Page 64

Quasim

I didn’t leave until every piece of Polo was wrapped up in plastic. The minute Keith put his head up, I headed back to the jet to get to my baby. Blair was in the back of my head the entire time.

Kicking myself for hurting her and making her feel like she didn’t have anyone to turn to. I promised myself that I would never do that to her, and ended up doing it anyway. I wasn’t a perfect man, and I got on my own nerves with how hard it was to let someone in.

For years, I sat with this lock over my heart, never allowing anyone in because it wouldn’t be good. Any person that loved me would end up hurt, and then she ended up almost losing her life in a house fire.

There had never been a woman that made me want to hand her the key to my heart. Until Blair came walking into my life, and now I couldn’t see life without her. She was meant for me, and I needed to fix it.

Her heart was important to me, and I had to fix what I broke. Allow her to see that I was still her husband, and I would go to war behind her. Cherish her feelings and let her in, because she was the only one I wanted to talk to.

My duffle bag hung off my shoulders and headphones around my neck as I climbed out the cab. I needed to see my wife.

Smell her.

Feel her.

Soon as I entered the house, Kobe was sitting at the kitchen table eating crab legs with Synthia. “Hey Kang…. Want some crab legs?”

Dropping my bag and pulling my headphones off, I looked at Synthia. “Where’s my wife?”

She cracked the leg of the crab and nodded outside.

“She’s sleep outside… be careful. Sleep has been hard for her, and she didn’t sleep at all last night.

That prenatal insomnia is a bitch… I just covered her up.

You can go settle in and wait until she wakes up, if you want.

” It was like she was warning me how to be around my wife.

“Trust us… you might wanna wait.”

I ignored them as Havoc and Blaze filed in behind me. “Well, hello, Hamza.” Synthia continued to suck on a crab leg, and I exited the kitchen.

Like Synthia said, she was asleep on the pool bed outside. The blanket clung to her body and stomach like silk. Her face was clear of makeup, and she looked so angelic laying there. One hand on her stomach, as if she wanted to make sure no one stole it away from her while she slept.

I sat at her head and kissed her forehead. “I love you so fucking much, Anjo, shit hurts how much I love you.”

Nuzzling my nose through her hair and smelling her fruity scent that drove me crazy was like heaven. After doing what I had to do, the shit felt like a reset to me. I rested my face in her hair as I watched her stomach.

It stretched and moved as she slept. Moving my hand, I touched her stomach and felt my baby girl kick. Jiggling her stomach slightly, she kicked again and that’s when Anjo jumped up.

Her eyes were red and wide as she realized that it was me sitting there. “Why would you do that to me?”

It was like a snap of the finger, and she started hysterically crying while staring at me. I tried to reach for her, and she shoved me away. “Do what to you, my love… the fuck did I do?”

“I cannot sleep… my body won’t allow me, and I finally get to sleep, and you wake me up. You so fucking selfish, Quasim!” she started slapping me while climbing out the bed.

As she screamed at me, Blaze came out with crab legs and saw her screaming and turned right back around. “Blaze, the fuck do I do?”

“Pray, nigga… my wife carrying two. I ain’t even trying to see her cut the fuck up… handle it, Bitch!” He laughed, too fucking tickled that it was me on the receiving end.

Anjo’s head spun around like she was in a damn demonic movie. I knew Gams kept holy water here, and I made plans to find that shit. “Quameer Pissy Bitch Inferno, you called me a fucking bitch!” she roared.

“Baby, he called me the bitch… why you screaming and yel—” She didn’t let me finish because she turned around and was on his ass next.

All I heard when I re-entered the house was screaming. Kobe and Synthia both looked at me. “We told you not to wake her ass up… never eat a pregnant woman’s food or disturb her damn sleep, Kang!”

I needed to understand more. “What is the matter… she need a new mattress? The fuck do I need to do so she’s comfortable?”

Havoc, while in the middle of our conversation, picked Synthia up, put her back on his lap and started eating her crab legs.

“It’s less about the comfort… I mean, that matters too, but her body just can’t rest. You would be surprised how many pregnant women I work with that struggle with the same thing.

Pregnancy takes so much from mothers, and this is why I stick by my word that women are superior to men. ”

“Clock it.” Kobe yelled out with a mouth full of crab.

I looked at Synthia. “Why you never said your sister was a cop?”

She sighed. “Me and my father are embarrassed, okay? She just had to go being the law, knowing our daddy a damn felon. I am proud of her though… narc and all.”

Havoc tickled her side and kissed her neck, as she laughed. “I’m still a single mother… your hot and cold moods ain’t ‘bout to consume me. Not even about to get hype that you paying me attention cause we in the same place. I have three dates lined up once I’m back home.”

He stopped midchew and stared at her without saying anything, then nodded his head. I shook my head and went to the room where my baby was. I bypassed Meer kissing on Capri’s stomach while she was laid across the couch with a pillow between her legs.

“You heard that… your crazy ass aunt tried to hurt daddy.”

“Shouldn’t have called her a bitch,” Capri yawned, and rubbed his hair.

He looked up. “I ain’t call her a bitch, Sug.”

“Sound like it to me,” I replied.

They both looked at me with this slick ass grin on their faces. “You ‘bout to go beg your way out that dog house, huh?” Capri laughed and then started choking.

“Worry about her giving your babies brain freeze with all those fucking slushies.” I stuck my middle finger at them.

Recommendation: Listen to I Love You by Dru Hill

Tapping on the door, I quietly opened it to find her sitting on the floor sobbing quietly. I walked over and got onto the floor with her. “Tell me what’s wrong, my love… let me fix it.” I damn near pleaded with her.

“I got down on the floor and I cannot get back up… my back hurts and I haven’t taken maternity pictures. This pregnancy was supposed to be peaceful, and it has been filled with chaos.” She sobbed out while hitting her thighs.

She stared up at me as I smiled at her. “I’m sorry, baby,” I chuckled.

The look she gave me was deadly as I reached and touched her stomach. “It’s not fucking funny, Quasim.”

“It’s funny because I remember the time when we didn’t think we would be here. Neither of us thought we have this second chance at being parents and look at us. You crying cause you stuck on the floor.”

She smiled as she sniffled, and I reached and wiped her eyes. “Not funny.” I watched as she pouted but laughed at the same time.

“I’m sorry, my love. For making you feel like I didn’t see you. Locked you away.”

She messed with her hands and looked up at me. “I just want you, Quasim. All I’ve ever wanted was you, but I cannot sacrifice myself for you… I won’t do it.”

“I won’t ever make you do that. This shit is over… I’m back, and I can’t say how much I love you for sticking by me. When I was hard to deal with and couldn’t see my way out the darkness.”

“I almost signed up for a dating site.”

I raised my brow. “You really wanna go to the Luther concert, Anjo.”

She giggled, her stomach jiggling in the process. “Is it really done… are we good?”

“We’re good. I want to show you something,” I snatched my phone from my pocket and showed her the digital blueprints.

“What’s this?”

“Our home… breaks ground next month. We won’t be in it before the baby, but I wanted to show you that I got us a home.”

“We’re not homeless anymore.”

I paused. “Anjo, we were never fucking homeless… stop listening to Menace’s ass.”

She smiled as she continued to look at the screen. “Game room for Elijah… oh, he’s gonna love that.”

“I love you, Anjo. I’m never walking away from this marriage, and I may not always get it right, but know that I’m working on me and working to be the man you need me to be.”

“You’re already the man I want you to be… I just need you to be the man that lets me into your head. Allow me to help you and be your strength sometimes… I’m strong enough, Simmy.”

The name Simmy felt like a warm fucking hug. She had been withholding that name as a punishment, and I missed hearing it. “Come here, baby.”

She refused to move. “You come here,” she patted her leg, and I got down and laid in her lap. “I find comfort in your arms. You make me feel safe, Simmy. I never feel scared when I’m in your arms. I need you to feel the same when you’re in mine… okay?”

I kissed her thigh and then her stomach. “Okay.”

She kissed my head, as she rubbed my head. “Oop… feel her?”

“Yeah, kicking the side of my damn face.”

Anjo laughed. “She knows her daddy is near… she knows that her daddy will protect us always… like we will protect him.”

I kissed her stomach and wrapped my arms around her, trying to be in her skin.

We had been in Barbados for a few days and shit was a well needed change for all of us. No longer stressed and worried about shit, we sat on the couches on the beach and watched the women dancing and laughing with each other.

Capri and Blair were putting their stomachs together while Zoya took a picture of them. She took a picture kissing both of their stomachs while Synthia captured some pictures, too. Blaze took a pull of his spliff and looked out at them.

“We’re fucking blessed, Pop.” He took another pull, taking in his wife, and watching her body nurture and house two additional Infernos.

“Not sure I’m ready for two nephews.”

He smirked. “I’m more than fucking ready for my boys.”