Page 26 of If I Gave You My Heart
I didn't want to offend him, but I at least had to know that.
"Okay, sorry… just making sure."
"It was for armed robbery."
Just hearing the charge made me involuntarily cringe. One thing I couldn't stand in life was a thief.
"I ain't did shit, though. One nigga who I thought was my boy snitched on me."
You gotta do something for someone to snitch. I didn't say anything because I would just give him the benefit of the doubt.
Adonis opened up to me when he didn't have to. He held the door open to one of the saunas, and when we walked inside, the steam hit us fast.
"This shit is gone sweat my hair out," I complained as I wiped the light trickle of sweat from my forehead.
"Are you 'bout to look like Mya Angelou or something?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Shut up," I said as I slapped him on the arm.
He was in shape, and I loved that about him. He was built like a nigga that had done some time.
"How long did you do?"
I don't know why I decided to bring the topic back up, but I could tell that I had easily offended him, so I wanted to let Adonis know his past was cool with me. What mattered was the person he was now in front of me.
"Six years."
"Damn."
"Yup."
There was that awkward silence between us again. We both just sat next to each other with nothing to say.
"Well, at least you're home now."
"Yeah, I'm not going back," he said with confidence.
To me, anybody who did one bid was liable to do another. It was like the way the system was set up. Once you were given an inmate number, you were gonna use that shit a few times. Since he was optimistic, I was going to be the same.
After going to the gym, eating ramen at the food court, and getting one more massage, we left the facility. A tiny piece of me was sad that the night was ending, but the entire experience was appreciated. He had no idea that he had exposed me to two new things. I had never gone to a Korean grill before, and I had never had a massage professionally done. I loved it when I came across a man who could expose me to new things.
When we pulled onto his street, I saw that Talia's car was parked on the street. Adonis parked on the street as well, so that way he didn't block me in. I waited for him to walk around to open my door.
"They must be back," I noted as I nodded my head at my cousin's car.
He unlocked the door, and as soon as he did, we heard loud music coming from upstairs.
"Of course, they're fucking back."
We both shared a laugh because Talia and Dom couldn't keep their damn hands to themselves, it seemed like. I yawned loud as hell, which was rude, but it was damn near two in the morning, and we were just now ending our date day.
"Did you wanna stay, or are you okay to do the drive home?"
"I don't mind staying."
"Let me get one of these." He held his arms out for a hug.
I fell into his frame and wrapped my arms around his back. We stared at one another, and when he leaned down to kiss me, I allowed him to part my lips and let our tongues meet. At the end of our kiss, he smiled at me and then locked the door behind us before he started to climb the stairs.
