Page 15 of He Thugged Me First

After a few seconds, I opened the door and stepped out before walking over to him. Once he had locked the door with the key fob, we walked into the structure. When we walked in, I wasn’t surprised that the place was closed, but I was surprised by the dimmed lights. The further we walked into the space, I could see food placed out on the bar.

“How did you know I’d say yes?” I glanced over at him as we ascended the three steps.

“I didn’t. I was prepared to bust a few stitches and put yo’ stubborn ass in the car.”

I couldn’t even hold back my laughter. He was serious. “Well.”

He grabbed the food and walked it over to the booth across from the bar.

“Didn’t you hate Thai?” I asked, taking a seat across from him.

“I did, but remember how many times you had me going to Oak Park to get you that shit? I had to start liking it after a while.”

I shook my head. “You could’ve told me no.”

“Nah, I couldn’t have.” He glanced up at me with a smirk. “You was spoiled as fuck.”

I laughed. “No more than you.”

He chewed his food, nodding his head.

There was definitely an elephant in the room, but neither of us wanted to address it. For some reason, I had probably thought about seeing him thousands of times and knew what I was gonna say to him. Right now, I was coming up with blanks. I didn’t want to ruin this mood, even though I probably shouldn’t have been here.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke. “Look, I’on like this.” He set his chopsticks down and looked over at me.

“What?” I asked, knowing damn well what he was talking about.

“Look, I fouled up in the past. I was young and dumb as fuck, but I make no excuses. I wasn’t shit, but I should’ve been for you.”

I laughed. “We were young.”

“That wasn’t an excuse. I fucked up and I hurt you. I’m sorry, shorty,” he responded. He looked at me, and I swear I felt his apology in my soul. It was different.

“I accept your apology, Mazzier Carson.”

“C’mon, really? The government, G?” He laughed as he picked up his chopsticks and went back to eating.

“What have you been up to?” I asked.

“To sum it all up, a lil’ bit of everything. You?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Work. I guess the usual.”

He laughed. “You’ve always been career driven, even when you had that lil’ job at the corner store and I had to beat the owner’s ass because he thought he was getting between ya legs.”

I shook my head because I remembered that day very vividly.

“I bet he didn’t try that shit again.” He laughed.

“Hell nah, because I got fired the next day.”

He busted up into laughter. “Well.”

I shook my head as the laughter died down.

“When is the date?” he asked, nodding toward my ring.

I shook my head. “Who knows.” That slipped from my mouth, but I was never one to hold my tongue.

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