I watched him make a K with his fingers, place it over his heart, and then flick it forward from his mouth without touching it. I mimicked his doing it, and he nodded.
“I love you with all my heart, Sekai.”
The biggest grin on his face appeared before he kissed me on the forehead again. Even though the noise of the room returned, I allowed my eyes to drift closed. I felt nothing but love surrounding me despite the circumstances of being here, so much love that I felt safe enough to drift back off to sleep.
Two Weeks Later...
I stretched my arms over my head as I shuffled out of the bathroom. It had been two weeks since Nuri was released from the hospital, and everyone had moved into the St. James estate. Things felt the same yet different at the same time, having all my siblings back under the same roof as me. Maybe it was because Nuri was here, and since she’d come home, we were inseparable. Or maybe because the estate was so much larger than the big house that there were times when we would all be home and not run into each other if we didn’t want to. I felt it was safe to say everyone loved our new arrangement.
I had given up my room to Jah, and Nuri had given up her room to Jiah. Somehow, she found the strength for us to moveinto the primary suite. She said it was time now that the house was filled with people. Because of her bravery, I was now ending every night with my wife wrapped around me. Nothing was better than waking up in the middle of the night to feel her silky skin against mine. I would always settle back into my slumber with my nose nuzzled in the crook of her sweet-smelling neck.
For the last few days, she was back on her routine of beating me up in the mornings. I made it down to the kitchen to find her sitting there with papers scattered all over the island. “Good morning, hubby,” she greeted me cheerily.
It used to be a joke, but now it doesn’t feel right if my day doesn’t start with hearing those words. I smiled, walking around the island to pull her into my arms. “Good morning, wifey.” I kissed her lips twice before releasing her. “What’s all of this?”
She eased a piping cup of black tea over to me. I thanked her as I turned my attention to the papers. From what I could tell, it looked like a bunch of legal documents I couldn’t understand. I saw some bank statements too, but the digits in them muthafuckas were dust. I glanced over at Nuri as she eased up beside me. I prayed to God that these weren’t her bank statements.
Since Nuri came home, I have spent most of my time here. Whenever I worked on my album, it was down in the home studio. Everyone was lying low after what we’d done on the south side, especially since the news was still covering that massacre daily. Since we weren’t hurting for money and everyone was living here, we were all spending our days doing whatever we wanted.
The women were together a lot. Azani was over here almost every day after school. Nuri had set her up a room too, for whenever she needed a break from the parents. I loved the way she easily made space for them in her life. She’d told me one night as we cuddled late into the wee hours of the morning thatshe loved the house being full. She claimed it was the reason her grandparents wanted such a huge estate. They wanted a place to house their family. Since she didn’t have any, she was happy to fill it with mine.
I had kissed her neck and whispered that they were her family too. She’d drifted off to sleep with a smile after that. Or maybe it was the lethal side dick, neck grip combo I’d given her right after that conversation. Either way, my wife went to bed happy, and that was all I wanted.
“I’ve been doing some digging into Zero.”
I snickered at her calling him by his nickname before I tensed because I didn’t want her anywhere near that nigga. She must’ve caught on to my change in demeanor because she quickly continued her statement.
“I pulled my weight around a bit to get access to his financial records. You’re not going to believe what I found.”
Now that I knew she hadn’t put herself in danger, I was intrigued. I pulled up a seat, then pulled her between my legs, and sat back sipping my tea. “Okay, tell me more.”
Nuri got excited as she began shuffling through the papers. “So, he has a lot of offshore accounts, but they are all damn near bankrupt.” She handed the statements to me, and I smiled, seeing that the dust I had peeped from before belonged to Zero. “He didn’t come back here to destroy Prosper Ave. He came back home to try to save himself. His businesses in every state are drowning in debt. His real estate investments are up for foreclosure, so there’s really nothing in his name. Marrying me is quite literally the only thing that would’ve saved him.”
She paused in what she was doing before spinning around in my arms. I kissed her lips and smiled. “He could never have you.”
“Never,” she quickly agreed.
I sat back, thinking about everything she’d shared with me. Since Nuri was doing all this digging, I had to assume that maybe she’d already come up with a solution. Before I could ask her about it, Jah came into the kitchen shirtless in a pair of basketball shorts and socks.
“You cooked breakfast, Nuri?” he asked her without so much as a hello.
She got ready to respond, but I held up a hand. “Nigga, my wife ain’t your fucking maid. If you want some breakfast, you’d better fix it yourself.”
He sucked his teeth. “You’re so damn stingy. I bet you’ll let her cook breakfast for your ass though.”
I chuckled and buried my face in her titties. “Duh, this is my fucking wife, nigga. She always makes sure her nigga eats. Ain’t that right, baby?” I questioned, looking up at her.
Nuri had this sultry look in her eyes that made me want to take her down right here. She nodded.
“Right, daddy,” she agreed with me. I tickled my nose against hers, making her giggle.
Jah waved us off, going to the fridge. “Man, whatever. What’s all this paperwork?”
Only then did I remember the conversation we had been in the middle of. “Nuri found out that nigga Zero is broke ass fuck. The niggas around here are trying to strong-arm everybody because he ain’t got a dime to his name.”
Jah paused his rummaging around to look at us. “Word?”
I nodded. “Word.” I returned my attention to Nuri. “Bae, you got a plan or something?”
