Page 65 of Certified Pressure 3
She let out a sound that was soft and relieved. That sound hit me somewhere deep. I wanted to tell her more. I wanted to say what was really sittin’ on the tip of my tongue.
“I love…” I stopped myself and cleared my throat. “I love…that you fought for her like that.”
She went quiet again, but I could tell she heard what I didn’t finish sayin’.
“Thank you, Pressure… for everything…” she said after a minute.
“It’s nothin’. Get some sleep,” I told her. “I’ll hit you in the mornin’.”
“Okay,” she whispered, and then the line went dead.
I slid my phone back into my pocket and just stood there for a minute, lookin’ up at the sky. The stars was out, scattered across the dark like diamonds, and, I felt a weight lift off me. Pluto was comin’ to Trill-Land.
Everything we been through, all the back and forth bullshit, all the pain; it was finally leadin’ to this. She was bringin’ my baby home.
When I walked back in the lounge, I felt like a brand new nigga. I don’t know if it was the air, the liquor, or that phone call, but somethin’ in me felt lighter. For the first time in a long minute, I had a real reason to smile, and now my mind was on a whole different wave. Pluto was finally comin’ to Trill-Land, and that shit had my blood pumpin’. I tried to play it cool when I walked back to the VIP section, but I knew the energy on me was different.
Renza looked up as soon as he saw me walk back to the table. “Boy, what the fuck you lookin’ all happy about?” he asked, his face twisted up like he already knew I had somethin’ to say.
I dropped down on the couch next to him and grabbed my glass off the table. “Ain’t nothin’,” I said, even though I couldn’t hide the smirk creepin’ up.
Kay’Lo looked up from his phone. “Yeah, okay. You just walked out lookin’ like you had somethin’ heavy on your mindand came back lookin’ like you just hit the lotto. Go ahead and spit it.”
“Pluto and Zurie comin’ to Trill-Land tomorrow,” I said, tryna sound casual even though I was lit inside. “For good.”
Kay’Lo let out a low whistle, and Blaqson’s eyebrows shot up. “Word?” he said, leanin’ forward. “How you feel about that?”
Before I could answer, Renza jumped in. “How the fuck you think he feel? Look at that nigga face. He happy as hell.”
“Man, shut up,” I said, shakin’ my head.
Then, I took a sip of my drink, tryna bring myself down some, but my heart was still movin’ fast as hell.
Blaqson nodded and asked, “How far along she is now?”
“That’s what’s up,” Blaqson said, liftin’ his glass. “How far along she now?”
“She’ll be four months next week,” I said. “That bump comin’ in.”
Renza let out a low whistle. “Damn, time flyin’. That mean you gon’ be a daddy in a few months.” He laughed, then added, “But you know Kashmere ain’t gon’ like that shit one bit.”
I looked over at him and took another sip. “It ain’t about what Kashmere want,” I said flatly.
He shook his head, grinnin’. “Nigga, you might as well be with Pluto at this point. You sound like her man.”
Kay’Lo spoke up from across the table, noddin’. “I been tellin’ him that. He just don’t wanna admit it.”
Renza’s eyes met mine, serious now. “Bruh, I’m just sayin’, you might as well be with Pluto. You know that’s where your heart at anyway.”
Kay’Lo jumped in, pointin’ his drink toward me. “I been tellin’ him that. Nigga just don’t listen.”
I sighed and rubbed my hand down my face. “Man, how ‘bout y’all muthafuckas go talk to Pluto then? ‘Cause clearly she ain’tlistenin’ to me. I can’t make nobody be with me if that ain’t what they want.”
That shut the table up for a second. Renza and Blaqson looked at each other, then Kay’Lo just nodded like he understood. They knew I wasn’t in the mood to talk about that no more.
Blaqson leaned forward and grabbed the bottle, pourin’ more liquor into each of our glasses. “A’ight, fuck it. Let’s toast then. To Pluto comin’ to Trill-Land and to the baby we can’t wait to meet.”
Everybody raised their glasses, and I clinked mine against theirs. “Yeah, to that,” I said, lettin’ the liquor burn down my throat.
