Page 180 of Anything Necessary for Her
After him, everybody else came up to congratulate us, except for Unique who was still ‘passed out’ on the floor. He eventually got up, mad that no one checked on him, not even Kabrina, as they instead surrounded Banks and me to chop it up.
Asif shook his head at me playfully, recalling back to my ill-fated promise I made not to let him know when I had sex with Banks.
“See, it’s not that bad.” Banks hugged my torso now that we were both standing, as a mixture of conversation, music, and shouting kids played in the background.
“I learned it’s hard for shit to be bad when you around, Peep.” I moved her hair from her face before leaning down to kiss her.
“You remember that when I get fat or have wrinkles and gray hair.” She hugged me tighter, simpering.
“I can’twaitto see that shit. Iwannasee it,” I replied, watching her blush. “Long as that pussy still hit the same, we good.”
“Low.” She pinched my abdomen before locking her arms back around me. “I love you, Willow.”
“I love you too.”
It was strange how life worked. You could go from not really knowing a muthafucka and them rarely crossing your mind, to them becoming yo’ world and you not being able to fathom life without them, or hell, even remember life without them.
Banks had come in and stolen my heart, my undying loyalty from her brother, plus all the lonely nights and bad thoughts. Every fucking day, a nigga continued to fall. I would live the rest of my days suspended in air.
FOUR YEARS LATER . . . ST. THOMAS ISLAND . . .
“How long yo’people been together?” Low queried, our daughter Keziah sitting in his lap, staring me down with her father’s face, and my caramel jade eyes and dark skin.
“Well, I’m twenty-six, and I think they got married like a year before I was born, so about twenty-seven years then.” I shrugged as I looked in the mirror at my outfit.
The whole big ass family had been flown out to the private St. Thomas Island, an island my father and brother purchased together. It was beautiful, and no expense had been spared in making sure it was run perfectly. During the times we weren’t going to be using the island, they allowed people to visit and vacation here, accumulating a handsome income.
Though my last name was no longer St. Thomas since I’d changed it to Low’s after we got married in a beautiful blissful garden wedding in Italy, where we’d gotten engaged, I still felt the same connection to the family-owned island. My father and brother also made sure I owned a nice percentage.
“That’s a long ass time.” Low kissed Keziah’s chubby cheeks, making her giggle.
“This side.” She turned her little face to offer her other cheek. At three years old, Keziah was obsessed with her daddy and thought she was grown.
Her name meant cassia tree, falling in line with her father’s name which meant willow tree.
Low obliged her, grinning as she kept turning her little face, curly ponytail bouncing every time she did so he could keep kissing her.
“Baby boy better be up under me like that.” I watched the father-daughter duo in awe, thanking God for how blessed I was.
I was currently five months pregnant with our son that we’d planned to name Lennox, another tree name and theme I had begun to like. I couldn’t wait to see a baby boy version of Low with a sprinkle of me just like with Keziah.
Prior to becoming pregnant with Lennox, I’d just come off a tour dancing around the world as the lead inLa Bayadère. I’d stayed true to my word, getting back to work once Keziah had turned six months old. It was difficult, I couldn’t lie, but Low, too, stayed true to his word, being on my ass whenever I would have moments where I wanted to slack off or make excuses as to why I couldn’t dance or practice.
He made sure I had everything I needed—including being an amazing father—so that excuses weren’t possible, and though at moments it pissed me off, I was thankful because it kept me on the right track.
I was back dancing professionally and as a soloist for Prolific by the time Keziah had turned one and a half years old and had only become more successful as time went on. So, after coming off the high ofLa Bayadère, I felt like it was time to expand our family, especially now that Low was no longer peddling drugs.
I’d been contracted to do a residency in Hollywood once I came back off maternity leave, so there was no slowing up on my end. I would be performing the principal role inL’histoire de Manonor just Manon for three months at the Hollywood Ballet Theatre.
Low-Low’s BBQ had blown up to the point where he’d opened another location just around the corner to combat the long lines and constant traffic. The barbecue spot had become so successful that he truly didn’t need the other spots he ran money through, like the car washes and laundromats, but for a while he’d kept them just in case.
Now that he’d retired from the game, he’d sold those, focusing on expanding within the hood, not wanting to move Low-Low’s from its roots.
His family life had been on the up-and-up too, Whitney having stayed sober enough to attend our wedding and be a great grandmother to Keziah. Wyatt had gotten into college and had been attending faithfully with no issue, while Waverley continued to blossom in ballet as expected. She’d become like my little protégé, which I loved.
As for his other projects—Nikita, Trayvon, and Gaia—they were distant memories. I knew Nikita was no longer a dancer, Trayvon never made it to the MLB, and Gaia was in prison. It’d been a while since I’d interacted with them, so I often forgot about them all. And speaking of Low’s workers, Taye was now engaged to my best friend with a baby on the way, which was wild as hell.
“I don’t know. The kids love me.” Low smirked with his sexy ass as he rose from the edge of the bed in our hotel suite, putting Keziah on his side.
