He stepped in with a measured breath and of course—it was his cleanest rhythm of the night. He ran a ladder like he’d built it himself: three, five, seven, set me sweet on the eight. He looked up, checked me, asked without asking. I rolled my shoulders, nodded, then lined up like a woman about to end a chapter and start another.
Tap-tap. Inhale. Exhale.
The eight dropped. The room held its breath. Just the nine left—long, honest, center pocket. My belly tugged again, not as mean. Nugget knew the assignment.
“Finish,” Quentin breathed while sliding his glasses on. Not order. Benediction.
I stroked through. Smooth. Clean. The nine rolled like a yes and fell like a promise kept. The Green Room erupted—Tino banging the mic, Uncle Leon slapping the bar, Shawna shrieking a pitch I didn’t know she owned. Daddy whooped like the first time I sank a shot on the basement table when I was ten. Ma smiled softly, yelling, “that’s my baby” over the crowd.
And that’s when the big squeeze hit—low, tight, the kind that didn’t ask permission.
I put my hand on the rail and laughed. It came out watery, ridiculous, full of everything. “Okay.”
Quentin slid in front of me, eyes gone wide behind those black frames. He pushed them up with one finger—the thing he does when he’s already three steps ahead. “How far apart?”
“Mind your business,” I said, then curled a little, let a breath shiver. “About… now.”
He nodded like I’d just confirmed a weather report. “We’re four minutes from Magee with the lights we got. You’ve had three in the last forty-ish minutes. We’ll get yourbag—Jada’s got it in the car, she told me, because she doesn’t trust either of us. We’re fine.”
It didn’t feel like panic. It felt like a man who had mapped every route to me and folded them into his pocket.
Shawna appeared at my elbow with water and a fan she claimed she didn’t carry but absolutely did. “Say the word, I’m cussing everybody out.”
Keisha pressed a kiss to my cheek, eyes bright. “You did so good.”
Daddy cupped the back of my head and kissed my forehead, voice gone low in a way I hadn’t heard since I was small. “I’m right behind y’all.” Mama’s palm slid across my cheek, cool from the napkin, warm from her skin. “We’re right behind you,” she said, and when Daddy slipped an arm around her waist, neither of them made a deal of it. The cruise was in their eyes anyway.
Darren—big, protective—faked a calm that didn’t reach his hands. “Let’s move, Rae.”
“Wait.” I turned, grabbed Quentin’s shirt, pulled him down to me. The whole room was a noise I loved, but the only sound I needed right then was him. “We won.”
He grinned, forehead pressed to mine. “We did.”
“And I did not cheat just ’cause I’m carrying your good luck charm.”
He laughed, then kissed me—soft, fast, packed with that thing we never had the right word for. He pulled away and his eyes shined like he’d just solved for x and found forever.
Tino yelled, “Make a lane! We got a champion and a baby coming through!”
The Green Room parted like Moses finally respectedEast Liberty. Our people surrounded without smothering—hands on shoulders, quick hugs, jokes to keep the air light.
Malik jogged ahead and pulled the door, bowing like the clown he is. “Don’t name the baby after me unless you want pure chaos.”
Cierra swatted him and cried anyway. “Text us! Every hour!”
Outside, the air was warm and slick with June. The sky sat deep and velvet, like it had been saving itself for exactly this kind of night. Quentin guided me to this truck with that firm, gentle hand that always knows the right amount of pressure. Jada popped out of his passenger side holding a tote like she’d been waiting on a whistle. “Snacks, charger, robe, chapstick,” she rattled. “And the playlist with no slow sad songs because no one needs that energy.”
“See,” I huffed, climbing in between squeezes, “this is why I like your people.”
“Our people,” Quentin corrected, buckling me in. His fingers were sure, his mouth soft. “You ready?”
“No,” I said honestly, a laugh breaking on the word. “Yes.”
He jogged around, slid into the driver’s seat, pushed those glasses up again, and looked over at me like he was memorizing the five most important things on earth.
“Hey,” he said, voice a shade to the left of reverent. “You did that.”
“About to do this, too,” I muttered, as another wave rolled in. I breathed through it, eyes on him. “Don’t you speed.”
