AUGUST, page 19
“It’s cool. Baby, let’s bounce,” I said to Faith. She was quick to gather her plate and clutch. The atmosphere was thick with tension anyway and it all stemmed from the person glaring across the table.
“No, don’t leave,” Grandma pleaded. I leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t sit here and be fake. Everyone is happy for you, Jericho, and I wanna be too. But I can’t. This damaged ass girl is not your fuckin’ wife. You can do way better, and I’ve told you that multiple times.”
The whole room gasped. I wasn’t going to question how Latoya knew anything about Faith’s rape. Some people suspected but never had the fucking balls to say that shit to my fucking face. Incensed, forgetting where the fuck I was and whose presence I was in, I flipped the table over sending all the food, drinks, and everything crashing to the dining room floor. Shocked, commotion filled the dining room. As if Latoya was a nigga, I aimed for her.
“No!” Faith shouted. She grabbed one arm, while Jamie grabbed the other one to hold me back.
“I’ma choke the fuck outta you!” I blasted.
Latoya laughed. “Put yo’ hands on me so I can get you locked the fuck up!”
“Toya,” my grandma reasoned, “please stop it!”
Hearing the strain in her voice fueled me.
“Wait!” Faith implored. “Wait a fuckin’ minute!”
Faith’s tone snapped everyone back to reality. In an instant, you could hear a pin drop inside the dining room. She dropped my arm and went toward Latoya who prepared to swing.
“I’m not about to put my fuckin’ hands on you, scary ass bitch.” Faith’s comments didn’t make Latoya lower her guard.
“Damaged? This coming from a woman who’s been with the same man ever since I’ve known her. Your problem is you’re jealous of this damaged woman. You hate that someone can actually love me through all the shit I’ve been through. While I was damaged at the hands of someone else, the damage dogging you is internal. I’ve healed from someone taking a piece of me. How can you heal what’s being created within yourself, Latoya?”
The dining room was mute with everyone focused on Latoya.
“That’s your fuckin’ problem. You can’t heal the damage you cause yourself because you wallow in that shit every fuckin’ day.” Faith turned to me. “Now, we can go.”
I hurried up and grabbed her shit and followed her out of the dining room, mugging Latoya in the process. Back inside the truck, I tweaked her chin.
“You okay, mamas?”
She glanced at me with her eyebrow hiked up and plopped her arms over her breasts. “Hell, fuck no. I want to dog walk yo’ sister through that fuckin’ house. But Grandma FeFe don’t need to see that.”
I cracked up. “For the record, I wasn’t gon’ touch her stupid ass.”
“First off, I thought you were gon’ take that damn girl’s head off. Secondly, Latoya isn’t stupid. She’s ignorant. Until she can understand the beast that is inside of her, she’ll continue to be ignorant.”
“You’re right, my baby.”
“Of course, I am. Now let’s get out of here before I change my mind.”
Chuckling, I pulled from the curb and headed back the house that I grew up in. We’d stay there for the night before heading back to Pensacola in the morning.
When we got there, my pops was sitting on the porch, smoking a cigarette. He saw us and beamed with pride.
“My boy! Daughter-in-law,” he called. Still a little wobbly on his legs, he grabbed his cane and took the stairs one by one. Over the years, he’d put on a little more weight to his stocky frame. He pushed me aside and gave Faith a big hug.
“Girl, it’s been a minute,” he said.
“I know. I’m gonna come see you more often. June misses you.”
“Where is my grandbaby?”
“Home with his dad,” she replied.
Pops chuckled. “August still runnin’ from me, huh.”
We busted out laughing. Ever since August and I had that shootout some years back, Pops had been on his head. Truthfully, once my relationship with August smoothed over, so did his. He was talking shit, but he loved August like a son.
“Y’all come on in and get settled. A storm is comin’ tonight,” he explained.
I retrieved our things from the trunk, then went into the house to spend some time with Faith and Pops, my two favorite people.
The next afternoon, I walked through J Cutz IV inspecting everyone’s station. So far, things had been going pretty well. Faith managed things perfectly. I stayed on sight, inside my office, just to make sure muthafuckas didn’t find it in their chest to get buck with her. She made sure niggas kept shit clean, kept shit in line, and paid me on time. At first, I was skeptical about her stepping into that role. However, my baby was a dog in this shit.
Each barbershop I owned had her and June’s name on it anyway. If anything was to ever happen to me, everything would go to them. Her working here was to help her get acquainted with what could very well be hers without me one day.
I hated to think about that shit. I wanted to be with her forever, but life didn’t work like that. Taking a man’s life without any remorse showed me how fucking cold this world was. Even to this day, I couldn’t find a molecule inside me to care about putting a bullet through Cooley. The only thing that shit stirred inside me was preparation. At every opportunity, I prepared Faith to live without me just in case life came in and made the choice for us. June fell on my spirit something heavy. I missed that little nigga even though I’d dropped him off at daycare this morning.
“Everything’s clean,” Faith stated when I made the second trip around. Music blasted from the speakers, niggas’ conversations were loud as fuck, and the buzz of the clippers warred with it all. The lobby was decently full, and the flat screens were each playing a different sports game.
Faith approached me smiling. I took in the jeans and J Cutz IV tee shirt she had on with a satisfied smile of my own.
“How ‘bout we play hooky, pick June up from daycare, and go grab us some lunch?”
Her smile grew. “That sounds nice.”
“What sounds nice?” August asked, coming through the entrance.
I mugged him. “None of yo’ damn business. Where the fuck is Asia when I need her?”
“Right here.”
Turning, I saw Asia coming from the back of the shop with one of her mannequin wigs in tow.
“Okay, so what do I have to do to get a booth?” she asked. “It’s time for me to grow up and stop doing my work on the couch.”
Faith cut me off before I could say anything. She pointed to the booth that was at the very end of the row.
“That’s supposed to be Jericho’s booth. But he hasn’t cut a head in years. So… you can have it!”
August and I grumbled.
“That’s what you got my office for, shawty,” August griped.
Asia smacked her teeth. “Your office is cool and all, but like I just said, I need to grow up. A booth seems way more professional, baby. It actually feels like I’m at work. Plus, this will help with my content, too.”
August grilled her. “So, you wanna be ‘round niggas all fuckin’ day is what you sayin’?”
Faith and Asia died laughing. August and I didn’t crack a smile.
“Jericho and Faith are here, crazy. And you’re right next door.”
August’s face relaxed. “Yeah, you right.”
“Exactly. Now, when can I move in, Faith?”
After Faith got Asia squared away, we left to go get June. He was excited to see me picking him up from daycare.
“Bonus!” he shouted behind the locked glass door. The assistant unlocked the door to let him out. I caught him in my arms and kissed his forehead.
“You wanna go hang out with me and Mama?”
“Yeah!” he exclaimed. He waved bye to the front desk lady as we left out.
June wasn’t my biological son, but he would be raised like it. I would never overstep my boundaries where August was concerned, but I liked to think August wasn’t worried about shit like that. He knew June was safe with me and that I would love and protect him with my life.
Over lunch, he told me all about his morning and how happy he was that I came to pick him up. Our relationship was just different. He knew he had his daddy, but he also knew he had me. Being his “Bonus” was the greatest gift I could’ve asked for. He and his mother were the reasons why I didn’t give a fuck about what anyone, blood or otherwise, had to say about us as a family. I loved the fuck out of my lady and our son.
Chapter Thirty-One
ASIA ANTHONY
The cramping in my body was unreal. I had a hard time relaxing because they were tearing my lower back up. It had been so long since I had a period, so my body was making me pay for that shit. August was at work but promised to have me a heating pad and snacks ready when I got there to chill with him. At the rate I was going, I needed to just go to my grandmother’s apartment and crash with her until he got off.
In the meantime, I was here at Dr. House’s office, waiting for him to come into the room to see me. My blood had already been drawn, and I hoped the results weren’t going to take too long. Every few seconds, I checked my phone for the time, needing to hurry and get out of here. Not only was I cramping, but I was feeling faint.
The door opened, and with a smile on my face, I greeted Dr. House.
“Asia, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”
I wouldn’t say that I wanted to verbalize. Instead, I simply smiled.
“Well, we have good news,” he started. Relief washed down my spine, taking some of the rigidness out of it. “Your levels look much better which means the medication is working.”
“That’s such a relief,” I said, wanting to leap for joy.
“Have you been getting worse since you called?”
I shrugged. “I have good days where I won’t be sick at all. Then, I have days were it’s like the medication is just ripping my stomach in two.”
He nodded with understanding. “I truly hate that. However, this is the only way to ensure that the tumor completely leaves. Once your levels are stabilized, we will see about coming off of it.”
I breathed another sigh of relief.
“I see that you finally had a period.”
“It started today,” I grumbled to which he chuckled.
“That’s in line with your lab work.”
“Does that mean I should start birth control?” August and I weren’t even thinking about protection. As much as he stayed inside me, I needed something to hold off the inevitable.
“Actually, birth control is not recommended while taking this medication. I should also say that becoming pregnant while on this medication can produce its own problems. I recommend condoms—”
“Wait… I know you said that there was a possibility that I couldn’t have children, but I thought that was if the medication didn’t work.”
“What I’m saying is that if you suspect you’re pregnant, I need to know right away so that we can stop the medication.”
“Won’t that make the tumor come back?”
“We will continue to monitor your tumor even after you come off the medication,” he said.
“So… basically you’re making me choose between a baby and a tumor,” I deduced. I felt myself about to break down. He went from giving me good news, to breaking me down.
He shook his head and chuckled. “That’s not at all what I’m saying, Ms. Anthony. What I’m saying is that it is very possible for you to conceive. It is possible to carry your baby to term without any complications. My job and the job of whatever OB you select will be to monitor your pregnancy at all times. Okay?”
I nodded but still wanted to cry.
“For right now, we’re going to continue with the medication and recheck you in another four weeks. We’ll repeat your MRI at that time as well. Is that okay?”
Again, I nodded. I checked out as he performed the rest of my exam. August was heavy on my mind, wondering how he would feel to know that having a child would require so much of me. We hadn’t even talked about having children. However, seeing the beauty of him being a father, he was such a natural at it. Plus, he moved like a man who planned to have an entire future with me. If I couldn’t give him a baby, I wondered if that would change the trajectory of the bond and love we’d built.
I felt myself being lifted and woke up to August carrying me out of my grandmother’s bedroom. He took me to the sofa, where he sat down and laid me across his lap. Seconds later, he had a heating pad resting on my lower back. The heat instantly calmed the pain I was experiencing.
After leaving Dr. House’s office, I drove on autopilot until I made it to Ensley Shores. Although I knew he was waiting for me, I wasn’t ready to face August. His ass had a way of knowing when shit was off with me. I needed time to figure out a way to tell him without destroying us in the process.
Now, as I laid on his lap listening to him read to my grandma, his fingers dug into the muscles of my back, massaging away the cramping. He alternated between the heating pad and his thick fingers. At this point, his fingers were definitely in a league of their own.
Everything August did for me just felt like…love. Everything he did for my grandma felt like love. Reading to her was his way of having quality time with her, and he never skipped a beat. I fell back to sleep serenaded by my man’s voice.
Sometime later, I woke up in his bed. The subtle pain in my back caused me to quickly sit up. I threw the covers back to see if I’d ruined his sheets. Finding a folded-up mattress protector underneath me merely made me smile at August’s thoughtfulness. Climbing from the bed, I went into the bathroom to find everything that I needed sitting on the counter along with a change of clothes.
An hour later, I emerged from the bathroom prepared to have this fucking talk with August. I refused to go through the night with it weighing on me. He was in the living room, reading, of course. As soon as he saw me coming, he placed the book aside. My man didn’t have to tell me to use his lap as my sitting place. I kissed his lips a few times, just basking in the great ass man that he was to me.
“The medicine is working,” I started.
He gripped my chin and brought me to him for another kiss. “But?”
The emotions I tried holding together broke like a dam. As I explained to him the extent of what was wrong with me, he wiped my tears without interrupting a thing I said. I watched his reactions closely, looking for any sign that anything I said would make him cringe in rejection.
“So, while the medication is working to shrink the tumor, I would have to come off the medicine should we ever get pregnant.” I finished on several hiccups. No matter how rapidly the tears flowed, he wiped them away. For a minute, he just let me gather my composure.
He brought me toward him and kissed my cheeks, then my lips.
“These tears are for nothin’, baby. If your body is meant to carry my baby, it will. If not, that just means there’s another route we must take if we decide to. However it plays out, I’m witchu. We ride this out together.”
“Are you sure, August? You can be honest—”
“Fuck outta here,” he interjected jokingly. “You ‘bout to get put in a headlock.”
Through my tears, I busted out laughing.
“I told you that your heartbeats belong to me. That means we’re together until that muhfucka stops beating.”
I chuckled. “You’re insane.”
“Psychotic,” he emphasized without so much as a smirk.
Running my hands over his thick and neatly groomed beard, I relished in the way it made his eyes burn with desire.
“‘Less you wanna be ‘round here incapacitated, I suggest you quit touchin’ on me like that.”
Giggling, I reminded him, “You said to touch you like I know—” The rest of what I was about to say died on my lips at the rise of his dick beneath me. Suddenly, my mouth went dry.
“What were you sayin’?”
“Uhm…”
“Your touch does crazy shit to me. So take my advice, but make sure you ready for whatever follows.”
Ready, I slid off his lap, tugged at his ball shorts, and freed his dick. The tank top he had on quickly came off, and he lifted up so that I could bring his shorts and boxers all the way down to his ankles.
He grabbed the base of his dick and stroked himself as I licked over the tip of his thick mushroom head. I caught the wetness at the slit, swallowing it. His head fell back on his shoulders. He grabbed my hair in one hand and continued to stroke himself with the other as I sucked and tongue-kissed his tip.
I had enough of him feeling what belonged to me, so I moved his hand aside and took him down my throat. His hips lifted off the couch as he moaned. As badly as my body cramped, it still craved for August to be inside of me. My clit thumped and with the slightest friction went up in flames. I pushed my pain and needs to the side, fondled his heavy balls, and sucked him while he repeatedly recited my name. When he came, I did too.
Moving back up his body, I kissed his thick lips. His eyes were partially closed and his body completely lax.
“Baby?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Your heartbeats belong to me.”
“Every muthafuckin’ one of them.”
Somewhere in the middle of a deep slumber, I could’ve sworn I heard August whisper that he loved me. Or maybe that was my heart echoing what I felt for him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
AUGUST WELLS
A few days later…
Asia, June, and I walked inside the bookstore hand in hand. June pulled us right to the children’s books section, excited to find the best book for him to read to Mary. Shopping should’ve been easy. However, June was so enthralled with all the books to choose from that he would pick one book up, just to put it down and choose another. We didn’t leave for almost an hour.
When we arrived at Ensley Shores, Katrina was in the lobby talking to Harold. He saw us coming and frowned his face up. I frowned the fuck back at his uglass. Harold brought out a side of me that was about to show my whole ass in this muthafucka. That nigga need to get the fuck out of this building. Reporting him should’ve had his ass moved out by now.
