Saul pushed the grocery cart behind Ava as she worked through a list on her phone, her thumb scrolling between items. She pulled a jar of pasta sauce off the shelf and tossed it into the basket without looking back, then a box of rice, then a bag of shredded cheese, each one landing on top of the last until the pile shifted and the jar tilted against the side of the cart.
Saul reached in and reorganized, stacking the heavier items along the bottom and sliding the rest to one side to give her more room. Ava was already three steps ahead of him, her eyes back on her phone, her free hand pulling a can of diced tomatoes from the shelf and adding it to the pile he had just sorted.
"You close with Andrew?" He kept his grip on the cart handle, his eyes on the back of her head. "Like close close?"
Ava kept her eyes on the shelves. "No closer than I am with any of my other friends. You have nothing to be jealous about."
Saul nodded to himself and pushed the cart forward as she moved down the aisle, the wheels rattling over a seam in the tile. He let a few steps pass before he spoke again. "I was talking to one of my coworkers, uh, Katie."
Ava looked back at him, one eyebrow up. "Katie?"
"Yeah, she works in the permit office for Methanex."
Ava shrugged, her eyes moving back to the shelves. "Okay, Katie then."
They turned the corner into the next aisle, Saul angling the cart wide to keep it from clipping the endcap. A woman with a toddler in the seat of her cart came from the other direction and Ava stepped to one side to let her pass, her back pressing against the shelf for a second before she pushed off and kept walking. She stopped in front of the pasta section, her fingers running across the boxes until she found the one she wanted.
"She's always in there flirting and shit with all of the guys then I found out she's married."
Ava pulled a pack of spaghetti noodles down and turned the box over, reading the label. She looked up at Saul. "So, Katie's a piece of shit who is cheating on her husband."
Saul shook his head. "Nah, that's the thing. She said he's cool with it."
"Her husband is okay with her messing around behind his back."
"That's what she said. Said he likes it."
Ava's mouth pulled to one side and she set the spaghetti in the cart, sliding it flat against the cans along the bottom. "That's fucking disgusting. Why would you want someone that you're with to hook up with other people?"
Saul shrugged, his hands settling back onto the handle. "I don't know. You'd have to ask her that I guess."
Ava turned back to the shelves and grabbed a second box of spaghetti, checked the label against the first, and put it back on the shelf. She started walking again, her steps light on the tile. She pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled once, checking the next item on the list.
"I hope you're not bringing that up because you want to do some weird shit like that."
"Fuck no. I just thought it was weird, but clearly all the guys are cool with it on the site because she's entertaining them or whatever."
Ava nodded as she kept walking. She slowed in front of the canned vegetables and pulled two cans of corn off the shelf, setting them into the cart one at a time. She looked back at him. "Is she hot?"
Saul blinked. "What?"
"Is she hot? I figure that doesn't work if you're ugly."
"Yeah, she's alright I guess."
"You guess."
"Yeah."
Ava stopped. She turned around and put her hands on either side of the cart, her fingers curling over the metal edge, her weight settling between her arms so the cart pushed back an inch against Saul's grip. "You better not cheat on me, Saul."
"I ain't."
"And I'm not doing anything with Andrew since that was your roundabout way to see if I was."
"No, I—"
"I wouldn't do that to you."
Saul closed his mouth. "My bad."
Ava held his eyes for another second, her fingers still pressed into the metal of the cart. Then she let go and turned back around, pulling her phone up from her pocket. "C'mon. We gotta get back before the LSU game comes on."
She started walking. Saul pushed the cart after her, the front wheel catching on a crack in the tile before straightening out. They passed the baking aisle and the cleaning supplies without stopping, Ava checking her phone once more and sliding it back into her pocket.
She was already at the end of the row by the time Saul caught up, pulling a can of black beans off the shelf as she passed it, tossing it over her shoulder into the cart without breaking stride.
~~~
Ramon came up the stairs to Tyree's apartment two at a time, his hand catching the rail once on the turn before he let it go and crossed the landing. He slammed his fist against the front door hard enough to rattle the hinges. "Come open this fucking door, nigga!"
He hit it again, then again, the side of his fist flat against the wood, the blows landing in quick succession that carried down the breezeway. He kept banging until Tyree's voice came back from inside, muffled through the door.
"I'm coming, bitch, damn."
The deadbolt turned and Tyree pulled the door open. Ramon pushed past him into the apartment.
A girl was sitting on the sofa in a PSD set, her legs tucked under her, her phone in her hand. She looked up at Ramon as he came through the door. Ramon looked back at Tyree, then at the girl. He walked over to the counter where a set of keys sat near the edge and picked them up, holding them toward her. "This yours?"
She looked at the keys. "Yeah."
Ramon threw them to her. "Get the fuck out."
She caught them against her chest and her eyes went to Tyree, who was still standing at the door with his hand on the frame. He pulled the door open wider and tipped his chin toward it. "I'm gonna text you after we done."
She sucked her teeth as she pushed up from the sofa and crossed the room in her bare feet, her phone gripped in one hand and the keys in the other. She stepped into her slides by the door, threw her hand in Tyree's face as she passed him, and walked out. Tyree watched her go, then slammed the door behind her, the latch catching hard. He turned back to Ramon with his arms out at his sides.
"You ain't have to come over here like the fucking jakes."
Ramon walked further into the apartment and turned to face him, his back to the kitchen counter. "That's who gonna be on your ass for spinning on them 110 niggas. You been smiling and kekeing all in my face all week and ain't tell me you did that."
Tyree shrugged, his hands coming up at his sides. "You wasn't about that ride so I took it alone, niggas."
His hand swung toward Tyree. "You ain't even hit none of them niggas. And you took that green ass nigga Bakari with you? He ain't hit nothing neither."
Tyree sucked his teeth. "I can spin again if that's what it take."
Ramon shook his head. "Nah, you need to sit your wild ass down and let this shit simmer."
Tyree pointed at him, his finger cutting the air between them. "That's your bitch talking. Ain't you just get mad at E.J. for not being about that action?"
Ramon stepped forward, closing the distance between them until he was in Tyree's space, his chest square to Tyree's. "Watch your mouth, lil' bitch."
Tyree held his ground, his feet set, his chin lifting a fraction. His eyes locked on Ramon's face. He shook his head. "They don't even know who it was so it don't even matter."
"It's only a matter of time until they figure it out then we gonna be shooting it out in the fucking Quarter again."
"Ain't none of these would've happened if Duke wasn't slow walking everything talking about some fucking patience."
Ramon brought both hands up and pointed them at Tyree. "For a nigga who go to college, you fucking dumb as a bitch. I swear to fucking God, bruh."
Tyree's hands dropped to his sides and he took a half step back, his weight shifting off his front foot. "What Duke said?"
Ramon dropped his hands to his sides. He let a beat pass, his chest rising once on a breath before he spoke. "Nothing. I fixed it. Like I always fucking do." He let that sit. "Next time, get your pussy ass out the car and walk them niggas down if you gonna do that shit."
Tyree held his hands up, palms open. "It was seven of them."
"You got more than seven bullets."
Tyree shook his head then he turned and walked to the door, pulling it open.
Ramon's head came up. "Where the fuck you going?"
Tyree looked back over his shoulder from the doorway. "Going see if Carresha still out there, nigga."
Ramon shook his head as Tyree walked out of the apartment, the door left open behind him, his footsteps carrying down the stairs until they faded out at the bottom.
~~~
Mireya had her back against Sena's front, her hips finding the beat and pressing into Sena's with each downstroke, the two of them moving together in the packed crowd. Bodies pressed close on every side, shoulders brushing shoulders, the bass pushing through the floor and up through their legs. Every few bars, Sena's hand went to the hem of the cropped top she was wearing, her fingers hooking the fabric and tugging it down where it had ridden up above her sternum.
Mireya turned around and slapped her hand, light, the contact quick against Sena's knuckles. "Stop that."
"You're not the one worried about flashing everyone in here."
Mireya smiled, her hands finding Sena's waist, her thumbs pressing into the skin between the top and the waistband of her jeans. "I tried to tell you how to get it to stay down but you ain't listen to me."
Sena rolled her eyes, her fingers still pinching the hem. "Yeah. Your stripper tactics didn't make sense. Strippers take their clothes off, not keep them on. Besides you're the fucking one who told me to wear this."
Mireya gestured around them at the women filling the bar, the dance floor, the booths against the far wall. "Yeah, because now every other bitch in here wants to fuck you."
"You're saying that like it's a good thing for you."
Mireya laughed, her body still swaying, her grip steady on Sena's waist. "It is, because I know I'm the one who will be. Boosts my fucking ego."
Sena shook her head, a smile breaking through despite the roll of her eyes. "C'mon. I gotta get drunk to keep up with you."
The two of them squeezed their way to the bar, Mireya leading with one hand behind her holding Sena's, cutting a path through the press of bodies until they reached the counter.
Andrea saw Sena from behind the bar and started making a Cosmo without asking, pulling bottles, working the shaker, straining the pour into a glass and sliding it across the bar top toward her. She looked at Mireya. "You want something?"
Mireya shook her head. "I'm good."
Andrea nodded and moved off to the next person flagging her down. Mireya leaned her hip against the bar and watched Sena bring the glass to her mouth, the pink liquid tilting against the rim as she took a sip. A smile pulled at the corner of Mireya's mouth.
Sena lowered the glass. "What?"
"You come to a lesbian bar enough that they just know what you drink and you refuse to come out. You're pretty fucking gay, Sena."
Sena's jaw tightened for a fraction of a second. "We're not talking about this right now."
Mireya held a hand up. "I'm just fucking with you, baby. But I ain't never been somewhere they knew my drink."
"Not even when you were stripping?"
Mireya shook her head. "I'd just drink whatever was bought for me. Don Julio, Casamigos, mostly."
Sena nodded to herself and brought the Cosmo back to her lips for another sip. Her eyes moved across the crowd over the rim of the glass, scanning the room, the faces, the bodies packed along the dance floor and the booths. Then her eyes stopped. The glass came down and her hand went still around the stem, her shoulders pulling back an inch.
Mireya caught the shift before Sena said anything. She turned and followed the line of Sena's gaze through the crowd until she found it. A woman across the room, looking back at them.
"Who's that?"
"Alex."
"Your ex? That Alex?"
Sena's thumb moved once along the stem of the glass. "I don't think I can call her that."
Mireya looked at the woman for another beat, her eyes taking her in from across the room. "She's not fine enough to act like she does."
"She gets a lot of attention."
Mireya shrugged, one shoulder lifting and dropping. Then she turned back to Sena. She reached over and took the Cosmo out of Sena's hand, her fingers closing around the glass and setting it on the bar behind her. Her hand came up to the side of Sena's neck, her palm warm against the skin, her fingers curling into the hair at the base of her head. She pulled Sena closer and kissed her.
Sena's body went soft against hers. Her hands came to Mireya's hips, her fingers pressing into her, her weight tipping forward into the kiss until Mireya was holding most of it. Mireya pulled back an inch, her forehead still against Sena's, her hand still on her neck.
"Say you mine."
Sena's eyes opened, slow, the lids heavy. She drew a breath that lifted her chest against Mireya's. "I'm yours."
Mireya smiled, close enough that Sena could feel the shape of it. She let her hand slide from Sena's neck to her shoulder, then looked back over her shoulder toward where Alex had been standing. She caught the back of her turning away, her body folding into the crowd until it swallowed her and she was gone.
~~~
Caine stood on the fairway with Garrison, Donovan and Julian, the four of them grouped between shots, clubs resting against legs or propped on the grass at their feet. The sun sat high and warm over the course, the light falling flat across the green in every direction. Autumn watched them from a golf cart nearby where she sat with Sasha. Vivienne and Nadine carried a conversation that drifted in pieces across the grass without reaching the men.
Donovan pointed his iron at Caine, the shaft angling between them. "You had a great game yesterday, son. You were slinging that ball around the field like a prime Randall Cunningham."
Caine tipped his chin. "Appreciate it. I ain't really happy with some of them missed throws, but we won so we move."
Garrison lined up his shot a few feet away, his feet finding their width, his hands adjusting on the grip. He looked over at Caine before he addressed the ball. "A man that is never satisfied is one that's going to reach the top of his profession. That's why these white boys from Holmby or the Palisades never make it. They aren't hungry enough."
Caine nodded. "We done played a few of them this season."
Julian shifted his weight and crossed his arms, a grin pulling at his mouth. "You know y'all still gonna lose to UCLA."
Caine looked at him, one eyebrow up. "You smoking fucking crack. If we beat Oregon and Michigan, them boys gonna be easy work."
"If, but y'all ain't."
"You getting on the field, bro? Or you talking from the stands?"
Julian held his hands up, , and Garrison and Donovan both laughed, Donovan's head shaking as his shoulders moved with it, Garrison's laugh coming out full with his weight rocking back on his heels before he struck the ball.
They walked back over to the carts. Garrison rested his club against the bag strapped to the back of the lead cart and pulled the towel off the handle to wipe his hands. Autumn leaned forward in the cart, her forearm resting on the edge of the roof, her eyes on her father as he approached.
"You're not being too tough on my man, are you, daddy?"
Garrison pointed back at Caine with the club. "This kid? I think he'll be alright with a little pressure from a couple old men trying to get under his skin."
Caine came up beside the cart, his hands resting at his sides. "Definitely can't be the worse I've come across."
Garrison laughed and slapped Caine on the shoulder, his palm landing flat against the muscle and staying for a second before he pulled it back. His eyes moved to Autumn and back to Caine, the grin holding. Autumn raised an eyebrow.
Sasha sucked her teeth from the passenger side, her head shaking once. She pushed herself out of the cart, her hand catching the roof bar as she swung her legs down and walked to the one behind it where Julian was loading his club into the bag strapped to the back. Vivienne and Nadine shifted to the second cart, Nadine saying something to Vivienne that made her wave her hand and laugh.
Autumn scooted over to the passenger side. Caine dropped into the driver's seat, his hands settling on the wheel, his foot finding the pedal. The cart rolled forward onto the path, the tires pressing into the grass where it met the concrete.
Autumn looked over at him, her body turned in the seat to face him. "Look at you getting along with my daddy and my uncle."
Caine smirked, his eyes on the path ahead. "You saying that shit like it's a bad thing."
"Based on your track record with meeting parents, I figured you wouldn't know what the fuck you were doing."
"What track record?"
Autumn laughed. "Exactly, nigga. My parents are a little different than some married white woman's and your baby mama's absentee mama."
Caine held one hand up. "I'm a fast learner. All we gotta do is keep talking about football. Shit easy."
Autumn rolled her eyes, her head tipping against the back of the seat. "That's just because Julian around. My daddy will start asking your political opinions soon enough."
Caine steered the cart around a bend in the path, the wheels turning over the concrete. "That's when I'm gonna tag you in."
Autumn shook her head. "I thought you had it."
Caine laughed, the cart rolling along the path toward the next hole, the fairway opening up on both sides of them, the sun pressing warm across both of them. "We supposed to be a team. The fuck you mean?"
Autumn leaned over and kissed him, quick, her lips catching the corner of his mouth before she pulled back. "Already saying you need me. I like that."
Caine snorted a laugh, his eyes cutting to her before they moved back to the path. "Shit went straight to your head."
Autumn looked over at him and winked, the smile sitting at the corners.
