Page 40 of That Fire

I kissed her ear then sat back up as Mr. Red smiled. I glanced at Asad, and he nodded. “I felt a way about this too for a hot second, because of the past.”

I knew he was talking about Mila. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

“Your actions in this situation prove just how much you love and respect her. You came back to her before knowing that the children were yours because you couldn’t be without her. That’s real shit right there. I applaud anyone who can raise a child as theirs. Your sister takes care of Jay like he’s hers, even when his mama was trying to kill her.”

He slowly shook his head as if he were reminiscing. “She’s a real one, so you can’t help but be a real one too, since you’reher brother and now that you’ve matured. Crew got a lil more maturing he needs to do.”

I frowned slightly as Mr. Red turned his head, and Red Squared huffed. “What did I miss? Crew did something?”

“That lil nigga was saying Aaliyah was a ho. Telling people that shit. Somebody came back and told Pop. He talked to your dad about it though,” Squared said.

“When was this?”

“Around the time you knocked his ass out at the diner,” Asad replied.

I slightly rolled my eyes. That nigga was begging to get fucked up. “Aaliyah said he was after her, and she declined his offer. She and I were already messing around, but no one knew.”

“So he can’t handle rejection,” Mr. Red said.

“Apparently not. He got one more time to speak negatively about her though. Hell hath no fury like the one he gon’ feel. Ain’t nobody gon’ be able to get me off his ass,” I said.

Mr. Red was staring at me with a serious expression on his face. “Yeah, she’s in good hands. If you’ll go against your brother to protect her, then I don’t have a thing to worry about.”

“Why y’all talking about me?” Aaliyah said in her sleep.

We all looked at her and chuckled. She was out. I supposed we’d be eating dinner when she decided to rejoin us.

Chapter 14

Aaliyah

Dinner went amazingly well at my parents’ house . . . when I finally woke up. Royal sat there with me the entire time, letting me rest. He said he refused to wake me. If I was asleep, I needed the rest. I swore, Royal Henderson was everything I ever wanted in a man. We were at Bali’s office waiting to be seen. They’d already gotten my weight and blood pressure.

I’d been having a little pain. I was thirty-five weeks, but Bali wanted me to hold them as long as I safely could. The last time Royal and I had sex, when I went to the bathroom, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure. Since there was no blood, I just lay back in bed with my feet elevated. That was two days ago.

I knew he was suffering big time. Royal was extremely sexual. He wasn’t complaining about a thing and was waiting on me hand and foot. I wanted to reward him for that and show him that I was thinking about his needs as well, so I asked Nikki to come over and take care of him later.

Royal grabbed my hand and kissed it. He seemed nervous, and I knew that was because he was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the twins. I wanted to at least try to make it until after the baby shower next weekend. He gently rubbed my belly andone of the babies literally kicked right where his hand was. His eyebrows lifted as I laughed.

“Well, damn. I guess that meant leave him or her alone. I feel like that was Ravi though. Rasha gon’ be daddy’s princess.”

I laughed more. “I think it was just a coincidence, baby.”

I brought my hand to his cheek, and he leaned over and kissed my lips. I wanted him so bad. My pussy had to be cursing me out. I was still wet as ever, but I couldn’t do shit about it. When we separated, Mya was coming from the back.

“Hey, y’all!”

“What’s up, Mya?” Royal said.

She hugged me and rubbed my belly. “Girl . . . you have got to be close. It looks like you’re going to topple over when you stand.”

I smiled. “My due date is in five more weeks, but hopefully I can make it at least another two.”

“Well, we gon’ pray for that. I guess today was family day. When I got here, Karima was leaving out, and Milana is in another room.”

“I suppose it is.”

“Well, I’ll see y’all later.”