Making sure to grab my phone, I climbed out of my truck then walked over to her side to open the door for her. She made no attempt to move, now staring forward with confusion on her face.
“We’re gonna miss everything if you don’t hurry.” I leaned into the car and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt. Her perfume invaded my nostrils, causing me to pause. It smelled like fruity candy.
“You smell good.” I pulled back and held my hand out for her.
Her cheeks reddened. “Thanks.” She grabbed my hand and I helped her out of the truck. Once she was out and I locked the doors, I grabbed her hand and led her through the cars to where everyone was. The sound of loud music and the crowd of chatter blared ahead.
“We’re really at a street race right now?” she asked, causing me to look over my shoulder at her with a crooked grin.
“Yeah!”
“How did you even find out about this?”
“My best friend hosts them a couple times a month.”
We got to the edge of the crowd. In the center of it all was a bunch of luxury sports and muscle cars. Some cars had people propped on top of them, others people were examining and preparing to get on the track.
“I can’t believe how different you and your brother are,” Nakyra expressed. “Are you sure you two grew up in the same house?” Her words weren’t anything I hadn’t heard before. Rome was too high maintenance for me. While I liked nice things, I couldn’t care less about the rich crowd he surrounded himself with.
Chuckling, I pulled her hand and started through the crowd, making sure to keep a tight grip on her.
Just as I suspected, I located Dylan and the rest of his crew in the center of the crowd. Two cars were parked close to his custom black and red Challenger, with it in the middle.
“Mr. Moneybags,” he joked with a grin on his face when he noticed me approaching. He released his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Camilla, and pushed off the car.
Chuckling, I slapped hands with him using my free hand.
“Camilla, it’s good to see you, sis,” I acknowledged.
She grinned. “Hey Creed!” She stepped forward to hug me.
Camilla and Dylan had been together for two years. The two had a complicated relationship. She was a firecracker who didn’t take his shit but refused to move on at the same time. He was always doing something to make her spazz on him, but after a while I realized the craziness had to be their love language. Being around them, entertainment was sure to follow.
Dylan’s eyes shifted to the side, noticing I wasn’t alone. His brow rose and his head cocked to the side. Looking over my shoulder, I pulled Nakyra into my side.
“Nakyra, this my best friend Dylan and his girl, Camilla. Y’all, this Nakyra.”
“It is nice to meet you both.”Nakyra released my hand, speaking and signing at the same time. Once, she told me when she met people for the first time she usually signed right away so they were aware she was deaf in case something happened and she wasn’t able to hear them.
Dylan’s eyes bounced between us then he scrunched his face. “You deaf or something?”
“Bae!” Camilla hit him in the stomach, causing him to grunt. “That’s rude as fuck.” She faced Nakyra then surprised me when her hands started moving. “Please excuse my rude ass boyfriend. It is nice to meet you.”
“I done told you about putting your hands on me.” He mugged her and rubbed the area she just hit. “I was just curious.”
Camilla rolled her eyes and ignored him.
“I didn’t know you knew sign language,” I interrupted.
Camilla nodded. “My niece was born deaf so to communicate with her me and my family learned it.”
“Yes, I am deaf.” Nakyra started to sign, then went straight to speaking. “I can hear with my aids, but it’s loud around here so I might not catch everything.” Nakyra scanned the area. “This is kinda overwhelming. It’s like one big party.”
I leaned down so I could talk in her ear. “Once the races start it won’t be so bad.” Her chin tipped upward and she stared up at me. I smirked and gave her side a squeeze.
“You two together?” Camilla asked, gaining my attention again.
“Oh no!” Nakyra’s eyes widened. “I’m engaged to his brother.”
