“Yeah, but I bet he ain’t the one that got you smilin’ that hard,” Tia frankly stated.
“Why you say that?”
“Because you would’ve said so.”
“Whatever,” Aleesha retorted with a one-sided shoulder shrug.
The waitress came back with the ladies’ drinks then waited around to take their food orders before leaving again.
“So what’s been going on? How’s the twins?” Tia asked, taking a sip of her strawberry lemonade.
“Everything’s been good,” Aleesha said after taking a sip of her raspberry iced tea. “And they’re getting so big. It makes me so sad,” she said with her bottom lip poking out.
“Aww. You need to bring them out here,” Tia suggested. “They need to meet their little cousins.”
“I know. I’ve been letting them spend more time away from me so they can get used to being around their family. I don’t want them that spoiled.”
“Yes that will do it. Oh I wanted to thank you for renting out the house to us.”
“No problem. I’d rather y’all be there than anybody else,” Aleesha admitted.
Since she and Savage weren’t working in or traveling to their dispensaries, they rented out their Oakland and LA homes. And since Eli was her cousin, she had no problem letting him rent out the one in Oakland.
“Well, we really appreciate it,” Tia sincerely stated.
“I know. Damn, my titties are sore,” Aleesha said as she massaged her breasts.
“Aleesha, you havin’ all these symptoms soundin’ like you pregnant and shit,” Tia joked.
Aleesha’s eyes got wide. “Oh my God,” she gasped as a sudden realization came to her. She didn’t notice that she had missed her period until now, and she realized she was having all the symptoms of being pregnant. “I gotta go,” she said, jumping up from the table.
“Wait,” Tia said, grabbing her hand, “I know you’re not about to leave me here.”
“I’m sorry, Tia,” Aleesha said, snatching her hand away. “I gotta go.”
Aleesha rushed out of the restaurant and hopped in her rental. She hurriedly got the navigation to the nearest pharmacy on her phone, and sped all the way there. It led her to a Rite-Aid and she went inside and bought three pregnancy test. She paid for them, hurried to the restroom, peed on the sticks, and a few minutes later, the results appeared on the little screen. All three tests read positive.
Aleesha couldn’t even think about staying in the Bay. Too much was going on and she needed to figure out what she was going to do next with her being pregnant and all. She went back to her room and packed her things up, then booked the next flight back home.
Her mind was racing the whole plane ride and as soon as she made it back to the I.E., she scheduled an appointment with her doctor. Once she made it home she was so exhausted that she didn’t do anything but go straight to sleep.
Aleesha woke up the next morning to the alarm she set on her phone and after showering and getting dressed, she called Lala. Lala met up with her at the doctor’s office, which was somewhat of a norm for them, and escorted her throughout her whole appointment. After the doctor confirmed Aleesha was five weeks pregnant, she calculated it up and realized that it was a possibility that the baby was Cali’s.
Aleesha left out of the doctor’s office not knowing what to do. Her head was spinning and she felt like she was living in a dream. She already lied to her husband about not sleeping with Cali, but what if she was pregnant with his child? How would she be able to keep that from both men? She said a silent prayer, and asked God to help her out of the situation.
Lala noticed the strange change in Aleesha’s behavior. She wasn’t talking, her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were wide. Lala knew she couldn’t let her leave by herself like that so she stopped Aleesha before she got in her Audi. “Best friend, what’s wrong?”
Aleesha shook her head. “I can’t have this baby Lala,” she weakly stated.
“Why not?” Lala asked, puzzled.
“I just can’t,” Aleesha gloomily replied, looking her in the eyes.
“Aleesha, tell me what’s wrong. I’ve never heard you say you can’t have a baby.”
Aleesha huffed, “I think its Cali’s.”
“Damn,” Lala said as a look of shock came across her face. “No shit?”
“No shit,” Aleesha regretfully admitted.
“Well, you know I would take my Godchild,” Lala playfully stated.
“Would you really?” Aleesha asked with hopeful eyes.
“Aleesha, I was just kidding,” Lala said, taken aback. “Would you really want me to raise your child?”
“Yes,” Aleesha enthusiastically answered. “You could have a fake pregnancy and everything.”
“Aleesha, this is crazy,” Lala admitted.
“How?” Aleesha asked, confused. “You’re already the God mom and I already told Savage you were trying to have a baby. That would be perfect,” she said, getting more and more excited thinking about it.
“Aleesha, you really need to think about what you’re asking me to do,” Lala said as her tone became more serious. “How are you going to hide it?”
“I already thought about it,” Aleesha nonchalantly replied. “Savage and I barely see each other as it is. I’ll work something out.”
“Okay, but you won’t have to just hide it from Savage. You would have to hide it from your family and his too,” Lala explained.
“I’ll worry about that once I start showing. Just please say yes Lala,” Aleesha begged.
“Fine, Aleesha,” Lala said, shaking her head in disappointment. “I’ma say yeah for right now, but I know you’ll change your mind.”
“Whatever,” Aleesha said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go get something to eat. Oh, you know where we haven’t ate in a long time, Brian’s Burgers.”
“That does sound hella good,” Lala said, hungrily rubbing her stomach. “Okay, I’ll follow you there.”
It didn’t take the ladies long to make their way to Brian’s Burgers on the corner of Baseline and Sterling in San Bernardino. They parked next to each other and walked inside together. Aleesha ordered herself a double cheese burger meal that came with fries, onion rings and fried zucchini, and Lala ordered Carne Asada fries. They ordered their food to dine in, then they sat at a booth and waited for their meal to be cooked.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant again,” Lala said in disbelief.
Aleesha narrowed her eyes. “You don’t have to remind me, Lala. And I’m not pregnant, you are,” she said with a smirk.
“Stop acting like that Leelee,” Lala irritably replied. “You don’t even know for sure whose child it is to want to give it up.”
“So what. Just the fact alone that it could be Cali’s scares the shit out of me,” Aleesha admitted. “If I did keep it how would I explain that to both of them?”
“Well you wouldn’t have to explain anything to Cali. Shit, he would be happy,” Lala said with a laugh. “Savage is the one you have to worry about.”
Aleesha put her head down and put her palm up to her forehead as she shook it. “This is unbelievable,” she said in disbelief.
“Do you really not think it’s Savage’s?” Lala curiously asked.
“Somewhat, but then I know when I’m ovulating. I was so fucking horny when that shit happened with all of us and I didn’t have sex with Savage until days later,” Aleesha said with a look of shame on her face. “But maybe it was just the liquor that had me feeling that way,” she suggested, trying to lighten the situation up.
“Yeah. Or perhaps you’re just feeling guilty about everything,” Lala said, trying to help reason with Aleesha’s feelings.
“Maybe,” Aleesha said, looking away in agreeance. “Man I miss my babies.”
“When are they coming back?”
“I don’t know,” Aleesha said, shrugging her shoulders as she turned her attention back to Lala. “My mom was supposed to bring them back before Ch
ristmas but now she wants to keep them until after New Year’s, so who knows?”
“I’m surprised you’re letting her keep them this long,” Lala admitted.
“I know, but she’s grandma,” Aleesha justified.
“I feel you.”
They sat in silence for a few seconds before Aleesha thought about Savage being in New Orleans. “Oh,” she exclaimed excitedly, “bitch, we have to go to Mardi Gras.”
“When?”
“In February.”
“You’re pregnant remember?” Lala reminded.
“Oh yeah,” Aleesha said disappointingly. “Well, we can still go just to say we went. I don’t have to be drinking and turning up.”
“Alright, sounds like a plan,” Lala said in agreeance. “I’ve always wanted to go too. I’m surprised we never thought about going before.”
“Right. Out of all the other parades, raves and parties we’ve been to, that’s one of the biggest ones we’ve never experienced.”
“You know I’m always down to go. Just tell me exactly when it is so I can get my ticket and stuff.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I already paid for the tickets.” Aleesha’s notification tone to her cell phone started going off. She pulled her phone out and saw that she had a text message from Yoshi. “You feel like having a meeting at the lounge today?” she asked Lala, still staring at her phone.
Lala sighed. “Not really but I will. What for?”
“The billboard,” Aleesha said, looking up at her. “The team has some layouts and locations for it. We won’t have to be there that long.”
“Oh okay, that’s cool.”
The cashier yelled out that the ladies’ food was ready. Lala got up and got their food and Aleesha texted Yoshi back. Then, the ladies enjoyed their lunch as they continued to talk to each other. Afterwards, they got in their cars and headed to their lounge.
Once they arrived they parked in their reserved spots and walked in with each other. They met their marketing team inside of Lala’s office, where they gathered and sat at a round table.
“So what do you guys have for us?” Aleesha asked after everyone was fully situated.
Lucy began to speak up first. She was a college sophomore they hired to go around to surrounding colleges and hand out flyers that promoted events. She also conducted quick surveys of what the students were interested in since this was their biggest crowd. They wanted to make sure the lounge was a place they wanted to keep coming too. They also had a special college night twice a month, and they were thinking about making it once a week. During these nights, college students would get in free with their school I.D’s and also receive a free joint at the door.
“Okay, so everyone is feeling the poetry night,” Lucy said with a look of excitement on her face. “It’s something that’s rare nowadays but a lot of people still enjoy writing, reading, and listening to it. So I think that would be something you wanna do ASAP.”
“Thanks Lucy,” Aleesha said with a huge grin. “That makes me so happy hearing that because I was excited just thinking about it. I’ll probably need you more in a few weeks so we can start planning it.”
“No problem. Where’s Sensi?” Yoshi asked, looking around the room.
“I didn’t feel like being bothered with her so I didn’t tell her,” Aleesha admitted.
“Thank God you feel that way. She’s cool and all, but she’s so annoying,” Lucy confessed.
“I know,” Aleesha said, shaking her head. “I need to work on that with her. But let’s get back to business, we ain’t got much time. Let me see the layouts Yoshi.”
“Here you go,” Yoshi said, handing Aleesha her tablet. “Scroll to the right to see the rest. There’s seven of them.”
“Okay.” Aleesha scrolled through the layouts and were really impressed. “I like all of them but the three that stood out the most were 2, 5 and 7,” she said handing the tablet to Lala.
“I like those too,” Yoshi said with an eager grin. “I’m glad you picked those.”
“Now we just gotta choose which ones will go where. Did you get all the locations, Omar?”
“Besides the site for the billboard out here, I found two cheap ones in two bomb ass spots on the freeways. One in Riverside and one in LA,” Omar answered. He and Yoshi were responsible for picking the best locations to advertise. He was also in charge of the networking part of the marketing team. He ran all of the lounge’s social networking sites and was responsible for getting airtime on radio stations and things of that sort. He also helped promote the lounge by going to different cities and putting flyers in dispensaries.
“Yes. Those are perfect,” Lala said, handing the tablet to Yoshi. She began grabbing her things. “So we all good here?” she asked as she stood up to leave.
“Dang, you really in a rush?” Aleesha playfully questioned. “Yeah, we all good,” she said laughing.
“You don’t even know the long day I’m having,” Lala replied with irritation. “Mother nature.”
“Say no more. Go best friend,” Aleesha said, waving her off.
Christmas Havoc
Aleesha woke up to a beautiful sunny Christmas morning feeling sad and blue. She thought it would be a good idea to let Anthony and Aniya go with her parents, but now she wished she hadn’t let them. Even though they wouldn’t remember this holiday, she still wanted to see the joy in their little faces as they opened the bountiful amounts of presents they had wrapped under the tree. And it was especially hard because Savage wasn’t there. He was supposed to fly to California but after finding out the kids weren’t going to be celebrating with them, he decided to stay in New Orleans to work. Aleesha was a little mad at first because she hoped they would still spend it together but she knew eventually they would have their time. She decided she would give him a call before she found something to do to keep her busy for the day.
“Merry Christmas babe!” Aleesha sang into the phone.
“You too,” Savage plainly stated.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, hearing the angry tone in his voice.
“Nothin’.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Nah.”
“So why are you giving me one-word responses now?”
“I’m workin’,” he blatantly stated.
She let out a sigh. “Okay. Well call me back later.”
“Aight.”
“I love—”
The phone hung up in Aleesha’s face. She didn’t know why Savage was acting so weird, she just hoped it was because he was so busy. It kind of threw her mood off so she decided to just stay in, smoke and watch Christmas movies all day.
***
Savage was in his studio engineering a new beat for Asaru when Aleesha called. He was furious that she let her parents take the kids for Christmas. They were always supposed to celebrate the holidays together and this was the main one he looked forward to. Not to mention she didn’t let him know what was going on until last minute. He knew it was petty of him to be upset but he barely spent time with his kids as it was so he really cherished times like these. And now, he didn’t know when would be the next time he would see them. The more he thought about the situation the angrier he became. Aleesha and the kids were supposed to have been moved to New Orleans and it was really causing a strain in their marriage. He was a man with needs, and no matter how hard he tried to be faithful that was one thing his penis wouldn’t let him do. And as if on que, Havoc came walking through the door.
“Hey, Savage. I didn’t even think you would be here today.” She took a seat on the chair at the soundboard next to him. She wasn’t the prettiest woman, and was actually considered someone with a struggle face, but that didn’t matter. She had the body of a goddess with 38-24-56 measurements to match.
“I’m not supposed to be here today,” he said as he continued to work on the beat.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing the hostile vibe he was giving off.
“Nothin’.�
��
“Uh oh,” she said with a smirk, “it must be wifey.”
“Man,” he said, reclining in the seat as he began to aggressively run his hands through his dreads. He knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work because he was so mad. “She’s so fuckin’ stupid sometimes.”
“Woah,” she said taken aback. “What did she do now?” she asked with a slight giggle.
“This bitch let her mom take the kids.”
“Okay,” she said with confusion, “so what’s the big deal?”
He sat up and angrily looked at her. “The big deal is that I’m not spendin’ Christmas with them.”
“Oh shit, I forgot that was today.”
“Yeah man,” he said, reclining back as he closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples.
“Aww, poor Savage,” Havoc said, babying him. She got up out of her chair and went and sat on his lap.
Savage looked up into her eyes. “What do you want? Why the fuck are you here?”
“I don’t know why you always puttin’ up a front like you don’t want me here. I know what it is that you need though,” she cockily stated before taking his face into the palms of her hands. She kissed him on the lips, then began kissing him on the neck.
“I’m not tryna go there with you,” he said as his eyes began rolling to the back of his head.
“Yes you are,” she said, licking around his earlobe. “I can see it in your eyes and feel it in your pants.”
“I can’t do this again,” he regretfully sighed, gently pushing her off of him.
She put more of her weight on him as she began grinding in his lap. “Like you said, what wifey don’t know won’t hurt her.”
“Fuck man,” he said as he looked her in the eyes, “you bad for me.”
She gave him a sly smirk. “Shut up and just fuck me, Savage.”
Savage picked Havoc up out his lap and laid her on the soundboard. He grabbed her shorts around the waistline and yanked them off, breaking the button and zipper in the process. He hurriedly unbuttoned his pants and slid them down just enough to pull his manhood out.
“Come suck this shit first,” he instructed as he backed away from her.
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