“I’m on my way,” I said as I stood.
“Nah, man, I was just calling you to give you a heads up.” He blew out a deep breath. “You need to stay put.”
“I need to be there.”
“You are where you’re supposed to be,” he argued. “We just talked about this, Amethyst. Move differently from here on out. I’m calling to give you a heads up, is all. Stay at home with your pregnant woman, and I’ll update you when I know something.” He hung up, and I knew if I called back, he wouldn’t answer. Pyrite was right, but my first instinct was to make moves.
I sat back down and rubbed my hands over my face. Shit was frustrating as hell. I heard Yale push her chair back, and I looked up in time to see her pick up my plate and walk off the balcony. She left the room without looking back or saying a word. It didn’t look like she had an attitude, but when she came back, I’d apologize anyway. Pyrite was right, I needed to think about her and our daughter. While she was gone, I went to the bathroom to pee.
“Heads up,” Yale said when I came out of the bathroom. I looked up in time to catch my keys.
“What’s this for?” I asked, looking at the keys, then at her. She was stepping into a pair of slides and pulling her bonnet off. “Where are you going?”
“We.” She pointed to herself, then me. “Are going to the hospital to check on Uri.” I was about to say something, but she cut me off with a look, then grabbed her purse. “I know the type of man you are, and sitting around isn’t going to do anything but stress you out, and that means you are going to get on my nerves. You’ve already slept, and you have your energy. You need to do something to drain it, and again, because I know you, I know that you either need to have sex or be helpful, or you’ll be antsy. So let’s go.”
I licked my lips and continued to watch her as she moved around the room. She was right. I needed to do something or I’d drive her crazy. Instead of arguing with her, I put the keys in my pocket and then walked to the balcony to get my phone from the table. When I came back, Yale was ready to go. I approached her and, without giving her a chance to think about it, wrapped my hand around her neck and stared down at her.
“You have no clue how much I love you,” I said, then kissed her. I pushed my tongue into her mouth, and she grabbed the front of my shirt to keep me in place. We fought for control, but I wasn’t letting up. The sound of her moaning had my dick so hard that I had to let her go. I rested my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. “We don’t have to go anywhere, Sunshine.”
“Yes, we do because you aren’t the only one with antsy energy now,” she laughed huskily. I opened my eyes, and she stepped back. Her eyes were full of lust. My eyes went to her top, and her nipples were poking through her t-shirt. I knew her pussy was throbbing just by the way she kept subtly moving side to side.She let go of my shirt, then used one of her hands to wipe my bottom lip. “Let’s go.”
Thirty minutes later, we were walking through security and towards the waiting room. I opened the door for Yale and then walked in behind her. The DeCortes and Strongs were all present and waiting. Yale went straight to Corinthians and pulled her into a hug. I followed behind her, hugging Corinthians, then kissing the top of her head.
“Any word?” I didn’t want to overstep by using my connections to get answers before they did.
“Nothing new,” Kenbral said, shaking his head. “They said they would update us when they could.”
“Alright,” I nodded, then turned to Corinthains, whose eyes were glued to the ground. She was going through it. Her normal brown skin was dull, and her eyes looked haunted. I could feel the tension between her and Kenbral, and every time he moved, her body tensed. She sat between her grandmother and sister. Psalms would say something every so often, and Corinthians would give her a singular nod.
My phone buzzed, and I checked my watch to see a text from Pyrite telling me to meet him in the hallway. I excused myself and met him and Citrine in the hallway.
“Nine sent the location to Quincy,” Pyrite said as soon as I closed the door. “You were right, he was staying at one of the properties listed under Yale.”
“Figured,” I chuckled and shook my head. I looked through the glass wall to see Yale watching us. She lifted her brow in question, and I waved her over. I wasn’t hiding shit from her. She excused herself from the conversation she was having with Mercy and came out to the hallway.
“What’s wrong?” she quickly asked, and I shook my head. “Then why are y’all standing out here as if someone died?” Her eyes filled with tears. “Is Yamari okay? Yeti?”
“Everybody is good for now,” Pyrite answered, and she nodded. He looked at me and waited. I knew he wasn’t going to say anything about what he’d just told me.
“Let me talk to you for a minute.” I took her hand and pulled her away from my brothers. I stopped near the vending machines and gave her my full attention. “Nine found where Quincy has been staying.” She nodded and crossed her arms. “It’s one of the properties listed in your name. My brothers and I are going to check it out.”
“You’re going to kill him,” she said. “There’s no reason to lie about it. I know who you are, what you are capable of, and what you will do for the people you love. I have never been afraid of that. I need you to be careful, that’s all. Shit happens all the time, and the last thing I ever want you to do is get caught up in something you can’t get out of.”
“I got you, Sunshine,” I said, nodding. I pulled her to me by her shirt and kissed her. “I’m going to take you home, then make moves with my brothers.”
I expected her to argue or at least put up a fight, but she didn’t. Instead, she took my hand, and we walked out of the hospital. I took her home, the entire time thinking of a way to get her to fall back in love with me. Us kissing didn’t mean shit if she didn’t want to be with me. I couldn’t do life without Yale by my side. Us just being friends wouldn’t be enough. Our daughter was going to grow up in a loving two-parent household, like I did. Not only did she deserve it, but so did Yale.
When we got to the house, we went to the room, and I changed my clothes. I walked out of the bathroom to see Yale already in bed. She watched me move through the room and approach the bed.
“I can’t promise you a lot of shit, but I can promise you that I am going to try my hardest to come back to you and our daughter,” I said as I palmed her stomach. My baby girl kickedagainst my hand, and I smiled. “I ain’t a perfect nigga, Sunshine, but I swear to you that y’all are the best thing that ever happened to me. Meeting you, loving you as your friend, then your lover, and the father of your child has been the best thing I’ve ever done. I wasn’t perfect, shit, at times I wasn’t even close to being decent, but I always tried with you. I tried to make sure you were happy, taken care of, loved, and all that other shit. It’s not another woman in this world I would want to carry my child.”
“Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?” she asked, watching me.
I sighed, then used my free hand to wipe my mouth. My throat got tight, and I swallowed to keep my emotions in check. “Nah, baby, I ain’t saying goodbye,” I said, shaking my head. “I just want you to know how I feel. I don’t want you ever to walk around thinking that you aren’t anything but amazing and loved.” I took my hand off her belly, looked into her eyes, and smiled. “You know why I call you Sunshine?”
“No,” she honestly answered. In the past, when she asked, I constantly changed the subject because I didn’t want to come off as a sap in her eyes, but now I didn’t care. “You never would tell me.”
“Because that’s what you are to me—my sunshine. When shit gets dark, or I’m lost, I always search for the one thing that grounds me, and it’s you. For me, you’re the light at the end of a tunnel. That bright light that I’m always running to. From the first day we met, I sat there staring at you. It was because you calmed me.” I kissed her, then stood. “I’ll be back.”
