“Hmm, how did you find it?” She was busy chewing and taking in all the food surrounding her.
“Um, I checked into a new realtor. Met with her today.” I revealed. “It’s Harbor. The realtor.” Just the mention of her name and Alba’s eyes drifted up to mine.
She paused right after stuffing her mouth with food and chewed slowly while taking me in. “You went to see her?” She demanded.
“Yeah. I had to. Maybe you can’t understand that, but… it was needed for me to move forward, Alba. After we said what we said, she suggested I use someone else, but I declined.”
“And why the fuck would you do that, huh!” She hissed across the table, brows furrowing angrily. “Why even go see her? You don’t owe her that. She left! She pulled this selfish ass stunt and got everyone to feel sorry for her, and she was somewhere tucked away without a care in the world. Fuck her!”
A few people around us glanced our way. Alba was turning up in this five-star restaurant and I knew I should have kept my fucking mouth shut until we got back to my crib. Grabbing my napkin from my lap, I dropped it on the table.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah, definitely just lost my fucking appetite.” She scooted her chair from the table so fucking fast that it jerked, making the glass dishes clatter together loudly.
Exasperated, I blew out a long breath and watched her stomp toward the entrance with her purse swinging at her side. She was pregnant as hell, but her rage wasn’t slowing her down. After paying our tab, I exited behind her. Alba paced near my car in the lot like she was mad at the ground. When she saw me, it only agitated her more. I hit the fob in my hand to unlock it, and she jumped in the seat and slammed her door shut.
The drive home was excruciating. Alba was practically on fire and I could feel it from where she sat. Pulling into the lot of my condo, as soon as I shut the car off, she hopped out and trotted toward the house.
“Alba! You really need to calm the fuck down. Shit ain’t even what you making it out to be.” I walked up on her near the porch and she used her key to unlock the front door.
“Fuck you, Lock!” She rushed inside and I was on her ass.
“You’re being childish as fuck over nothing.”
“Nothing!” She hollered back. “If it was nothing then you shouldn’t have lied about it.” She spun on me, eyes crazy wide. “If it was nothing you would have said something. Now you want to go have one on one conversations with her and buy housesfrom this bitch. How the fuck is that okay without running it by me, the woman that’s about to birth your first fucking child!”
“We talked and that’s it. The house that she showed me is for us, and the shit is perfect. It shouldn’t matter where it came from. She’s moved the fuck on and so have we. There ain’t shit else to talk about. We need a house and she happens to run a real estate company. This baby is coming any day now and we need to be ready. That’s what I was thinking about. She said we can set up another appointment for you to see the house too. I made an offer, so?—
“So you just made an offer like that… again, without talking to me.” She pointed out.
“I’m telling you, if I didn’t, someone else would grab it after one look. It’s everything that you said you wanted and it’s in our price range. Can you at least look at the spot before you decide that this is some fucking conspiracy?” I questioned, growing exhausted with the conversation. “And stop fucking questioning my loyalty to you. That shit should be unspoken by now. If it’s not, then what the fuck are we even doing?”
I humbled her with my outburst and shrank back fearfully. Her hormonal ass was all over the place these days. The baby coming was enough pressure on top of trying to get a house and maintain our relationship. We were both preoccupied and it was already putting a strain on us. Alba dropped down into the sofa. Slowly making my way over to her, I sat beside her and examined her. Her energy was changing.
“Alba, she’s the past. It’s about you, me, and this baby.” My hand fell on her stomach.
Tears welled in her eyes and she dropped her chin to her chest while she gave in to her emotions. She sniveled and used her hand to swipe away some of the tears that had fallen.
“Can you just trust me on that? What we are building here means more to me than anything. And it’s you, ma. How can anigga not want to protect that.? You both deserve the best of me, and I don’t do no sub-par shit.”
A weak smile came to her lips and she reached out with her hand, cupping my chin. I didn’t stop her from leaning in and kissing my lips. She brought her forehead to mine afterward and took her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I’ll go check it out. Set it up.” She pecked my lips again. “I love you, Lock. Back then, right now, and always.” She vowed.
I knew that she meant it from the unwavering stare she gave me. Regardless of me, Harbor or the past, I had to let go of that shit. I didn’t want to have any regrets or resentments with my child entering this world. My pops wasn’t around for me, and neither was Alba’s. Being active in this little person’s life was the most important thing to me. The leftover pull that I had to Harbor had to be buried. I didn’t want my relationship with Alba to be no baby mama, baby daddy type shit. After our child, keeping her happy was the next item on the list.
Frequency
A couple of nights later…
My house was crowdedwith people, and the only thing I could think about was how I couldn’t wait for all these mothafuckas to be gone. Celine had gone all out, and the theme of my party was a casino vibe. They were playing card games, there was dancing and food. The alcohol circled the room, and everyone actually seemed to be having a good time. My parents were both in town, and even Karmine had flown back in for the celebration. Shit must have been slow overseas because none of them ever really bothered with my birthday. A photographer went around snapping photos and recording video as well. I was in a crowded room, surrounded by bad bitches with Ledge at my side.
Chevy was front and center on the dancefloor, throwing her ass back with Harbor showing out right beside her. Both turned up and the life of the party, even though Harbor hadn’t been in the best mood all week. She’d been avoiding me, having Deviance take her to work before I was even out of bed. My parents and siblings were present, and I could tell from the look on my mother’s face that she wasn’t pleased with what she was seeing.
She’d living in the UK so long, and even before then she was a stick in the mud, so I could tell that the display was leaving her uncomfortable amongst her friends. She was so uptight and politically correct that the shit was stifling. Distance with me and my family was always the best thing.
Propped up in my chair, I sipped my drink and studied Harbor’s hips as they winded to the beat. More than a few drinks were coursing through me, and me and Ledge had crept out to smoke a couple of blunts, so X-rated thoughts penetrated me as I watched her moving in that little ass dress. Like a diamond in the midst of a bunch of regular ass stones, she shined.
