Page 50 of Beyond The Stars

“What happened to daddy?” Qamar glanced at her with flirty eyes.

Her eyes widened before she covered in face in embarrassment. “You know, I really hate when bitches call their niggas their daddy.”

“Why?”

Her shoulders hunched up and down. “Shit just sound weird.”

“But not with me?”

“I mean…” Siasia twisted towards him. “Why you call me mama?” She chewed her lip.

“You remind me of home.” There was no hesitation or doubt when the words casually escaped him. Qamar didn’t try to clarify it either. He meant what he said.

If her heart could jump out of her chest, it would for sure find solace in his pocket. She was safe and so was her heart.

“Pick a song.” She giggled.

Music was the soul of her life. The pick a song game was how she understood and coped with her feelings. When all else failed her in her life, she found joy in picking a song and breaking it down.

Qamar tapped the steering wheel in deep thought. After a few seconds, he smiled and said, “Diary by Wale.”

“I’ve never heard that one.” Her face scrunched while going into her phone to search up the song. Once she found it, she played it, listening intently.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her, waiting for her reaction. “Queen. She deserves the title, but she rejects what I give while she nurse the wounds by them,” he rapped.

Siasia swallowed slow and hard.

“Wife. You deserve the label,” he continued after the chorus almost took her breath away.

Wale recited what sounded like a poem that added to her aching heart that she wanted to mend just to be what Qamar just said she could be; what he claimed he saw in her. Everything she never wanted to be. Something she’d never strived for until he walked up to her, offering her money to sleep with him. At least that was what she thought but as the days went on and he showed up for her in ways no one had ever done before. Nothing felt real. Everything felt mythical.

As the song faded out, she was compelled to blurt, “I want to be everything you want me to be.”

“What do you want to be?” he asked just as the Sapphire City sign appeared on the side of the road. Ten years ago, the sign wasn’t there. It replaced the small city limits sign that locals often ignored and visitors never noticed. So much had changed in the city thanks to his family’s success and the world wanting to make Sapphire City something it had never been.

Deep, sad confusion etched across her pretty, blemish free brown skin. A change in pressure of his hand on her thigh pulled her eyes to him. “Free.” The simple four letter word summed it all up the best way she could. “I know that sounds silly because I ain’t physically shackled but?—”

“But the needs of others and their perception of you makes you feel like you’re choking on the same air you need to breath. Yea, mama, I just want to be free too.” His eyes seemed to plead with her for the understanding that they weren’t so different—tax bracket aside.

Siasia entangled her fingers into his, bringing them to her lips where she placed a delicate kiss to them. “Reassurance by Jastin Martin.”

To help ease his mind and wipe the look of confusion from his face, she played the song, laughing at how long it took for him to understand her blurting out a song as if they weren’t just playing pick a song. It was new for him but second nature to her. “If you need some reassurance, baby to me you’re perfect. You perfect.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Qamar’s face lighting up.

“How can I keep you?” His question didn’t need an answer. He would figure out the details along the way. “Start it over, mama.”

Siasia cackled but obliged. If the request came from him, the answer would always be actions—doing so, with him and for him came just that easy for her. No thoughts, just actions.

It didn’t take long for them to pull onto a street that looked out of a storybook. Beautiful colored houses, perfect lawns, and kids laughing and playing in the streets. It was movie like.

Lunar Drive.

Siasia read the street sign. Her head jutted towards him for understanding. The name was tatted on his back along with the others of his family. He was officially out of her league now. A whole fucking street named after his people.

“Welcome to The Jig, mama.” Qamar smiled as the sun brightened his eyes.

Kids ran up to the car when he came to a stop and rolled his window down.

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