Chapter 24 Titan
A FEW WEEKS LATER
Our honeymoon phase was over.
After our recommitment ceremony, Mia, Bleu, and I spent a week in Costa Rica soaking up the sun, drinking way too much, and fucking on every surface of our villa.
I knew Bleu had to be traumatized by all her mama’s screaming at this point.
I swore she gave me a side eye when I left the room to grab us some water.
Things had been progressing with us on a positive slope. We were still doing therapy. Communication was much better. We were still grieving our daughter, but the grief wasn’t as crippling. There were moments where we just sat in silence, thinking about the future we would have had with her.
I missed her for all the moments I never got with her… for all the moments I would never have with her. During those times, it was hard not to shift blame or be angry. That’s when I stepped aside and called Senior, my dad, Dr. Baxter, or Steel. Those four kept me grounded.
Senior was easy to talk to. My father allowed me to vent and offered me comfort. Dr. Baxter was an obvious source to calm me down. And Steel, while his situation was different, he could relate the most. Once I gathered my bearings, I could talk to my wife without malice.
That was the difference in us now and us just a few months ago.
A few months ago, we would have been having a screaming match. Today, we communicated like adults.
“Hit that shit, Mia,” I coached, throwing jabs at her.
My baby was in training mode and had been for the last couple of weeks.
Her strength was back, and she was ready to get to business.
This morning we got up at five a.m. to hit the gym.
When we walked in, her father, brothers, and Quaid were right there to offer her encouragement as they had been since we’d started.
Currently, we were in Steel’s back studio, sparring. My mother and Ms. Maddie were here, along with my crew. She was throwing punches, but I was blocking every one. I felt like she was taking it easy on me, and I didn’t like that shit.
I backed up and took off my headgear.
“Time out,” I said. “Baby, what are you doing?”
Mia took off her protective gear. She panted heavily as she looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“Since when do you miss shots?”
“You’re blocking—”
“It doesn’t matter. You ain’t giving it your all and that ain’t you. Where is your head?”
She frowned. “I’m right here, Titan.”
“You’re not.”
“How the fuck are you gonna tell me where I am?” she snapped. “We’ve been at this for hours.”
“I’ve watched you train and beat ass longer than this. Get mad and fight me like you mean it.”
She stared at me, chest heaving.
“Fine. You don’t wanna fight me? Booker. Get in here. Make her hit you.”
Booker frowned. “Nigga what?”
“We family, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You love my wife, don’t you?”
“You know that’s sis.”
“Then make her fight you. We’re all here to push her to be the Mia we know. She’s holding back and that ain’t how we do shit. It’s all or nothing.”
“Just so we’re clear, you’re giving me permission to hit your wife?”
“Nigga, get in here before I hit you.”
Booker shook his head as he stood to his feet. He took off his shirt and stepped up to the mat, and I handed him my gloves. He grabbed a helmet.
“Sorry about this, sis,” he said, pulling on the boxing gloves.
“Just shut the fuck up and let’s go, Booker.”
I could tell she was mad now, and that’s what I wanted.
Booker was sure to get her going. I promised Dr. Baxter I wouldn’t intentionally try to hurt my wife for any reason.
The only real ammo I had against her was our daughter, and I would never use her as a pawn to make her mother mad.
If anybody could get under her skin, it was Booker.
The bell chimed once they were ready. Mia threw the first punch and missed.
“Oooo, that’s all you got, buttercup?” Booker taunted. “Weak shit.”
He threw a jab, hitting her in the shoulder. She threw one back, but he blocked it.
“Gotta be quicker than that.”
They moved around the ring with fluid movements.
“We dancing or what, Mia?” Booker asked, with a laugh after hitting her with a hard jab to her helmet. “Whatchu got? Salsa? Merengue?”
He started dancing, and I fought back a laugh. I could see Mia’s brows furrow as she stared at him. Her punches became a little more forceful, but he was still blocking them.
“I’m getting bored, baby,” Booker sang. “Come on, give me a real fight.”
The next thing I knew, Mia gave him a roundhouse kick to the head. He stumbled but didn’t fall.
He chuckled. “That was real cute. You almost got me. You think I’m gonna let you beat my ass in front of my baby?
” He nodded at Ms. Maddie, who rolled her eyes.
“Once I get that lil’ boyfriend out of the way, Ima be your new stepdaddy.
We might even give you a new sibling. I’m thinking BJ for a boy and Bookiesha for a girl. ”
Mia started swinging harder. This time her licks were connecting. If nothing else about him got on her nerves, it was Booker talking about her mama.
“Oh, shit!” He said laughing as he moved around the mat. “You mad? You don’t wanna picture me bumping uglies with your mama? Ima give it to her real good too. I’m talking ‘bout in it that muthafucka, legs to the ceiling.”
He started humping the air. I watched as Mia’s orbs grew dark. Booker was mid-hump when she kicked him in the stomach. His stumbling was at her advantage because she started lighting his ass up with head shots. Her strikes were hard and quick, not giving him a chance to recover.
If his head hadn’t been protected, she would have done real damage to his face.
She gave him another roundhouse kick, knocking him on his ass.
Quickly, she moved to put him in a submission hold.
Grabbing his arm, she bent one back and locked her legs around his neck, making it impossible for him to get up.
The way he was yelling, I knew she was about to dislocate his shit.
“You gon’ fuck whose mama?” she asked him. “Talk that shit now.”
“I was playing!” Booker yelled.
“Yeah, well, I’m not.”
She twisted his arm harder, and his screams echoed throughout the room.
“Call her off! Call her the fuck off before she breaks my fucking arm!”
“Mia, let him go!” Maddie commanded.
“Baby, that’s enough!” I yelled.
It was funny at first, but now I was a little worried for this nigga.
“Simama!”
I told her to stop in Swahili and got her attention. She released Booker and stood to her feet. Snatching off the helmet, she threw it to the ground and walked out the back door. Ms. Maddie and my mama went to check on Booker, while I went after Mia.
I found her pacing behind the building. She was deep breathing and talking to herself.
“Baby,” I said, approaching her.
“Don’t!” she yelled.
“Talk to me. What’s going through your head? That was way more than Booker talking about your mama.”
She stared at me a moment, tears pooling in her eyes. I reached for her, and she collapsed in my arms in a fit of tears.
“I don’t know if I’m ready,” she said through her tears. “What if I get over there and I underestimate him again? What if somebody else doesn’t make it home? I can’t take another loss, Titan. It will kill me.”
“Shhh,” I said, stroking her back. “Everything is gonna be fine.”
She was shaking. I knew she was scared.
“I had a dream about it last night,” she whispered.
“It’s been fucking with me all day. We went over there, and none of us made it home.
I watched you, my brothers, Quaid, my mom, your crew…
everybody I loved and cared about… I watched them all die, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
My nieces and nephews were left without fathers.
My sisters lost their husbands, all because of me.
Losing Eden was hard enough. I can’t be responsible for another death. ”
I pulled back and cupped her face. “You won’t be. We’re gonna work this plan out together with everybody. Nothing will happen without every moving part being involved this time. No secrets. No doing this shit on our own.
“Promise me something.”
“What?”
“If shit goes left, promise me you’ll make sure my brothers get home—”
“We ain’t doing that. I’ll die before I let your life be taken, and your brothers are the same way. We have an army behind us, and that same army is gonna make sure we all come home. We ain’t leaving anybody behind. Understood?”
She nodded. I leaned in and pecked her lips, then wiped her face.
“Is Booker okay?” she asked.
I chuckled. “I don’t know. You were fucking my boy up at the end.”
“I don’t play about my mama, and he was really trying it. That’s why he apologized beforehand. I guess we should check on him.”
“Come on.”
We headed back inside to find Booker with Ms. Maddie holding an ice pack to his shoulder. When he saw us, he grinned.
“You fucked my shit up, but nurse bae got me right.”
Maddie slapped the back of his head. “Shut up before I’m the one that breaks your shit.”
He looked up at her. “I’m starting to rethink this relationship, love. You and your daughter are abusive. I’m ‘bout tired of fighting for my love.”
“Booker, shut the fuck up,” my mama said. “You okay, baby?” she asked Mia.
“Wait a minute!” Booker protested. “She almost broke my arm, and you asking her if she’s okay?”
Silas chuckled. “If you let Mia’s little ass beat you, you deserve that shit. Nigga just big for nothing.”
“Right,” Noah agreed. “You deserved it for all that gyrating you were doing. We know who’s a quick pumper.”
The room erupted with laughter at his expense.
“All y’all can go to hell,” Booker said, standing. “I ain’t quick pumping shit.”
Mia walked over and stood in front of him. “My bad, Booker.”
He waved her off. “It ain’t shit, sis. I knew what I was doing. Gotta get you right. We have business to take care of. We on niggas ass when we touch down. I gotta avenge my godbaby.”
Mia frowned. “Godbaby?”
Booker looked offended. “So y’all wasn’t gonna ask me to be her goddaddy? Woooow! That’s cold.”
Mia shook her head. “Shut up and give me a hug.”
“Put your shirt back on first, nigga,” I said.
He kissed his teeth, but did as I said and put his shirt on before hugging my wife.
The rest of the team gathered around to hug her as well.
She started yelling that they were squishing her, and that only made them squeeze her harder.
They started play-fighting and before I knew it, she was chasing all of them around the gym like some big ass kids.
It was funny because my team wasn’t in my training group growing up.
My mother trained them, while Ms. Maddie was my trainer.
They had always gotten along with Mia. I’d always wondered why she didn’t ask to switch teams, but knowing her, she had a point to prove that me and our team weren’t going to run her off.
I needed her to tap back into that.
I needed the Mia who wasn’t afraid of anything. The Mia that didn’t let a lil’ threat be a threat to her. Paris changed her. I was just waiting on the beast inside her to resurface.