Try Me

Chapter twenty-one

"You just got out of the hospital. Should you be smoking like that?" Akia watched Khalan pre-roll multiple blunts as he took occasional puffs from his vape. "I don't think you should be." He mumbled to himself.

Khalan looked up for a second before he went back to what he was doing, completely ignoring Akia.

Akia pouted and crossed his arms over each other after he had been ignored.

"I'm not smoking them right now. I'm just pre-rolling for when you get the fuck out." Khalan said it with a slight attitude. It wasn't anything against Akia. He's just having a bad day. Khalan then quickly glanced over at Akia. "My fault, lil nigga. I'm done." Khalan apologized and cleaned everything up. He then sat on his bed and pulled Akia onto his lap so the younger would straddle him. Khalan was sitting up against his headboard.

Akia just let Khalan do what he wanted.

"I know you not mad at me. Stop pouting." Khalan mugged, flicking Akia's bottom lip.

"You're being so mean when I'm just worried about your health." Akia said, showing he was hurt by Khalan lashing out on him for no reason.

"I don't need you to worry about me. You see I'm good." Khalan placed kisses on Akia's lips to make him feel better.

"Whatever." Akia huffed, rolling his eyes.

Although Khalan was amused by the attitude, he didn't feed into it. "Imma put that attitude right in check. Keep fucking with me, Akia." Khalan stared into Akia's eyes.

Akia, not being able to make eye contact, looked away instead of replying and started to play with the Bee, who was currently curled up in a ball next to Khalan.

"You might as well let me have her. She likes me a lot." Akia smiled when Bee got up to walk closer to him, just to lay back down.

Khalan sucked his teeth. "Nah, I'm her favorite. You probably a close second." Khalan nodded, agreeing with himself. Bee had no choice but to like him because he's the one who takes care of her. "You ever had a pet, lil nigga?" Khalan asked Akia.

Akia immediately shook his head. "Both of my moms don't like animals. I like them a lot, though." He looked a bit down at the fact that he was never allowed to have a pet. "Is Bee your first pet?"

"Shit, we used to have a Guinea pig when we were younger, but our mom ended up selling the shit so she could—for some money." Khalan cut his sentence off, deciding that Akia didn't need to know that the Guinea pig was actually sold for drugs. "I had a few fish, but all them bitches died fast."

The two talked a little more about what type of pets they want in the future and what they would name them. Akia said he wanted a ferret, while Khalan said he wanted a big dog that would be vicious to anyone but him, and when Akia showed fear of the future animal, Khalan said he'd make sure that Akia would be a second favorite.

"Your hair smells good as hell." Khalan took a few sniffs.

"Thank you. It's a shampoo my mom uses a lot. Tyra uses it now too." Akia smiled, touching his hair.

Khalan rolled his eyes at the mention of Tyra, but he didn't say anything about her.

"Would you ever get a tattoo?" Akia asked randomly, looking at Khalan's bare chest.

"Hell yeah, I want a sleeve." Khalan released one of his hands from around Akia's waist and tapped his own right arm, showing how far he wanted all of his tattoos to go. "I want that shit by next year."

"Oh, that's going to hurt, though." Akia grimaced at the thought before shaking it off. "What type of tattoos would you get?"

"Your name." Khalan licked his lips, catching the younger man by surprise. Khalan was joking, but honestly, if Akia were to ask him, he might consider it. Akia could already tell by the change in Khalan's tone that the older man was no longer interested in the conversation and that his mind was now going elsewhere.