Page 52

. . .

They were the last ones left in the restaurant, tucked in a corner booth with empty plates and half-sipped wine.

The server had stopped checking on them twenty minutes ago.

Soft jazz played in the background, but it was the way Malik looked at her that made Aku’s heart drum low in her chest. Slow… Steady…Heavy.

She leaned into the back cushion and crossed her legs beneath the table. Her heel brushed his shin and stayed there.

Malik’s hand found her knee again, his fingers lazy, tracing little circles. “You ever think about what you want outta all this?”

She tilted her head. “All what?”

“This life shit. Past the work, past the glam, just… you.”

Her eyes bounced around the restaurant. She sipped her water, setting the glass down before she looked him dead in the face. “I do,” she said, “all the time, but it scares me.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause I don’t know if I can have it all,” she admitted, her voice dipping. “I got big dreams and a big heart, and sometimes I feel like the world only lets women choose one.”

Malik studied her, his thumb still rubbing her knee.

“I want to be a boss,” she continued. “Run my shit, style the best, own buildings and stores. But I also wanna be barefoot in the kitchen on Tuesday mornings cookin’ with my man. I want babies crawling around the floor and a husband who still grabs my ass while I’m breastfeeding. I want both.”

Malik smirked but didn’t interrupt. He let her speak her whole truth, making mental notes on how to show up for her.

“I wanna take girls trips where we act up a little,” she went on, “but I also want family vacations where the kids got matching luggage and I cry while watching them play in the sand. I wanna cry over my blessings. I wanna love loud and rest soft. I want to be spoiled…but not so much that I forget how to hustle.”

Malik sat up straighter. “You can have that, Aku…all of it.”

She laughed under her breath. “You say that like it’s easy.”

“It’s not,” he said. “But I’d rather try and fail at giving you everything, than let you think you gotta choose.”

That shut her up. She stared at him, lips parted like her heart was trying to form a new beat. Her secret resting in her chest.

“I wanna give you the world,” Malik added. “Not because I think you need me to, but ‘cause I love how you move in it. How you pour into people. How you make me feel like the smartest hood nigga on Earth. You make me wanna show up different…better.”

She leaned forward and whispered, “You already do.”

Malik kissed her hand—just once, then held it there.

They sat in that peace for a minute. The world didn’t rush them, and for once, Aku didn’t feel the need to rush herself.

“So,” she smiled, “when we building this dream house?”

He chuckled. “Soon as you show me the blueprint.”

“Big kitchen,” she said, ticking off her fingers. “Walk-in closet, backyard with a pool for the kids and a hot tub for us.”

“Home office?”

“Two - one for me, one for my ghetto nerd ass husband.”

Malik nodded. “Deal, and a master bedroom with soundproof walls.”

“Why soundproof?”

He raised his brow. “’Cause I’m not tryna have our kids growin’ up confused about why their Mama so loud after dark.”

Aku laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth. “You’re stupid.”

“And you love me,” he said, eyes low but smile high.

“I do,” she said, soft and full. “So much it scares me.”

“Don’t be scared,” he whispered, “we got each other.”

Another ping on his phone broke the moment. Malik glanced down, then back up.

“Bu said he pulling up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Did he bring his manners?”

Malik smirked. “You know he ain’t bring nothin’ but attitude and an appetite.”

Aku grabbed her purse, standing slowly. “Let’s go let him judge our date.”

They stepped outside into the cool night, walking slowly. Aku pulled her jacket tight, and Malik slid his arm around her waist.

“You cold?”

“Nah, just adjusting.”

“To what?”

She looked at him, eyes gleaming. “To being this damn happy.”

He didn’t say anything—just leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Let’s wait in the car,” she said when they reached the curb.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

It was a good little walk to the car, so they continued to talk, fingers locked together.

“Tell me more about what you want, baby.”

“I want my business to grow so big that I forget what stress feels like. I want girls trips to Tulum with my friends…but I want family trips too - big ones, where everybody loud and happy and dressed alike on accident.”

“On accident, huh?”

She giggled. “Well on purpose but I’ll let y’all think it wasn’t planned.”

Malik chuckled under his breath. Her voice was magic to him.

Aku stared off into the sky dreamily. “I want a honeymoon I don’t wanna come back from. I want to be the wife that looks too damn good to be somebody mama.”

He squeezed her hand tighter.

“I want a man who fucks me like he worships me,” she added, grinning at the way his jaw tensed. “Who also holds my hair when I’m throwing up. I want it all, Malik.”

“You love to fuck.”

A couple walking by, choked hearing him talk like that.

They cracked up.

“Yes, I love to fuck you.” Aku made sure to make that part clear.

They made it to his car which looked outta place, but Aku didn’t care about the stares. She was on cloud nine walking and dining with her man. Malik was still a hood nigga so he parked in an alley that had added parking for the shops on the street.

He opened her door and helped her in, hand grazing her thigh one last time before closing it gently.

At the driver’s side, he pulled the door open before his head started spinning. Crescent don’t ever let go easy, and some sins had long shadows.

A pistol slammed into the side of Malik’s head. White hot pain shot through his skull, knocking the wind out his lungs before he even hit the ground.

“Malik!” Aku screamed, fumbling for her door handle. She didn’t care if her heel got stuck, didn’t care about shit except getting to him.

“Stay in the car!” Malik yelled, voice ragged and thick with blood. “Get the fuck outta here, Aku! Go!”

She didn’t listen. Of course she didn’t.

Two men stood over him, faces half-masked, eyes mean. One waved a gun toward her while the other kept his on Malik.

“You really out here soft now, huh? Madison fuckin’ Heights? Bitch-ass Crescent nigga done fell in love,” one of them spat, toeing Malik’s ribs.

“I got this one,” the other said, glancing toward the open passenger side. “She bad… might keep her for myself.”

“You know what y’all took…I gotta get it back in blood, bruh,” The man taunted, talking about the soldier the other side lost a few months ago.

Malik blinked through the blood. The world spun. His ears rang. But he could still hear her. Aku was screaming and crying. “Don’t hurt him! Please—please! Take what y’all want. Just don’t kill him!”

She scraped her knees, broke a heel crawling on the ground to get to Malik on the other side of the car.

She threw herself over him, her hands trembling as she tried to stop the bleeding at his temple.

Her tears hit his face. “God, please. Not him, not this one. I’ll give you the rest of me if you let him breathe.

I swear to you, I’ll trade every runway, every show, every single blessing—just let me keep him.

Uncle Lunar!” Aku hollered, the assailants just laughed at her.

“Please, Uncle Lunar! Talk to God for me…tell him I deserve this!, Tell him, Malik deserves me…please!”

He tried to push her off. “Aku—go—fuck?—”

“No!” she sobbed, shoulders shaking. “You said we’d build together! You said you’d be my husband! Don’t leave me—please!”

The barrel cocked. Malik flinched, arm weak, reaching out for her waist.

“I need you,” she whispered, words trembling. “We need you…” She grabbed his hand and guided it to her stomach. “I’m pregnant, Malik.”

“Aww,” the man laughed. “Another Crescent baby that won’t have a daddy,” he tsked. “Probably won’t be born by the time my people run through her pretty ass,” he taunted, pushing the gun against Aku’s temple.

Aku’s words barely registered before they hit like a bullet to the soul. Through the fog, through the ache in his bones, something in him lit up.

“Fuck you, cuh,” Malik whispered. He opened his eyes wider, focused, and grabbed the pavement like it owed him a second chance.

The driver’s side door was open.

The gun - under the seat.

The voices got louder - laughing more. One of them reached toward Aku, still crying, still shielding him.

Headlights pulled their attention to the front of the alley.

A car screeched up in front of them.

“AYE!” a familiar voice barked.

Bu jumped out in all black because he’d just gotten off work. Hat pulled low, stepping out like vengeance in real time.

The men looked up too late.

Malik used all his strength to lunge his body towards the car. His fingers gripped the steel under the seat just as Bu let off the first shot.

Screams rang thru the air.

Aku ducked, covering Malik’s body.

Malik turned, raised his arm, and fired once...twice. The blood in his eyes didn’t stop him, not even when something hot pierced his skin.

Malik’s grip shook, but he held that gun like it was the only thing standing between love and death.

Bu wasn’t letting him do it alone. He let his Glock sing too. It was a duet if you asked him.

The world cracked open with noise. Smoke eased from the barrel of his piece. Aku kept screaming.

Silence.

Malik’s body slumped, his fingers still curled around Aku’s wrist.

Bu stood over him, gun smoking. Breathing hard.

“C’mon, nigga… don’t die,” he muttered, dropping to his knees.

Aku screamed again, her nails digging into Malik’s chest. “Baby? Malik? Stay with me! Don’t go! You hear me?! I love you! We need you!”

His eyes fluttered.

She pressed his bloody palm back to her stomach.

“Don’t make me raise this baby alone…”

Everything was black around them, but her voice cut through.

Malik didn’t say a word as he heard confusion and sirens in the distance.