Back In The Game

Chapter 11

LaShawn's POV

She's on her fourth drink and as a result she can't stop laughing. It's cute though, to watch her have a good time.

"Well it was nice seeing you guys again! We need to do this more often," Russie says as she and Jason stand up to leave. They are very generous, as they paid for everyone's meal. Nicole and Jordan were next to leave. Nicole had just as many drinks as Marie, but she seems to be handling herself.

"Bye, you guys! I'll see you later," Nicole tells us. Marie and I are the only ones left at the table so I help her stand so we can leave.

"I had such a nice time, thanks for coming with me," she says, laughing.

"I had a nice time too. Your friends are real cool," I tell her. "So am I taking you home?"

"Yes puh-leez," she tells me and burst into laughter yet again. The whole ride back was like that. I would say something and she would laugh until there were tears in her eyes. Very entertaining.

"Okay, we're here," I say and get out of the drivers seat to open her door to help her into her apartment. Once we get upstairs, I have to search her for the keys to get in.

"Thanks for everything," she tells me.

"Your welcome," I tell her and grab her hand to kiss it. She stands there for a second, unresponsive to my gesture and then suddenly leans in to kiss my lips. She goes easy at first and then gets a little rough. My hands slowly gravitate to her hips and the next thing I know, we are on our way to the couch.

"Marie," I say trying to get her to slow down. She's drunk and this cannot end well for me.

"Shhh," Is all she says before reconnecting our lips. She sits down on the couch and pulls me down with her. Her lips taste like the wine she drank at the restaurant; sweet.

"Marie," I try again. She breaks our kiss long enough to acknowledge me.

"Your drunk," I tell her. She looks stunned like she had no idea.

"Your right I'm sorry," she says, putting a little distance between me and her.

"I mean I don't want to take advantage of you. I'll still be here whenever you get sober, okay." She doesn't say anything, she just nods her head. I feel bad for ruining that for her, but I know I would feel even worse if I followed through.

"Well I'm going to go, do you need anything," I ask her, standing up to leave.

"No I'm fine, thanks." She seems to be getting more sober by the second.

"Well I'll call you, okay?" She nods again. The look on her face breaks my heart. I take her head in my hand and gently press my lips to hers. When I open my eyes, she's smiling.

"Goodnight baby," I say, and leave her standing in her living room alone.

>>>

I'm already late to meet Zeke. He supposed to have my shit to give to Steven tonight.

"Hello?"

"Yeah I know I'm late, but I'm on my way bruh."

"Iight. Hurry up, we dont have all night."

Ten minutes later I pull up next to Zeke and some other niggas.

"Where you been, we been waiting for 20 minutes for yo ass," Zeke says when I get out of my car.

"I was busy, ok! Damn, I'm here now."

"Anyway, my nigga here brought us everything," Zeke says opening the trunk of a car. When I look inside, there's a big suitcase. I don't have to open it to know what's inside.

"Well let me call Steven. And hey, how much is this gunna cost him?" I ask looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Ehh, six grand," Zeke tells me, weighing his options. I dail up Steven.

"Hello?"

"I have your stuff man, you owe 6 grand," I tell him. A couple seconds go by before I hear anything from him.

"Fine, where are you?" he ask. I'm suprised that he didn't try to argue with me.

"In the alley on 56th."

"Iight I'll be there." And the line goes dead.

"He's coming," I say to Zeke and his buddy.

"Alright, and he's bringing the money? My homeboy here needs his money up front."

"I'm guessing. He sounded like we was okay with that," I say. We wait around for what seems like hours. Steven and the two dudes that he was with at the hotel round the corner into the alley. I tap Zeke and point towards our visitors. Zeke doesn't say anything at all. He just pops the trunk again and gestures for them to look inside.

"Thanks fellas, nice doing buisness with you," Steven says, handing Zeke's partner an envelope. He peers inside to make sure he paid him in full and nods his head approvingly. Nobody said another word. Steven pulls the suitcase out of the trunk and dissapears around the corner.

"Well im glad thats over." I say as I run my fingers over my hair.

"It's never over Shawn. He'll be back soon," Zeke says and walks off, I suspect to go home. I climb back into my car and head home myself. I don't have to work tomorrow, and I'm hoping Marie doesn't either. I contemplate calling her, but with the hangover she's bound to have, I decide against it. Before I even know what I'm doing, I'm turning down the road towards her appartments.

When I get there I make my way up the stairs and knock on the door. I know she can't hear it but I wait to see if she'll open the door anyway. To my surprise, I hear footsteps from inside her apartment.

"Who is it?" Her accent very thick with sleep.

"It's me," I say, hoping she can identify me. I hear the door click unlock and the door creak open. I look down at Marie. She's wearing a tank top and shorts, and she's looking very sexy in it.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked letting me in."I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh, thanks. Im fine, just super tired," she said rubbing her temples. She so freaking beautiful. As my thoughts of her persuade me, I pull her into my arms. We stand like that for what seems like forever. Her arms around my waist and my lips pressed against her hair.

"I'm tired," she says as she releases me.

"Well go on to sleep, I'll be back tomorrow," I tell her.

"No, you can stay...if you want to." Of course I want to.

"Okay, well I'll take the couch," I tell her. She's still has alcohol in her system and her judgement is probably still a little clouded to say the least.

"You don't have to. I have plenty of room in my bed," she says softly laughing at herself.

"Are you sure?" She takes my hand and leads me to her bedroom. She was right when she said that she had plenty of room.

She lies down and gestures for me to join her. I take off my jacket and lay next to her. She scoots closer to rest her head on my chest and in seconds, she's asleep.