Page 18

S everal Months Later …

Harlem

I was fat. I was also standing in the middle of an all-you-can-eat restaurant wondering if the two plates I had just inhaled were enough. Why the fuck would Blaze have Aja’s birthday here in the first place? Did she not know I had lost all control when it came to food months ago? Now I was pregnant, big from the midsection on up, and feeling it all in my stature. Back aches, thigh aches, every ache and I was always hungry… I’m so hungry ! Fat, a state of existence and mental turmoil… Now I saw how my dogs felt waddling around carrying babies, ready for it to be over.

“Why the fuck you standing here looking constipated? What’s the problem?” Kinga’s impatient tone filled my eardrum.

“I’m fat and it’s your fault.”

He chuckled. “What I ain’t finna do is get into this with you in here. Gimme the fucking plate so I can walk it back to the table for you.”

I side eyed the shit out of him. “I wouldn’t be up here if you would’ve gotten me more meat.”

He sucked his teeth. “That’s that shit. C’mon, ’fore I fight your ass in here for having my kids stressed out while you stand there acting stubborn.” Yup, kids. The fact that I was currently six months pregnant with twin girls was enough to have me ready to fight their father every night. Then I stopped at the thought of the turmoil he’d go through. Twin girls when he was already going through shit with Aja and little Mr. Sabastian.

It was my turn to suck my teeth. “I wish you would.”

He chortled. “I would. See me when we get home.”

That one statement had me biting into my bottom lip in anticipation.

Once I was seated again, Blaze laughed while Kinga’s rude ass set my plate down. He acted like I was getting on his nerves but still kissed my forehead before taking the seat next to me.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You, him, and the fact that you’re stressing his ass out.”

He leaned forward, his massive hand landing on my rounded belly. “Harlem ain’t stressing me out. Nope, not at all. Harlem just be talking and I let her talk.”

Once again, I was cutting my eyes in his direction.

Blaze giggled just as Sora called her name. He was holding their daughter out like something stunk, meaning she needed a diaper change and he wasn’t up for it.

“Are you letting me talk?” I asked when it was just him and me.

“Yep, I do. ’Cause I know when I get you home this dick is gon’ shut you up.” When he said that last part, he was sure to face me, daring me to disagree or give any lip. I didn’t because I knew what I was going home to.

“Right. Now gimme them lips to hold me over till I get home to the other ones.”

I leaned forward and mashed my lips into his before pulling back and just looking at him, our eyes locked for that moment in time.

“I love you, Harlem, even though you’re always trying to fight me for no reason.”

I smiled back. “I love you too.” Looking in his eyes was all I needed most days because even when I was off, he was on, and vice versa. He was my constant in a world of uncertainty. He kept me grounded when everything had me feeling like I wanted to fly off the handle. He was my protector… my man.

“You better.” He leaned forward and pecked my lips.

“Now what the fuck am I seeing? ’Cause ain’t no way this is baby brother, ’specially not mine.”

I heard a male voice in the distance. When Kinga pulled away from me and stood, I saw the anxiety in his stance. He would’ve called it something else but I knew better. Then I looked down at the man standing slightly shorter than him but just as tight featured with the broadest shoulders.

“You finally brought your ass home,” Kinga boomed.

“Was about time, wasn't it?”

Kinga finally cracked a smile and so did the man. Their smiles were nearly identical and that’s when it hit me. This was their brother, Aja’s daddy. This was Oden .

They embraced lovingly before pulling apart from one another. My man was happy and that made me happy.

Kinga introduced me proudly. “Harlem, baby, this is my brother Oden. O, this is Harlem.” After introductions I could tell Oden was taken aback at the change in his brother. It was in the way he kept looking from me to him as they spoke.

“Damn, I feel like I been gone forever. You done fell your reckless ass in love and you got a baby on the way.”

I chuckled.

“A baby? Nah, this fool got twins on the way. Girls.” Sora’s voice made him turn around. They then embraced. “What’s up, big bro?” They weren’t embracing for long because Aja’s voice could be heard from afar as she squealed the word, “Daddy.”

She was so happy, I smiled. She had missed her father, and from the way he held her, he’d missed her just as much if not more.

We were hours into Aja’s birthday get together when Kinga pulled me into his embrace, holding up a piece of cake for me to try.

“No, I’m good.”

“Nah but you're tired. I see that shit all in your face.”

“I’m not tired.” I wiped my eyes, knowing damn well I was tired.

“Yeah aight, c’mon. We are about to raise up.”

“I’m good. I promise. If I wasn’t, I’d tell you.”

He gave me one more look, to make sure I wasn’t just saying I was fine, before he nodded. “One more hour and we will take it home.”

I nodded in agreement.

I was glad I’d walked into that garage that day. Glad I didn’t leave when who I now knew as Jay said they’d call me. I was glad I’d taken the unprofessional ass mechanic food because I found my home. My home that would always be there… My constant.

K inga

We spent the rest of the evening at that expensive ass Brazilian steakhouse then I knew it was time to get my baby home. She was tired as hell and I could see it. What I thought was me and Harlem coming home was actually everybody coming back to my crib. Niggas was damn sure not invited but I wasn’t gonna end the night like that, so I let it rock. Funny thing was, as soon as we got there, the ladies were out. Aja talked to her daddy until she fell asleep, then Harlem helped Blaze get herself and the baby situated before turning in herself. I was left in the basement with my brothers in the middle of a game of pool.

“So, Memphis. You did that?” Oden asked.

I shrugged. “He was a problem that needed to be handled.”

Sora laughed. “Always talking in riddles. Either you killed the man or not.” He had asked me these same questions when the news first broke but I shut him down, not willing to talk about it.

“I didn’t. I was standing right in front of him, Sora.”

Oden laughed. “But you got your ways. Just ’cause yeen walk up blasting doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.”

I shrugged, focusing my attention on the pool cue in my hands. After Memphis’s murder I didn’t go around broadcasting my part in it. Of course I was questioned by two of Chicago’s finest but they had nothing to put on me. Being pictured having a whole conversation with the man cleared me since he was shot at long range.

“What did he say? You know, since I know you had to have the last word,” Oden said, because he knew me.

“Nothing worth carrying or remembering,” I lied but didn’t feel the need to have them wondering who and what he really meant by telling me Ortega was our father. The only Ortega I knew besides Aroyal was his uncle. I copped through him for years and he never mentioned shit about knowing my mother. If he hadn’t brought it up, I damn sure wasn’t about to be a grown ass man walking around looking for a nigga to be my father.

“Now that that’s out the way, who the fuck is Sabastian?”

Sora and I both looked at one another before bursting into laughter.

“The lil nigga Kinga got a lil beef with over your daughter. He’s ten or eleven, called Kinga old school and niggas been beefing ever since.”

Oden looked confused. “From the new school?”

“Hell yeah. Every time I see him he is smirking and shit. Just wait till I catch him.” I shook my head. I’d told Harlem I was gonna let it go but hell nah. I was getting a belt on that ass. “His pops is Primal with the freights.”

Oden nodded.

“I already told him I was gonna put hands on his youngin over my niece.”

Sora laughed and so did Oden.

“Y’all think it’s funny because y’all didn’t see how disrespectful he was.” I didn’t like the way they kept playing me crazy when we all knew how little boys thought.

Oden shook his head with a smile. “If this is how you move over a ten or eleven year old, I can only imagine how you’ll move behind them twin girls. Bout to be bailing yo’ ass out.”

I chuckled. “Never been caught, the hell you mean bailing me out.” I smirked and drank from my glass. We talked for a while longer, just kicking shit like we used to before it was time to turn in. Oden decided to take the couch in the basement and I handed him blankets, knowing it got cold down here at night, while Sora went up to the room with Blaze. Before I went to get into bed, I took the dogs out. It was late as fuck but the last thing I needed was for all three of those dogs to be waking up a whole house. Harlem’s mama took Tilly after all the puppies had sold, so that left her with Tato, Bleu, and Faux. Faux was from Tilly's last litter. Harlem never ended up selling that one.

When I finally climbed into bed with Harlem, I was beat. To get comfortable, I pulled her body into mine, grateful for everything she was. I had never been the type to take anything for granted, and Harlem, I wasn’t taking for granted at all. Having her in my life was a blessing I counted twice because she belonged to me even when we were just seeing where this went. Still going on a constant ride, one I never needed to get off. Harlem showed me so much in such a short amount of time, and for that I’d be whatever she needed me to be for the rest of our lives together.

“Baby, are there some more doughnuts?” she asked in a sleep-laced tone. Midnight to wee hours of the morning cravings were normal with her ever since she hit her second trimester. I hated that shit, because it was so much sugar, but most nights I couldn’t tell her no. Tonight, I was tough.

“Hell nah, it’s too late for you to be eating that shit.” I kissed her temple and closed my eyes.

She sucked her teeth in her sleep, making me smile with my eyes closed.

“Love you too, shorty.”

“Mhmm.”

*The End