Page 202 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

This nigga Mekhi must have jinxed me. That’s the only explanation for this shit.

All the women are cooing and taking pictures. Emir, Ty-Ty’s two month-old son, is sitting on my lap, with my hands supporting him. His fist must taste delicious, because he keeps slobbering over it, his big eyes locked on me.

“Waddup?” I ask. I bounce him gently on my lap, since I think that’s what babies like. It works; he’s all gums now, and there’s more “awwws” as flashes go off.

“That’s your big cousin, Emir!” Lala coos, pinching his cheek.

“Take his fist out his mouth, Ricky!”

“He good,” I tell Nan, bringing him closer. He’s saying something, but I don’t speak baby. He prolly just wants in on this dominoes game, so I turn him around and scoot into the table, where the score card is.

“The game over, Emir. See? Ya big cousin put belt to ass. You’ll feel it firsthand as soon as you learn to count.” I show him the notebook, holding it out of reach from his slobbery hand.

“Do you want kids, Rico?”

The familiar ache forms in my chest like always when I hear this question. No matter how much I tell myself I had no business being a father at seventeen, that I support Snow’s decision, especially because of the whole reason she found out she was pregnant, my chest still feels a pang, and a sense of missing something that never was pokes at my mind.

“Yeah, if my lady’s up to it,” I finally reply.

“And when are we gonna meet this mysterious lady?”

“It’s Wynter Snow, Ms. Pam,” YT supplies, grinning. “The rapper. She’s having her album release party tonight, or I’m sure she’d be here.”

“Does Nan like her?” Lala snickers. At the same time, Pam asks, “Well, why aren’t you there with her?!”

“Nan loves her! We all do!” Mars says. He takes a big gulp of punch before setting it down and playing peek-a-boo with Emir. I stand, and he takes my seat, so I can put Emir in his lap and take out my phone.

He freezes immediately, his eyes slowly turning to me.

“You got it, Mars. Breathe,” I chuckle, flicking up a few times. Glancing over my shoulder at the cooing hens, I tell them, “Nan told me she needed to talk to me, but every time I try to talk to her y’all pulling her every which way. Ain’t that right?”

Nan stops scrubbing a dish to suck her teeth at me.

“Sorry it’s so hard on you to spend time with the family,” she snaps. “Go on and meet me outside. I’ll be right out, Ricky.”

Jack, Emiko’s mother, chuckles before gingerly taking Emir from Mars. I hear Nan mumble some shit about Snow telling her I was uninvited anyway, but the rest of the women laugh too loud and abruptly for me to process it.

Outside, on the back deck, it’s much cooler than the house. A cough alerts me that I’m not alone, and when I turn to my left, Pooh is sitting on the bench, smoking a joint.

“My bad–”

“Nah, hijo. I’m just putting it out.” He stubs it on the bottom of his shoe, and against my better judgment, I take a seat next to him.

The air becomes awkward almost immediately, but Pooh is the first to fill it.

“This was Rone and Aree’s house, you know?”

I turn to him, already finding his eyes on me. “Yeah?”

“Yup. Last job Rone pulled, they bought this house. This the last place they all lived in as a family. It makes sense why Ty-Ty ended up buying it for his own family.”

“It’s nice as fuck. Out the way, too. Where he needs to be.”

“You gon’ buy my daughter-in-law a house like this? Make an honest woman out of her? I got your mother three carats, but that was before I was seeing real money.”

A corner of my mouth lifts. I don’t even have to close my eyes to see the engagement ring he’s talking about. “You in my business, but, yeah. Sooner than she thinks, she gon’ get the whole nine. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be taking our own Alvarez men pictures, if I don’t kill you first.”

Laughter bursts from him, making me grin back. We look just alike, especially with his hair cut low. Me in twenty years. How I even got comfortable enough to be sitting within five feet, I can’t even recall. Somewhere between Mars and Snow and almost losing Nan, we’ve gotten on near-even footing.