5. Emerald #3
“This nigga bought you a vanity table. I told him don’t put that shit together down here ’cause who walking it up them stairs?” Brick leaned back and tossed the instructions in his lap.
“Nigga, you ain’t even helping. You just sitting there,” Ivo huffed.
“I’m just the assistant,” Brick replied.
“Okay, I finished the grocery order. They said it should be here in about an hour.” A soft woman’s voice left me half turning to see who else was here.
The bronze-skinned beauty sailing out of my kitchen with her pink iPhone in hand paused. Our eyes immediately locked, and she waved with a smile.
“Thanks, Six.” Ivo nodded.
“Hi there,” she greeted me. “I’m Six. You must be Emerald.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, not sure who or why she was here.
“This my girl.” Brick filled in the blanks and winked at Six.
“It’s nice to meet you. I didn’t know you were bringing company over.” I swirled my head back in Ivo’s direction as he frowned at the pieces he was trying to put together.
It was adorable how frustrated it was making him. Little beads of sweat had even gathered at his forehead.
“It’s just Brick and Six.” Ivo shrugged. “I saw you needed groceries, so I had Six put in an order for a little bit of everything. Where’s Sapphire?”
“Basketball practice. You didn’t have to do all this though. I planned on taking myself shopping.”
“Now you don’t have to. I left a credit card for you in your purse too. Use it for whatever.”
“Ivo—”
“Don’t argue with me, mama.” Immediately, he paused and gave me a stern look, which left my mouth snapping shut.
Six rounded the front of the couch, and Brick grabbed her arm and pulled her down into his lap.
“Don’t worry, we know how to practice discretion. Ivo told me about the whole surrogacy shit. I think it’s pretty dope for you to do that. I just wanted to come through and show my support. Let you know if you need anything you can call me and Six if bro ain’t available,” Brick offered.
“That’s sweet. I’m sure I’ll be fine though.”
“No doubt. Just know we here and I got ya back.”
“So I guess I’ll be seeing everyone at dinner Sunday then.”
“Dinner?” Ivo repeated. “What you talking about?”
“Jordan called earlier. Invited me and Sapphire to your mother’s house for dinner this week. She didn’t leave much room for me to say no.”
“That sounds like Jordan,” Brick muttered, shaking his head.
Ivo studied me for a minute. I could tell he wasn’t feeling his wife’s offer, but what could I do? If I said no, it would only cast suspicion, and I wasn’t trying to set her radar off. I was already keeping her at arm’s length, and I think she knew.
“Listen, we’ll go, have dinner, and leave. I’m not trying to make it awkward and uncomfortable. Your mama don’t even like me,” I sighed, and Ivo hopped up on his feet.
“I don’t give a fuck about that. I just want to make sure you good with it. Nobody should be trying to force you into anything, and that includes Jordan. I can talk to her if you want,” he suggested, coming up beside me behind the couch and wrapping me in his strong arms.
His cologne toyed with my nose, and my nipples poked out through the thin V-neck top I wore. Resting my hands against his chest, I looked into his eyes.
“It’s fine. I’ll make the appearance to appease her. I don’t want her side-eyeing me if I don’t. We want to be as normal as possible, right?”
“As normal as two cheating ass muhfuckas can be,” Brick cackled.
“Ass!” Six hissed, swatting his arm.
“What? I ain’t the one creeping,” Brick tittered with a shrug.
“Don’t listen to him. He just got caught fucking another man’s wife himself.” Six glared in his direction.
“Aye, I wasn’t the one with the ring on my finger though. Don’t be bringing up old shit either.”
“It happened last night!” Six shoved him and tried to hop off his lap, but Brick looped his arms around her waist and pinned her down.
“Brick, shut the fuck up,” Ivo ordered, grabbing my hand and pulling me along to the kitchen. “Ignore that nigga. Fell on his head too many times as a child.”
“He’s not wrong. Why even bring them here, Ivo?” I pried once the two of us were alone in the kitchen.
“Brick ain’t gon’ say shit. Neither is Six. She’s good people. I just wanted you to know that you got other people in your corner.”
“Doesn’t exactly feel like it with the little puns,” I pouted, tucking my arms across my chest.
“That’s just Brick. You just gotta give that shit back to that nigga. He play all day. Don’t take none of that seriously. He don’t even fuck with Jordan like that.” Ivo traveled over to the fridge to grab himself a bottle of water from inside.
Aside from the leftover Chinese, it was the only refreshment we had.
I was actually glad he had ordered groceries so that I could just finish unpacking.
Climbing onto a white leather bar chair with chrome legs, I rested my chin in my hand and watched him move closer to the counter while twisting the cap off the bottle.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Ivo took a swallow of his water and shook his head. “You can tell me anything.”
“I talked to my ex today, and my daughter. In four weeks, she’ll be visiting.
It’s for two weeks, and he says he wants to stick around a little while to make sure she’s good.
I haven’t told him what I’m doing or anything.
I don’t want to fuck up my chances of seeing her.
Part of the reason I’m even doing this for you and Jordan is so I can petition the court for joint custody again. I want my baby back.”
“What you need?” Ivo’s brows dipped, and he rounded the counter to join me.
Weary and tired, a hint of a smile curved the corners of my mouth, and he pulled out the chair beside me so he could sit. Facing me with his legs parted, he grabbed my hips and turned me so that we were facing one another.
“You’ve already done too much for me.”
“I’ll lasso the fucking moon for you if you want, mama.”
“Ivo,” I ssmirked, and he reached for my hand.
“You not dealing with that teenage boy no more, Em. I got reach, connections, and more money than I can spend. Whatever you need, I got you. Our lawyer has an entire firm. I’m sure one of them can help you with your case.
You don’t have to spend shit. I’ll take care of their retainer and anything else.
I guess we need to get one of these other rooms together for baby girl’s visit. ” He fished his cell from his pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling my furniture plug. What’s her favorite color?”
“Purple.”
“Everything purple just for her. Tell Sapphire to put a list together too. Does he have a gaming system?”
“No, and he doesn’t need one,” I noted, straightening up in my chair.
“Every boy his age needs a PS5, Xbox, something,” Ivo concluded, tapping away at his phone screen.
“You’re going to spoil us.” I reached for his phone, but he held it out of my reach.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s not necessary. I don’t want to be with you because of what you buy me. It’s never been about that for us,” I told him as the doorbell chimed throughout the space.
“That can’t be the groceries already. You expecting somebody else?” he asked, sliding off the chair.
“No. Only person I told about the move was Lola, and she helped us earlier and bounced.”
Ivo reached in his waistband and removed his pistol.
When he got up to go check on things, I was right behind him with a racing pulse.
Brick was already in the front hall with his gun drawn too while Six sat up alert on the couch.
Ivo nudged Brick to the side and yanked the door open.
A frown flitted over his handsome face when he looked the delivery person over.
“Can I help you?” Ivo demanded.
“Yeah. I have a delivery for an Emerald Crane,” the young, blonde-haired, pasty-faced delivery boy announced.
His bright blue eyes doubled in size when he caught the guns in both men’s hands, and he immediately shoved the square-shaped package in his arms into Ivo’s.
“H-have a g-good day,” he stammered before running off.
Ivo frowned while examining the package.
“You ordering shit already,” he teased, closing the door.
“That’s actually for you. I thought about you today, and I thought you might like something to do with your free time.”
“Nigga ain’t got no free time between you, work, and the wife.” Brick dug a pack of blunts from his pocket.
“Brick, oh my God!” Six screamed from the couch. “You gon’ have her put us out and we won’t be welcome back.”
“I ain’t worried about that,” Brick scoffed.
“You can come back. He’s banned.” I cut my eyes at him as Ivo tore the box open in his hand to see what was inside.
His entire face lit up at the Rembrandt oil color wooden box set.
He swiped his hand over the smooth finish and examined the supplies carefully.
Although he was silent, I could tell that he had something on his mind.
This was a set that was originally like a thousand dollars, and I found someone getting rid of it on eBay, so I bid on it and won.
“You don’t like it?” I asked, worried as his gaze lifted to mine and Brick peered over his shoulder to see what it was.
“Oh shit, that’s dope as fuck!”
“I ain’t painted in a long time,” Ivo whispered as Brick took the box from him.
“No time like the fucking present,” his brother declared. “This shit hard right here!”
“I know you don’t have the kind of time you wish you did to dedicate to your art, but I think it could be a good outlet for you.
You work all the time, and you do everything for everybody else.
I want you to have something for yourself.
You can use the room upstairs as your studio, the one with the skylight and all the windows.
I was going to go get you canvases and stuff tomorrow. ”
“Yo, that’s real right there.” Brick sat down and left the open box on the table. “She’s right, bro. You’re an artist at heart. That shit don’t just go away. You used to sketch and paint all the fucking time. I still got some of your work saved in my room. You solid for this, Emerald.”
Ivo came up to me, eyes glistening as a small smile wilted the corners of his mouth.
Admiration and love were all I could see as he floated toward me.
Pulling me against his chest, he knelt so that he could mesh his lips onto mine for the sweetest kiss.
My arms slid across his shoulders, and he closed the space between us while slipping me his tongue.
As far as I was concerned, we were the only two in the room.
“I love it,” he finally said when we parted. “I don’t want you spending your money on me though.”
“Oh, but you can break the bank on me?” I teased, shaking my head. “That’s not how this works. I’m not just going to take from you, Ivo. You deserve the world too.”
He thumbed my chin before lowering his face and lips to mine once again.
“That nigga ain’t going home tonight,” Brick joked.
“Looks like he is home,” I heard Six mutter as Ivo swept me off my feet.
Our moment of bliss was short-lived when my phone vibrated in my back pocket. Pulling away from him, I remained close enough so that we could look down at my phone together. Whoever was calling, it wasn’t a number saved. Curious, I swiped to answer and put the phone on speaker.
“Hello.”
“Emerald,” Rashida whispered.
I should have known.
“What do you want?” I demanded, brows knitting together.
“I need your help. Please don’t hang up,” my mother pleaded.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?”
“I’ve been arrested! I need you!”
Lifting my eyes to Ivo’s, I watched him hike his brows curiously before scratching the back of his head.
“Arrested for what?” I prodded.
“Does it matter!” she hissed.
“It kind of does, Mother.” I tucked one arm over my chest and held the phone up with the other.
The heavy sigh from her side told me everything I needed to know.
Thanks to therapy, I’d come far enough to know that there were simply things out of my control.
I had to focus on what I could make happen.
Rashida was a lost fucking cause. She’d washed her hands of me and Sapphire a long time ago.
The only reason she was coming around now was because she thought she might gain something from us.
“What were you arrested for?” I asked.
“Listen, I know what you’re thinking . . . but . . . this is all a mistake!”
“Is it though?” I tested her. “Because I remember everything about that night. The rain. The smell of the storm when I pulled up and heard the gun go off. I ran inside and you were at the bottom of the stairs screaming, yelling, saying, ‘he’s lost his mind, Emerald. I tried to stop him.’ You smelled like liquor and gunpowder.
I ignored it and ran upstairs. He was on the floor, blood was everywhere, and the gun was in his hand.
” Closing my eyes had me revisiting that night like a ghost, every emotion, every sense placing me right back in that room where I found him.
“I . . . I didn’t . . .”
“You know what, I have a lot on my plate with rebuilding my life and taking care of your son, Rashida. So, you’re on your own. I hope you have a great public defender,” I taunted before hanging up.
“Damn, that’s cold.” Brick sparked his blunt and took a pull.
“You good?” Ivo’s arms wrapped around my waist.
“I will be.” I sloped forward and pecked his lips. “I’m gonna go finish unpacking.”