Page 45 of Hood Legacy

“Bet, see y’all later. Love y’all.”

“Love you, too,” we said in unison, and Legacy hung up the phone.

“You know you could’ve told her no if you weren’t comfortable with us going public yet,” I said as I moved closer. “I know how the media gets when it comes to women and dating. If you ain’t trying to deal with that shit, you don’t have to.”

“Aceyn,” she sighed, and I raised my brow. “Shut up.”

“Damn,” I laughed and pulled her legs into my lap.

Legacy pulled her legs back, climbed into my lap, and cupped my face in her hands. “You haven’t been paying attention to my social media, have you?”

“Nah, I don’t be on there like that.” I shook my head. “Why? Should I?” She picked up her phone from the couch, pulled up her social media, and showed it to me. Her posts from the past few days were of us. My face was never revealed, but I knew the pictures were of me because of the tattoos. The last photo she posted was of last night with us lying on the couch. She’d climbed onto my back and laid down. Her back was against mine, and she was smiling. She looked good as fuck, relaxed and happy, which is all a nigga could ask for.

* * *

“Let’s play,” I said to Legacy the next morning. Even though she was on vacation, I could see that she was starting to get antsy and needed to play ball. I passed her the ball and watched as her eyes lit up. “You down?”

“Is there a court around here?” she asked, looking around the lobby. I took her hand, interlaced our fingers, and led her to the indoor court. “You’re just now mentioning this?”

“Because you are just now showing signs of withdrawal,” I laughed as we stepped onto the court. She wore ball shorts and a sports bra, while I wore ball shorts and a tank top. We were both in tennis shoes so we didn’t have an excuse for not getting a quick game in. “I was worried that the next sign would be scratching or something.”

“I’m not that bad,” she said, dribbling the ball between her legs. I let out a small laugh and shook my head. “Wait, I was that bad?”

“Baby, my mama told me to take you to play after she met you,” I answered, and Legacy twisted her lips like she didn’t believe me. “I’m pretty sure your leg bounced the entire time.”

“I’ve been trying to be strong,” she laughed, then shot the ball. It hit the backboard and then went through the net. “I guess I was failing.”

“Nah, you did decent,” I said as I got the rebound and threw the ball back to her. “I can't lie; I’m a little jealous of how happy that ball is making you right now.”

“Spalding was my first love,” she said, then shot it again; it went in, and I passed it back to her. “He kept me company many nights.”

“That nigga gonna have to go to, I see.”

“Whatever,” she said, then started dribbling. “I’m not jealous of your love for medicine, so you shouldn’t be jealous, either.”

“Because I don’t love medicine like you do basketball,” I replied with a shrug.

“Aceyn, you are a nerd,” she laughed, and I shook my head. “You are constantly listening to a medical podcast or watching some show.” She walked over to me and pulled at my shirt. “It’s cute, though. Big badass Aceyn Hood Bowlin is legit a nerd.”

“Man, move,” I laughed, playfully pushing her away. “You trippin’.”

“Pull your phone out right now and show me the last ten podcasts you’ve listened to.”

“Fuck nah,” I said, shaking my head. She was right, and she knew it. “Shoot the ball, Point Guard.”

“I am,” she replied, then did just that. Of damn course, she made it, and I passed her back the ball. “First one to twelve wins?”

“Bet.” We checked up and got to work. Neither of us went easy on the other, which was dope as fuck. Even though I wasn’t a professional player, I had skills because I worked out with the players often.

Legacy scored first and kept her momentum going, which I loved. Seeing her hustle, even during a pickup game between us, was a turn-on. She shot and missed, which allowed me to score. We went back and forth, scoring and playing hard. She squared up and drained two threes to put her within reach of winning, but I stole the ball and scored. We were tied up when I checked the ball to her.

“Aceyn,” she said as she locked down her defense. “If you let me win, I’ll do that thing with my tongue again.” I stepped back, dribbled the ball between my legs, and shook my head.

“That’s cheating,” I laughed. “And I don’t believe your ass for one second.”

“You shouldn’t,” she said, then stole the ball. She ran to the top of the key, dribbled between her legs, and flew past me. I caught her at the last minute when she went up for a layup, and I went for the ball. She hit me with a floater at the last minute, and I watched the ball sail into the net. “I was going to do it no matter what.”

“Fuck yeah, you are,” I laughed, then pulled her to me and kissed her. Sweating and out of breath, Legacy was still the sexiest woman in the world to me.

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