15. Not This Time #3
“Because I can’t be witchu, but I can’t let you go.
I want you to be safe. I still care about your dreams and all the shit you want to do with your life.
There’s already an account set aside for every product, space, marketing, whatever you need to brand you.
Because I see you, Ayla. Ain’t nobody like you, baby.
” The tenderness in his tone made her wish she could see his face when he said those things.
She knew he meant them.
“You came in and healed me in a way I didn’t know I needed. My kids are getting more of my time. I still think about their mother, but I’m in a place now where it doesn’t hurt as much. Learning to accept what is and recognize what I already have in everything around me. Including you.”
“And what about Nay—”
“Don’t bring her up in this.” Kong silenced her. “I’m talking about you and me. What’s with her is… complicated, and I did it to myself, so I have to deal with the repercussions of that. I just need to know when this is over, when I take care of this, will you be there?”
“Kong, I…”
“Keep it real, Lala. Let me know what it is. If you want me to stay away, I’ll do the best I can.”
“Can we talk face to face when I get back to the house? I’m grabbing something to eat at the Shack.” She glanced at the clock display on her dash.
“It’s almost ten o’clock clock at night, La, the fuck you doing?”
“I was craving a snack wrap. Don’t yell at me.” Suddenly, her chest tightened, and she wanted to cry.
Kong sighed. He wasn’t used to this hypersensitive side of her.
“Aight, be careful, man. And hurry up. I’ll be here.”
She slipped her phone into her Michael Kors bag and pushed the driver’s door open.
Her Ugg boots crunched against the patches of snow still on the ground, and the rain began.
Yeah, she definitely needed to get her shit and go.
She hated driving in this kind of weather.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she tightened her khaki-colored peacoat around herself and rushed toward the entrance door.
Instantly, the scent of frying oil, chicken, and burgers smacked her in the face. She took in the many filled tables and spotted some of her old crew behind the counters taking orders. Ramona picked her out amidst the chaos.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” She smiled when Ayla approached the counter.
“Looking for a few snack wraps and a cold Pepsi, please. Throw in some waffle fries too with some of that queso dip.”
“You got it, girl.” Ramona’s bright eyes swept over her before hiking a brow. “That sounds like a craving. Are you pregnant?” she teased, leaning in and whispering.
Ayla damned near pissed herself. Ramona was the first person to call her out on it.
Her appearance wasn’t extreme but enough for anyone close to her to know that something was up.
She’d been rocking big shirts over everything lately.
Ramona had worked with her weekly over the last year and a half too.
Ayla thought she had a decent figure so she never shied away from showing it off.
“Oh, my God, you are! Girl, what is the tea?” Grabbing her arm, Ramona pulled her aside.
“Please don’t say anything to anybody,” Ayla pleaded. “I just found out. This baby is due in a few months. Doctors said it was a damn cryptic pregnancy. I been walking around here pregnant as hell and didn’t even know it.”
“Well, ain’t no hiding it now for anyone who’s really looking, sunshine. You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“So, who’s the daddy?” Ramona leaned against a counter and folded her arms across her chest.
“I can’t talk about that right now. I haven’t told him. We’re technically not even together, and… it wasn’t a relationship anyway. We had sex a couple of times, and this was the result.”
“Well, I won’t press you then,” Ramona said with eyeroll as she pushed herself off the counter. “Let me put your order in.”
“Thanks, girl.”
“So, you and Moose are not coming over?” Coast said into the phone, which she had on speaker.
She and Mozzi were home for the night and supposed to play cards and hang out with Inari and Moose, but now she was changing her mind.
Already uncomfortable and irritated, Coast paced the kitchen in a pair of Mozzi’s boxers, a sports bra, and her belly out.
She’d been to the doctor twice since coming back from vacation, and as of this week was only a few centimeters dilated.
She was over this pregnancy, but also anxious as hell about what came next.
Days after they got back, word got out that Sipes was dead.
What was left of him, which just happened to be his left hand, was sent to his sister, Shalice, to identify.
Coast hated to admit it, but there was a sense of relief knowing he was out of the picture and couldn’t bring any harm to her or Iara.
“Coast, I didn’t want to be the one to say this, but—”
“You mean as fuck!” Moose yelled in the background.
“Moose, shut up!” Inari hissed.
“Fuck you, Moose! I see how it is.” Coast sneered.
Mozzi chuckled, seated on his island counter, swinging his legs as he sipped a bottle of cranapple juice.
“Until you drop my niece, I ain’t fucking witchu, sis,” Moose added.
“Coast, I love you… but babyyyy, you been on ten! Like that baby got you possessed. She gon’ be something else.” Inari cackled. “So, yeah, we’re staying in. Hopefully this time next week you’ll have pushed our little Rara out.”
“Whatever. Fuck both of y’all!” Coast yelled into the phone before hanging up.
Mozzi threw his head back and laughed.
“What is so damn funny!” she snapped, a frown crowding her face.
“You. Crazy.”
“Well, you’re not doing anything to help me, Moses!” She slammed her phone on the counter and huffed. “Remember the doctor said sex can help induce labor.”
A sexy smirked toyed with his lips. He’d been scared to touch her voluntarily lately because she was easily irritated.
So, he stayed ready for when she wanted it, which was at least a couple times a day.
She’d been nesting most of today, though, arranging everything ten times in the nursery before deciding on where she wanted it.
After that, she washed all the baby clothes and folded and hung them up before putting the bedding in the crib.
She was telling herself she was prepared by doing all this, but it only seemed to make her even more erratic.
Mozzi leapt off the counter and moved toward her, playful and confident. Coast didn’t match his energy, though, so Mozzi paused and tossed his head back.
“I’m trying, Trouble, but you moody as fuck. A nigga been on eggshells all week ’cause I don’t know when you’re going to blow up.”
“I’m being serious.” She peered up at him.
“Shit, I am too.”
“You don’t know what it’s like. Everything hurts. I can’t sleep. I feel like I’m going to literally pop at any minute now, and you want to sit around cracking jokes.”
“Aight. My bad.” He grabbed her stomach. “What can I do?” He kneeled to kiss her lips, but Coast turned away.
“We’re having a whole child here. Any day now! Do you get that?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“What you want me to do? Panic?”
“I want you to act like it matters. Because, right now, it feels like I’m the only one carrying it.”
Coast rested her hand on her stomach. She wasn’t just talking about the baby. Ever since the wedding, she’d had her doubts. Everything moved so fast. She didn’t want to catch whiplash if Mozzi ever switched up on her.
“What’s really on your mind?” he pried.
“I would not be able to take it if you ever left me. You’ve been my rock through this entire pregnancy.” Coast sniffled. “I know that having kids changes things between couples. You see it all the time. One day you look up and they are bitter and hate each other. I don’t want that for us.”
“Ain’t no way I’m letting anybody step in and try to fill my shoes with you or her,” Mozzi vowed, stepping forward so that her bump rested against his lower torso.
“When a nigga die, you gon’ have to come with me or something, Trouble.
I swear to God a nigga gon’ turn into some Insidious shit and follow you everywhere you go. ”
She managed to laugh through her tears. Something else had been nagging at her. Since Marina was back in town, she’d spent a little time with her, mainly to get to know Sailor, who she was growing to love with every passing day.
“What if I’m not good at this?” she questioned, eyes on her basketball sized stomach. “What if I’m the one that messes this up by turning into her?”
“You won’t.” Mozzi wrapped his arms around her.
“You don’t know that. There’s been a few times I thought running away from you would be easier than all this.”
“But you didn’t. I wouldn’t let you anyway.” He tipped her chin upward and peered into her glossy doe eyes.
“You’re already nothing like her. You’re just scared.
Which is natural. This is your first child.
You’re being given a life to nurture and take care of, and that’s a big fucking deal.
We don’t know everything, and we won’t have all the answers, but I think you’ll surprise yourself with what comes natural.
Look at what you did to this house.” He lifted his eyes to the ceiling.
It now had that woman’s touch that had been missing. Little remnants of her were scattered in every space, and he had no complaints about it.
“Audiemar’s place always felt like home because of Jane. Even now when I go there, I just feel her. This was the first spot that was ever mine, but it didn’t have no heart in it. It was just walls, space, and furniture. You turned this shit into a home, Trouble.”