Page 32 of Tap In

I took a step toward her, but Jacobia grabbed my arm. “Noelle, stop playing with me. This ain’t the problems that you want. You already have criminal and civil issues. Having safety problems on top of that is not what you need.”

Her hand went to her hip. “Are you threatening me? All I wanted to do was tell her she looked nice even with her spread nose.” It was like she wanted to get handled.

“Nah, he doesn’t have to threaten you because I’m here to do his light lifting.” Galiana’s crazy ass came from where, I don’t fucking know. Her ass was like a light-skinned ninja. If you saw her, you would never know that she was bat shit crazy, especially when she was in mommy mode.

Noelle’s eyes bucked. Yeah, she didn’t want any smoke with her. Her hands went up so fast. “No, no, I’m fine. I was just leaving.”

She scurried toward Galiana’s direction to exit the front door of the building behind her. In her true pettiness, Galiana stuck her foot out and tripped the girl. Noelle went tumbling down face first. I cringed when she slid a little bit. “Oh, sweetheart, you have to watch your step,” Galiana said with feigned concern.

All of this shit was crazy as fuck. I turned my attention back to Jacobia. “Bring your hardheaded ass on before my baby be born in Las Vegas.” When she turned around to leave, I smacked her ass. This girl was going to bring me early grays.

I stopped when I stepped in front of Galiana. “You know you can’t just threaten people all openly like that. Someone’s gonna call them people on you.”

She giggled. “Dead people can’t call police.” She sashayed out like what she said was sane. I’d had multiple interactions with her over the years. All those interactions gave off crazy, especially when she wasn’t in front of her children. Let me get my ass back to Charleston.

A SHORT TIME LATER…

“Cobia,why would you eat that when it made you sick a few days ago. Baby, that makes no sense at all.” Joston fussed at me as I was on the floor, bent over the toilet, puking my guts out.

A few days ago, I had a craving for clam chowder. The crazy thing about that craving was that I didn’t like clam chowder. It was like, I woke up and my stomach saidfeed me clam chowder.I ordered some from a restaurant to come to my house. It tasted so amazing going down. Less than an hour later, I was on the bathroom floor, throwing up and in pain.

After I got myself together, I leaned against the wall. “Baby, I thought if I got it from a different restaurant that I would be alright. It’s hard to deny my cravings.” I shrugged my shoulders. “The baby wants what the baby wants. Maybe the third time is the charm.”

His eyelids expanded. “You can’t be serious right now. Jacobia, I promise you if I find out that you ate more chowder, I’m going to get in your ass. I’m not about to fucking play with you. Don’t blame my baby girl because your ass wants something you don’t need or like.”

I nodded. “I’m done.” He helped me up from the floor. I was so ready to have this baby. If Joston asked me for another baby any time soon, I was going to tell him to kiss my ass. This little girl had tried me in the ugliest of ways.

Joston waited for me to brush my teeth, then he walked me over to our bed and laid me down. After we made our relationship official, we agreed that he would move into my house in Christianson Circle. I broached the topic of us buying another home together somewhere. He knew how important family closeness was to me and shot that down. I appreciated that and loved him for thinking of me. He planned to add his house to his Airbnb portfolio. Our combined portfolios had fifteen properties.

“I’m about to go cook dinner. Take a nap before Chance and Lark get here,” he instructed. He didn’t give me an opportunity to say anything before he kissed my lips.

I wrapped my arm around his neck to deepen the kiss. He let me, until my hand went down to his dick. When he pulled away, I pouted. “Just a little bit.”

“Jacobia, you just finished throwing up. We can’t be sure if you’re done. You are not about to throw up on me.” He pecked my lips. “I love you though.”

I wanted to have a whole damn tantrum. Before one could set in, exhaustion set in first. From the first yawn, I knew I was a goner.

* * *

I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep when Joston woke me. His kisses lulled me out of my sleep. When my eyes fluttered open to see his perfect face, I smiled. “Are Chance and Lark here yet?”

“No, baby. Lark went into labor. They’re at the birthing center.” His smile was wide.

I tried to jump up, but the way my stomach was set up, it was a major fail. Joston tittered before he helped me out of the bed. I already had on leggings and a T-shirt. All I needed to do was slip on my slides.

Lark and I made the decision that we would have our babies at one of my auntie Delia’s birthing centers. I trusted no one more than I trusted her and her team. It took twenty minutes to get to the center. Lark and Chance were in the VIP suite. My heart smiled when I walked in. My cousins Tana and Xena were there. Both of them were doulas and midwives.

“Best friend, how you feeling?” I asked as soon as I got to the other side of the bed. I kissed her cheek.

Lark gave a faint smile. “I’m so ready to have this baby. Three centimeters to go.”

My eyes bulged. “I made it just in time. Where’s Mama Gloria?”

Mama Gloria had been here for a little over a month now. She was considering moving here because she wanted to be close to her grandson. There was so much support around my best friend. When she first moved here, she was so worried about being so far from her family. Now, my family had become hers. She may as well had been a Washington, Christianson, or a Smith.

“Mama is on her way. Her hot ass was on a date,” Lark responded, then rolled her eyes.

Like a perfectly staged scene, Mama Gloria walked into the suite. “Mama’s gotta have a life too, lil girl. Hey, son-in-love.”

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