Page 43

Avery

I t was really fucked up what Cruz’s people were doing to Keyani.

It was getting to the point that I understood exactly why she didn’t trust nobody, but if she didn’t have shit else, she had me!

Since her house was still fucked up after the shooting, I’d brought her home with me and Maasai, who was stuck between a rock and a hard place about what was happening with his friend.

He knew Cruz wouldn’t have liked what they had going on, but he also knew Cruz wouldn’t want him to kill them.

At least he didn’t think so anyway. I’d been going around making so many threats that I had my own little personal hitlist, and they were right under where their son’s name had been scratched off.

I wasn’t sure if their plan was to leave Keyani out in the open or not, but they had her and me fucked up!

My girl was good as long as I was good, so she had her security right back and was still living in a fortress.

And she was still a rich ass bitch! Their son made sure of that!

She’d told me all about the money Cruz had given her in good faith, and that made me like him even more, which was why his name was scratched off, but if he was on bullshit when he came to, it was nothing to add it back.

“Avery! We gone be late, man!”

Maasai’s yelling brought me out of my thoughts, and I hurried to slip my feet into the Chanel sneakers I’d chosen to wear with my outfit.

We’d scheduled another appointment, and I was praying that we actually made it without any bullshit this time because I’d be on a worse warpath than my husband had been.

When I finally made it downstairs, he was standing in the foyer, and he hit me with that same charming smile that always drove me crazy. “I’m surprised you’re the one rushing this time,” I said smartly, and his grin widened.

“Why you think I ain’t come up there to get you? You wasn’t about to have me running late.”

I busted out laughing at him trying to make the last time my fault, but I was going to let him have it because I always wanted it just as bad as he did. Smacking him with my clutch, I switched past and giggled when he slapped me on the butt. “Don’t start,” I warned, glaring at him playfully.

“You don’t start,” he shot back, helping me into the truck with a wet kiss that had me shuddering.

With a wink, he closed the door and ran around to his side, clearly just as excited as I was to see our baby.

It had taken so long to get to the actual appointment that I was sure we’d be able to tell the sex by now.

That was cool with me though, because I was ready for the shower and reveal and to start shopping for all the pink things I could find.

I was still thinking about what all I was going to buy my baby when we finally pulled up to the doctor’s office, and Maasai came around to let me out.

The lobby was decorated in cute baby colors and was full of women in different stages of pregnancy.

My little bump had started to grow, so I was proudly wearing anything that exposed it more, which was why I had on a fitted t-shirt and gray leggings.

After checking in, it wasn’t long before they called us to the back, and the first stop was the ultrasound room.

I could hardly contain my excitement as I took in the different instruments, knowing that I’d finally be able to see my baby.

“Girl, calm down, up there wiggling them fat toes and shit,” Maasai teased, and I rolled my eyes.

“My toes ain’t fat, and watch if I let you put them in your mouth ag—” He smirked knowingly as I clamped my mouth shut when the ultrasound tech stepped inside. Probably because he knew I was lying more than anything.

“Hello folks, I’m Sue and I’ll be taking pictures of your baby today!” she gushed as she ran down her spiel, seemingly not having heard what I’d been talking about when she entered. “You guys ready to see your baby?”

“Yes, finally!” I chirped, unable to contain myself as my embarrassment faded, and Maasai just nodded, trying to be all cool and shit.

She started prepping me by lifting my shirt and tucking napkins underneath it and into my pants before she applied the warm gel.

When she finally put the Doppler on my belly, I damn near cried, hearing my baby’s heartbeat fill the room as she pointed to the screen and showed us different body parts.

“Did you want to know the sex?” She seemed just as excited to ask as I was to know, and everything I’d said about a gender reveal went out the window as I nodded vigorously.

Tears were already in my eyes. “It looks like you’re going to be having a little girl!

” Blinking rapidly to try to stop myself from crying, I looked over to Maasai to find him all choked up.

He’d been saying this whole time that he just wanted a healthy baby, but knowing that he was going to be a girl dad had him in tears too.

Grabbing up my hand, he kissed it and mouthed ‘I love you.’

“I love you toooo!” I was still crying when Sue handed me our pictures and left the room and then during the entire rest of the visit.

I didn’t stop until we were leaving, and Maasai suggested we stop at my favorite steakhouse to celebrate.

The first person I called was Keyani, while Maasai called his mama and sister on three-way.

It was a whole conference call in the car, and I immediately began posting the pictures online.

“Look at you, already tryna have me about to break a nigga jaw over my baby girl,” he teased, pulling out into traffic, and I simpered.

“You sound so cute saying that! We should go shopping today too, just to buy a couple things to get her started.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I was really ready to go crazy with his card.

“Whatever you want, baby.”

“Oooh, you sound even cuter saying that!” I laughed but was dead ass serious.

“Man, watch out!” He tried to sound annoyed, but his cheeks lifted into a smile.

It was crazy how obsessed I was with his fine ass.

We spent the ride just talking about different stores we would go into for shopping, but all it took was a thick T-bone and a salad to have me too sleepy to follow through.

The way his ass was laughing about it, I felt like it was a setup because he was the one who even suggested the damn steak place.

I barely made it off the block that the steakhouse was on before I passed out.

I was still tired when we made it home, which was becoming a normal thing for me, but instead of letting me sleep alone, my husband crawled in behind me, obviously having been hit with the itis too.

A couple days later, I was waiting with Keyani for Maasai to call with an update on Cruz. Apparently, his parents hadn’t hated my husband so much that they’d keep him away. They also didn’t know that Keyani was staying with us, so Maasai finding out news didn’t bother them.

They were really just as crazy as the bitch who’d put their son in the hospital, and I prayed karma found them for all their dirt.

“Calm down, I’m sure he’s doing much better.

Maasai said that the specialist did come, so maybe they’ll have a better plan than the one the hospital is doing, ’cause the sooner he wakes up, the better,” I told Key when I saw her on the couch, ringing her hands.

My girl had been a nervous wreck, not knowing what was going on, but I had faith that things were going to be working out in their favor.

“I hope so,” she said, frowning. “Damn, I wish I could take a damn edible right now, ’cause dealing with this sober is not a vibe.”

“Bitch, not an edible! Let me find out my bestie is a crackhead for real!” I couldn’t help cackling, but she only shrugged as a smile slid across her face.

“Takes one to know one, Ms. I’ll take five damn gummies and get on an airplane!” My mouth dropped with a fake gasp, and I grinned too.

“Well, it did bring me and my husband together, so a win is a win.”

“I know that’s right!” She held up her hand for a high five, but we both quieted down when my phone started ringing. Seeing my hubby on the contact, I answered and put it on speaker so Keyani could hear.

“Hey baby, is everything good? What happened?”

“Is he awake or doing better?” Keyani followed right up with another set of questions.

“Naw, he’s not up yet, but he is doing a lot better. The specialist said it could be any day now.” His deep voice flowed through the phone, and we both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh my god, I can’t wait! This shit is crazy that they won’t let me see him!” Keyani huffed but was visibly less tense than she’d been just a few minutes before.

“Yeah, I know he’s going to be pissed off when he finds out what they did, but I wanna let him handle it instead of just assuming and…

fixing shit for him.” He cleared his throat at the obvious threat, and I bit my lip as my clit jumped.

It didn’t make any sense how much I wanted to jump his bones all the time, but I was blaming it on pregnancy hormones, even though I was beginning to think it was just me.

“I’m gone be on my way there in a minute, I just gotta stop by his shop and make sure shit running smooth.

You know they don’t give a fuck about that business. ”

It was true. Besides making sure Keyani couldn’t go in there, they’d basically left it abandoned, and it was only being run by the staff. Sighing, I told him I’d see him soon, and we hung up.

Keyani let out a huge yawn, and since that shit was contagious, I did the same. “Well, since that’s out the way, I say we take a nap before I have to pick up the kids,” she said, already falling backward onto the couch.

“I’m not opposed to a nap now, don’t tease me with a good time.

” Smirking, I got comfortable and reached for the remote so I could have some background noise.

I hated sleeping in the dead silence. As soon as I turned on the TV, I did a little dance because Martin was on, and that was one of my favorite sleep shows.

I woke up to a loud bang, not knowing what had happened or how long we’d even been asleep.

The time on the TV said that it hadn’t even been an hour, and I stretched lazily, seeing that Keyani was still out.

I was going to leave her there when another loud ass bang had me dropping to the floor.

It sounded like I was in the middle of WW3, and when I saw Keyani’s hard sleeping ass still drooling, I pulled her down to the floor by her arm.

“Whhaa?” she woke up frowning and wiping her mouth, but when she heard the commotion her eyes bucked. “What the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know, but it woke me up.” We shared a look of horror as the realization sank in that we were under some type of attack, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was probably that crazy bitch.

“We gotta go!” Keyani shouted over the sound of automatic rifles and men screaming. Motioning for the stairs, she started crawling that way when I remembered that Maasai had added a safe room. I sped up, and once we were behind the wall of the stairs, I pointed up.

“We gotta get to the safe room!”

She nodded her understanding and followed me up, sticking low to the stairs as bullets whipped past our heads.

Once we were on the second floor, I pulled her with me as I ran to the guest room and into the closet.

Pushing aside boxes and other storage shit, I found the wall panel and entered the code to let us in, barely letting the door slide open before squeezing inside.

Locking it back behind us, I went over to the control panel that Maasai had shown me how to use and cut on the cameras to the outside of the house—horrified at the number of bodies that lay on my lawn and the stairs.

People were literally dead from the front to the back, and I couldn’t help wondering what type of army that bitch had to do this type of damage.

“Oh my god, that bitch killed every guard out there!” Keyani gasped beside me as I continued jumping from camera to camera, trying to find her. “We need to call Maasai!”

“Shit, I left my phone downstairs!”

“Me too!”

Rubbing a hand across my forehead, I tried to think if there was some type of phone in the room to call for help. Panicking made it harder to think, and I was shaking as adrenaline coursed through me, making focusing impossible.

“Shit! She’s in the house!” Key whisper-yelled, watching the screen with wide eyes. There was a clear in-color picture of this crazy lady walking through the wreckage of my living room with about twenty men behind her. When I saw her mouth moving, I cut up the volume to see what she was saying.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are! I know you’re here, little bitch!” she screamed, walking toward the kitchen, so I flipped to that camera. “Are you hiding back here? Ahhhh!” My eyebrows bunched together seeing her attack her own face with rough slaps.

“Oh, she really crazy!” I mumbled, now watching in amazement like her ass was a zoo animal. I’d never in my life seen the type of bitch that fatal attractions were made of, but I knew I could probably get some money for a tape of her beating her own ass.

“Uhh, you think?”

“Ahhhh, find her now! What am I paying you for? Tear this muthafucka up!” She came storming out of the kitchen and yelling at the men whom I was beginning to recognize as part of the security detail for Keyani.

“Ain’t that?”

“Yes, bitch, that’s your fucking security.”

Keyani blew out a deep breath, and I knew she had to be feeling some type of way.

It was no point in sitting there watching as she tore up my damn house.

I was honestly surprised nobody had called the police yet, but they should’ve already been dispatched by now.

Leaving Keyani stuck in front of the screens like she was watching a horror movie, I went to search for the phone that I knew was somewhere.

The whole time, I was mentally cursing Maasai out too, because how do you have a state-of-the-art safe room and no easily accessible phone?

As I rummaged through the drawers and cabinets, I could hear the men tearing up the upstairs in my house, and I wanted to cry.

This was literally my dream house, and they had it looking like a demolition project.

“I think they’re leaving!” Keyani said, and I rushed back over to see them walking toward the door with Ms. Crazy Boots herself being the last to leave.

My mouth was literally still hanging open even after seeing the vans she was in pull away, and just like that, Cruz was right back on my shit list!