Page 5 of A Player's Prayer
“Baby don’t be like that. Let me suck?—”
“Excuse me…” I walked up and interrupted their conversation. “I just want to get this hoodie, and I’ll be out of y’all way.”
“Lady, don’t you see?—”
Turning to glare at me, the most handsome man I’d ever seen locked eyes with me. He was so damn tall that I damn near put a crook in my neck looking up at him. The mug on his face did nothing to take away from how handsome he was. His locs were long, thick, and placed in a messy bun on top of his head. His tattooed arms bulged from under his white tee, and those grey sweats he had on should have been a crime the way they hung just right off of his hips. This man was a problem.
“Aye!” He pulled me from my lustful thoughts as he snapped his fingers in my face. “You having a stroke or something? The fuck is wrong with you, just staring at a nigga and shit.”
“Nigga, what?” I hissed my words, embarrassed that he caught me gawking. “I was only asking if I could get by you so I could get the hoodie.” I pointed at the display behind him. “You don’t have to be so damn rude.”
Taking me in from head to toe, I stood there like an idiot and let him. I should have turned around to go get the shoes from Amelia and gone on my way. Maybe then, I wouldn’t be on the verge of going in my Marc Jacobs bag to retrieve my Glock to shoot this nigga.
“Jenkins?” I dragged my eyes to the figure that stepped from behind him, kissing my teeth to see it was Tanessa. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I know you think my sole purpose in life is to take orders from you, but I do have off days, with today being one of them.” Rolling my eyes, I gave my attention back to the asshole. “Can I please get what I came over here for, so I can go? I wanted to spend my day off in peace; not engaging with my nasty coworkers and rude-ass niggas?—”
“Who the fuck you calling rude?” He stepped toward me, causing my breath to catch. “Watch your muthafuckin’ words when you talk to me.” Dropping his eyes to my mouth, he licked his lips slightly before reaching up to place his fingers under my chin to lift it. “Then again, we can go to my office and put these lips to work if you want to make it up to me.”
Slapping his hand away from me, I stepped back and mugged him. “Don’t touch me. You don’t know me.”
“I know that if you’re anything like your homegirl…” He thumbed behind him at a fuming Nessa. “You might be a lil’ thief and need to perform a lil’ lip service to afford my shit. You fine as fuck, too, so I might give you the dick if you suck it good enough.”
Whap!
“Have you lost your damn mind!” I seethed, garnering the attention of the other customers. Amelia came running over in an instant. “I don’t know what or who the fuck you think I am, but I am not one ofthem! You can’t go around talking to people like that!”
As he eyed me, his eyes darkened. Rubbing his hand over his bottom lip, he chuckled at the speck of blood that lingered on his thumb. “You know you done fucked up, right?”
“Fuck you!” I screeched while reaching into my purse. “I don’t want shit out of this cheap-ass store.” Pulling out a smallstack of money, I threw it at him, hitting him in the middle of his forehead. “I got my own money, nigga. I don’t need to steal or perform ‘lip service’ for a damn thing.”
Pushing my purse strap up on my shoulders, I turned on my heels and pushed past the people who gathered around. I’d never been so mortified in my entire life! I didn’t know who that man was, but if this were his store, he’d never have to worry about me coming back again. He better hope I don’t call the Better Business Bureau on his ass!
As I stepped away from the sidewalk, I could hear the door to the store chime. Glancing over my shoulder, I locked eyes again with the asshole of the century. There he stood with his arms crossed, mugging me as if I were the one who had wronged him. Giving him the middle finger, I got into my car and decided to go home. What should have been a peaceful day of shopping, pampering, and relaxation had turned into one that I’d be pissed about for days to come.
Fine or not—no man was ever going to disrespect me without consequence. That tall-ass nigga had me fucked up.
Two days.
That’s how long it’s been since shorty had me fucked up. Since Tanessa and Amelia didn’t want to tell me who she was, I’ve been riding the city like a madman trying to find her ass. I heard shorty when she said Tanessa was her coworker, so I’ve been staking out Grove’s Memorial Hospital looking for her. She didn’t know that the longer I have to look for her, the worse it’s going to be when I find her.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Knocking on my brother’s door, I leaned against the column and waited for him to answer. It was rare that I showed up at his house unannounced, but I needed to holler at Noemi. Pulling from my blunt, I scrolled my phone and ignored the countlessmessages and missed calls I had from Erica and Talena. Those hoes didn’t want shit but to eat this dick, and I can give them the opportunity when I finish handling business.
“Nigga, what the fuck you want?” Skip frowned as he snatched open his front door, Draco in hand. “I was this close to pushing your shit back.”
“Yeah, right.” I ashed my blunt, rolling my eyes. “My mama ain’t going for you hurting her baby boy, and you know it.” I pushed off the column and grinned. “I come in peace, middle brother. As a matter of fact, I came to holler at my sister.”
Grunting like the old man he acted like at times, he moved out of the doorway and let me in. Looking around, I was proud of the massive home he’d purchased for himself and his family. When he found out about Gia’s stank pussy ass, he gave me the starter home he bought and wouldn’t accept a dime for it. I’ve turned it into a straight hoe house.
“Look, man… we’re kid-free and it’s date night.” He flopped down on the sofa once we entered the sitting room. It was then that I noticed his black Armani suit. “What the fuck you want with my wife? You better not piss me off, Adrian?—”
“Babe are you—” Noemi walked into the living room as she placed her earring in her ear. She was dressed in an all-black gown and looked nice. She stopped talking and looked from Skip to me. “Is everything okay? We weren’t expecting you, Wild.”
“It’s cool. This shouldn’t take too long, sis. And naw, everything ain’t straight.” I walked over to the snack shelf that was in the corner of the room. I swear, Uno and Skip’s kids had the best snacks and juices. “There was a situation at Urban Sole a few days ago, and I need your help to track this bitch down.” I frowned as I thought about how her fine ass hit me in the forehead with some money like I was some Jezebel. “I’m killing her ass when I get my hands on her.”
Taking a seat on the ottoman, I explained to them the incident that had taken place. When I followed shorty outside, I could have shot her ass in broad daylight, but I didn’t need that type of attention at my place of business. Plus, I didn’t want to stress Uno out and he tell Mama I was shooting people midday. I wanted to hop in my ride and run that bitch off the road so bad, but I knew her time was coming. I’d rather catch her when I can really get grimy without an audience.
