I tittered. “Fatima, how do you sound right now? Y’all are married, so I would expect y’all to have more sex than me.”
They all looked at each other, then giggled. Aeon leaned forward. “You did hear her say that we had children, right? One day you’ll get it when you’re sneak fucking Scotty while y’all’s baby in the nursery taking a nap.”
My eyes almost fell out of my head. “Whoa! Whoa! How the hell did we go from me not talking about dick to me and Scotty sneak fucking with a baby in the next room?”
These bitches were out of their minds. I’d never seen an escalation like that before in my damn life. I didn’t even say that I liked the man. Now, they had me not just fucking him but having a baby with him.
Aeon’s shoulders pulled up toward her ears. “Hey, don’t be mad at me for seeing the full picture. I wouldn’t expect you to see it. It’s hard to see the picture when you’re the frame.”
A Short Time Later
What’s Up Though . . .
“Nigga, where else is a tattoo gonna fit? You covered up!” Seneca said with a chuckle. “Talkin’ about you gonna get another tat.”
Seneca had jokes. We were chilling at Derrick’s cousin Declan’s tattoo shop/lounge,Ink Vibing. It was a cool-ass place to hang out. Derrick reached out yesterday to invite Grady and me to come chill with him, Seneca, Tiberius, Declan, and Stitch.
When I got to Charlotte and assessed the real situation with the body shop and all that came with it, I called my dude Grady, who was one of my managers for my shops in Chicago. I needed that nigga down here with me to have my back along with theother four men I had come. He was a strong right that also wanted to get out of the city. This was a great opportunity for him to do just that.
My chuckle was quiet. “I have a lot of space for ink, man. How is a non-tatted nigga talking to me about tattoos, though? That’s an interesting concept. I heard Declan was cold with the needle.”
“Ha!” Derrick blurted. “I wonder who told you that nigga was cold with a needle. I only know one person that explains his skill with those exact words.”
Here this nigga goes.Before I could say anything, Stitch chuckled. “Right. The only person that I know that says that is Miss Blake. How’s it going with her, Scotty?”
He was right. It was Blake that told me about Declan since he was her artist. Every girl could not pull off a facial, neck, and chest tattoo the way Blake’s sexy ass did. She came across as a hard shell to crack, but I saw through that shit. For me, it wasn’t about her hard shell. It was about the tool needed to crack it. I knew that I had that shit, so I wasn’t worried.
The first night that we went to dinner after she tried to play booked and busy, I decided that I would pursue her. It was rare to meet a woman like Blakeney Collins. She was more complex than any woman I had ever met. On one hand, I knew that she would blow a nigga’s head off, and on the other, she would plan that same nigga’s baby mama’s baby shower.
The fact that she had the capacity to be a woman who made expecting parents feel safe and at peace while they awaited their life’s joy told me that she wasn’t as hard as she wanted niggas to think that she was. Every time we interacted, I made sure I gave her insight to who I was because I knew that was what she needed.
“It’s going cool with her. Y’all got her around here thinking she’s a nigga, but I’m gonna break that shit.” I took a sip frommy cup as I thought about her. My intrusive thought decided to voice itself. “Yeah, she’s gonna be my lil baby after a while.”
Everyone’s body pushed back in their seat a little when Stitch’s drink flew from his mouth. He grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth. “Fuck, my bad. That was not anything I ever expected to hear from anyone.” He glanced at Seneca. “I guess you was right, nigga.”
My eyes ping ponged between the two men before they stopped on Seneca. I leaned my forearm on my thigh. “What exactly were you right about, Seneca?”
Seneca chortled before he peeked at Derrick. It was clear that he was in on whatever was so right. “Yeah, when I told Stitch about you after I met you in Chicago, I told him that you were what our sis needed in her life. I knew that you were the nigga that could handle her.”
“Man, when he told me that shit, I told him that there was no nigga that could handle her ass. Blake eats niggas up like piranhas. Sis doesn’t let these dudes live out here,” Stitch said.
My head tilted side to side. “I can see how that would bother the average dude, but I’m not that. She needs a nigga that can tell her what to do and she knows to do just that.”
“You better talk that shit!” Derrick said before he clapped his hands. “Scotty, I try to tell these niggas that they can’t let these females out nigga them. Blake is a whole figga in these streets. She needs a real nigga to calm her ass down. I told Seneca it was you.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. “What the hell is a figga?” Declan’s lip was turned up with his confusion.
Derrick cut his eyes at him. “A female nigga, Cuz. Y’all failed the context clues part of the curriculum in school, huh?”
This man was a different kind of man. He took everything serious and nothing serious at the same time from what Iobserved when I was around him. He was the type that, even in his jokes, he dropped jewels.
“Well, thank you for your vote of confidence. It means a lot that you niggas consider me worthy enough for Blake. I’ll be sure that y’all are on the invite list to our wedding and baby shower,” I told him.
I implanted myself into Blake’s life with intention. It seemed aggressive because it was. That was what she responded to. As much as she thought she was hard to figure out, she really wasn’t. It just took the right man to do it. I was the right man.
Later That Week
Take A Nigga To Dinner Then . . .
