Page 18 of In the Safety's Zone
“We’ve got items for you in the back. You’re still going to take the photos with Aphrodite, correct?”
I imagined her face and answered her immediately. “Absolutely.”
“Perfect.”
“Have fun, fam. I’m ‘bout to head out and run up a check for my girls while I’m in the city before I head back to my room. Don’t miss the flight tomorrow.” He gave me a knowing look like I was going to try to fuck this girl on the first night when even I knew he could tell she wasn’t like that.
“I won’t. I’ll check in with you when I’m done here.”
Antwan laughed at my safety measures as if I were doing too much. “Shit, you ain’t got no curfew but yeah, make sure you let me know when you get in.”
I nodded and stepped toward him with my arms open. We hugged the way we always did. Since we were kids, there wasn’t anything that would prevent us from showing love to each other. Even with the rift we’d had, we never parted without showing love.
“Love you, bruh.”
He knocked my shoulder with his fist as he stepped back. “Love you too. Have some fun and shit tonight. It feels like you’re going to have a good time today.”
“Oh, this will be so good.”
Rachel had her hands pressed together and the excitement was all over her face. It was cool that she was so excited but I was mildly uncomfortable in this outfit.
Aphrodite looked at me with apologetic eyes, and I just smiled at her. They’d gotten the idea that since Aphrodite was a Greek goddess and being on the football field was akin to being a modern-day gladiator, they decided to visually play off those themes. She was draped in a cream dress that clung to her frame the way I wanted to. Her makeup had hints of gold that made her eyes look even more feline. Her locs were piled high on her head and I swore I wasn’t trying to be a creep but I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She was so fucking beautiful that looking away wasn’t possible. I ain’t even care what they had me in and even though I felt like a piece of meat, she was staring at me just like I was at her.
This is some crazy shit.
I wasn’t about to put a name on the feeling because I didn’t have one. The intensity of this attraction wasn’t on no fan shit and it wasn’t lust. Well, not solely. She had a hold on me and I was fine being trapped in whatever spell she’d cast.
She might be related to the voodoo ladies down on St. Anne’s.
“Okay so she’s the goddess, you’re humbly asking for an offering so you’re going to be on bended knee with your head bowed.”
“Okay.”
He could’ve told me I was going to be buck naked on the back of a horse two stepping and I would’ve been fine as long as it served her.
Damn Antwan and his visuals, because now that horse vault shit was going to be stuck in my head.
“Not paying me any attention are you?”
I looked at Rachel and shook my head because there was no use in pretending I hadn’t gotten caught. “Would you be paying attention to me if she were looking at you like that?”
Rachel’s abrupt chuckle was filled with humor. “No, I can’t say I would. Y’all good to continue?”
“I’m her humble servant. Whatever we need to make this work is good with me.” I held my hand out, her face still flushed adorably at my words but I was happy when she took it.
“We're doing it like that?” Her face was impish; her smirk undeniable.
I tilted my head toward her solicitously. “Whatever you need.”
“This is going to be good just like I said. So, the two of you are next to the golden clam.”
I kept her hand as we walked toward the prop and truthfully none of these people mattered to me.
We went through the shots of me kneeling and the two of us individually. My only direction was to stand near the clam shell and look at it longingly as though she were inside. That was easy for me to do because I just imagined she was actually in there. But before we came to the other shots I had to take a minute and pulled Aphrodite to the side.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m not tired.”
