Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
GROW THROUGH IT
A couple of months later…
Iara lay on her back in her crib, screaming at the top of her lungs when Mozzi stepped into his home.
He thought maybe something had happened, so he immediately bolted up the staircase to her nursery to see what was going on.
Coast sat on the floor, back against the wall, staring off as if the girl wasn’t going off and raising hell.
“The fuck?” Mozzi rushed to the crib, and the minute Iara saw his face, she stopped and whimpered.
Her little chubby legs paused from the marathon she thought she was running, and she held her arms up for him.
Scooping her up, the two clung to each other, and he bounced around the room with her as she got a tight baby grip on his chain.
She sniffled and drooled all over his Amiri t-shirt, but he didn’t mind.
Her little head fell against his shoulder as if she was relieved.
“Coast, the fuck is wrong with you? Why you sitting there just letting her cry like that?”
“Because she’s spoiled.” She looked into his eyes. “She thinks I’m supposed to sit around holding her all day like you.”
“You foul as fuck for that.” He shook his head and kissed Iara’s forehead while running his fingers through her thick curls.
She was still sniffling in his arms and side eyeing Coast the whole time.
“It’s okay, mamas. I got you.”
“Of course you do. All you care about is her. I’m just here.” Coast jumped to her feet and stomped toward the door.
“The fuck you talking about!” Mozzi barked, stopping her in her tracks.
“I’m talking about the fact that you all about Iara! Not me! It’s clear the only reason you keeping me around is because of her.”
“You tripping.” Mozzi sneered.
“Fine. You want her. You can have her! I’ll pack my shit and go!” Coast stormed out, and Mozzi looked into Iara’s adorable face.
She might not have any clue what was going on, but the look in her eyes said otherwise when she peered back at him after Coast’s dramatic exit.
“Yeah, I know. She tripping.” Mozzi kissed her nose and stroked her back.
He thought Coast might have gotten better once Ayla came home.
She still had her mood swings, and although she was caring for Iara, there were days when she just wasn’t present.
Aside from appointments for their daughter, she rarely left the house.
She spent most of her time sitting around, looking dazed.
There were other days when she was almost like her old self, vibrant, full of life.
He even made her laugh, but then she’d get quiet.
When people came to visit, she forced herself to interact.
Seeing her mother with her daughter also seemed to be a factor.
She did her best not to see Marina too much, always with an excuse as to why she can’t come around.
Mozzi just wanted his wife back, and sometimes he was at a loss on how to make that happen.
Coast ran across the hall to the bedroom and flung shit into the suitcases she’d dragged from the closet.
By the time she got downstairs, she could barely catch her breath.
Still bouncing Iara in his arms, Mozzi paused near the staircase and watched her struggle with her purse and two more bags she’d just thrown shit into.
“If you don’t put that shit down and go take a shower.”
“Go to hell, Moses!”
“See, that’s some devil shit you just said there. You hear yourself? God shaking his head right now, Trouble.”
“You don’t want me here. If I didn’t have Iara, would I even be here?” she questioned, shoulders dropping.
She kept her back to him, still at the front door like she was about to walk out on everything they’d been building together.
Mozzi kissed the top of Iara’s head and walked her over to the bassinet in the living room.
He understood depression and mood swings better than anybody.
Coast seemed fine when she’d first dropped their baby girl, but as the days went on, she’d disconnected.
He summed it up to her being tired dealing with a newborn and recovering from giving birth, but he knew it was postpartum.
Now it was up to him to get her to see it and seek some professional help.
His arms slid around her waist, and he locked them together in front of her so he could rest his chin on her shoulder. She melted against him, eyes closing as she absorbed his warm touch.
“A nigga in love with you. I don’t know no other way to say that shit.
” Nuzzling her neck, he inhaled her natural scent and kissed the nape of it.
“I love that little girl because of you. You the glue to all this.” Nudging away from her, he rested his hands on her hips and forced her to spin around.
Standing face to face, he caught the weariness in her glossy, red-rimmed orbs.
“Tell me what you need me to do. You got a nigga feeling like he failing at this shit.”
He’d never been more handsome or vulnerable to her.
The concern in his eyes and the way his brows knitted together was sexy.
When she first met him, he was so damn cocky and arrogant.
He still was, but there was a softer, endearing side to Mozzi that most wouldn’t ever see.
He’d reserved it for her only. She reached out to stroke the top of his head, and he pulled her to him.
“You’re really in love with me?”
“Everything about your little mean, feisty ass.” His hands slid to her derriere and squeezed her cheeks with both palms, taking his bottom lip between his teeth.
“I feel like I’m failing at this parenting shit.” Coast dropped her head.
“Aye.” Mozzi reached down and tipped her chin up with his index finger.
“Trust me, I know some ain’t shit mamas.
That ain’t you, Trouble. You been through it with this whole pregnancy.
It sounds like you going through that post-partum shit.
You need to call your doctor or something and set up an appointment.
I ain’t a nigga who will knock some therapy, baby. ”
“You? Therapy?” She snickered and hiked her brow. “I don’t believe you.”
“I ain’t laying down on no couch every week, but I got one I talk to every now and then. He even calls and checks on me when he ain’t heard from me to see how I’m doing. You want to see if he can refer me to someone for you?”
“I don’t know about sitting around, talking to some stranger.” Coast pushed herself out of his space.
“Think of them as the homie then. Their license depends on them keeping your business to themselves, so they ain’t got no choice but to practice privacy.
I just want you to be good. Mentally, physically, and spiritually.
” Mozzi reached for her arm. “It’s not just for you either.
It’s for Rara too. She needs her mama, whether you think so or not.
You her food supply for one.” He reached up for her swollen breast that she needed to pump and gave it a squeeze.
“You ass!” Coast slapped his hand away and laughed.
“Nah, for real. You her lifeline. She fucks with me because I do spoil her, and she knows I love the shit out of her, but she bonded with you on a whole other level.”
“As soon as you walk into a room, she forgets about me,” Coast pouted.
“You jealous, baby?” Mozzi tugged on the bottom of her t-shirt, and Coast hid a smile.
She hated that he could make her laugh, even when she wanted to be mad.
“Maybe.” She tucked her arms across her chest, and Mozzi shook his head.
“I don’t know who spoiled more. You or her.” He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
“Moses!” Coast squealed when he carried her into the living room and dropped her on the couch.
He kicked his shoes off and lay down beside her.
“What are you doing?”
“We chilling. ’Bout to take a nap, then we’re going on a date tonight.
Ayla can watch Rara. She got her and Inari wrapped around her finger.
You need to call Royce so she can come do your make up and shit, find you some sexy shit to wear so I can floss yo’ fine ass, and have a good time with your man. ”
Coast loved that he loved her crazy. She knew she was being a brat, but he’d made her that way with his princess treatment.
She couldn’t be mad at how he loved her daughter.
It was all she could ever hope for her, considering Sipes wasn’t shit.
Iara was a treasure, and Coast loved being her mommy.
She just let life and her constant fears get the best of her sometimes.
Mozzi had done nothing but show her what they both meant to him since they’d been together.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked, pulling her to his chest and pecking her lips gently.
“For letting me spaz out and still dealing with me. I know I don’t make it easy. I don’t mean it, at least not wholeheartedly. I can’t be mad at how you love her. It’s what I want for her more than anything.”
“You just gotta stop running every time something doesn’t happen how you want it to. Sometimes you gotta recognize that everything is happening the way it should.” He stroked her back, and she lifted her head to gaze into his eyes.
“Would you have married me if I wasn’t pregnant, though?”
“Hell yeah,” Mozzi confirmed, brows bunching together with certainty. “I knew you was my wife the minute I laid eyes on you.”
“I won’t ever doubt you, or us, again,” Coast vowed, straddling him and pressing her weight against him.
Fusing her mouth to his, she kissed him slowly and passionately. His hands lowered to her behind, cuffing each cheek and snaking his tongue into her mouth.
“I love you, Coast Blackmoor,” he said between kisses.
She pulled away and sat up, loving his hands resting against her thighs.
“Where you been all day?”
“Had to link with Pops and Kong. Guess who’s becoming the new CEO of Blackmoor Industries?”
“Are you serious, baby?” Coast’s eyes ballooned.