, her voice dropping a little, getting flirty, "if you give me the dick, then you gonna wanna make time. Trust me on that."
I felt that comment hit different. Like, she wasn't playing games. She was being real right back.
"Let me come find out and see if that's true," I said.
"Not tonight," she said. "I got a long day ahead of me tomorrow morning. But tomorrow night, we should go out for drinks. Get to know each other a little better without all the family around."
"That's a bet," I said. "I'm looking forward to it already."
We talked a little bit more before hanging up, and when I got off that phone, I was already counting down the hours until the next day. I was acting just like my brother, completely caught up in someone I'd literally just met. But that was how it happened sometimes. One look. One conversation. And suddenly you're thinking about a muthafucka in a whole different light.”
---
I laid in my bed, tired as hell. Thinking about how killing niggas was really exhausting. My body was tired, my mind was racing, but in a good way. A way that had me thinking about Nyla more than I probably should have been.
The next day moved slow as hell.
I did my regular work, moving through the day like I was on autopilot. Dropped off re-ups to three different spots, picked up money from two more, handled the usual business that kept the operation running smooth. The whole time, I was checking my phone every five minutes because Nyla kept texting me.
She'd send me little things throughout the day. Pictures and text.
By the time evening rolled around, I was ready to get out of these streets and into something that felt good for once. Something that didn't involve violence or money or moving product. Something that involved a beautiful woman who could make me smile just by typing some words on a screen.
I got dressed in something nice but not too dressed up. Dark jeans. A fitted black Polo. Some fresh kicks. I wanted to look good but not like I was trying too hard. And then I headed to the bar she'd sent me the address to.
When I pulled up, she was already waiting outside, and my whole world kind of slowed down for a second. She had on this simple black dress that hugged her in all the right places, and her hair was down, falling past her shoulders. She wasn't doing all that extra makeup shit. She was just naturally beautiful, and when she saw my car, she smiled like she'd been waiting all day for this moment.
Maybe she had.
