Crescent was quieterthan it was on the two days she had been out there with Zaire. The sun had set behind the palm trees hours ago. Now it was the moon’s time to shine-- casting a glowy light that made you feel like something important was about to happen. Maybe it was…Aku didn’t know. She just knew her heart beat different when she saw Malik leaning against his old-school Chevy with a toothpick between his lips, and that subtle smirk that said he already knew he had her attention.
Aku loved LA but there was something different about Crescent Park.
“You always out this late or just for me?” he asked, eyes dragging down her body so slow it should have been illegal.
Aku scoffed, flipping her hair as she stepped out her truck. “You lucky I even showed up.”
It was true. She’d spent too much time trying to find the perfect outfit. One that said,‘I’m a bad bitch but I never try too hard.’
“Nah,” he said, pushing off the car and walking toward her, slow and easy like he had all night to waste. “I’m blessed.”
Something in his tone made her smile even though she tried not to. She hated that. Hated how effortless he made it. How being near him felt like someone humming a love song right into her skin.
He opened the passenger side of his car like it was 1995 and chivalry wasn’t on life support. “I was gon’ let you drive, but you look too good to be behind the wheel. I need to see that face.”
He eyed her Jeep with a nod of approval. It was nice and fit her style beautifully.
She eyed him, stepping close enough to smell the clean, woodsy cologne lingering on his skin. “You tryna be sweet now?”
He leaned in, just enough for her breath to catch. “Nah, I’m tryna be honest.”
She slid into the car before he could say anything slicker. The inside smelled like leather with a faint scent of weed, and his playlist was already cued to something with a slow bounce and lyrics too grown for how fast her heart was moving.
“You gon’ play R&B and not offer wine?” she joked when he got behind the wheel.
Malik grinned as he pulled off. “Ain’t no wine. But I got somethin’ better.”
“What’s that?”
He glanced at her, that little moment of eye contact lasting too long. “Me.”
She laughed, but he didn’t. He just looked back to the road like he meant every damn word.
The neighborhood blurred past, but she barely noticed. She could feel him watching her out of the corner of his eye—he was memorizing her without trying too hard.
Aku squeezed her legs together as her eyes outlined his jawline. His braids were teasing her, begging to be yanked and pulled.
He drove past the strip where everybody usually hung out. The music in the car dipped into a slower groove, something old with a quiet bassline and a man whispering heartbreak like he was testifying.
“You taking me to a second location?” Aku teased. “That’s how girls get got, you know.”
Malik chuckled. “You said you was bored, remember? I’m just tryna help you out.”
“I don’t remember sayin’ that.”
“You didn’t, but your eyes be loud.”
She turned her head to look at him, and he was already smirking like he had her clocked. She hated that he might be right. Hated more that it turned her on. Then she hated how wanting love could be clogging her judgement.
She’d just been through this song and dance with Devin. Handsome, smooth, hood like she liked them. Maybe she needed to pump the brakes with Malik ‘cause Lord knew her heart couldn’t take another break.
Malik pulled up to a little overlook, tucked behind a street with no name and too many potholes. The city looked tiny from up there, like a toy set. The sky was darkening now, a deep blue pushing down on the horizon.
“I bring myself up here when I need to breathe,” he said casually, putting the car in park. “Didn’t think I’d be bringing nobody else.”
Aku leaned back in the seat, looking at him sideways. “So this like…your secret hideout?”
“Somethin’ like that.”
