Page 54 of Falling Into Gravity

And even from across the crowd, even with no words exchanged…he still pulled her in…

It was later now, and people started to clear out but the old head was still spinning tracks. Niah and Zaire left hours ago, but Aku was sitting there, listening to Gran Betty talk shit and watching her slap bones on the table. She had smoked too much, drank even more. Her smile had been stuck on her face for so long it was starting to ache, but she didn’t want to stop smiling. She didn’t want the night to end. She just wanted to beright there, kicking it with Gran Betty and the neighborhood legends who slapped bones on the table like it was a championship game.

She felt him…Malik. Tucked somewhere in the shadows, watching her. His eyes crawled over her like they always did—slow and observant.

Aku just kept pretending she didn’t feel him, as she talked shit right along with Gran Betty, slapping hands when they said some fly shit. The moment made her miss home.

She missed home, not the beach house, not even Madison Heights…Home.

The place where Solar kissed her forehead every morning and French called her his whole damn heart. She’d been calling daily, texting, and checking in, but it wasn’t enough. She neededto see them. Curl up between them. Get reminded of who she was when love didn’t feel like it was in the cards for her.

When her schedule cleared, Aku was going to book a flight to Emerald City. Being in Malik’s hood around his people made her miss her own.

Myesa walked out the Houston, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “You still here?” she asked with a teasing smirk.

“I was promised cake,” Aku joked, holding up her plate.

Myesa laughed and eased down beside her. “Well, long as you know Crescent cake hit different.”

“Everything in Crescent does,” Aku said, licking her fork.

They sat for a beat before Myesa nudged her with a shoulder. “I see why he like you. You got spark.”

Aku chuckled, but didn’t respond right away. She noticed how Myesa’s tone wasn’t sharp, wasn’t prying. It was matter-of-fact—like a woman who’d seen too many girls come and go, to waste energy on being petty or just talking.

“I like y’all too,” Aku said finally. “Ran into you and Gran Betty the other morning, remember?”

“Oh we remember,” Myesa grinned. “You left a whole bra in the living room…bet we all remember.”

Aku shook her head laughing. “I was tryna sneak out smooth. Y’all wasn’t supposed to see me.”

“Baby, can’t nobody sneak outta Crescent…doors creak and eyes stay open.”

That’s when the screen door opened and Malik’s father, Anthony, stepped out. He was dressed in a muscle tee and Nike slides, still smelling like cologne and charcoal from the grill.

“You the one got my son all twisted up?” he asked, eyes soft but tone deep.

Aku sat up straight. “I’m…probably the one you think I am.”

Anthony snorted. “C’mon now. I’m messin’ with you.” He handed her a cold bottle of water, then leaned over and smackedMyesa on the butt on his way down the steps. “You been out here talkin’ her ears off?”

Myesa rolled her eyes but smiled. “Go’on somewhere, Tony.”

Anthony chuckled as he headed toward the yard where some of the older men were still talking near the grill. The love was loud—blunt and familiar. You could feel it in how he touched his wife, how he watched over the block like it still had a piece of his youth in it.

“You and Mr. Tony been together long?” Aku asked, curious.

“Since I was seventeen,” Myesa said, eyes twinkling. “He had a big mouth and a gold chain. I was young and cute and liked trouble. Then we grew up and made a home.”

Gran Betty added to the conversation now that she was done playing bones. appeared behind them, glass of dark liquor in hand. “That girl askin’ ‘bout y’all love story?”

“She nosy,” Myesa said, grinning. “But she alright.”

Gran Betty sat on the opposite side of Aku, who was now sandwiched between two generations of hood women who knew how to keep a family together through damn near anything.

“I’ll say this,” Gran Betty offered, leaning close. “That boy look like Myesa, but he got my heart. Big, too big sometimes. He won’t say nothin’ if he hurtin’. He’ll just go quiet. You gotta see him.”

Aku’s mouth parted slightly, surprised by how tender her voice had turned.

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