“I’m careful every day.” He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it again. “When I walk out of the house, I make sure my headis on swivel, and my gun is ready.” He put my hand in his lap, then let it go and palmed my stomach. “I have too much to live for. Our daughter.” He moved his hand and pinched my chin. “You.” He put his hand in my lap and squeezed my thigh. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy because it’s not, but trust me when I say I’m not about to do shit to jeopardize our family.” He pulled into Pyrite’s driveway and stopped in front of the garage. While he put in the code to open the garage, I sat there thinking. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“We had eight years stolen from us,” I said, and he lifted his brow. “There is no doubt in my mind that we were destined to be together, but we still had time stolen from us. The older generation did something in the past that’s now coming back to bite us in the ass. Each of us, and it’s not fair because we don’t even know what happened. All we know is it affects us.”
Amethyst reversed his car into the garage and then lowered the door. “I know and trust me when I say we are looking into it. We are going to talk to Ex tomorrow about Tank and let him know we found him. Then we are going to the older generation for a sit-down talk. We need the full story, from every perspective and not just bits and pieces. They aren’t going to like it, but it’s the only way we are going to get the answers we need.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding.
“Shit is going to be harder before it gets easier, but know that I got you and our baby. You good with that?”
“Do I have a choice?” I rested my head against the headrest and watched him. Amethyst licked his lips, then smirked.
“Nah,” he answered with a laugh. “If you tried to leave me, I’d come find your ass and drag you back home.”
“And you won’t send me away again either.” I narrowed my eyes and pointed at him.
Amethyst chuckled and shook his head. “I’m serious, Amethyst, do not send me away again. I get that you thought youwere doing the right thing then, but do not do it again. I won’t forgive you.”
He leaned across the center console and tried to kiss me, but I turned my face. He chuckled, gently grabbed my chin, and turned my face back to him. “I hear you.” He kissed me, but I didn’t kiss him back. “Oh, it’s like that? You won't kiss me now?”
“Promise me that you won’t get the asinine idea ever again,” I said, looking at him. I didn’t want them to, but my eyes watered at the thought of being sent away.
Amethyst cupped my cheek and used his thumb to wipe away my tears. “I promise you I’ll never send you away again.” He kissed me when he pulled back. I bit into his bottom lip and pulled at it before letting it go. “I swear I love the fuck out of you, Sunshine. I’ma spend the rest of our lives reminding you that I’m the nigga for you.”
“I love you too.”
He quickly kissed me, then let my face go. “Alright, let me go feed these damn birds, and then we can go grab something to eat on the way home.”
“Okay.”
He got out of the car and went into the house. Using my phone, I worked on my next design when his phone rang. I tapped the dashboard screen.
“He’s in the house feeding Starburst and Watermelon now,” I said before Pyrite could say anything.
“I know, I got the alert,” Pyrite said. He sounded off, which made me look at the dashboard. “I um, I need to talk to him about something.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Um, it’s Yeti,” Pyrite cleared his throat. “He died a few minutes ago.”
“We are on the way,” I said, unfastening my seatbelt. “I’m going to get Amethyst, and we are on the way.”
“Alright,” Pyrite said, then hung up.
I got out of the car, not bothering to close the door, and headed to the door connecting the garage to the mudroom. Just when I put my hand on the door handle, Amethyst opened the door.
“You gotta pee?” he laughed.
“We need to go.” I took his hand in mine and pulled him out of the house.
“Damn, alright.” He followed me but stopped short when we reached the passenger door. “What you leave the door open for?”
“Get in, Amethyst,” I said, letting his hand go and pushing him towards the car.
“Nah, Sunshine.” He grabbed my wrist and shook his head. “Tell me what’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you once we are in the car,” I sighed. He looked as if he was about to object, and I shook my head. “Amethyst, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Get in the car.” He looked back at the car, then at me. I could see the wheels in his head start to turn. “Get in.”
“Alright.” He let me go, got in, and closed the door. I quickly rounded the car, got in, adjusted the driver’s seat to accommodate my height and belly. Amethyst entered the code to open the garage door, and when it was high enough not to damage his car, I hit the gas. “Alright, tell me what’s going on?”
