Josiah snatched the hotdog from Hassan's hands, hurriedly taking a bite before he could take it back.

"Bruh you always playing!" Hassan shouted, "Give me $3 so I can get another one."

"You a dumbass for paying $3 for this skinny ass hotdog anyway. They finessed you."

Malik nodded in agreement, "Shit you put another dollar with that and you can buy a whole pack."

"You on your own with the bread though."

They sat in the bleachers for Malik's son's baseball game. It was actually T-ball since Noah was only 4, but they still called it baseball.

Hassan sat down, sighing loudly, "Mama ain't even cooking tonight and you wanna take my damn food."

"Brielle mama said she was putting some on the grill after the game. Y'all pull up."

"What she grilling for?" Josiah asked while balling up the carton that the hotdog came in.

"You know black people grill for the hell of it."

"No bullshit." He laughed, "One time the lady next door to us grilled 'cause her dog came home after being gone 'bout a week."

"I wish I was there. I would've put that fuckin' dog on the grill too." Malik said while making a face, thinking about all the times the dog tried to bite him for no reason.

Their laughter was contagious, making the people around them smile just by seeing how hard they were laughing.

Wasn't shit funny though when Malik squinted towards Celina, "Ain't that ya' girl Jo?"

He followed Malik's line of sight to see Grace walking towards them as she held a conversation with Brielle.

Brielle was Noah's mama, which was ironic since he made that joke about Brielle beating Grace up.

Josiah hadn't had sex since the last time he saw her, which was a huge feat for him. He thought it would've been harder than what it was, but she was the only one who starred in his fantasies.

They hadn't seen each other though, so not relapsing was simple really.

But again, she was making her way towards him, and he felt the urge to meet her halfway to teach her how to take his dick without running.

It really didn't matter to him that all of these people were here, the only thing that mattered was him feeling her again, writhing beneath him with her face scrunched in pleasure.

"That's the prostitute?" Hassan asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Malik nearly choked on his Sprite, "Bruh that was a joke. Don't say that shit while she around."

"Nah, I meant it like why Jo was hesitating?"

Nobody in Josiah's life knew of his problem.

He wasn't even aware that it was a problem at first, society's normalization of having frequent sex with multiple women making it hard for him to see the error in what he was doing.

He thought he was simply being a man, having sex with women who wanted him, and vice versa.

Hassan and Malik were still talking, maybe to him, but he was ignoring them, thinking of where he could take her, where they could go to fuck.

This was where the problem came in. When it came to sex, he needed to do it, like his mind wouldn't focus on anything else until he got a release.

Grace and Brielle, along with her mother, stopped in front of the bleachers, "How y'all doin'?" Celina asked, the southern accent more pronounced now that she wasn't at work.

Brielle introduced Grace as her friend before telling her their names, "That's Malik, Hassan, andddd Josiah."

She only smiled as Hassan and Malik, but turned to him, "Hi Josiah." His name rolled off her tongue like a caress, as if she knew what she were doing by saying it like that.

Of course she did.

Josiah nodded towards her, but directed his attention to the field, now wishing the game were over so he could get away from this woman.

• • •

Grace's leg touched Josiah's, the packed bleachers making it inevitable that they wouldn't have some sort of contact while sitting beside one another.

She liked feeling him against her, would really rather he be inside her, but this would do.

His hands were clasped tightly in his lap and his body was tense. She turned towards him, "Are you okay?"

Josiah sighed under his breath, "I'm good."

Grace wasn't the only one who noticed his posture, with Celina seeing the usually laughing Josiah, quiet and withdrawn.

She was about to ask how he was doing again when Noah hit the ball off the T and started running towards first base.

It shouldn't have been a homerun at all but the kids from the other team were terrible, and acted like they couldn't pick up the ball.

"Aye yo!" Malik shouted as he stood up to get Noah's attention, "Talk to 'em slow son! Let these niggas know!"

That made them laugh while Brielle tugged his pant leg to sit down, "You always embarrassing my baby."

Malik sucked his teeth, "I'm proud of my mans. You hating 'cause you ain't got the sports gene but that's okay baby, everybody ain't built like me."

Grace was listening to their conversation, but she was really looking across the park at the hotdog cart. The smell of nachos and popcorn made her remember she had skipped lunch and hadn't eaten since the parfait she had this morning.

"Does he take card?" She asked randomly, glancing at each of them.

"Yeah he take card alright. He gone take ya' card home with 'em." Malik laughed.

Josiah snorted out a laugh, "Nah, that man don't take card."

He was about to offer her cash but Brielle beat him to it, opening her wallet and handing Grace a $10 bill, "Here."

She thanked her for the money before standing to make her way down the bleachers.

Josiah watched her walk towards the stand, and noticed he wasn't the only one looking. It didn't bother him since she wasn't his... anything, but he still felt like she shouldn't go alone.

At least that's the excuse he was using to follow her over there.

_______

thanks for reading 💕