Page 25 of I Need It

A slight smile graced my lips. They’d asked me to be the godfather, and I was beyond honored. “He’s perfect. He looks just like Rylan. I already know that he’s gonna be my lil road dawg.”

She smiled big. “That’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, well, it might be a while before I have any of my own. I’ll be thirty-five in a couple of months, and I have no prospects.”

“I find that hard to believe. Just staring at you makes me wanna drop my drawz.”

“You telling me you wanna have my baby, Mya?”

She stared at me as I slid my fingers across her cheek. After taking a deep breath, she said, “If I wanted kids right now, I would. I don’t want children any time soon.”

“When do you want them then?”

“When I’ve aged out of my heaux phase. I gotta make sure that shit is done with first.”

I nodded as she grabbed the remote and pulled up Netflix. She flipped through movies for a moment then handed me the remote. I frowned slightly as she said, “I picked the food, so you pick the movie.”

“You ain’t gon’ wanna watch shit I wanna watch.”

“What type of movies you like?” she asked.

“All kinds really, except drama, but mostly action and comedy.”

“Then pick something funny to watch.”

I exited Netflix and signed into my Hulu account and pulled up Harlem Nights. When I clicked on the movie, she frowned slightly. “What’s this?”

I rolled my eyes. “Man, if you don’t know this movie, I’m gon’ call your dad and cuss his ass out. Real shit. It’s a comedic classic.”

She giggled. “You can cuss Andre out if you want to.”

I grabbed my phone and called him. “Hello?”

“Mister Ceasar, this is Christian. How you doing?”

“Yeah, I have your number saved. I’m good. What about you?”

“I wanna know why Mya doesn’t know what Harlem Nights is.”

“What?”

“I’m at her place, and I picked the movie. She doesn’t know the movie Harlem Nights.”

“Damn. I’ve failed as a father.”

I laughed hard, and so did Mya. When he started laughing too, it only made us laugh harder. “I just wanted to pick with you. I came to check on her.”

“Thanks, Christian. Y’all enjoy the movie. Mya, I can’t believe you embarrassed me like this. I’m so disappointed in you.”

Mya laughed again and said, “Bye, Daddy!”

He chuckled and ended the call. She snuggled into me as I resumed the movie. After kissing her head, I chose to focus on the TV instead of how her body heat was about to have me going back to what we were doing earlier.

“Nigga, where the hell you been?”

“I was at Mya’s yesterday, and I been working all morning,” I said to Kendrall as I sat at a table with my beef tips, rice, and gravy.

“Aww shit. I guess y’all tryna make a friends to lovers novel. Well, guess who called me?”

---