Chapter 10 #2
We got in the truck and slammed the doors. Soon as my seatbelt clicked, Renza was already reachin’ for the blunt he had tucked behind his ear.
“This for you, nigga,” he said, sparkin’ it up and takin’ a deep pull before he passed it.
I pulled from that bitch slow and let the smoke roll outta my nose ‘cause I forgot how good real weed felt. That jail shit was never gon’ compare.
We rode off with the windows cracked and that warm breeze hittin’ my face while the city moved around us. It felt different after bein’ locked up.
Renza glanced at me, then at the road. “Aye, let me tell you somethin’ wild,” he said.
“Aw shit,” I murmured, shiftin’ in my seat. “What now?”
“That A’Mii nigga… Echo brother… that lil’ hoe been sendin’ me messages on IG.”
I turned my head slow. “Messages sayin’ what?”
“Man…” Renza sucked his teeth. “Lil’ dude talkin’ like he tough. Sayin’ how he gon’ get his lick back. Sayin’ how he ain’t scared and how he ain’t gon’ let that shit with his brothers slide.”
I laughed even though the shit wasn’t funny.
“That lil’ nigga really don’t know who the fuck he dealin’ with.”
“Not even slightly,” Renza said, shakin’ his head like he felt bad for him. “Nigga tryna run with wolves and don’t even know he a damn rabbit.”
“That nigga a squirrel,” I said. “A blind squirrel too.”
Renza busted out laughin’. “Facts. Talkin’ like he gon’ do somethin’ to us, and I’m sittin’ there like… boy… if you don’t go sit yo’ bitch ass down somewhere before yo’ mama gotta bury the rest of y’all.”
I took another slow pull from the blunt and let my head fall back against the seat. “I shouldn’t have never fucked with that hoe,” I said finally.
Renza hummed real low. “Yeah, ol’ girl fucked you up with all that messy shit. But you ain’t the first nigga to get lost in a fat ass and a pretty face. It happens.”
“I feel dumb,” I admitted. “Dumb as hell, and I don’t like that feelin’.”
“You ain’t dumb,” Renza said. “You emotional. That’s worse. Niggas do dumb shit when they emotional.”
“Boy shut up,” I said.
“A’ight but I’m sayin’… you killed her brothers and her daddy the Attorney General. You know they whole family gon’ be on bullshit now.”
“I know,” I said. “Nigga been tryna fry me since day one. He want my head and he want yours too. We already know how this go.”
“Yeah but he playin’ with the wrong two,” Renza said, turnin’ into a side street. “That nigga gon’ learn real quick who the real niggas is. We ain’t goin’ out soft.”
I nodded slow, my eyes narrowed on the road.
“He gon’ push this shit too far and end up losin’ more than he think.”
“Exactly,” Renza said. “Nigga think he untouchable ‘cause he stand behind a bench. But at the end of the day… he a man. And men bleed.”
I sat with that for a second ‘cause I knew it was true. The Attorney General had been breathin’ down my neck since the shootin’, and even though he couldn’t say that shit outright, I knew he wanted revenge.
I had killed his sons, and I had fucked his daughter.
I had dragged his whole family name through the mud without even tryin’.
I rubbed my jaw with my thumb and stared out the window. “Nigga gon’ be a problem. I can feel it.”
“And we gon’ solve it,” Renza said. “Ain’t shit we ain’t never handled.”
The tension slid off me when he said that ‘cause he wasn’t lyin’. When me and Renza stood together, we was a different breed. Pressure was the same way. We wasn’t just family. We was soldiers.
I pulled my phone out then, starin’ at the screen for a second. Just seein’ Toni’s name made somethin’ warm hit me. She had been cryin’ on the phone earlier, tryin’ so hard to stay strong.
I hit call and held the phone to my ear.
She answered on the first ring.
“Kay’Lo?” Her voice jumped up high with excitement and relief and happiness all mixed together.
My whole face broke into a smile so wide it hurt.
“Yeah, baby. It’s me.”
“Oh my God,” she said, breathin’ hard like she couldn’t hold still. “Oh my God, ‘Lo… are you really out? Please tell me you out.”
“I’m out, mama,” I said, lettin’ my voice drop warm and low just for her. “I’m out that bitch for real. I’m in the car right now with Renza. I’m on the way home to you.”
She let out this sound like joy had just burst out her chest. “Kay’Lo… oh my God… I can’t believe this.“
Her words tangled up ‘cause she started cryin’ again, but it was a different cry. It was a happy one.
“I can’t wait to see you, baby,” she said. “I just wanna hold you. I just wanna see your face.”
“You gon’ see me real soon,” I told her. “I’m comin’ home right now. I’m gon’ walk in the house and touch all over you and that lil’ belly, and I ain’t lettin’ go of you for the rest of the night.”
She sniffed again but her voice lifted in that soft smile she always had. “Hurry up, Kay’Lo.”
“I’m hurryin’, mama.”
“I love you,” she whispered, her voice low but full.
“I love you more than anything,” I said.
When we hung up, I sank back into the seat and let everything hit me at once.
Freedom. My wife. My baby. My family. The danger ahead. The enemy watchin’…
But none of that shit mattered in this moment, ‘cause I was free, and I was goin’ home to the only woman that ever made me feel whole.
Renza looked over and nodded slow with a grin on his face. “Nigga,” he said, “we back.”
And he wasn’t lyin’.
We was definitely back, and anybody standin’ in our way was gon’ learn real quick why they should’ve left us the fuck alone.
By the time we pulled up to the crib, I had talked to damn near everybody in my family.
Pressure had called, his voice loud as hell through the phone, talkin’ his shit like he knew I needed that. He told me he loved me, and he couldn’t wait to see me back on my feet. I felt that shit in my bones.
After that, I spoke to my mama and pops on FaceTime. They both damn near cried when they saw me, my mama fussin’ at me while my pops shook his head like he wanted to hug me and whoop my ass at the same time.
Then I called Auntie Abeni. She answered smooth as always, soundin’ like she had already moved on to her next ten power plays while I was still catchin’ up.
I thanked her for everything she had done for me, and she just gave me that calm answer that said she had known the outcome long before the judge even opened his mouth.
She told me to go home to my wife and rest. I told her I loved her. She told me she knew.
By the time Renza turned toward my mansion, my heart was beatin’ so hard it felt like my shit might bust right through my chest. Each turn brought me closer to Toni. Each second felt like I was walkin’ back into the part of my soul I had been missin’.
When the gates opened and the mansion came into view, somethin’ in my spirit dropped low and warm. I rubbed my palm across my thigh and breathed in deep. I had been gone too long.
Renza parked in front of the house and turned the music down. He looked over at me with a grin, like he knew exactly what was about to happen as soon as I walked through the door.
“A’ight, nigga,” he said, reachin’ across the console. “Come here.”
We slapped hands and pulled each other in again, hard as hell, our shoulders hittin’ like we was brothers comin’ back from war.
“I’m glad you home, nigga,” he said.
“I’mma get up with you,” I told him. “Real soon.”
“You better,” he said, noddin’ once before he let go.
I grabbed my small bag and stepped out the truck. The air felt warm on my face, and every inch of me woke up like my body remembered what freedom tasted like. I walked up the steps slow ‘cause the shit felt unreal.
Before I even reached the door, it swung open wide.
And there she was…
My wife, my whole heart and my reason for breathin’.
Toni ain’t say a word, and she ain’t hesitate.
She ain’t even blink. She jumped straight into my arms and wrapped her legs tight around my waist like she was scared I might disappear again if she ain’t hold on strong enough.
Her arms locked around my neck, and her face buried in the side of my jaw as she kissed all over my neck.
I gripped under her thighs and held her up with one arm while my other hand smoothed over her back so slow it made her whimper.
“Damn, girl,” I said, smilin’ into her shoulder. “Be careful jumpin’ on me like that while you carryin’ my baby.”
“I don’t care,” she replied, her voice shaky from cryin’ and laughin’ at the same time. “I missed you, ‘Lo. Fuck, I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, baby,” I whispered, kissin’ her deep, lettin’ that connection pull everything outta me.
Her mouth tasted like home, peace and everything I had been starvin’ for in that jail cell. I kissed her again and felt her whole body melt against me, her legs clenchin’ tighter like she never planned on lettin’ go.
We was still locked together when I heard somebody clear their throat.
Sha’Nelle stood in the doorway with her arms folded and a grin on her face.
“Mmm-hmm,” she said, rollin’ her eyes playfully. “Can y’all please get in the damn house before the I report y’all for public affection.”
Toni laughed into my neck and refused to let go. Her arms got tighter. Her hands slid across my shoulders and she pulled me closer.
“Girl, go away,” she said, her voice muffled in my skin.
Sha’Nelle laughed again.
I sighed soft but warm and shifted Toni up in my arms, holdin’ her with one hand while I reached out and wrapped my free arm around Sha’Nelle and pulled her into the mess of the moment.
“Come here, Nelle,” I said, squeezin’ her shoulders. “Thank you for takin’ care of my wife.”
“You know I got her,” she said, pattin’ my back. “I’m glad you home, nigga.”
“Shid… me too,” I said.
She moved out the way and Toni still wouldn’t let go. Her fingers was in my hair, her mouth on my cheek and her arms around my neck like she was made to fit there.
I carried her inside without puttin’ her down ‘cause her body refused to leave mine, and I ain’t want her to either.
She kept kissin’ all over me while I walked through the foyer, up the stairs and toward our bedroom. Her lips dragged across my neck, my jaw and my throat, movin’ slow and warm, and that shit had my dick already hard.
Her fingers slid down the back of my head, then across my shoulders, then down my back as if she was relearnin’ my whole body after months of bein’ apart.
“You feel so good,” she whispered. “I missed you so much.”
“I know, baby,” I said real soft. “I missed you too. Every damn night.”
When we reached the bedroom, I pushed the door open with my shoulder and walked us inside. The room smelled like her perfume, and everything in me loosened ‘cause I was finally home.
I laid her on the bed slow, my hands draggin’ across her hips and up her stomach as if I couldn’t believe she was real. She reached up and grabbed the back of my neck, pullin’ me down for another kiss.
But I stopped her.
“Nah,” I said, brushin’ her hair out her face. “Not yet.”
I kissed her cheek, then her forehead, then slid my hand down until it rested on her stomach.
My baby…blessin’… was in there. It was the lil’ life she had been carryin’ since I got locked up.
I rubbed her belly with both hands while she watched me with tears gatherin’ in her eyes.
“You lookin’ big already,” I teased, even though she wasn’t.
She laughed and swatted the side of my head. “Baby, I’m barely showin’.”
“I know,” I said, lowerin’ my mouth to her stomach. “But you look good as hell.”
I kissed her belly slow and, over and over. My lips moved across her skin like I had been waitin’ months for this exact moment, ‘cause I had.
“I hope it’s a girl,” I whispered. “I want my lil’ princess.”
She ran her nails through my scalp. “You really want a girl that bad?”
“I do,” I murmured against her skin. “I want her to look just like you too.”
Toni smiled down at me, her hand still strokin’ my head. “I think the baby gon’ look like you.”
“Nah,” I said, crawlin’ up her body slow, lettin’ my lips touch every inch on the way. “I want her to have your smile, your eyes, your pretty ass face.”
By the time I reached her lips again, she was breathin’ harder, her hands grabbin’ at my back like she needed all of me at once. I kissed her deep, lettin’ my tongue slide against hers while my body pressed against hers in a way that made her toes curl even through her socks.
Her arms wrapped around my neck tight.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too, mama,” I said.
I kissed her again, even deeper.
Then I leaned into her ear, let my voice drop low and filthy the way she liked it.
“Aye…” I whispered. “I’m ‘bout to put this dick on you.”
Her whole face changed. Her eyes got heavy, her lips parted and that slow smile crept in like she knew she was done for.
She pulled me back into another kiss, deeper, hotter and needier.
And the only thought in my mind was that I had been away from my pussy way too long.