I was with Tank, and he’d gone down in the basement with June. Tank wasn’t lying when he told me that he was going to have me running the streets with him all day because this man really had me out for over six hours with him, as he was handling business. Then, while we were at one of his smoke locations, he had to take a zoom meeting with his staff that he had at his location in Vegas.
Even though he had me out all morning, and afternoon, it was so sexy to see him in his element, and to be the boss. Seeing him shine the way he did, it gave me motivation for when I would be running my business. I couldn’t wait to have staff. I couldn’t wait to give out orders. I couldn’t wait for people to spend their hard-earned money and support my brand.
After all the running around that Tank had me doing with him, he kept true to his word and took me shopping. We started out atBal- Harborand then we made our way toMiami Design District.Before the shopping began, I asked him if I had a budget, and the only words that he gave to me were, ‘go crazy’, and that’s exactly what I did.
I added so many new pieces to my already hefty jewelry collection. There were so many designer handbags that were new in season, so many designer sneakers, heels, perfume, you name it. My man sat back, and he enjoyed glasses of champagne, as I had personal shoppers take me around each store, and not once did he budge at any of the prices. Not once did he rush me, so that we could go. He allowed me to take my time, getting whatever I wanted, and when I finally felt like I had enough items, that’s when we left. Instead of going straight to my house, so that we could drop the bags off, we made a pit stop to my sisters, and I had been chilling in the living room with Free for the past ten minutes or so.
“Okay. I gotta pack her a bag. Get your practice in. I feel like you’re going to be a mommy soon,” she called out, and any other time, I would have been waving my neck, and my finger, telling her that she was talking crazy, but Tank was breaking a bitch down, so I couldn’t say what I would, or wouldn’t give him.
Everything was up in the air when it came to him. I truly believed that I loved him enough to stop taking my birth control if he told me to. That’s how goofy he had me. I don’t know if there was some kind of spell on that dick, but I was so far gone with him.
“We need to get a meeting in order or something, so we can finalize what cabin we’ll be staying in this year for our winter trip,” I said to my sister, changing the subject, as I lifted Liberty from my lap, and I stood her up. Her little feet were in my lap, and I was holding her by her hands, as she looked down at me, smiling.
“Me, and Tommie were just talking about that the other day. We were looking at cabins in Gatlinburg. It’s so nice. They have those big, luxury cabins, so it’ll accommodate however many of us that’s going. The beautiful mountain views that I know you like, and we can do all kinds of excursions. What you think?”Free asked me, taking her eyes off the TV screen, so that she could look over at me.
After Nivea died, my mom made it her business to start coming up with family traditions for us. She felt like life was too short, so she wanted us to start creating more beautiful memories with each other. With the holidays coming up, we’ve been on this wave where every year, typically the first week of December, we’ll take a trip somewhere in the mountains and rent out a beautiful cabin. So far, we’ve done Blue Ridge, Georgia. We’ve been to Asheville, North Carolina, and Breckenridge, Colorado just to name a few.
“I don’t mind. When I get home tonight, I’ll look for some cabins in that specific area,” I told her.
“You going to come with Tank?” she asked me with a goofy smile on her face, and that smile rubbed off on me, so before I knew it, I started smiling too.
“Of course, I am. Free, I love him,” I announced to her, and when I said it, she started laughing.
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me. I can see it in the way that you look at him. Have you told him that yet?” she wanted to know.
“Oh girl, I been said it. I was on top riding, when I told him,” I shared, sitting Liberty on my lap, and putting my hands over her ears, so that she wouldn’t hear what I was telling her mom. Even though Liberty was just a baby and couldn’t fully understand anything that her mom and I were talking about, I still liked to be mindful of things that I said around her.
“I really can’t believe you did all that running away, just to be out here sprung over this man the way you are. Your auntie is in love, Libby. Pretty soon, you’re going to have someone to play with, and you won’t be the only baby anymore,” Free cooed to her daughter, reaching her hand over, and she squeezed her little cheeks as she was talking to her.
Liberty looked at her mom with nothing but love in her eyes, as she cooed, talking a bunch of gibberish back to Free.
I stayed down here with my sister, and my niece for another twenty minutes or so, and then the men came down. June walked in first, and he went behind the couch, standing behind his wife, and he put both hands on her shoulders, massaging them. Free tilted her head back, so that she could look him in his eyes. June looked down at Free, lowered his head, and like they were the only two in the damn room, they started tongue kissing each other. My sister was one of those women where she didn’t give a damn what she did with her husband in front of other people. There have been plenty of times where I’ve been over here, and she would disappear upstairs into her bedroom with June and come back down as if nothing ever happened. My sister was in love though, and her and June were in a great place, so I wasn’t bothered by it. I would take this over the wild, toxic shit that they used to be on in the beginning.
Tank came over, and he stood in front of me. He was dressed down, not wearing anything too crazy. Just a white top, and some light blue denim jeans. I loved the fit of his jeans. They weren’t overly tight, but they also weren’t too lose, either. He looked down at me holding the baby, and he smiled. I was already prepared for something wild to come out of his mouth. It’s almost like he couldn’t help himself.
“You look good holding her,” he kept his comment PG, which I was proud of.
“Free said that we can take her home. She’s going to pack her a bag,” I said to him with a smile on my face, happy to get a night with my niece. When I said that, Tank smiled again.
“Good. Get your practice in, baby. I want one of my own. I was just upstairs telling June that I’m ready to be a daddy,” Tank replied.
“Give my nigga a son, D. It’ll be the right decision,” June said, still standing behind the couch, vouching for his boy. I hated that I was put in the hot seat, so I nervously laughed, while throwing myself back into the couch, bouncing Liberty in my arms.
“I don’t want to be a baby mama. That doesn’t even align with my lifestyle,” I said to Tank, and I could hear my sister laughing, and June did the same.
“I don’t want you to be a baby mama, either. Shit, I ain’t trying to be a baby daddy. I’m a self- made millionaire baby, so being a baby daddy don’t align with my lifestyle, either. Marry me then, and lets have babies,” he came closer, with his arms crossed.
My sister was dying laughing, and June was behind me, laughing too. I reached my hand up, taking it off Liberty, and I moved Tank’s ass out of the way. As if it was funny, he stepped back, and Free used this time to stand up, telling me that she was going to be back. She went upstairs to pack Liberty a bag.
That just left me, the men, and Liberty in the living room. Tank reached his arms out for Liberty, just to see if she would go to him because her ass was funny acting as hell and would only want people that she saw often to hold her. I was surprised that she went with Tank. He held her little body in his strong right arm, and like she went way back with him, she rested comfortably there.
I found myself smiling and laughing when I watched the interaction between the two of them. Usually, we would coo at Liberty, and talk to her in baby talk, but Tank wasn’t doing that. He was standing there, carrying on a full conversation with her, asking her how her day was, if she ate today, and if she was tired. He even started talking to her about Noir, wanting to know if she liked horses because he had one that he knew she would love. The crazy thing is, Liberty was fighting for her life to respond to him, as if she understood every word.
I really wasn’t sure if I was losing my mind or what, but Tank looked good standing there holding my niece. So good that I really was reconsidering having children because we all know that I’ve never been too sold on having any of my own.
Chapter 5
Garrus Whyte
