Chapter Tariq “Reek” Horton
TARIQ “REEK” HORTON
By now, everybody had eaten, the bar was open, the dessert table had been attacked twice, and the gift table was overflowing so badly that the event staff had started stacking boxes and bags on the floor around it.
My son had cleaned up.
There were designer gift bags from stores babies had no business knowing existed, giant wrapped boxes with satin bows, monogrammed keepsake trunks, strollers, bassinets, vibrating swings, car seats, diaper cakes, and enough clothes and shoes for Cairo Zaire to stunt until kindergarten.
The whole thing was beautiful, excessive, and very on brand for this family.
I couldn’t stop looking at my child’s mother. I watched the way her hand rested under her stomach when she stood too long. I watched how her smile still started in her eyes before it reached her mouth. I saw everything I had spent months trying not to want with every fiber of my being.
And somewhere between her telling me about my son and now, I was tired of denying I didn’t want pieces of Ava. I wanted her for real. I was emotionally attached to Ava in a way that was deeper than desire and stronger than fear. I wanted to be responsible for her for the rest of my life.
That truth had been beating on me for days.
The only reason I still hadn’t claimed her was because I wanted to give her time to forgive me for pushing Kam out the way, and I wanted to be sure in myself.
Because once I committed to Ava, I wasn’t doing no half-assed version of it.
I wasn’t about to say the words, pull her in, and then wound her later by leaving or not being at my best. If I gave her that, I was giving it all the way.
But, looking at her that day, I knew I was sure. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. And that didn’t even scare me the way it usually did.
The event planner clapped her hands from the front of the room and announced it was game time.
The planner rolled out a line of chairs and held up a little machine with wires and sticky pads. “This game is for the men—”
Groans from the men in the crowd interrupted her.
She laughed as she went on, “We’re going to see who can handle simulated contractions the longest.”
Rhythm laughed into her champagne. “Oh, this is going to be excellent.”
Aria looked around the room with all the satisfaction of a woman who had already suffered enough. “Yes. Let them feel that shit.”
Legend pointed at her from across the room. “You an opp, baby.”
“You’re an opp for knocking me up as many times as you did.”
The whole room cracked up.
I ended up in one of the chairs with Saint, Big A, Sincere, Icon, and Legend. The planner’s assistants started sticking pads to our stomachs while the women circled like vultures smelling entertainment.
Saint looked down at the wires on him and said, “If this electrocutes me, everybody in here dying.”
Zahra snorted. “You are so dramatic.”
“I’m serious, baby.”
Big A shifted in his seat and looked at the planner. “Aye, if my heart stop, y’all liable.”
“Start with him first,” Tempo joked.
They started the machines on the lowest level.
At first, most of us played it cool. Big A rolled his shoulders and said it felt like a little cramp.
Sincere gave Rhythm this confident nod that lasted all of ten seconds.
Icon and Legend sat there trying too hard not to react. I just felt the pulsing in my stomach.
Then the planner turned it up.
Saint jumped out of his skin. “Aye!”
Big A cursed under his breath. “The fuck.”
Sincere sucked air through his teeth and tried to sit straighter. Rhythm was laughing too hard.
“You can do it, baby,” she playfully coaxed him.
“You shut up,” he grunted in response.
The planner turned it up again. That was when everything went left.
Saint grabbed both sides of his chair. “Yo’, what the fuck is this?!”
Zahra bent over laughing.
Big A’s knees spread wider and his whole body tensed. “Hell nah!”
Tempo held her stomach, cracking up. “Look at his face!”
Icon’s composure cracked next. “Okay! Alright! This shit ain’t —”
Livia cut in. “Ain’t what? Ain’t what, Husband?”
Legend was still trying to act like he had it until the next increase hit and his whole back came off the chair.
Aria screamed with laughter.
Then Legend looked over at her with all seriousness and said, “Baby, I’m sorry.”
She was still laughing. “For what?”
“For making you go through this so many damn times.”
That made the whole room lose it. Even I laughed at that one.
The planner turned it up again, and Sincere was the first to tap out. Rhythm nearly slid out of her chair laughing at him.
“Absolutely not,” he said, grabbing at the wires. “This some bullshit.”
Saint lasted a little longer, but when the next level hit, he bent forward and barked, “Take this shit off me!”
Zahra was crying laughing by then.
Big A lasted one more increase. “I see why women be cussing niggas out in labor.”
Icon held on longer than I expected, mostly because he was too prideful to let Livia laugh that hard at him, but eventually he let out a curse and yanked the pads off himself.
That left me and Legend.
Legend sat there sweating through his shirt now, and I could see him fighting for his life.
The next level hit, and he looked straight at Aria again. “I owe you.”
Aria stood up clapping. “Yes, you do!”
Then Legend finally nodded at the planner. “I’m done. I’m done.”
That left me by myself.
I wasn’t even trying to win at first. But sitting there with that pain hitting in waves, all I could think about was Ava carrying my son and eventually having to push him into this world for real.
So, I stayed in the chair longer than I needed to, jaw tight, hands gripping the sides, letting it hit me.
The planner finally shut it off and said, “Okay, we have a winner!”
The room clapped and cheered. Off to the side, I could see Ava clapping as well, and she was wearing a smile, like she was proud of me, not of winning the game, but for being truly present.
After that, people started floating back toward the bar, dessert table, and seating.
The deejay turned the music back up. More pictures were taken.
I kept doing shit I probably would’ve never done at one of these events before.
I carried food for Ava. I got her water when I saw her glass low.
I stayed close enough that if she looked like she needed something, I was already there before she asked.
I peeped the family watching me with looks of both shock and appreciation. I hadn’t said Ava was mine out loud yet, but my actions were already speaking for me.
At one point, I caught her wincing near the gift table with one hand pressed to her lower back.
I went straight to her. “What’s wrong?”
“My back,” she admitted, shifting her weight. “He’s heavy.”
I came up behind her and slid my arms under her belly.
“What are you doing?” she asked, startled.
“Hold on.”
Then I lifted her stomach just enough to take some of the pressure off her back.
The second the weight was lifted, Ava let out a loud sigh of relief. Her whole body relaxed against mine.
“Oh my God,” she moaned. “That feels so good.”
I smiled against the side of her hair. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” She turned her head to look up at me. “Where did you even learn this?”
I kept holding her there. “Saw it online.”
“You’ve been doing research?”
I admitted with a smile, “A little.”
Her cheeks turned pink, and I had to fight the urge to kiss her then and there in front of everybody.
Instead, I just held her up a little longer while the family pretended not to watch.
There was no going back for me. I hadn’t claimed her with words yet. But by then, everybody in that room could already see it. She and that baby were my priority.
Saint stood near the dessert table looking personally offended as he stared at the carrot cake he’d made Ava. “Aye! Why the fuck ain’t nobody really eat my cake?”
Zahra, who was holding Czar sitting at a nearby table, groaned, “Oh my God. Would somebody please eat this nigga’s cake?”
Saint scowled at her. “Whoa. Pause. Baby, don’t say it like that. That sounds gay.”
A few of us cracked up.
Zahra rolled her eyes. “You’re the one standing over there pouting because nobody is eating your cake.”
“Say ‘baked good’ or something, baby,” Saint muttered. “Damn.”
That made me laugh harder as I continued carrying Ava’s load for her for a little while.
Then Ava looked over at the cake and said, “Actually, I’m glad nobody ate it because carrot cake is my favorite, and now I can snack on it when I have cravings. I had a slice earlier. It was really good.”
He nodded like he expected nothing less. “I know.”
Zahra sucked her teeth. “Now this nigga is about to be insufferable.”