by Wahida Clark
“Where are you, sir?”
“Down here under the Verrazano Bridge.”
“Is she breathing, sir?”
“I don’t know and I ain’t touching her to find out. She’s lying down here next to two beat-up vans. A white one and a red one. You can’t miss her.”
“Sir, can you stay there with her until the paramedics arrive?”
“Jamaica, turn this thing off. Let’s get outta here.” He handed Jamaica the phone, as he thought about where they could go spend the night. Eight hundred dollars should keep them out of the alley for a week.
“Yo, P. It’s me. That’s done,” Snake said into Phillip’s voice mail for the tenth time. He was getting angrier and angrier.
“Man, if this nigga is trying to gank us, I’m going back to get the body and dump her right in front of his place of business,” Whitey vowed.
Chapter 19
This was Trae’s first night home and Tasha was ecstatic. He was walking slow, and with a cane, but it was okay. Omar and Bo had helped them from the hospital, and the kids were at their grandparents’.
The apartment was silent and Tasha stepped back to allow Trae his moment. She knew what he was feeling and knew that the moment for him was ten times as intense for him as it was for her. This was his home long before he met her, and he had a lot of history here and it held a lot of memories. This same apartment went from being his bachelor’s pad, to his one-wifey-only pad, to a family dwelling. They only used it once in a blue moon.
Trae stepped into the kitchen and looked around. He recalled Tasha blending the hell out of strawberries and bananas while pregnant with their first baby, the one that she lost. He turned around and stopped once again in the living room and looked around. This was where Tasha first gave him some head. His dick jumped at that memory. He made his way down the hallway and opened the door to what used to be his weight room. Now it held two twin beds, a crib, stuffed animals, and toys. Damn, he said to himself. Leaving the door open he made it to the bathroom, peeked in. A woman’s touch. Tasha’s touch. She had the same mauve and light gray color scheme as their guest bedroom at their home in Cali. He went to the master bedroom and sat down on the bed, taking it all in. So many memories … of his hustling days. He didn’t even notice Tasha standing in the doorway.
“Baby, you need anything? Are you all right?”
He skimmed his face over his hands. “I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be alive,” he mumbled.
“Come again?”
“Nothing, baby. Come here.” He patted the spot next to him.
She sat down and ran her hand over his bald head. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” He nodded his head yes. “I know. It got me too. My stomach does somersaults as soon as I pull up in front of the building. It doesn’t seem real. I remember the first time I stepped foot in this apartment. It feels just like it was yesterday. You were so sure that I would be a permanent part of your life. I was so unsure, scared, and confused,” she confessed. “You seemed … so for real about us and I didn’t want to throw myself out there and then learn that it was all a game to you.”
“See what you would have missed out on?” he teased. “Disappearing on you, three babies, a coma, you would have missed all of that good stuff.”
She giggled. “Whatever, nigga. I can laugh now, but at the time I didn’t know if I could hang. A damn roller-coaster ride.”
“Yeah, I can say it’s been that. But over all, have I made you happy? Have I kept my promises to you?” He leaned over and brushed a strand of hair away from her eye.
She pretended that she had to think about it, before finally answering, “Yeah, so far.”
“Aww, you got jokes, don’t you?” He stared at her for a while. “Thank you for being there. Thank you for being there when I woke up. You ever had those dreams where you were falling, and when you woke up you were trying to catch yourself?” He closed his eyes for a minute. “Well, that’s how I was feeling. I was falling, and you were holding your hand out to me smiling, but I kept falling further, further away. I was scared to look down so I kept looking up at your hand. When I couldn’t see it anymore I panicked and couldn’t breathe and when I woke up your hand was in mine and you were snoring.”
“No, I wasn’t.” She slapped the back of his head.
He smiled at her. “It didn’t matter. You were there and that allowed my heart rate to return to normal, as well as my breathing. For real, if I would have woken up and you weren’t there, I don’t know if my heart and breathing would have returned back to normal, yo. I think I was going to actually cash out at that point. I try not to think about it, but the thoughts keep coming back.”
She could actually see the panic in his eyes. “Baby, it did get scary at times. In my mind and my heart at times I could feel you slipping away from me. But over all my spirit was telling me that everything would be all right, that you was not going to leave me. Some nights, some days, I couldn’t breathe, eat, or sleep! Then one morning, and it wasn’t the first time or the last, I felt as if I could go no further. I was forced to get down on my knees and start praying. I felt like I was having an anxiety attack. I prayed and prayed. I don’t even know how long I was on my knees but I didn’t stop until a peaceful surge came over me. That surge confirmed that you were coming back to us.
“I will always be there for you. You are my soul mate. They would try to get me to go home and get some rest, but I couldn’t leave you. I knew you needed me and I wouldn’t, I couldn’t take that chance. You are my everything, Trae. You are a part of me.”
“It’s over. You don’t have to worry about losing me anymore. It’s all behind us now.”
“Is it?” Her thoughts went to Angel’s conversation.
“Believe me, baby. It’s over.”
She believed him. Desperately wanted to.
Later that evening, Trae was propped up in the middle of the bed watching Tasha as she lit candles and then poured him a glass of wine and fired up his blunt. He was butt naked with only a towel spread across his lap. She had on a see-through negligee and was seven and a half months pregnant. He made a mental note to try and fatten her up a little more. She handed him the ashtray with the lit blunt.
“Are you okay? Why are you looking at me like that?” she wanted to know.
He gave her that lazy grin. “Just checking out how good you look and mad that I missed so much of this pregnancy. I was also thinking how I need to fatten you up.”
“Don’t be mad, baby. And look at it from the point that you could have missed all of this pregnancy, and the rest of the children’s lives. And fatten me up? Between Mama Santos and Angel, I’ve been eating. So don’t even try it. The doctor said I’m doing very well.”
“I’m your doctor. And I said you need to gain some more weight.”
She lifted the lid off a platter and placed several chocolate-covered strawberries on a glass saucer and sat on the bed next to Trae. She placed one to his lips and he took a nibble. “I brought them for you to enjoy.” He took a pull of his blunt. He knew they were her favorite. He watched as she closed her eyes and bit into the delicacy and moaned.
“All right now. Let me find out. I’ll toss them all into the trash,” he said.
“You’ll have to catch me first.”
“Aww … that was low. That was way below the belt.”
“You know you can’t fuck with my strawberries or my milk shakes. Have you forgot?”
“I guess I did.”
“Well, now your memory is refreshed,” she teased and closed her eyes, biting seductively into another one. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me before I indulged. I knew you was coming back, you just took longer than I expected.” She bit into another one and let out a soft moan.
“I’m getting jealous and a hard-on at the same time.”
She giggled. “You are so silly. Don’t be jealous, I got you.”
“Do you?” His eyebrow arched.
“Umm-hmm. Are you nervous?�
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“A little.”
“Me too.” They both shared a laugh. “So I guess we’ll both be getting our cherries popped tonight.”
“Well, have mercy on a nigga. And keep in mind that I just got out of a coma,” he teased as he put his blunt out and set the ashtray on the nightstand.
“Oh, I’ma have mercy all right. If that guy quits early on me, I’m pulling out the Viagra. I ain’t trying to hear no shit. I’ve waited too long for this moment.”
“Baby, you really got some Viagra?”
“I sure do.”
“Oh, shit.” He lifted up the towel and looked down at his dick. “Yo, nigga, you hear that, don’t you? I’ma need you to stand strong or she’s gonna pump you up with some dope.”
Tasha chuckled. “I sure am.” The room got silent as they gazed at each other. “I missed you so much,” Tasha whispered. Trae took the empty saucer from her and placed it on the nightstand. “God, I missed you.” She choked up.
“I’m here now.” He gently squeezed her thigh and began rubbing on it. His gaze traveled over her belly, up to her breasts, lips, back down to his hand rubbing her thighs. “You are my world. You know that, right?” He patted her, coaxing her to move a little closer.
She was already breathing hard and he wasn’t doing anything but rubbing her gently. “And you are my soul,” she whispered as his hand went farther until he was rubbing her pussy.
“Your soul needs Daddy, doesn’t it?” Her head fell back as she opened her legs wider. “Doesn’t it?”
“Y-yessss,” she moaned as he dug two fingers inside her. “Fuck y-yess, we need Daddy.”
“I can tell,” he whispered as the electricity flowed from her pussy to his dick. She was juicy and hot. “You thought Daddy forgot how to make this pussy scream, didn’t you?” He was now playing with her pearl tongue.
“Shit, baby, yes, that … feels good. Oh God.” She was grinding against his fingers.
“Daddy didn’t forget, Tasha. Did he?”
“Nooo,” she squealed as he pressed down on her clit and her legs went to bucking … jerking … trembling. He released her clit and eased two fingers inside her pussy. He smiled as her muscles squeezed and clamped around his fingers. If he had been well, he would have leaned down and eaten her pussy until she screamed and begged him to stop.
“Oh God,” she said as she caught her breath. “I know what you’re thinking.” She was on her back, legs spread open, looking at him.
“What?” He was slowly working his fingers in and out.
“I know … oh, babe … know how you think,” she moaned. He had slid up to her clit once again. “Oh yesss.” She tried to squirm away, but he grabbed on to her tight with his other hand.
“I’m not that hurt.”
“Nigga … oh … yess …” She began to skeet, tremble, shake, and he allowed her to scoot away from him. He watched her pussy jump and unconsciously began stroking himself. He had a handful of dick.
“Tasha.” He was about to explode. “Tasha, look what Daddy got for you.” She heard the urgency in his voice as she sat up and saw that big, black, hard, long dick that she missed so much.
He saw that naughty gleam in her eye as she crawled over to him. His head rolled back as she tossed her hair back over her shoulders, leaned down, and wrapped those soft luscious lips around the head of his dick and began teasing him with her tongue.
“Unnngh,” he groaned, sensations shooting all the way down to his toes. He grabbed on to her head, watching his dick disappear down her throat. “Fuck,” he grunted as she eased up.
They both looked down at his throbbing pipe. “Are you comfortable?”
“Do I look comfortable?” He looked back down at his outrageous hard-on.
“Not that, silly. Your back?” she purred.
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s your show. Daddy’s all yours.”
She slowly began to straddle him, while they both pulled the negligee up, over her head. She leaned into him and kissed him hungrily.
“Aiight. Stop playin’, Tasha.”
“Nigga, I’m trying to let you get it together. Because if you cum as soon as I get him up in me, we’re going to fight.”
“I got him. Come on now.” He squeezed her ass.
She got in position, grabbed on to the bedposts and shuddered as she slid down on that fat, long pole. The both of them released long-awaited, satisfactory groans.
“Big Daddy.” She slowly glided up and down. “Damn, I’ve been long … ing for this.” She shuddered as she felt his hands massage her ass and glide over to her hips to control her moves.
“That’s it, baby,” he whispered as his firm grip glided her up, down, up, down in a jack-off motion. “Damn, this shit feel so good.” Up, down, up, down. “I missed this. You miss this, baby? You miss stroking this long, hard, fat dick?” He slapped her ass and she began to bounce faster. “Unh, unh, baby … we gone … nice … and slow … sss … yeah, baby … that’s right … just … like … that.” He took a nipple into his mouth and then as much of her tit as he could swallow and made her slow down.
She shrieked, “Right there, fuck just like that.” He released her hips and she went all the way down, gripping and swallowing all of his dick, trying to make it drive so deep that she could feel it in her throat. Trae was enjoying the ride and she could feel from his breathing and grunts that he was getting ready to nut. Sliding all the way down, keeping his dick hitting her spot and grinding from side to side, she burst out of control, forcing them both to ride an uncontrollable body-rocking orgasm.
This was Angel’s second day home from the hospital. And Kaylin hadn’t left the house.
“Baby, you know this is important, especially to Papi. Me and Jahara will be fine until you come back.” She leaned over and shared a passionate kiss with Kaylin while Jahara was enjoying her breast milk.
Kaylin looked down at his precious little Angel. “She’s so beautiful.” He beamed.
“She is, isn’t she?” Angel agreed. “Look at all of this thick hair.” She sighed.
What should have been a very happy and celebratory atmosphere was anything but that. Kaylin was stressing more than Angel over Lil’E. To compound matters even more, their public relations maven, Courtney Moran, was having a hard time doing damage control since she didn’t show up at any of the New York radio stations to do her interviews. Rumors were flying, and negative speculations were at an all-time high. And tonight was Papi Chulo’s album-listening party and she needed Kaylin focused on that. Tonight was Papi’s time to shine.
“You sure you’re going to be all right?”
“I’m fine, Kaylin. What about you? Are you going to be all right? Tonight is Papi’s night. He’s gonna need you. Give him all of your attention. Work your magic and work that crowd. Then when it’s over, come back home to worry about Lil’E.”
He stared at her, admiring that after-baby glow.
“It’s going on seventy-two hours, so the missing persons report is in, the investigator is combing the hospitals, sumthin will eventually turn up. Okay, baby? You can do this.” She ran her hands through his hair. “I love this side of you. Your wimpy side,” she teased.
“And I love this side of you.” He kissed her. “The think-you’re-running-the-world side of you,” he teased back.
“Nigga, you must have forgot. The world is mine. You promised me the world, remember?”
“Am I giving it to you, baby?” He kissed her again.
“Yes. Yes, you are.” She gently eased the nipple out of Jahara’s mouth, and placed her on her shoulder to burp her.
“When is her birthday?”
“She’s only four days old, silly.” She giggled. “And your son is going crazy. He has no understanding as to why he hasn’t been over here to see his baby sister. You gotta pick him up tomorrow.”
“I will.”
She watched him get dressed. That is my nigga. Her thoughts then immediately shifted to Lil’E. Her gut was telling her
that the worst had happened, but she was praying for the best.
The phone woke Angel up. She looked at the clock, 12:57. “Hello.”
“Hey, you asleep?” Kaylin asked.
“I was, baby.”
“My bad. Are y’all okay? I love you.”
“We’re fine. I love you too.” There was silence. Angel giggled. “You want me to ask you how it’s going?”
“That would be nice.”
“I got you so spoiled. How’s it going, baby?”
“They are loving the new King of Reggaeton, Red. They went bananas over nine of the eleven tracks. And the three they didn’t go bananas over, we’re gonna remix them and make it a done deal. This boy is going to be big.” Kaylin was amped.
“That’s what’s up. Congratulations. Where is the man of the hour? I need to congratulate him.”
“That nigga is getting lifted, he so amped.”
“Well, don’t let him get too drunk. He is an assest. Keep an eye on him.”
“Baby girl, let him have his fun. He’s been grindin’ on this album for the last six months.”
“I feel you, but still keep an eye on him.”
“I hear you, Ma. But Courtney did a good job. We got everybody out for this. Magazine editors, DJs, artists, even club owners.”
“Is Papi pleased?”
“That nigga was on pins and needles acting like a bitch. But now he has thanked me at least a hundred times. I had to ditch him.”
“Baby, that wasn’t nice.” Angel giggled. “You are so silly.”
“All right, I just wanted to share that with you. Go back to sleep.”
“It’s too late now, your precious little baby Angel is squirming around. It’s feeding time.”
“My bad. You want me to wake you up when I get in?”
“Of course, I miss my big ole baby.” She could feel him blushing.