“He keeps busy. School, practice, friends. I let him keep the car Danilo got him. I hate looking at the damn thing, but I’m trying to allow him his freedom and not hover. I don’t know. It’s not the same, that’s for sure. Something is fractured between us… and I don’t know if we’ll ever get it back.”
“You will,” Coast insisted. “You are a good mother, Nari. You gave your son the life you didn’t have. He didn’t always have his father, but he had you. He fucked up, choosing Danilo over you. He knows that. I’m sure he wants to get back to what you used to be too. He texted you, right?”
“He probably wants to ask me for something.” Inari tittered, perking up when headlights flashed near the front of the house. “I put the rest of the food up and cleaned the kitchen for you.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Try to take care of yourself too, Coast. If you need a break, I am more than happy to keep her while you go do something alone, or go out on a date with your husband,” she suggested, listening to car doors slam shut.
Mozzi and his brothers’ voices echoed outside right before his keys jingled in the door, and he let them inside.
“Nigga supposed to be in rehab trying to shake that shit, not find a new bitch.” Mozzi cackled as Moose and Kong stumbled in behind him.
The three of them paused mid stride when they saw that Inari was also present. Mozzi held the Ocean Prime bag a little closer and admired Coast in her loungewear. She could turn up in any setting, but he loved her most when she was comfortable and carefree.
“Aw shit.” Mozzi snickered, shaking his head. “What’s up, Nari?”
“Don’t stop on my account.” She grabbed her Tory Burch bag, slung it over her shoulder, and then stood.
Eyes latching onto Moose, she let them linger over his appearance. His eyes were low, so he’d definitely smoked some weed, but Moose never considered weed a drug. He was blowing like Marley until the casket dropped. Still, something was different. His skin was brighter, and he had even picked up a few pounds. Of course, it was all muscle. His arms were even bigger than she remembered, with broader, more defined shoulders linked to them. Licking his lips, he assessed her carefully, noticing the few changes. Mainly the weight loss, at least fifteen pounds. She still looked good, but he hoped she stopped where she was. All her curves and extra cushion were what he loved about her.
“It’s good to see you, Nari.”
She hadn’t quite dealt with her feelings regarding Moose. With him in rehab, it was more of an out-of-sight, out of mind kind of thing. She missed him, and he had reached out while he was in there, she just didn’t return his calls or respond. Moose was persistent, though, always dropping random and even funnymessages, memes, or reels in her thread. Inari couldn’t help but laugh sometimes because he really was a fool.
“Morgan, if I didn’t answer when you called or texted, what makes you think I want anything to do with you?”
“First of all, you miss me,” Moose spoke up, making Kong chuckle before bypassing him to the kitchen behind Mozzi.
He’d already sniffed out the meal Inari made and popped the top to the Tupperware lid.
“You’re loud and wrong.”
“Yeah, I aight, so why you won’t look at me then? Why you get so tight when I walked in?” Moose interrogated, reaching for his tank top and pulling it over his head.
He stood there in nothing but his basketball shorts and Nike Dunks, chiseled chest and abs on display, and damnit if he didn’t look good. Catching the curve of his dick in his shorts, she shook her head and talked shit to her lady parts for even entertaining this shit. Moose had cleaned up in more ways than one. There was always this darkness simmering in his eyes since she’d known him. Now she was able to see past that into something else. Another version of him, maybe?
“I spent all my time in therapy and working out. What you think?”
“I think you look fat,” she said, squinting and walking past Coast on the couch so she could get to the door.
“Damn sure got that girth.” Moose tucked his bottom lip between his teeth and grabbed his dick.
“He misses you.”
“Oh, my God, you are so nasty. What kind of rehab they send you to?” Coast quipped, turning up her nose.
Mozzi snickered and grabbed a fork from the dishrack so he could pick up some of the chicken in the dish. He knew better than to touch Coast’s food before she did. He didn’t want that smoke tonight.
“The kind with tennis courts and bad bitches who like to give you massages. They be fucking they therapists in there too.” Mozzi took a bite of the tender chicken, and Kong slid onto a stool.
“Hmm, sounds very healing,” Inari muttered, rolling her eyes.
She was more annoyed, but jealousy brewed in her chest thinking about him with someone else. Morgan Blackmoor left a mark on her. A damn stain she couldn’t remove if she tried. She still prayed for him and wanted him to be happy. When she got unsolicited reports from Kong on how well he was doing, it made her smile. It said a lot that he was willing to go get the help. Most people didn’t think they needed to.
Moose grabbed her wrist when she bypassed him. The resentment and fury she carried there months ago had diminished, and that made him happy. He knew giving her space would possibly open the path to her heart again. She looked down at his hands on her, then back into his eyes. He quickly released her and surrendered with his hands.
“My bad. You still mad at me?”
