“I’m thinking that we had better get back now. This moisture is turning into stickiness between my thighs, and I’m afraid that I’ll be stuck to your bike when this is all said and done.”
He chuckles as he helps me off the front of his bike. “That might not be a bad thing, li’l bit.”
He winks, and my heart floods with warmth.
FOUR DAYS LATER
“Shit looks like a good plan to me. I say it’s time to knock some niggas’ heads off they blocks,” Sunny declares, rubbing his hands together with a crooked grin.
Digger sniffs and looks at Priest, Sunny, and me before he speaks. “We can run the plan in?—”
Priest’s door flies open with no warning, and all our heads jerk up, ready to fuck a nigga up.
“The fuck,” Priest grumbles, mugging Jagged, who is looking stressed than a muthafucka.
“Aye, Priest, I gotta get Bell to the hospital. Her water broke, and she’s having contractions.”
“Fuck!” Priest shouts and jumps up from his seat. “You good? What do you need from us? Has someone got a cage ready to go?”
“She’s in her car now. I need somebody to put my bike in the garage in case it rains before I get back. I need someone else to roll by my place and wait for my kids to get out of school. They should be home in an hour,” Jagged explains, holding up a house key.
“Thought y’all had that shit worked out,” Digger states.
“We did, but we didn’t expect her to go into labor two and a half weeks early either.”
“Y’all parents ain’t made it in town yet?” Sunny asks.
“Nah, but they’re about to get on the road now. They’re a little over three hours away. My neighbors are supposed to be my parents’ backup when the baby comes, but they are out of town until tomorrow.”
“Aye, ain’t no sweat, bruh. I’ve got you. I can roll through,” I reply, standing and accepting the key that he hands to me.
We all rush out to the front where Torch is cleaning something from the floor that I guess is where Bell’s water broke. There is a lot of excitement and chatter, and I see Charisma to the side, chatting with Juicy. They both look so happy and excited.
It only takes a minute for me to take in the look on her face, and I know that I want that look there always.
“Where’s Ember?” I hear Priest ask.
“She’s in the car with Kyte and Bell, waiting for Jagged,” someone answers.
I walk over to Charisma’s fine ass looking like she wants somebody to hunch on her in them short ass jean shorts. The fuck was I thinking telling her it was okay to wear them?
“Hey, we gotta go.”
“Is everything okay? Are you going to the hospital too?” she asks.
“Nah. We’re heading over to Jagged’s place. Gotta make sure we can let his kids in the house after school. They’re not used to coming home to an empty house. Bell’s usually there, and they already had arrangements in place for when she had the baby. Since it’s coming early, they had to think on the run. We’re that run,” I state, reaching for her hand.
“See you later, Juicy,” she calls out as I drag her along behind me.
“Here,” I grumble, handing her helmet to her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just thinking. Need to get out my fucking head.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“CJ. Not being here for you and him when he was born. Wanting to close this case up so we can bring his li’l ass home. Looking forward to getting to know him better. How the day that he left town, we spent hours together before I left him with my sister. It still wasn’t enough time. All the shit, ya know?”
