18. Blair
Blair
“You have to feel the beat and the music,” I coached Capri as I shook my ass, and she looked up from her book.
I was playing bounce music while shaking my ass while we were sitting by the pool. She looked up from her book and watched me. “I see that thang moving… check you out.”
We both started laughing as I slumped back down in the chair. “How are you doing? I need to do my daily bestie check in with you.”
She closed her book and smiled. “I’m actually good. Mommy has been sending me pictures every day, and I see her over facetime. I’m enjoying it being me and Meer, because we haven’t had time like this since our honeymoon.”
“I agree. You both need to make sure that you keep that time for you… you never told me the results of the pregnancy test.”
She pulled her legs up to her chest. “It was negative. I think my sigh of relief and how hysterical I was hurt Meer’s feelings, though. He wants another baby, and I do want to give it to?—”
“You’re married to a man that’s upfront with his feelings and emotions, Capri. Stop reverting back to how Naheim was with you. You said he would be passive aggressive instead of just talking to you. That’s not Meer, and if he felt a way, he would have talked to you about it.”
She ran her hand through her hair. “Yeah. You’re right… I do want to give him our boy.”
“And you will. It’s alright to want to take a break and enjoy your first child. Rayce takes a lot of time and energy, and you’re not wrong for wanting to take some time between pregnancies. Capri, you went through a lot when you were pregnant.”
“I don’t want my girls ever having to hang out a window, shooting.”
I laughed. “They are Inferno girls, they are gonna know how to shoot a gun… but I get what you’re talking about.”
We both looked at Jeffie as she came and sat on the pool lounge next to Capri. “Hey Jeffie.” I smiled; she was just waking up for the day.
We had spent the day at the beach and exploring some of the shops that were near. Core decided to stay back because Jeffie was still asleep, which wasn’t like her at all. After exploring all day, we decided to come back to the villa to chill for the rest of the day.
The men were in the game room playing pool and drinking while us girls were out here. “Hey girls… sorry for missing out on the activities today.”
She wore a pair of dark sunglasses and had her iPad in her hand like she was about to work. “Are you okay, Jeffie?” Capri blurted before I could ease into asking her.
That was Capri, though. She was always worried about someone, and she could sense when something was wrong. At times, she would be worried about how someone else was doing over her own wellbeing.
Before she could answer, Core came out with a plate of food. “Eat something for me, please.” She nodded her head and accepted the food. “Let me know if you need me…okay?”
“Okay.”
He held her chin and placed a few kisses on her lips before leaving us alone. Jeffie removed her glasses, and her eyes were puffy like she had been crying. Capri leaned up and looked at her.
“What is going on? You can tell me anything… you know that, right?”
Erin came out the house and sat down next to Jeffie, not knowing what was going on. I sat next to Capri and reached my hands for hers. “I had a miscarriage a little before coming on this trip. I know it’s stupid to cry about a baby that I didn’t even know, but I can’t help but feel this hole in my chest.”
Erin rubbed her back. “It’s not stupid to feel that way. That baby was part of you, even if it was for a short while.”
“It’s not your fault, either. I know plenty of women I’ve worked with that blame themselves, and it’s not your fault.” I added.
“Thanks for that, Blair.” Erin looked up at me. “Me and Capone had a miscarriage a few months ago. I spent so much time blaming myself because I was always on the go, never sitting down. I don’t want to make this about me, but I want you to know that you have a good man. Corleon is a good man. Let him be there for you, let him in, or else this shit will break you down. I spent so much time pouring into my babies and ignoring the loss we suffered, shutting my husband out, that it caused a strain on our marriage.”
Capri stood up and squeezed between both Erin and Jeffie, hugging the both of them. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you both.”
“Don’t apologize. I love you, but I’m not going to dump everything on you when you’re a new mother, wife, and have your own life… Mommy came over and scrubbed me in an herbal bath.”
Jeffie’s head snapped in Erin’s direction. “She did?”
“Yes. I called her and Jo crying, and they came over and both were there for me.”
I watched as the tears fell from her face. “She did the same thing for me. I’ve never felt more cared for with my own mother. Your mom was really there for me… you’re blessed to have her.”
Capri smiled. “I’ll share my mother with you hoes any day.”
We all laughed. “You know what hurt the most?”
“What?” I still held onto her hand, while we waited for her to speak, and she looked down at her feet.
“I told my best friend about my miscarriage, and she wasn’t even there for me. All I got was some generic ass message, and she not once reached out to talk to me, to ask if I was good… to comfort me. It was Skyler who dropped everything to be there for me, who keeps checking in on me, reminding me that I will become a mother one day… not the girl I’ve known since middle school. I think that hurts just as much as miscarrying my baby.”
“When someone shows you who they truly are, believe them the first time. Ignoring the truth only delays the inevitable.” I looked up into her eyes. “It was a tough lesson I had to learn with people, but a needed lesson.”
“My mom used to say, ‘Whenever someone unveils their true colors, don’t repaint them with your imagination, Erin.’” She mocked her mother and smiled.
“Yeah.” She sighed.
Capri pulled her into a hug. “God will bless you and Corleon with a baby, and we will throw you the biggest baby shower and gender reveal.”
Jeffie laughed as Capri continued to hold her. “Not both?”
“Both… and I’ll even see if Meer will rent us his daddy chair.”
I busted out laughing. “Girl, that man ain’t parting from that damn chair… not even for you.”
“Yeah, you right… I’ll steal it from him or adjust my jaw and work overtime.” She snickered, and I rolled my eyes at her.
“Freaky ass.”
“Mrs. Inferno if you’re nasty.” She winked.
Erin laughed. “Your brothers would flip their shit if they heard this conversation. I think tonight we should do our tradition.”
“What’s the tradition?” Jeffie asked.
“Karaoke,” Alaia came over with money in her hand, and sat down beside me while counting her money. “Took all they money playing pool.”
“You know how to play?”
She continued counting and nodded her head. “Yep, not even Roy knew… he thought he was going to get one over on me and I took his ass to the bank.”
“There’s so much that I don’t know about you.” I shook my head as she folded the money up and slipped it into the pocket of her lounge pants.
“Every time we do karaoke, you get in your feelings because you and Capo come in last place.” Capri mentioned.
Erin rolled her eyes. “That’s because you always winning because your man can actually sing. Actually, you and Meer are disqualified.”
“That ain’t even fair. He doesn’t even sing at his highest range.”
“Oh, so you bragging now?” Alaia added.
Capri busted out laughing. “I’m sensing jealousy because my man can sing.”
“Well, my man got two jobs,” Alaia mocked Rochelle from the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris .
I nudged her. “Baby, you just as delusional as your damn husband… that man is not a dentist or a pilot.”
“Bouncer, guidance counselor, and he told Promise’s swim teacher that he’s a swim instructor,” Alaia couldn’t keep a straight face as she busted out laughing at her man’s shenanigans.
The one thing Big Capp was going to do was keep us laughing while he maintained a straight face. As we laughed, I looked up and saw Quasim come out the house and everything in my body reacted to this man.
He wore a pair of swim shorts, but his Calvin Klein brief waistband stuck out the top. With no shirt on, you could see all his tattoos and that body. It was so damn perfect that it should have been a crime to look that good.
“Somebody about to ditch us,” Capri whispered.
Right as the words left her mouth, Quasim motioned for me to come with his finger. “You figure out why you and your man been disqualified.”
“Oh, bitch… low shot.”
I walked over toward Quasim, and he looked down at me, handing me my phone. “Phone been going crazy.”
I looked down and noticed a few text messages from Zay, which wasn’t unusual. I had a few missed calls from an unknown number, and then a missed call from Augusta.
“I need to call her back,” I left the backyard and went toward our room. Quasim followed behind me as I pressed her name and waited to hear her country accent answer.
“Augusta?”
“Hey Blair. It’s Tremaine,” her son answered.
I paced the floor with my nerves rattling inside my chest because I was so nervous. “Is she alright?”
“She fell in the house and only broke her arm, thankfully.”
I placed my hand on my forehead as I continued to pace the room. “She doesn’t want to go into an assisted living home. This is the second fall she has taken this year, Tre.”
“Yeah. I know. Luckily, I happened to be in town for work and was staying here. Woke me out of my sleep. She was trying to get something out the attic.”
“Dammit. I’m out the country right now, but when I’m back I can stay with her for a few nights.”
“My cousin is going to come by and stay with her after I leave. I have to head back to the west coast for an investment meeting. Try and talk to her about moving into one… I worry about her, and she refuses to move or leave her home.”
“Thanks for calling me. We will figure something out with her… we’ll have to hear her screaming and threatening to hit us with her shoe, but we’ll figure it out.”
Tre laughed. “At least she’s one arm down, and it’s her good arm, too.”
I snorted, laughing, the first time since I saw I had a missed call from Augusta. “You not right. Please keep me updated.”
“Got you. Have fun, B… you deserve it.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Tre.”
Quasim sat on the couch with his legs apart and extended, watching me. “Everything straight?”
I looked down at my phone and replied to Zay’s text message. He was asking how I was doing and if I was having fun. “My foster mother fell, and her son called to tell me.”
He motioned for me to come to him, and I crawled up in his lap. “You stay in touch with your foster mother?”
“She’s like a mother to me… the closest thing I have to a mom in this life. I was shuffled around so much after my mother passed that I was never anywhere for long. When I was sixteen, I was sent to Augusta Mae’s house, and I hated it. She made me do chores, dress modestly, and she’s a God-fearing woman, so every lesson had a bible verse attached to it.”
He rubbed my arms and gave me his full attention. “I was only supposed to be placed with her for an emergency placement until they could get me into a group home. I was there for two months, and Augusta told me that I was going to stay, and age out the system in her home. So, I stayed with her until I was eighteen. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone to college in the first place. She’s tough as shit, stern, and straight forward, but the love that woman has outweighs all of that, and she loves me like I’m her own child.”
He reached up and swiped away a tear that fell. “Why don’t you speak on her much?”
“I keep things close to me. When you’re raised being shuffled around, you tend to keep the things you have close to your heart, even the relationships.”
“I can understand that.” He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I kissed him on his head and snuggled into his arms. “You scare me, Anjo.”
“I don’t want to.”
He kissed my jaw. “You do, though. Me having love isn’t in the cards for me. … I also feel guilty because I feel like I’m moving on while Cherie and Harley stay behind. It’s a fucked feeling that I can’t stop thinking about.”
I kissed his hands and looked into his eyes. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re forgetting them or leaving them behind. I can understand grief, my mother left me when I was young… having to go through life without her was hard for me. Feeling like my life was moving on while she stayed behind was a bitter pill to swallow, but I also know my mother, and I know she wouldn’t want me sad and not living life because she was gone. Harley wants her daddy happy… she wants her daddy to love again, and experience being a father to one of her siblings she sends down for you… and I mean that even if it’s not me you’re with, Sim. You deserve to love and be loved again… you have to let that guilt go.”
Tears fell down his face as he bit the side of his lip and looked away. “I hear her voice still.”
My heart twisted into a knot, hearing those words leave his mouth. “Is it comforting for you?”
“It fucks with me, Anjo. I hear her voice calling me from her bedroom, knowing that she’s not there no more. She hasn’t been there in some time, and she’ll never be there again. The crayon mark near the kitchen, I can’t even bring myself to clean it because it’s her… it reminds me of her. How can I move on when I still have Cherie’s perfume and skincare on her side of the sink?” The more he spoke, the more tears fell down his face.
I could tell this wasn’t something he ever spoke about to anyone. Quasim was quiet, someone who took in everything, never letting anything out. Even some things Meer had no clue about, because although they were close, he never let his younger brother in on his pain. Too worried about interrupting someone else’s life with his problems.
The reason I knew Quasim so well was because I was the same way. Tyshawn started beating my ass when I was in college, and I always hid it. Putting on a front because I didn’t want to be that friend that always had something going on.
I never wanted to overshadow anyone else with my problems, always needing something, never able to be the friend that could offer her shoulder because she was a damn mess.
While my friends were having the time of their lives in college, I was holding everything in, because I couldn’t tell them my boyfriend beat me and was hooked on heroin. I hated to feel any pity from anyone, or face embarrassment.
Truthfully, I never said anything because I wanted to protect Tyshawn. I was so worried about what people would think about him more than I worried about myself.
I wiped Sim’s tears away and kissed his face. “I’m not asking you to rush into anything with me. I want to know we are on the same page. I don’t want to replace Cherie… I also don’t want to feel like I’m competing with what you had with her, baby. As much as it would hurt, if you need more time, I can step back… give you that because I care about you.”
He held me tighter around the waist. “It’s not rushing into nothing, because I want this. My heart has wanted this, but fear has prevented me from going after what I wanted. I knew the day I saw you crying at that counter. I never give a shit about nobody, but seeing you cry, someone I didn’t even know, bothered me. You didn’t even need to tell me your story, I knew it.” He looked out at the view. The housekeeper had the doors pulled back so you could smell the sea water and feel a breeze. “I’m not scared of much. The thought of losing you… shit fucking cripples me. If some shit happened to you.” He paused as his eyes hardened just thinking about it.
“Hey… you wouldn’t let that happen to me, Simmy. You would never let anything happen to me. Just like Meer wouldn’t let anything happen to Capri, and Capone and Cappadonna with their wives.”
“You just that confident in me, huh?”
I goofily smiled as I looked at him. “Baby, I saw how you ran that bike over that man’s head for me… I got all the confidence in the world that you gonna handle it before it becomes a problem. Even if it becomes a problem, I know those Inferno Gods coming out on top.”
I straddled him and kissed him on the lips as he hugged me. The door busted open, and Quameer rushed into the room.
“Niggas don’t know how to knock now?” Quasim asked as I wiped his face with my hands.
“There’s a dinosaur in the backyard, Sim… word is bond,” Meer slurred as Capri rushed in behind him.
“Why is he talking like an old head from New York?” I questioned.
He staggered a bit. “Good question, Stabby. Why you straddling my brother when you got a rapper boyfriend professing his love for you on stage?”
Capri grabbed Meer and snatched the cup he clutched in his hands. “He’s not my boyfriend.” I felt the need to defend, because now Quasim was looking at me with that raised eyebrow.
When he raised that eyebrow, it said nothing and everything at the same damn time. “It was a little lizard, not a dinosaur, and why did you let him get drunk like this?” She paused. “Wait a damn minute… get him drunk right before karaoke so he can’t sing... oh you niggas is real slick.”
“The fuck you worried about, Sug. I’m still gonna smoke them… and I don’t care if you can sing, too… you be sounding flat, just like Gams say.” He pointed his fingers at his brother.
I’ve heard Sim sing slightly, never loud where I could hear if he actually possessed the same voice as Quameer. The Inferno brothers were a mystery. I’ve seen these men do some ruthless shit, but then they had voices like angels.
“Hating ass.”
“Stick to playing the piano, Ray.”
“Ray?” Me and Capri both asked him confused, as he stumbled back a few paces while looking at us.
“Yeah. Ray Charles… you ever see his ass playing, he been shaking his head a little.”
“No, the fuck I don’t… Blaze, take yo drunk ass out of here.”
He walked over and plopped down beside his brother. “Nah… I’m?—”
“We may have gotten your man drunk on purpose but putting YouTube videos of what those little sea creatures do on me and Winnie’s TV is going too far, Quameer!” Erin barged into the room with Alaia behind her.
Alaia had tears in her eyes while she tried to stand firm with her sister-in-law, knowing that it was too funny. “My man works in tech, so he can get it off your TV, Eri…” she couldn’t even finish her sentence because she was crossing her legs to keep from peeing herself.
Quasim rubbed my ass with a crooked smile on his face while watching this play out in front of us. “I don’t even feel bad for you because you got this man drunk… you know weed is his vice.”
“Seeing as his ass would be doing ten years in an Indonesian prison for weed, liquor seems like his vice for this trip,” Quasim laughed.
Capri pulled her husband back to his feet, and he took off running and she stomped her feet throwing her hands in the air. “Now he’s going to make me find him again… ya’ll really fucking suck for this.”
I don’t know why she thought we would feel bad because we were all near tears from the way he ran out this room with his arms all the way to the back like a kindergartener that was just released from school.
Quasim wrapped his arms around me tighter as I tried to move. “We’ll leave you two alone… be ready in twenty minutes. We need to get this done before she sober his ass up.” Erin told us, as they both left the room.
“Are we good?” I asked him.
He smiled. “I don’t know, Anjo… are we?”
I laughed. “Sim, you the one that be running from me… I want to know that we’re really good, and when we’re back home, you won’t be weird with me. My only fear is continuing to get my feelings wrapped into this and ending up with my heart broken.”
He cleared his throat and looked out the window. “When you told me that you wanted to get married and have my babies in Italy, I felt the same way.”
“Then why did you have me looking crazy?”
“You didn’t look crazy.”
“I felt like it because I could feel you pull back from me at that table. Even though you tried to put on a front like you were good, I could see otherwise.”
“I’m sorry for that, baby. I shouldn’t have fell back when we were back home because you didn’t deserve that shit.”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “Life is so short and can be taken so quickly. We both experienced that… I just want to spend my time being loved and giving love.”
He kissed my head. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you, King,” I sucked on his neck, my turn to leave a mark on his skin, although with his tattoos you would barely see it.
“Marking your territory, my love?”
“Yes, so you need to tell Bento box that you’re seeing someone.” I pointed my finger in his face, and he chuckled.
“You keep thinking you run shit… but I hear you.” He could run me to the moon, and I would be there with my astronaut suit on because I trusted this man that much. Quasim Inferno didn’t know what he did to me, and how I was coming when it came to him.
If Barky became a problem, I had no problem showing her who he slid into, and who had his heart. “Handle that situation before it becomes a problem, Quasim.” I held his face and looked into his eyes.
“I got you.”
His hand reached up and grabbed my chin. “You handle homie, since we making demands… you don’t want me to handle the problem, my love.”
The seriousness in his eyes told me that I in fact didn’t want him to handle the situation. “I got you.”
Quasim held my hand as he pulled me from the bedroom to the sunken living room where the Karaoke was going to take place. From what Capri had told me, Erin took it very seriously. She, apparently, was always the one who suggested it and then lost.
Capri had Meer on the couch, sitting on his lap so he didn’t get up and take off running, since it was now dark. I climbed over the couch and took place in the middle of the couch next to Jeffie.
“You alright?” I whispered.
She smiled. “I am… thank you for today. I needed that.”
“Always, girl. You have my number, so don’t hesitate to call or come by the studio. Your man got big money so when that rainbow baby comes, don’t forget about your girl.” I joked, though I was serious, too.
“Oh, you have time for us? You out here being the doula to the stars now.”
I nudged her and laughed, as we watched Erin give her spiel about being fair and understanding everyone wasn’t as gifted as Meer. “She sound like she up there hating Capo.” Meer yawned.
“E, you not throwing shade… you throwing the damn whole tree.” Cappadonna laughed while Erin gripped the microphone tightly.
“He knows what he did.” She gave Meer the stink eye before she turned and put the mic on the table and went to sit next to her husband.
Alaia and Cappadonna both went first, and he looked at his wife giving her a warning. “You got one time to fuck this up, Joy.”
She laughed. “I promise, I got it down… you damn near shoved the song down my throat… still think we should have done another song.”
The beat to ‘Juicy Fruit’ dropped, and Quasim broke out into a loud laughter, one I had never heard from him. He clapped his hands while laughing and Cappadonna saluted as he did a shimmy along with Alaia.
“You know very well who you are.” She sang as she looked at her husband and danced around him, as she belted out the words.
Neither of them could sing, but it was cute watching how they cut up to this song. Cappadonna was in his own zone, as he hit the hood nigga two-step. It didn’t matter what song came on, when it came to a hood nigga, he was going to hit that infamous two-step, and some way, it just went with whatever song.
When they finished, we all clapped, as Aimee and Capella took their mics. ‘Gonna Love Me Remix’ by Teyanna Taylor played.
Aimee rotated her hips as she walked back and forth as she sang the words. She didn’t sound too bad, but she didn’t need to quit her day job, either. I could tell as she sang the words that there was a time where they resonated with her and Capella.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel…” she sang to him, as he looked down at her, and rocked to the music.
Even with the traumatic journey the two of them had been on together, you can see the love and determination that they had for their marriage. Added with all of us here to support them. They were the youngest couple, and I was so proud and happy to see them both coming into their own separately so they could come together for their little family. He put the mic to his mouth, and rapped Ghostface Killah’s verse.
“My boy… rap that shit.” Cappadonna cheered on as Capella pinched Aimee’s cheek after finishing the verse.
“Who the fuck thought these two would even be here after last year?” Meer burped, and Capri pulled his beard.
“You better keep it quiet or I’m not doing that thing you like.” She whispered. He did the zipper motion with his mouth.
Jeffie didn’t want to participate in the singing, just watching us all make a fool of ourselves. Core went up there and sang ‘Superstar’ by Usher.
“Oh, fuck no,” Meer muttered when he hit that infamous high note Usher sang when the song started.
Jeffie was tuned in, watching Core sing to her, though he sounded horrible. The man could probably hack into Usher’s security system, but singing his song was something he couldn’t do.
Quasim sat in the chair that was next to the couches, and he motioned with his finger for me to come to him. I abandoned the couch, and went over to him, sitting in his lap as I danced along to the song.
I felt his lips on the back of my arm as I quietly sang along with Core. Jeffie had pulled her phone out and was recording him. Even with tears in her eyes, she smiled and encouraged him.
After all the fussing she did, and sabotaging Meer and Capri, Erin opted out of singing tonight, so Capone took her place. ‘Cupid’ by 112 played, and Erin looked down at her wedding band, before looking back up at her husband.
“Winston, this song,” she whispered, emotion laced within her voice. “Feels like yesterday I walked down the aisle to you.”
Capone did that infamous two-step as he sang the words to his wife. A song that was so special to the union that they shared together. She watched him as he sang, not sounding all that bad. I saw tears fall down her face, and Cappadonna squeezed her shoulder while her eyes never left her husband.
The love this man had for his wife was so strong, I could feel it all the way over here. Both of them never broke eye contact as he sang straight to her. If she could, she would remarry him a thousand times because their love for one another was that strong.
Capri was crying as she watched her brother, and Meer kissed her temple while wrapping his arms around her. She fell back into him and allowed him to hold her as we watched Erin and Capone. I felt Quasim wipe my face, and that was when I realized that I was crying. True love was something that I had always wanted for myself. Someone to love me, accept me for me, and show me that I meant something to them. When I turned to look at him, he was already staring at me.
How did I miss that look?
It had been there all along and I needed to find it and pull it out of him. “What song are you going to sing?”
“I’m not fucking singing.”
“Sim, please… for me? I want to hear this voice Meer was clowning.” I snorted, and he pinched my ass.
“You wanna clown me.”
“Let’s go, Sim… I got my ass up there.” Cappadonna called him out, as he laughed. He stood up, putting me where he was just sitting and went to grab the microphone.
Nobody said a damn word because this wasn’t like Quasim at all. “I’m gonna borrow a song that you two played before… shit resonates with me a bit.”
Meer nodded his head.
“Minds well, you got him drunk.” Capri laughed, excited to see her brother-in-law sing to us.
I sat Indian style in the chair, hanging to the end of the chair, waiting. Quasim took a sip of his water and then looked at me before he scrolled the phone connected to the machine and hit the button.
He closed his eyes as the beat for ‘Long As I Live’ by Jahiem played and tears clouded my eyes. It was the song that was played at the gender reveal, and I went onto the dance floor with him. As we danced, I remember him looking into my eyes, as if he was feeling every word that Jaheim was saying in the song.
When he opened his ember-green eyes, he looked directly at me as he sang the words. We were all quiet listening to him sing. “You sound flat, Sim… Gams would be on yo ass.”
He cut his eyes at his brother and adjusted his voice. Meer and Sim both could sing, there was no doubt about it, but their voices and range was very different.
“I will show you, the type of man I was raised to be if you just let me…” he sang as he was staring directly at me.
My hand rested on my chest as I rocked to the beat of the song while never breaking eye contact with him.
He was so outside of his comfort zone, but for me he would sing. “I promise to always be right there.” I sang back to him.
Quasim gave me a quick wink as he finished the song. Soon as he was done, I held my arms out and he picked me up, sitting back down. “You really think you know somebody.” Cappadonna said, while staring at me and Quasim.
“Why, Pops? Cause you would have been his vocal coach?” Aimee snorted while eating whatever they prepared in the kitchen.
“Hell yeah… Pissy, I agree. He was a little flat.”
“And you were gyrating while singing juicy… there’s no room to judge,” Capri defended Quasim.
Capone broke out in this loud ass roar laughter, falling onto the floor while holding his stomach. “Yo… my fucking stomach.”
“Juicy!” Core mocked, while laughing.
“Fuck outta here… ease up on my pops… not his fault he always wanna pick that damn song. It was probably the only song he remember before he got locked up.”
“Capella, you fucking defending me or roasting the fuck outta me?” Cappadonna looked at his son, confused. “Cause that fucking song came out in the 80’s.”
At this point, even Jeffie had tears in her eyes because we were all laughing so hard. Aimee was crawling on the floor heaving, because our stomachs were sore from Cappadonna looking at us like we really had him fucked up.
“Not too much on my grandpa, now… I’m on all y’all asses.” Alaia stood up to defend her husband, and he looked between Alaia, Aimee on the floor, and Capella, like he didn’t know who any of them were.
I fell back into Quasim’s arms as we all enjoyed being together. Life had tossed us every which way, and it was nice to actually chill and enjoy each other without all the drama. “Do you mean that?”
“What?” He messed with his beard.
“The song that you sang to me.”
Staring at me, he pulled me even closer to him. “What you think?”
I roped my arms around his neck. “I’m asking you… I want you to tell me if you meant the words you sang to me.”
He mashed his lips against mine. “The minute I put this shit in you, and you came clean, all of that became a reality for us, Anjo.”
I smiled. “Okay.”