Page 17 of If I Gave You My Heart
I took out these black jeans with this black crop top. I was glad I had taken my silver Gucci bag on vacation with me, or those thieves would have had that, too. I tossed my silver Birkenstock slides to the side and then looked over my outfit to ensure everything went together nicely. When I was pleased, I jumped in the shower and then started on my makeup. I settled on a natural beat. Within two hours, Talia and I were walking out of the door.
Chapter 5
Nyoka
"This is cute," I commented as Talia parked behind this smoke-gray Trackhawk parked in the driveway.
"It's kind of small, for real," her bratty tone spat.
"Everybody don't get that silver spoon you had. Chill out."
If I wanted to, I could have had a house the same size as Talia's, but I decided to move smartly with my money. When we exited the car, I could smell the barbecue in the air. One thing about me is that I could eat. Some women would order light when they went on dates, but that wasn't me. I want the appetizer, salad, and main course, and tell that bartender to make the drinks strong and to keep them coming.
"They're grilling something good," Talia noted, reading my mind.
"Mmm-hmm," I agreed as I closed my door and followed her up the pathway to their house.
I tapped my silver Gucci bag to ensure I had put my .40 in there. Talia tapped their Ring doorbell, and I just had to put my two cents in.
"That is what we needed."
"Well, we one have now," she quickly responded before the door opened in front of us.
Talia's bald-headed friend had on this blue and orange apron that saidKiss the Crip. It was a bald-headed cartoon man on the apron holding a spatula in his hand.
"Hey, hey…" he excitedly greeted as he held the door open for us.
The setup of their crib was pretty much an open concept. When you first walked through the door, the first thing in front of you was a pair of stairs. To the right of us was the living room. A sectional wrapped around most of it, and this big-ass television was hung on the wall.
"This is Nyoka, my cousin," Talia introduced as she held her hand out in my direction.
Dom looked me up and down as I gave him a fake ass wave. I hated meeting new people for this very moment. The initial introductions were awkward as shit, and I hated being in awkward feeling situations.
"Okay, okay, My cousin, Adonis, is in the back on the grill. Y'all can follow me." He walked us through the living room. "That door right there is the bathroom," he said as he pointed to the left of us.
We walked through a dining room and then straight into the kitchen. There was another door to the left of us that I was sure was the laundry room because of how close it was to the kitchen. Dom opened the door to the backyard, and when he did, I could see this brown-skinned man turning something on the grill.
"Yo, gang," Dom said once we were all standing in the private backyard.
Adonis' brown eyes rolled over in our direction. His face was stiff, and he looked mean as hell. He picked up a red cup near him and took a small sip from it. I could tell that whatever was in his cup had to be from one of the liquor bottles on the table behind him.
"This is Talia, and that's…" Dom let his last word trail off.
"Nyoka," I spoke up for myself.
I personally didn't think that my name was that hard to remember. Talia had literally told this fool my name less than ten minutes ago. Dom just added another reason to the long ass list of why I hated baldheaded men. The lack of hair on their damn head must be the only explanation for the forgetfulness.
"Aight, cool," was the only response that Adonis gave.
His face was stone-cold, and he looked unapproachable. If this is who they had me set up to chill with for the rest of the evening, I didn't mind.
"Y'all hungry?" Dom asked.
"No, we just ate," Talia was putting on this soft-ass voice.
That girl walked around sounding like she should be saving Gotham City most of the time, so I didn't understand where the change of tone was coming from. It was obvious she had liked Dom's ass, but the voice was irking me.
"Speak for yourself. I'll take a burger," I interjected when I realized that was what Adonis was now taking off of the grill.
