“What is it? Maybe I can have my people look into her.”
Forever ready to put some people on it, Laike hadn’t changed a bit. This wasn’t the case though. I’d be the only one snooping around when it came to this one. Someway somehow, I knew she wasn’t a threat to my livelihood, so it wouldn’t be necessary.
“I doubt if all that’s necessary. She’s around.”
“Then what’s her name, nigga?” he probed, scrunching his face as if I was getting on his nerves, but he was the one on my fucking nerves.
“Ever,” I revealed.
“Ole girl that’s staying with Lyric? You seen her? Ahhhh. Shit, she did ride down with Lyric to get you.” He slapped his leg as he recalled.
She had indeed ridden with Lyric to scoop me up, and I was glad that arrangement had come about. Hearing Laike mention her living situation had my interest piqued. Lyric didn’t allow anyone into her personal space. She was introverted, a loner, especially since everything had gone down with that nigga, Chauncey. Since, she didn’t trust a soul, always assuming the worst of a situation because she’d seen just how deadly it could become in a matter of seconds.
“Yeah. You seen her?”
If this nigga had seen her, then my chances of locking her in had possibly slimmed down to none. He couldn’t keep his dick inhis pants if he tried. He was a lover boy. There was no questions about it.
“Nah. I ain’t. Not yet, but now I’m pissed ’cause nigga you just touched down and you’re already trying to keep her to yourself.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath, but I exhaled after he’d given his answer. Laike having not seen Ever meant that I was free to push forward. If he’d tapped that, I’d have to hang my pursuit up early. I didn’t want to, but it was part of the game. I didn’t fuck after Laike and vice versa.
“Nah, you definitely haven’t seen her. I don’t even know why I asked.”
“Why you say that?”
“’Cause you’d be trying to keep her to your-fucking-self, too.”
He would’ve. Ever was just one of those that you want to hold on to. Her essence was not only attractive, but it was magnetic, too. Since I’d left her presence, I’d been trying to figure out how I’d insert myself into her world without overwhelming her. She seemed like that type that was easily overwhelmed but accommodating because she was generally a hospitable person.
“It’s like that?” Laike’s brows raised.
“Just like that. And, you said she’s staying with Lyric?”
I wanted to know more about their living arrangements and why she was living with my sister. The odds of that were very slim so to hear of it actually happening was interesting to me.
“Yeah. She’s got two jits. One of them goes to the daycare. Em or some shit Momma calls her. She’s her fucking shadow. Moms can’t make a move without her little pretty brown eyes following her.”
She’s got them, too, I thought, imagining how pretty her children must’ve been if they looked anything like Ever. Learning that she had two children was understandable. Any nigga who’d crossed her path was right for attempting to holdher ass down. She was a treasure, but whoever that nigga was had better made plans to scoot his bitch ass out of the way. Because now that she was in my line of vision, I wouldn’t stop until she was rocking my last name and sporting marks from a few of my seeds growing in her womb. She already had two. That was a great head start for me.
“You trying to be a stepdaddy, nigga?”
Yeah,I thought, but didn’t have to verbalize. Laike already knew what was up with me. If I wanted you, I wanted everything that came with you. And when you became mine, what was once yours was now both of ours –kids especially. Liam, our father, made fatherhood look so fucking pleasing that I couldn’t wait for my chance at it. Just like him, I knew I’d be damn good.
“What’s her deal?” I ignored Laike’s question and posed one of my own.
“Anything I haven’t already told you, I don’t know,” he finalized, turning the bottle in his hand up and sipping from it.
“Aight. Let me pour myself a real drink and then we can head out of the door. You can sip on that shit you popped by yourself.”
“Whatever, nigga.”
We stepped out of the house ten minutes later, only for me to realize I didn’t have a house key. I patted my pockets before remembering keys weren’t among the contents of the table where Laike had left everything I’d be needing. I didn’t recall Lyric handing me a key or using a key to let herself in when we arrived, either.
“What?” I turned back to get a good view of Laike, who seemed to think something was hysterical.
“Ain’t no key, nigga. It’s a smart home. Lyric and I are scanned in. Once we leave, the doors automatically lock. When we approach, the doors unlock, unless our head is down. For security purposes, the doors will remain locked if we approach without our faces showing or with an elevated heart rate. It scansthe body for any signs of distress before unlocking. We need to get you scanned in.”
“But what about if a nigga just left the gym or having a bad day or some shit?”
