Page 72 of Beyond The Stars

Janay glared at her, rolling her eyes. “Excuse me if I don’t want to be a sister wife.”

“As if you could,” Malaysia sassed, turning back to the food she’d been cooking when Janay first knocked on the door.

Instead of going back and forth with her, Janay crossed her legs and grabbed the remote control. As soon as she turned the TV on, her mouth dropped.

“Breaking news, the country’s most promising collegiate soccer player seems to be taking hit after hit. The Arrows announced today they would not be offering him a spot on the team. This news comes after Lynn Beach University dropped him from the roster. I mean, I don’t know, Steve—do you think the league should allow this once in a lifetime talent to slip through the cracks because of some locker room brawl?” Kimmy asked her cohost.

“We know what this is really about. I have a buddy up there at Lynn Beach and he’s saying its more to the story than that. All I know is, someone better pick this young man up if they want a championship team for the next decade.” Steve cuffed his hands on top of the desk before sitting back in his seat like he’d said all that needed to be said.

The room fell into a suffocating silence, so intense that you could almost hear a pin drop. With Belinay cradled in his arms, Qamar leaned his head back against the plush cushion of the sectional, the weight of the world pressing down on him. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips, a sound heavy with the burdens he carried. The tension coiled in his neck and tightened around the back of his head, a physical manifestation of the chaos swirling in his life.

“Qamar,” Siasia hummed, her voice laced with the familiarity of having heard the entire segment before the hosts awkwardly switched topics.

Janay huffed, rolling her eyes dramatically. “If it isn’t the other sister wife.”

“Shut the fuck up, Janay!” Qamar snapped, frustration boiling over as he was fed up with her relentless mouth and antics. He just needed a moment of peace, but of course, she wouldn’t be the one to ease up, as if he didn’t deserve just a little grace.

To add onto the intense moment, the sound of his phone ringing added to the chaos that his life had turned into over the last few years.

“Fuck!” He gripped his forehead.

Malaysia came around the island in the kitchen with her hands out to receive Belinay. “Here, hand her to me.”

“Um, her mama right here.” Janay waved her hand in the air.

Malysia chewed on her lip, trying to stop every disrespectful word she wanted to spew. “If you wanted her, you would’ve got her. You too busy worried about the wrong shit, though.”

Shooing her away, Janay leaned back before crossing her legs.

“Qamar,” Siasia called out to him again. “I know you say it ain’t my fault but I can’t help but think it is. Like, before me, your life was just fine.”

“It wasn’t though, mama.”

Janay kissed her teeth.

Qamar wrapped his arms around her, feeling the peace only she could bring him. Siasia had no idea how much his heart had expanded since he laid eyes on her. She didn’t understand how with her, his self-doubt vanished. She made him believe he could be the man everyone thought he could be. One look at her and his soul was fed, his heart beat harder, his mind grew stronger. Qamar had no doubt that he could be everything Siasia needed. Imposter syndrome didn’t dwell in the space between them. It was just them floating in the stars. Beyond the stars, if she truly decided to let go.

“What God has for me, I believe is for me and mama, he ain’t done with me. Or you.” The huskiness she loved lingered in his voice. His eyes were compelling and magnetic.

She traced the outline of his face with her eyes, wishing on a star that if God gave her a son, he’d look just like Qamar with superpower eyes and a big and loving heart to match. Of course, she wanted him to have the physical attributes of Qamar but it was the inside she wanted for him the most.

Beauty was definitely in the eyes of the beholder. But beauty that ran skin deep was that of the maker. Fluid and free.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, swiping his thumb over her juicy lips that he loved so much. “Tell me you trust me,” his tone husky and low, creating a world where only they existed. Qamar, Siasia, Noodle, Esmeray, and Belinay.

He no longer had to make the lineup clear to her.

Siasia knew.

She felt it when he wrapped his arms around her every night.

“I trust you,” she confessed.

Amidst the turmoil enveloping both Qamar and Siasia, there was a flicker of hope; God was in the process of wiping their slates clean. He was preparing them for a fresh start, needing their palates cleared for the abundance he was about to bestow. He wanted their bellies empty and their minds hungry, ready to embrace the new beginnings that awaited them.

A serene feeling washed over her. “With our life.”

Janay wiped at a tear that fell while she eavesdropped on their private conversation. It hurt her soul to hear Qamar talk to Siasia the way he spoke to her. He was gentle and reassuring. All the things he’d never been to her. Their relationship wasn’t toxic or filled with disrespect either but he’d never been so soft with her. It was like for the first time, Janay was witnessing she’d never own Qamar’s heart. Looking over her shoulder, she locked eyes with Malaysia, who for the first time seemed to be sympathetic for her.