Page 73 of K.I.N.: Karma Is Near

Fuck it.

I had shopping to do with his wife.

I was inside the Target in Union with Samantha less than an hour later, pushing the cart while she threw shit inside of it for my baby shower like I hadn’t just been outside arguing with her husband about the baby currently sitting on my bladder.

Fucked up.

But that was my life.

I loved my cousin.

That was probably the sickest part about the whole thing.

Me and Sam grew up close and somehow stayed close as adults. I lived in East Orange, she was right there in Irvington, so I saw her often. Birthdays. Cookouts. Random pull-ups. Kids’ shit. Family shit. Regular shit.

So me running into Xay three years ago at that kickback wasn’t some crazy coincidence.

We ran in the same circles.

I just wasn’t supposed to fuck him.

“Do we need more plates?” Sam asked.

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, bitch. It’s a baby shower, not a wedding.”

“You say that now until fifty motherfuckers show up with twenty extra people.”

I laughed as she tossed another pack in anyway.

She laughed and kept walking.

I followed behind her, rubbing the side of my stomach when Collin shifted.

Sam looked back.

“He moving?”

“Yeah.”

She walked over and put her hand against my stomach without even asking.

Right then, Collin kicked.

Her eyes widened.

“Oh shit!”

I laughed.

“You felt it?”

“Yes!” She rubbed my stomach again. “Damn, little man. Calm down.”

I watched her hand.