Treasure did not hesitate. “I would have you make a plan, and I would have you return that child to his mother in a way that does not put him in danger. I would have you do it with care, and I would have you do it soon, before your heart attaches any deeper.”
My chest tightened at the word soon.
I looked down at the flowers again, then back up at the mansion. From this distance, it looked untouchable. It looked like a place where nothing bad could happen, and yet I knew better. Pain could live anywhere, and guilt could sit behind any door.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” I admitted, and the honesty tasted unfamiliar on my tongue.
Treasure’s face softened, and she reached out and touched my hand. “Yes, you can,” she said. “You have done harder things than this. You have survived losses that would have ruined other women. You have carried a nation on your back and never allowed it to bend you. Returning that baby will not destroy you. It will free you.”
I blinked slowly, keeping my face composed even as my eyes grew warm. I looked out over the yard again, over the flowers pushing up through soil, over the light fading into evening, and I felt something shift inside me that I did not like, but I could not ignore it.
For once, I didn’t know what I wanted more; to keep holding on to what I had taken, or to finally set it down and breathe without that weight pressing on my spirit.
Treasure squeezed my hand once. “You don’t have to decide in this moment, but you do have to stop pretending you don’t feel it.”
I nodded slowly, and my voice came out low. “I feel it.”
Treasure’s eyes held mine, and she spoke softly, like she was giving me permission to be human. “Then that is the beginning.”
We stood there together in the quiet, two women who had grown into power, motherhood, and womanhood, and for the first time in a long time, I felt the edge of my own certainty begin to soften, but I didn’t know whether I should be relieved or afraid.
Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
Me and Toni was kickin’ it at Pressure’s crib again, which had pretty much turned into a regular thing over the last few weeks since everybody had been tryna stick together and keep life movin’ like normal even though shit around us been anything but normal.
Me, Pressure and Renza was out on the patio playin’ cards, smokin’, and drinkin’ like we always did when we linked up. The patio sat behind the house overlookin’ the water and the lights from the pool bounced across the glass railin’ while the night air stayed warm.
A blunt was burnin’ between us while a heavy crystal bottle of dark liquor sat off to the side next to three short glasses filled with ice. Every now and then one of us would reach for our glass,take a sip, and then toss another card down on the table like the game actually meant somethin’.
Truth was, none of us was really worried about the cards.
A month had passed since Auntie Abeni did that press conference and turned the whole damn island upside down. She stepped in front of them cameras calm as hell and aired out Echo and Roderick’s bitch asses. Once that story about Roderick cheatin’ on his wife hit the news, that shit spread fast as hell and suddenly the same reporters who had been sayin’ my name every day started sayin’ his instead.
The whole scandal cracked his clean image wide open and people started talkin’ about him instead of just talkin’ about me, and I couldn’t lie. A nigga loved that shit.
But even with that distraction goin’ on, these bitches had still been pushin’ hard and my first day of trial startin’ next month had been sittin’ in the back of my mind like a dark cloud I couldn’t shake. Every time I thought about that courtroom my stomach twisted a lil’, so I learned real quick not to sit around thinkin’ about it too long.
Instead, my thoughts kept driftin’ to Toni, and that woman had been actin’ wild as hell lately.
She was seven months pregnant and horny like she lost her damn mind.
I shook my head a lil’ while I looked down at my cards ‘cause just thinkin’ about the last couple weeks had me chucklin’ to myself.
Usually, I’m the one pressin’ her for sex all the time, but lately that shit flipped completely around. Ever since her belly started gettin’ bigger and the baby started movin’ more, Toni had been chasin’ me around the house like she was on a mission. Sometimes I would just be walkin’ through the kitchen mindin’ my business and outta nowhere she’d reach out and grab my ass.She was always lookin’ at me like she was tryna drag me straight to the bedroom and wild out on a nigga.
Sometimes I would get out the shower and she would already be sittin’ on the edge of the bed waitin’ on me with that look in her eyes. Other times she would wake me up in the mornin’ rubbin’ on me talkin’ about she couldn’t sleep. And then before we even went to bed at night she would start all over again like she was tryna make up for lost time or some shit.
While I was thinkin’ about it my phone buzzed on the table and when I picked it up I saw Toni’s name on the screen.
I opened the message and immediately started laughin’ under my breath.
She had texted me one sentence.
I want my dick tonight.
I leaned back in my chair and shook my head while I locked my phone again.
Pressure looked over at me. “What you smilin’ at?”
