Moth to a Flame (3 page)

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Authors: Ashley Antoinette

BOOK: Moth to a Flame
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“You can give me your number so that I can call you though,” she said , with sugar lacing her tone. “We can link up another time.”
Mizan pulled out his BlackBerry so that he could swap information with her, but before she could give him her number, gunshots rang out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Aghh!” Raven screamed as she instinctively ducked low and covered her ears. The crowd began to run in all directions. “Nikki!” She reached out, trying to locate her best friend. The sea of panicked faces in the parking lot didn’t make it any easier to locate her.
Mizan grabbed her hand and ran toward his car.
“Get in!” he yelled.
“I have to find my girl!” she replied with worry.
“She ran off with one of my niggas. You can call her when you get in the car,” Mizan stated with authority.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hearing another round of shots ring out, Raven didn’t hesitate to jump inside Mizan’s car. Mizan was parked at the edge of the parking lot so he didn’t get caught in the barrage of cars trying to get out. She saw her car stuck in the back. “My car ... I have to get my car.”
“I’ll bring you back to it once the crowd clears and the shooting stops. You’re good with me. Trust me,” Mizan said in an attempt to reassure her.
Raven’s cell phone vibrated and she quickly answered it when she saw Nikki’s picture pop up on the screen.
“Where are you?” Raven answered.
“I’m with one of the dudes from the club. I just wanted to make sure you were straight,” Nikki replied.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’m with Mizan, Where you want to meet up?” Raven asked.
“I’m gonna chill with dude for a minute. Let’s meet back at your car in a couple hours,” Nikki stated.
“A’ight, that’s cool.”
Mizan reached over and brushed a stray hair from Raven’s face.“You good, ma? You look kind of shook over there. You live in Flint so I know you done heard gunshots before, superstar,” he teased.
She cut her eyes at him and pursed her lips. “Shut up. I wasn’t scared. That ain’t nothing new to me,” she replied, trying to play tough. But, in actuality, it
was
new to her. Yes, she had heard about the murders and mayhem that her hometown had to offer. She even knew that her father was behind a lot of the madness, but he had kept her far removed from the chaos. So to be so up close to a shootout had indeed shaken her.
“Yeah, a’ight, tough girl,” he stated in a disbelieving tone with a smile. “So you gon let me spend some time with you, ma? Get to know you?”
“Yeah, we can work something out.” She blushed, slightly flattered because Mizan was so much older than she was.
He took her back to his north side home and they sat in his driveway. Raven was inexperienced with older men. She was usually confident and commanded the conversation, but with him she felt awkward, as if nothing she had to say would matter to him. To avoid looking stupid she remained quiet. Mizan studied her curiously, and as he stared at her she became insecure. She was conscious of every imperfection on her body. Like most young girls she was cocky, but not truly confident in herself; relying on her looks too much, allowing her intelligence to take a backseat in order to attract a nigga.
Damn, it feel like I got a booger. Is my hair still in place?
She fidgeted in her seat and flicked her long hair behind her shoulders as she took a deep breath.
Cool and collected, Mizan chuckled. “You a’ight over there, shorty? You nervous?”
“I’m good,” she responded.
“Nah, you nervous, ma. Loosen up. I got something that will make you feel right,” he said as he reached over her and pulled a bag of cush marijuana out of the glove compartment.
“You smoke?” he asked with a mischievous smile.
She nodded. Although she had tried it before she wasn’t really a weed head, but she was not about to tell him that. “Yeah, I’m on that with you,” she replied, trying to sound cool.
Mizan split the cigar and emptied the legal contents, then replaced it with his own concoction of marijuana and cocaine. Raven noticed that he sprinkled the white powder on top of the cush, and her heart began to speed up anxiously. She knew that some people laced their weed to get a better high, but it wasn’t something she was curious about trying. As she watched Mizan’s tongue form the blunt, a lump formed in her throat. He lit it and a funny smell filled the car, as a hypnotizing trail of smoke danced around her head. The smoke was seductive as it consumed the car slowly.
Mizan extended his hand to Raven, the glowing tip staring her in the eye.
“Hit this, ma,” he choked out as smoke left his mouth.
Peer pressure is a mutha to a seventeen-year-old girl trying to be down. There was no way she was going to tell him no. All the years of preaching and teaching from her parents had been flushed down the drain as soon as an older boy put something new in her head. Her conscience screamed a long
Nooooooo!
Yet she ignored the tiny voice and reached for the blunt. Knowing she was doing wrong, she pouted her perfect pretty lips and puffed on the blunt, causing an amber glow to spark on the tip as she hit the weed.
Her lips went numb as she allowed the smoke into her lungs. She held the blunt out for him to take back, but he shook his head. “You hit that a few more times,” he said. Raven leaned back in her seat and continued to blaze, her head relaxed against the headrest.
After smoking it halfway by herself, her eyelids were heavy and she felt so right. The high had her stuck and she smiled dumbly as she put the blunt to Mizan’s lips. He toked and then asked, “You feeling a’ight?”
“I’m good,” she replied as she coughed.
They sat in his driveway talking and joking for hours. Now that she was at ease, the conversation flowed smoothly and they got to know one another. Once the initial tension went away, she was so comfortable with him and enjoyed his company. Things just flowed between them. Before she knew it, it was time for her to meet back up with Nikki.
“We better go. It’s getting late, she said.
“You’re welcome to stay the night,” Mizan stated in a low tone. He had no problem having an all-night fuck session with her. In fact, it was what he’d had in mind from the first moment he saw her. He wasn’t a man of good intentions and a mature woman may have peeped game, but Raven was blind to everything except for his good looks and hood appeal. She felt her love box thump, and she tensed up as Mizan leaned across the seat to kiss her lips. His tongue slid into her mouth so smooth as if he had done this a thousand times before. His tongue tasted like candy. He was teasing her and making the temperature in the car rise from his expert seduction. He kissed her unlike she had ever been kissed before. He was a grown man, and the way his hands touched her neck to pull her closer let her know that anyone she had dealt with before was an amateur. She would have to be careful with her young heart because he could easily capture it. She was playing in an entirely new league, and she hoped she wasn’t biting off more than she could chew. Intimidation filled her, but her wet panties urged her on. She was curious, and the pulse of lust that throbbed on her clit had her going crazy. She instantly knew that he was more experienced than she was. His resume of conquests was three pages long and he was about to make her another notch on his belt.
“You want to come in for a minute?” he asked.
“Nigga, I’m not a jump off,” she said seriously as she pulled back slightly.
“I’m just trying to kick it with you, shorty. Kill all that attitude.”
She loved the way he commanded her. He took charge of her and kept her in check. There was something mysterious about him that she liked.
“Let me just call my girl to let her know what’s up.” As she looked down at her phone, she saw that it was off. The battery had died so she switched the battery and powered it back on to see that she had missed seven calls. As soon as it’s came to life it vibrated in her hands. Nikki’s face popped on the caller ID.
“Hey, girl, I was just about to call you,” Raven said.
“Bitch, where have you been? I’ve been blowing you up! Your dad called my house and my mama told him you weren’t there. He’s been trying to call you. He’s pissed the fuck off, Rae. He’s got his people out looking for you and everything. You need to get to your car and go to the crib.”
“Thanks, girl.” Raven tried to keep her cool in front of Mizan, but inside her heart was beating out of her chest and her gut instantly bubbled over.
Fuck ... fuck ... fuck!
she shouted in her head as her hands began to sweat. “I need to get back to my car.” Her voice trembled a little when she spoke and the pit of her stomach felt hollow. She tried to come up with a lie, but at that moment the only thing she could think of was facing her father’s wrath.
My shit was so sloppy tonight. I never get caught up like this,
she thought, beating herself up.
I should have had Nik forward the calls from her mom’s house phone to her cell phone. Fuck!
“Everything a’ight?” Mizan asked as he backed out of the driveway and headed back to the club.
“Yeah, I just need to get back to my car. Can you drive a little bit faster?” she asked, her entire mood changing.
When they got to the club she jumped out of the car. “I’ll call you,” she stated quickly as she unlocked her whip.
“Yo , where your girl at?” Mizan asked, looking around the deserted parking lot.
“She got into something. I’m good though, Raven responded.
“Nah, ma ... I’ma follow you home and make sure you get in the house safely,” Mizan said.
“No!” Raven shouted. Mizan frowned when he heard the urgency in her voice. She caught herself and finished, “I’m okay. I don’t live too far from here. I’ll get at you tomorrow.”
Raven got into her car and pulled off, pushing her pedal to the floor as she tried to make it home.
Raven hit ninety miles per hour on the freeway trying to make it to Grand Blanc. When she finally arrived at her house, all of the lights were on inside. She knew that both her mother and father were waiting for her. It felt like judgment day as she turned off her car and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst. Just as she stepped out of her car, she saw a pair of headlights pull into the driveway behind her. She turned around and her eyes widened in a panic when she saw Mizan’s car.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as rushed over to him. She looked back to her front door, and her heart beat out of her chest when she saw the porch light come on.
“It’s four o’clock in the morning, shorty. I wasn’t gon let you drive to the crib by yourself. I was just making sure you made it here safely,” he said as he got out of the car.
“You’ve got to go ... like now!” she stated, but when she saw her parents step outside she knew that it was too late. She was going to have to face the music. There was no lying her way out of this. Her mother and father came over to her.
“Benny Atkins is your pops?” Mizan asked as he looked at her for answers.
A lump formed in her throat. All she could do was nod.
Her father stepped to her and took her chin in his hands. He moved her face from side to side as if to see if his precious daughter had been ruined. “Do you know what time it is? Where have you been?”
“I was on the strip,” she admitted, avoiding her father’s icy glare. She wanted to lie to him, but insulting his intelligence would just get her in deeper trouble. He stared at her, and then his cold eyes graced Mizan.
“Who the fuck is this nigga and why is he in my driveway?” Benjamin asked as he stared Mizan in his eyes.
“No disrespect, fam ... I just followed her to the crib to make sure she made it here a’ight. I’m Mizan,” he stated as he held out his hand, trying to be cordial. He knew exactly who Benny Atkins was and how he got down. He had also heard that he had a daughter who was off limits. If he had known who Raven was he would’ve never stepped to her.
Benjamin looked at Mizan’s hand and frowned in disapproval. “Who the fuck is this li’l nigga, Raven?” he asked.

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