Page 32 of Heart Of A Goon II

“I will. Love you, too!” he quickly left the room, knowing his mother was a disappointment. I had to get myself together for my boy.

He deserved that.

ZOYA

“I’d like to say I’m like the rapper 50 Cent, but not really. I could have taken six shots and lived, you know?” I overheard Stevie in the sunroom, rocking Dennis, while talking to Kobe and Syn.

I should have known when I got into the golf cart to come over here that I was going to get some amusement with Stevie. “He was shot nine times, and you were shot none,” I took my nephew, who was resisting the chokehold she had him in, while trying to get him to take his nap.

“Could have, Zoya… could have being the keyword. When it happened, I didn’t know what to do, and went to grab my gu⁠—”

“Stevie Caselli, why in the hell are you making things up?” I busted out laughing. “You don’t even own a damn gun.”

“You’re right. I don’t have just one… I have a full room dedicated to the guns that Mavie has in the house.” She playfully stuck her tongue out at me.

I think we were all worried about what was going on back home. The dark circles around her eyes were evidence that she wasn’t sleeping well, either. Dennis resisted me rocking him to sleep which told me he was missing his father, too.

When they revealed they were having a baby, I expected Menace to be absent. Not in the sense that he wouldn’t take care of Stevie or the baby. In the way that he wouldn’t have a hand in changing diapers, soothing his baby, or being nurturing at all. I was proven wrong each time I witnessed him conquer fatherhood.

Kobe shook up the ice in his iced coffee, making sure to get everything at the bottom. “Either way, have you been sleeping, Mamas?”

“No.” Skyler sauntered into the room, sitting on the opposite side of the couch that Stevie sat on.

“I’ve gotten a few hours here and there.”

“You’ve had none, Stevie. You sit by your phone waiting for Duke to give you an update. Even Dennis is up with you,” Skyler continued to call her cousin out on her lies.

Stevie hung her head. “It’s hard, you know. I’ve gone so long not having a person and I was fine with that. Now that I have Mavie, it’s hard to sleep without him between my legs.”

“Come again? He sleeps between your legs?” Syn questioned. It was obvious that she was confused by my brother and sister-in-law’s strange dynamic.

I used to think it was strange, too. Mostly, because I had never met anyone that I wanted to be around or close to like that. I thought I could go my entire life without experiencing what Menace and Stevie shared and would be fine with that.

That was until I met Gerald Wraithe.

I understood the dark circles that Stevie had, because I probably had them as well. It was hard to sleep without Goo beside me. His big arms wrapped around me, and his lips rested on the top of my head as I melted into his arms.

As my eyes became heavy, I would hear him saying how grateful he was for me. Thanking Allah for giving him the chance and tools to love me the way I needed to be loved.

Even though I wasn’t showing, I wanted his hands on my stomach as we spoke about our baby. I was terrified because I wanted this baby more than anything, and it was here. This baby didn’t leave. I was afraid that I might wake up one day and this would all be a sick dream, and I’d never have this moment again.

“Some nights,” she cleared her throat, “most nights, he has to lay his head on my stomach to sleep. It feels weird without him being here. My son misses him, too. Every night, he forces me to take some alone time and paint in the studio. Mavie handles his bath time, reads him books and rocks him to sleep. He tells him all the ways he would kill someone if they ever touched a hair on his head,” she smiled to herself, as she rubbed her arms.

“He does bath time with him?” I smiled, shocked that Menace did bath time every night.

Stevie smiled and nodded proudly. “Every single night. When he’s away for work and we cannot travel with him, he calls while I’m doing bath time so Dennis could hear his voice. This little boy lights up when he hears his father’s voice, too. Perks right on up.”

“Wow, I never knew that,” I muttered.

Kobe looked at me. “Never knew what, huh? Which part? The fact that he tells his son how he’ll kill people, or the fact that he sleeps with his wife’s pussy in his face?”

“So romantic,” Stevie smiled.

I couldn’t help but to laugh because it was hilarious when people met Stevie and Menace. Not too many could say they met them, and once they did, they quickly realized why they should stay away.

“So romantic,” Kobe chuckled, turning his attention towards me. “How are you feeling, Mamas?”

I was paranoid, as I stared at him. “Wh…what do you mean? I’m not a mom.”