Page 30

COCO

I should’ve felt a way about Adir killing my dad.

Then again, I couldn’t find a single thing inside of me to care.

Quinton had made his own bed by having Quilo attacked.

In sadder news, Big O got killed just two days after Quinton.

He was shot in a drug deal gone bad, and his story was only aired once on Orlando’s local news.

I prayed Big O’s demise woke up Bryan and made him get his life together.

It wasn’t my job to fret over Bryan’s future, though.

I had bigger and better things going on in my life.

With the new year came so many exciting things.

We’d just celebrated Humble’s twentieth birthday, Minnie and Judge Bell were celebrating their wedding anniversary next week, and my baby was growing perfectly.

Quilo was nearing his decision for the college he wanted to attend, and the fact that his and Saar’s names were all over the sports stations just made it that more exciting for him.

In the middle of me thinking about all the wonderful things happening in my family, my phone rang.

I answered my husband’s call immediately.

“Hey, baby.” The smile on my face couldn’t be dimmed by a single thing.

“Are you enjoying ya shoppin’?”

“Am I? Sir, I have cards in my possession that don’t have a spending limit.”

Adir chuckled on the other end of the phone.

“Spend whatever you like, my baby. There’s more ducked off for you in other places.”

“What if I have everything I want?”

“Then, buy what you even think you want.”

“Hm… Now that spells trouble. You do remember we’re having a baby, right?”

“How can I forget that? He has six older brothers.”

Giggling, I asked, “So, you just decided to adopt Saar, too?

“He’s at our house more than he’s at home.

”

“That, he is. And you said he like you know the baby’s a boy.”

“I already have a gut feeling what my baby is. You’re the one who wants to wait.”

Chuckling, I replied, “True. You’re such a good man, husband, and dad, Adir.”

“Gotta keep my babies happy.”

“You do it very well,” I responded, grinning from ear to ear.

“Bruh, yo’ eyes look her way one mo’ time, I’ma cut up.” Peace’s voice reached me from across the store.

Glancing over to where he was with Humble, Quilo, and the twins, I groaned and headed their way with Russ on my trail.

“Is there a problem?” I questioned the dark-skinned man standing next to Peace.

I heard a click in my ear, and I knew that was because Adir hung up.

Next, I heard Russ’s phone ring.

DJ, who’d been outside the jewelry store, walked in to assess the situation.

According to Adir, DJ was training Humble for a position within the family.

That meant DJ had to be with Humble wherever Humble went.

His gaze bounced from the man to me.

Considering my last run-in with DJ, I wasn’t too sure of him.

He hadn’t tried me since and seemed to be cool otherwise.

His mama was sweet and made the best peach cobbler.

For that, I was cordial with him.

“You cool?” he asked Peace.

Meanwhile, my eyes were on the guy who had Peace all riled up.

Salaciously, his gaze raked over my body.

“Aye, don’t look at my mama like that! Fuck wrong wit’ you!” Peace’s tone caused the man to jump.

He backed up and bumped into DJ, who grilled him hard as hell until the man turned to leave the store.

Surprised to hear Peace so unpeaceful I burst out laughing.

Humble chuckled. “You laughin’, but he’s dead serious.”

“Yeah,” Bragg commented.

“If Peace cusses, you know you messed up.”

Kalm cackled with his twin.

“Let me guess; y’all love when he cusses, huh?”

They nodded emphatically.

“That’s a different Peace,” Kalm said.

“A crazy Peace,” Bragg added.

Peace merely shrugged.

“He better pick his feet up ‘fore I put something hot in his ass!”

Everyone snickered like this was funny. The poor guy looked mortified as he scurried off and picked his feet up a little bit like Peace told him to.

“I can’t believe you,” I told him.

He gave me a face that Adir would’ve made at me had he been here. “I’m my daddy’s son.

I’on play ‘bout you.”

“Duly noted. Now, get back to shopping and leave people alone.” I tried to be firm. They saw right through it and burst out into laughter. Smacking my teeth, I left them by the watches to go look at a charm that caught my eye. It was of a mother holding her baby. It was perfect for Haven.

Speaking of Haven, just as the cashier handed me my receipt and purchase, she and Jabari entered the store holding several bags of their own. My friend looked worn out.

Tickled, I said, “You had enough?”

“Yes!” she answered.

“Hell, yeah!” Jabari intoned at the same time.

I laughed at the faces they made. Having my best friends living here now was amazing. They chose to go with building a house versus buying one that was already built. So, for now, they were living in our guest house.

Jabari was offered a position at Bell Oil Enterprises, which was set to pay him three times the money he made with his old corporate job. Once he found that out, he dropped Orlando like a hot potato. Haven was my newest co-manager… Well, once we both dropped our babies. Adir wasn’t having either of us inside the building until then.

Having Haven at my fingertips spoiled the hell out of me and her.

We did just about everything together now.

Especially baby shopping.

Just about every other day we found a reason to be at the store buying baby stuff.

Since Haven’s feet had started to swell a little, we decided to wrap up this shopping trip.

Our next destination was to a burger restaurant not too far from the mall.

“I want every single burger on this menu,” Haven commented.

Her husband said, “By the time that heart burn tear yo’ ass up, you gon’ wish you didn’t want the first burger.”

She smacked her teeth, and I cackled behind my hand.

Things were back to the old way with the three of us.

I loved that for me.

Outside the restaurant, night was closing in on us.

Zel waited for us by one Suburban, and Stacy waited by the other one.

The twins, Saar, Peace, and Quilo headed toward the Suburban with Stacy.

Haven and I kept in stride with Russ, Jabari, Humble, and DJ to the other Suburban.

Zel held the door open for Haven and I.

“Watch ya step,” Russ said, pointing to a small patch of uneven cement along the sidewalk.

With my head down to avoid the spot, I had no warning as loud gunshots rang out.

Heart lodged in my throat, I screamed as Russ snatched me up and practically threw me inside the car.

He grunted as a bullet hit him in his shoulder, tearing into the area just below his neck.

He fell over me.

As bullets continued to pelt the Suburban, I heard chaos going on around me.

I heard Haven’s screams, Humble’s and DJ’s shouting, and Quilo’s calls for me.

Quilo’s voice was the loudest. Everything moved in slow motion as a haze took over me.

It was a haze that had everything echoing and moving slowly.

My reactions were even slow.

At some point, I felt myself trying to lift Russ’s large body off of me.

Blood poured out of his mouth and out of the bullet wound.

“Russ,” I whispered while placing my hand over the wound.

It did nothing to stop the bleeding.

“Coco!” Frantically, Quilo jumped into the backseat and used his weight to move Russ enough to free me.

Doors slammed and then the SUV was moving.

As the haze slowly cleared, I saw Jabari in the front seat, covered in blood.

“It’s alright, baby. I got you,” he mumbled to Haven.

She was deathly silent, scaring the fuck out of me.

“Haven,” I called. She didn’t answer.

Behind a cloud of tears, I passed out.

What seemed like moments later, I heard Adir’s voice.

“Adir,” I mumbled. I felt myself being lifted.

My eyes fluttered open to my husband’s fear-filled, angry face.

Fear wasn’t in Adir’s vocabulary.

His fear made my heart pound in my chest.

“I got you, my baby.”

In my lifetime, I’d faced many terrifying situations.

Topping them all was that of my husband’s tears splashing against my skin.