Page 38 of He Thugged Me First

“This is so sweet and nice.” I gushed still taking in the scene as I took a seat on the blanket that was strategically set in the middle of the deck. As beautiful as this was, I still couldn’t keep Mazzier from my mind.

“From what you let me know about you, it’s a fact that you need some time to relax. Have that with me tonight while I get to know you.”

I nodded and took him. This was some big boy shit and I could tell he was a big boy. Not in terms of size, but more so in terms of life. By just one glance I could tell that he’d been through some shit. Honestly you could see it in his eyes. They were dark and housed more than he said.

The conversation between King and I flowed the entire night. It was nice to have somebody actually interested in getting to know me. It was refreshing, especially after everything I had just gone through. I had learned that he was thirty-four and from New Jersey.

“So tell me, King. What’s wrong with you?” I asked whipping my hands together to get rid of the chip crumbs from them.

He laughed, almost choking on his water before he looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“Why are you single? Or alone as you put it.” I asked maneuvering myself into sitting Indian style so I was comfortable.

He looked at me and tucked his bottom lip beneath his other before he made eye contact with me and spoke, “I Love hard Gauze. I’m not one of these niggas out here who say one thing and do the other.

I was raised by a single father who taught me to love and feel everything deeply and passionately. Most females are too ”

The moment he finished that sentence, I felt a jolt of what felt like lightning surge through my body.

The way he’d just said that pulled a response from me.

It pulled a response from me that was so deep that I felt my mouth speaking before I knew what the fuck I was saying.

“Can I kiss you?” I had been watching his lips and feeling his words since he started speaking hours ago. They aren’t Mazzier’s, but they’ll do.

He smiled at me. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“Yeah, but I beat you to it, right?” I pursed my lips. “So what do you say?” I was probably too forward, but I had to get him off my mind.

“Why are you still sitting over there?” he looked me over.

Before I knew it, I was crawling over to his space.

When I was close enough, I pushed my face towards his and thrusted my lips against his.

His lips were soft and inviting just like they looked.

When I pulled back I just looked at him as he looked at me.

Seconds later he was leaning over into my space with his lips covering mine.

I had to do something to rid my brain of Mazzier.

When we finally pulled back, we just looked at one another and all I could think about was how the hell I could keep my composure and morals intact with a man like this.

I mean literally he was too damn smooth, especially when I could tell he wasn’t trying to be.

Too bad no matter how smooth he was, my mind belonged to Mazzier Carson tonight.

LOVE

I swear I don’t know how long I had been in this damn hospital crying when my baby finally decided to take some type of mercy on me and come.

However I do know it was the wee hours of the morning, when Sophia Reign Lowe decided to make her grand entrance into the world.

From the moment she came out yelling, I could tell she had her father wrapped all the way around her little finger.

The moment she came out, I could see the twinkle in his eyes, he claimed that he wanted a son so bad, but here she was.

She was proof that no matter what Quari said he wanted the one thing he didn’t.

Sophia would be loved and protected by an overprotective father who cursed the hell out of god when he saw that she was born in fact with a full head of hair.

He said he’d prayed that she came out with an unknown ugly gene, but all this nigga could do was tell her how beautiful she was.

I looked up from the phone in my hand and over at him. He was standing in the window hogging our daughter like he had been doing since the doctor passed her to him.

“Can I at least get a look at my child, Quari?”

He cut his eyes in my direction. “I’m tryna bond with my baby girl since you had months with her, am I asking for too much?” he mugged me playfully.

“Quari Lowe.” I called out as he stopped looking at me and started back looking at her.

“Fine, but only fifteen minutes because I?—”

“Boy gimme my child. I didn’t see your ass laid up here crying.” I mugged him as he finally walked over to hand her to me.

He laughed. “I might as well have. You were around this motherfucker screaming, crying and fucking up my ears.”

“Just like you to be dramatic.” I looked up at the door and a female I didn’t recognize stood at the door. She was looking at Quari.

“Bloom, what are you doing here?” he asked with a serious expression.

“Maybe we should speak in?—”

“Anything you can say to me can be said in front of my fiancé.” He never looked my way, he maintained eye contact with her.

“You know Clay Afron?” she asked, walking further into the room.

He shook his head no, before he stepped to my side and handed me Sophia.

“Well he knows you, he contacted me about you.”

“What about me?” he asked. He looked annoyed and confused.

“He’s trying to put a contract out on you.”

I looked from the woman to Quari for what felt like hours before Quari responded.

“And what you?—”

“C’mon now, you know how I go. You’re family, so I came to you to see what you want me to do. Plus his pockets aren’t deep enough to do shit with anybody.” She looked at him with unwavering loyalty in her eyes.

He nodded his head before he glanced down at me.

I could see the worry in his eyes, but not for myself or our child physically but mentally.

He feared that I would panic or somehow grow angry with him about this, but how could I?

Maybe I should’ve gotten angry or cursed him out, but I couldn’t.

All I could do was hold our daughter and stare at him as he paced the floor and spoke into the phone.

What I had gathered was that he didn’t know who this Clay was.

“I’m sorry, Love.” He had a very familiar expression on his handsome face. It was one much like the one he’d had when he was going to work.

“What do you have to apologize for?” he asked. I genuinely couldn’t figure out why he would believe that I was angry at him. Hadn’t I dealt with everything else with a grain of salt as well?

“That i?—”

“Nope, you don’t get to do that. You handle this like everything else and bring your ass home to me and this big head child.”

He laughed. “You ‘don't even curse like that.” he shook his head with a smirk. “And my daughter’s head ain’t big and if it is she gets that from your side of the family.”

I shook my head though laughter. “Nope.”

The way my brain works is I bury things so I don’t worry about them.

That is how I’d managed not to obsess over the fact that Quari had possibly one of the most dangerous occupations known to man.

For the most part I did a good job at not worrying, but right now I was worried out of my skull and all I could do is look down at the little girl who was a perfect mixture of us both.

Even at three days old Sophia put me in the mind of her father and I couldn’t imagine him not being here to raise her with me.

“I know that look.” The sound of a female voice made me look up and it was Gina standing there. Gina had told me that she was coming by the house, I just didn’t know what time. Then their cousin stepped from behind her and walked over to where I sat on the sofa staring down at Sophia.

“I know that look well.” Century voiced as she took a seat across from me.

I looked up at her confused as to what she was talking about. “Huh?”

“You know what keeps a man in a hard place sane? Knowing that his home will be the same when he gets out of that hard place. A man, especially the niggas we belong to will never lay all of his burdens down on you, but he’ll place them beside you.

He isn’t looking for you to carry them or any of that, but he’s looking for you to build him up and let him know it’ll be alright from time to time.

Hell yeah we worry, it’s a part of life, but if you believe in faith and a higher power then you know everything will be just fine.

I can’t tell you how many times I worried about the safety or wellbeing of Gemini when he was out here.

Hell I think I worried more about that man than he worried about himself.

” Century placed her hand on my knee reassuringly.

“Same, if I had a dollar for every worry I had about Klusive every time he goes back home, I promise you I’d be swimming in it. Just gotta have faith and know everything will be fine.”

I nodded my head. They were right, and I did have faith.

“Now onto other things, why the hell does my niece look like cement?” Gina asked, as she picked Sophia up from the sofa.

“One being that her father is stubborn and refuses to shop for her without me, and she is the same baby who wouldn’t let us see her gender until she came popping out. However her godmother had the same fit moments ago, so I estimate that she should be on her way here in a few hours.”

Century and Gina laughed. Their presence was somewhat helpful, especially since Quari had left early this morning and left no indication as to when he’d be back.