Page 16

“You sleep,” I called out to her. “Bae!”

I looked over and saw her eyes were open. They were low, but they were open.

“What! I’m up.”

“I’m just checking.”

“You ain’t got to check on me Martavious,” she mumbled then reached over and started caressing my arm. “Daddy.”

“What you want?”

“How you know I want something?”

“’Cause you do.”

Following a brief pause, she resumed speaking. “Can you make me a bowl of cereal?” she bit the bullet and asked.

I sucked my teeth as I sarcastically chuckled. “I know you like the alphabet backwards, you know you full of shit, right? Why you ain’t say shit before I laid my ass down?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged.

Talking my shit, I did what she asked me to anyway, knowing she wanted a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerio’s with sugar and ice. Before heading upstairs, I made sure the alarm was set, and the doors were locked.

She did the happy dance, sitting up now in the bed and reached out for the bowl. “Thank you, daddy, I love you.”

“Then you wonder why you toting a ten pound baby. All you do is eat. Baby gon’ come out greedy as fuck.”

“Between you and my mama forcing me to eat, I can’t win for losing. If I don’t eat, you’re getting on my ass and calling me out. Mind you, I had a balanced diet before I got pregnant, eating yogurt and bananas. When I go over my mama house, she’d open the door with a plate of food and if I don’t come over there when she’s cooked, her and my father come over to drop it off. Your mama said I don’t have to eat for two people, that’s my girl,” she snickered with a mouth full of cereal.

“That ain’t enough.”

“Well stop complaining when I eat.”

I reached over and rubbed her belly. Our baby was kicking her ass off. “That shit don’t hurt you?”

“I’m used to it now,” she placed her hand over my mine. “It only hurts when she balls up in one spot and doesn’t move, stubborn ass.”

My heart had grown soft. Akira had turned my thug ass soft. I wake up doing shit folks counted me out about. Convicted felons don’t find love. Murderers don’t know how to love. I proved so many niggas who shitted on me when I was locked up wrong and so many bitches who talked shit about the system finally catching a nigga like me and grabbing them by the balls. Look at me now! I’m damn near a multi-millionaire, getting legal money and I’m a free man. The guilt trip of doing shit the right way don’t make my flesh crawl like it used to. This girl loves me down to my dirty ass drawers and it ain’t a nigga alive who can tell me different. I flipped the fucking switch; she went from hating my guts to me digging deep in hers damn near every night.

“Look at you, toting my baby, got that pussy swollen,” I joked. “I can’t fucking wait.”

“My pussy always be swollen, since fucking you. That ain’t nothing new.”

“Fat ass pussy,” she chuckled with me.

“I’m ready to see my pussy.” Dramatically, she threw her head back and whined. “This belly stops me from doing everything!”

Still rubbing our belly, I smiled feeling our baby kick. Akira had removed her hand a few seconds ago to hold the bowl of cereal with both hands. The crunching sounds came from her eating the ice, with the bowl on the top of her belly.

“It’ll be over with soon.”

“My body better bounce back. All the women in my family bounced back really nice.”

“I told you to hit the gym with me and do light work.”

She shook her head before retorting, “Pregnant women can’t workout.”

“Yes, they can, it’s not an excuse. We can do a few sessions when you drop the baby. I can put yo shit talking ass to work.”

“I can hang nigga. I used to work out, but I think you be taking shit too far.”

“I’ma take it as far as I can. We’re gonna get you on a strict meal plan and all that junk food in your snack drawer will go in the garbage.”

She gasped and slapped me upside the head. “You wouldn’t dare touch my damn junk drawer. Does it bother you? I don’t eat as much junk food as you think I do, Drill. I get a sweet tooth every now and then.”

“Yeah okay, baby first word gon’ be Little Debbie ‘cause that’s all you eat. I be waking up at in the middle of the night, wiping chip crumbs out the bed and shit,” I chortled.

“I really fucking hate you,” she cackled.

“Crumbs be all in yo booty.”

“And you blow ‘em away and eat this ass. So, don’t play like a lil’ booty crumb stopped you from eating it.”

“You right, it don’t. I didn’t say it didn’t. I’m just calling you out on yo shit. You gon’ open that drawer one day and see rice cakes and shit.”

“If you dare,” she pointed at me. “Touch my junk drawer, I’m gonna go in your weed stash and flush all that shit.”

I laughed because I knew she wasn’t joking around. “That’s primo weed you’re talkin’ ‘bout bae. Them lil’ cheap ass snacks, don’t compare to that.”

Our banter continued until she had finished her cereal and settled onto the body pillow positioned between us. Sleep took over the both of us, but I went after her and just like I said, she fell asleep on the movie, not even thirty minutes after it started playing.

Delivery Time

The sound of my alarm going off stirred me awake, so through low eyes and a loud yawn, I reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand. Akira’s loud snoring ass was sound asleep with drool on the side of her cheek and shit. When I leaned up off the bed to sit up, I felt something wet, making me flip the covers back in confusion. The room was dimly lit from the light on Akira’s nightstand and her fear of sleeping in pitch black. With a frown, I bent down and smelled the wet spot. It didn’t smell like piss and there wasn’t a foul order, but Akira’s piss didn’t smell like pee, so I was confused as hell.

“Bae,” I called out to her, and shook her gently. “Princess wake up!” I shook her a little harder this time and her head shot up. The side of her right cheek was wet, and she looked around the room in confusion before landing her eyes on me.

“Huh,” she muttered.

“Bae, you’re wet. Did you pee in the bed?”

“Huhhhh,” she grunted and then stretched her body. “Pee? What pee?”

“Pee… piss… Did you pee? You’re wet.”

Reality sank in when I told her that, making her feel the spot and releasing a dramatic gasp.

“Oh my gosh, Drill, I think my water broke,” she shrieked. “Oh shit!” She scrambled out of bed as fast as she could and I staggered over to the side of the bed, running to her aid to help her.

“Are you in any pain?”

“Yessss, just some cramping, but their tolerable.”

“Shit, let me help you wash up while I call your doctor?—”

“No,” she cut me off. “Call my mama. Call my mama first.”

I reached for her phone off the nightstand and walked her inside the bathroom, while dialing her mama. She picked up on the first few rings.

“What’s wrong baby girl,” her daddy answered instead.

“Wassup Mr. Moore.”

“What’s going on? Everything cool?” he asked, sounding wide awake.

“Not even a lil’ bit.”

“Put the phone on speaker, I need to speak to her,” Akira spoke.

“This yo daddy,” I told her.

Before I could respond, she snatched the phone out my hand and sat it on the bathroom counter and turned the hot water on.

“Daddy,” she breathed. “Where is mama?”

“She right here sleep, I just came back from doing my morning run and making me some coffee. I’m about to shower now?—”

“Daddy, wake mama up please,” she yelled with an attitude.

“Baby girl is it anything I can help with?”

I guess the pain was becoming unbearable, so she shook her head and rested her arms against the edge of the bathroom counter and waddled side to side.

“Daddy, please, wake up mommy.” When the pain eased, she released a sigh of relief and directed my hands to rub the bottom of her back.

“I thought you wanted me to wash you up bae?” I asked her hesitantly, preparing for her to cuss my ass out for nothing.

“Yeah, grab my feminine wash for me, hurry up, please hurry up,” she rushed me. “Daddy please wake up mommy, I need her now,” Akira whined on the verge of tears, her voice croaked.

Hearing her about to cry had me feeling bad because it wasn’t shit I could do to ease that pain or make it go away. My baby has a low pain tolerance for her to be tough as nails, she can barely handle a headache, and her period cramps cause her to admit herself in the ER, so I know labor pains were gon have her boohoo crying and shit. I took a sigh of relief when her mama answered her phone just as I came back from the bathroom with her Sweet Cookie feminine wash.

“Is the baby coming Akira,” Mrs. Moore, her mother uttered tirelessly. “I’m up now baby, what’s wrong?”

“Maaaaa,” Akira cried into the speaker, breaking the fuck down. “It hurts!” She wailed.

“What hurts Akira, baby tell me what’s going on? Is the baby okay?”

“Nooooo,” Akira sniffed and slightly lifted her head up. “My water broke in my sleep. Drill had to wake me up, I didn’t know.”

“Have you called your doctor?”

“No, I wanted to call you first. Mama, I’m scared,” Akira confessed.

“I know baby,” She murmured softly. “It’s okay to be scared, do you want me and your daddy to meet y’all at Baptist? Where is Drill?”

“He’s right here behind me, washing me up. I want you to come over here and ride with us.”

“Baby,” Mrs. Moore sighed. “I may not be able to come in time and you need to get to the hospital.”

“Maaaaaaaa, it’s starting to hurt,” Akira continued to whine. “I can’t do this shit!”

To ease her pain, I stood behind her and rubbed her back, pressing my thumbs into the back of her back, rubbing in circles as she continued to sway back and forth.

“Where is Drill, let me talk to him.”

Reaching over her, I grabbed the phone and spoke and into the speaker. “Yes ma’am.”

“Drill, keep me updated, I’m getting dressed now. Call her doctor and don’t wait too long okay.”

“I got her.”

“Akira,” she called out to her.

“I love you baby okay. It’ll be alright,” Mrs. Moore soothed her.

“I love you too,” Akira sniffed.

I ended the call and continued to rub her back, not knowing what to say, afraid that she’d cuss my ass out.

“Baby,” I spoke up. “Are you in pain?”

“Drill,” she snapped. “What the fuck do you think?” she turned around and shoved me. “Just move, get away from me! This is all because of you! I fucking hate you!”

“How you hate me for some shit you asked me? You asked me to nut in you?—”

“Oh, Drill shut up and get out!”

Veins were popping out the side of her neck, as she waddled over to me and shoved me. Her hits felt like feathers against my thick skin. I wasn’t fazed by this shit, I knew she was snapping on me because of the pain.

“The fuck I look like getting out and my fiancée standing over here in pain. I ain’t goin’ nowhere mane, stop fuckin’ trippin’ and wash yo pussy, so I can help you find something wear. I know you in pain Akira but don’t put yo fuckin’ hands on me,” I threatened her. “You ain’t the only one having a damn baby. We in this shit together baby, you ain’t got to put yo hands on me and shit. Chill out with all that. You trippin’.”

She waddled off, naked from the waist down and trotted back into the bathroom. I went the other way and walked out of the bedroom after changing my soaked pajama pants. The nursery was completed, that was the least of our worries. It was pretty as fuck, decorated with shades of pink. To be extra, I didn’t want white plain walls, so I did the luxury of hiring somebody to paint the walls and it turned out really nice. Clouds surrounded the top and the walls were colored pink with pink assorted flowers colored in various spots of the wall. The way it looked in here, you’d think we planned this shit, but we really wanted it to be pretty as fuck and our baby girl deserved it. If it was up to me, she’d sleep in the bedroom with us, but Akira’s doctor stated it’d be best for the baby to have her own space. When we had the gender reveal, we told our family not to bring gifts, but like common black folk, they showed out and did the opposite. When we had the baby shower, they flooded us with more gifts. Daddy’s baby had enough clothes to last until she turned three. There was going to be so much love around her, with our family anticipating her birth. Akira was doing all that whining and shit talking it out on me, like she wasn’t going to have to do the same thing for the rest of her family.

I grabbed the baby bag out of the closet and walked downstairs to put it by the garage door so I could grab it on the way out then headed back upstairs to make sure Akira was okay. I jogged up the stairs two at the time and leaned against the door, watching her struggle to put on a pair of joggers.

“Bae,” I muttered softly.

When she ignored me, I knew she was still pissed. How the fuck is she pissed off at me for wanting to make sure she straight? That shit crazy as hell. I was already prepared for how labor was going to go. The only thing I knew I’d regret after the fact, was not having time to smoke a blunt before all this shit popped off.

* * *

“OH MY GOOOOOOSH!”

Akira was screaming to the top of her lungs, gripping my hand hard as fuck. Her knuckles were turning white, as she bit down on the white towel from the pain rustling through her body. Mrs. Moore was beside her, on the other side of the hospital bed, rubbing her back, trying to soothe her because apparently what I was saying wasn’t working. She was cussing me out, rolling her eyes, telling me she hated me and all type of crazy ass shit. Jalisa and Lira were at the foot of the bed, with the nurses looking between her, staring at Akira’s pussy, waiting for our baby girl to come into the world. Half of the waiting room was filled with our family, making it look like a damn reunion, instead of my baby having my baby. Lira pulled her braids into a bun on the top of her head. Before Jalisa went to the other end, she was feeding Akira ice chips. I felt so bad for my baby. I swear if I could take the pain away, I would. She couldn’t handle this shit, the way she was carrying on. Her doctor was running two hours late and the nurses were telling her not to push until then. All they were doing was checking her cervix and doing shit that wasn’t helpful.

“It’ll be okay baby, just breath,” Mrs. Moore spoke calmly.

“I can’t wait to show my niece how you were acting on this fucking table. My best friend can take a nine-inch dick, but can’t push out a ten pound baby,” Jalisa teased her, holding her iPhone up, recording.

Akira rolled her eyes and grunted as she attempted to kick Jalisa, but she moved out the way in time. I tried my best to hold in my laughter because she wasn’t lying. I done filled her up with all this big dick, so I know what her pussy can take.

“Ma, please get her the fuck out of here. Jalisa go wait outside,” she snapped.

“Jalisa please stop,” Lira complained.

Akira let go of my hand and looked over at her mama. Her face had turned cherry red and her eyes were puffy as the tears continued to cascade down her pretty face. My heart felt like it was being ripped apart standing here, watching her suffer like this. I’d already made my rounds of cussing muthafucka’s out who thought shit was sweet, sitting around not doing shit or barely doing enough on the fucking job.

“Ma tell them to cut me,” she sounded possessed. “Ma please tell them to cut me, I can’t do this shit,” she begged. “I need to fucking push!”

“Aye,” I called out at the nurse. “It ain’t shit else you can do, besides standing there looking around, y’all can’t give her something for the pain.”

“Drill,” Mrs. Moore gave me a warning look. “You calm your ass down too.” Then she diverted her attention to Akira.

Mrs. Moore poked out her bottom lip and frowned. She probably felt the same way I did, knowing Akira had a low pain tolerance too. “Baby, you have to breathe through it. It’ll be over with soon baby, I promise.”

She slammed her head against the pillow and released a gut-wrenching scream, just her fucking luck, her doctor, Dr. Samira came storming in the room with all hands on deck. For the first time in a few hours, I released a sigh of relief. Lira and Jalisa stepped aside from looking at Akira’s pussy. Dr. Samira walked over to the sink thoroughly washed her hands to prep and slid her hands into a pair of gloves. The nurse I went off on, spoke in code about something using doctoral terms.

“Is that you I heard screaming down the hall Akira?” Dr. Samira joked, then she turned to smile at me. “Is she giving you hell?”

“At this point, I’m used to it,” everyone around the room shared a laugh.

“You ready to be a grandma all over again, Mrs. Moore, what is this, grandbaby number three?”

Mrs. Moore nodded with a proud smile. “Yeah, and they’re driving me crazy.”

Dr. Samira chuckled while taking a peek between Akira’s legs. “I know a thing or two about that. My grandkids are on fall break and kicking it with me for the time being. Okay Akira, I’m just gonna check between your legs to see how dilated you are, okay?”

Akira seemed to calm down a little bit, though she was still whimpering here and there while Dr. Samira checked her. When she pulled back, her fingers had smudges of blood on them, making me alarmed.

“Doc, that’s blood, is everything cool?”

She gave me a reassuring smile. “She’s crowning, this baby has been ready to come out for a while.” She raised her brow and turned around to face the nurse I grilled earlier.

“I was told to wait on you, Dr. Samira.”

“Daddy,” she called out to me, “Grab one leg, grandma, grab the other leg, your baby girl is ready to meet you. In just a few pushes your baby girl will be here. Drill you want to take a look at what’s going on?”

I was a little hesitant, pretty much scared, more than anything from watching Iciss giving birth to a still born, but baby girl was always active, so this wasn’t the case. Taking a deep breath, I looked down and her pussy was swollen and paused. Part of me wanted to bend my head down and kiss it, to ease the pain, but the folks would probably call me crazy. Akira knew there weren’t any limits when it came to what I did to her body unapologetically. We were in sync and her body spoke to me in volumes. I was in pain too, fighting this shit off like a G, trying to remain stealth and cool for her sake of not wanting to freak out because between the both of us, one of us had to remain calm. The pain struck through my back, hitting me like a lightning bolt, making me grunt. My forehead was drenched in sweat and Akira nails were digging in my palm, making me hiss.

Leaning down, I kissed the side of her face, repeatedly dousing her in sweet love as she continued to push. Veins protruded from her neck and her face and necks were still red. My heart was thumping so loud, I heard it in my ears, so I figured everybody else did too. Nothing else in this moment matter beyond us too. She was enduring pain, making a sacrifice to give me the greatest gift on earth to cherish. My love and my respect ran deeper than the ocean for her. This was inevitable and it gives me something to hold on to. This baby is what we needed. Though our love was strong, our family felt complete. This was such an imperfect love story, but it’s ours and I’d tell our children this story with a smile on my face of how it all mapped out.

When she released another loud grunt, she collapsed against the pillow and I blinked my tears away to see a beautiful baby girl, with a head full of hair, screaming to the top of her lungs. Dr. Samira passed Akira our baby girl just as I bent down to deliver a sweet kiss to her bloody pussy I didn’t look at the doctors for their reaction, but a gentle kiss was deserving. Her pussy carried a healthy, ten pound baby girl for nine fucking months.

“Just like a nasty nigga,” Jalisa called out, making everybody in the room snicker.

“Do you have a name for her mommy,” Dr. Samira asked Akira.

She looked at me tirelessly, grinning after a deep breath. “Marre Amina Washington.”

“Daddy’s baby,” I grinned.

Marre rested on Akira’s bare chest and her breasts were exposed, spilling out the side of the hospital gown. Her pale skin was covered in vernix, but Akira still kissed all over her body before the nurses took her away to clean her up.

“You can tell by her hands already that she’s gonna be black like you Drill,” Jalisa mentioned.

“I see it too,” I smiled proudly.

“Don’t get my friend pregnant again for a while, we had to cancel our girls’ trip for Marre. We need a hot girl summer, please don’t nut in her for a while.”

“Oh Jalisa hush,” Mrs. Moore snapped. “Drill don’t entertain her crazy ass.”

Akira released my hand, and I flexed it to bring it back to life. Blood smeared on my palm from her nails clawing through my skin, but it wasn’t intolerable. My other hand ran down the side of her face as I looked at her with a grin.

“You know you showed the fuck out, right?”

“I’m sorry daddy,” she whimpered. “I was mean to you.”

“You were,” I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “I’ll hold it against you for a few months.”

“Can you believe we have a baby? I can’t believe I let you put a baby in me,” she squealed dramatically.

“I can believe it. I feel like the luckiest man on earth. You gave me the greatest gift a man could ask for. You ain’t got to lift a fucking finger after this, I love you so fucking much,” I sniffed. “You have to understand this shit baby. There ain’t no better way for me to put this shit. You gave me your body, then you gave me your heart. Now you’re giving me a baby and you’re still going around tellin’ people you hated me in the beginning like it counts for something.”

She smiled weakly and retorted, “So what’re you saying?”

“Misson fucking accomplished,” I boasted. “Next thing I have to do is make you my wife.” I grinned, a warmth spreading through me, a giddy happiness blooming in my soul had me like a lil’ bitch nigga.

“Akira Lisea Moore-Washington does sound good doesn’t it?”

“Whenever you ready to start planning it, go ‘head, go all out, I got to do my big one,” I smiled.

“At first, you had me Drippin’ For Santa then gave me a baby in less than a year. You came into my life doing your big one.”

“I take that as a compliment then, huh?”

Instead of responding back, she shook her head and laughed. She was right though, from the day I saw her, I knew I wanted her. I craved to be within the crevices of her body, making her body croon at any command, with her legs cloaked around my waist, while digging deep in her guts, planting love notes in her head, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, making her body feel good.

This woman was always mine, even in the rapture of a fuck nigga, no doubt about it, I just needed to convince her of that.