Page 188 of Save Room for Us

“I did.” I nodded. “Where is Blaire?”

“With my mother. This was too much for her,” he explained. “Brian.” He reached his hand out to my father, and he shook it.

“Chianti.”

The three of us entered the room as Brian said, “Baby, Asif is here and, um, Chianti.”

She was laid up in the bed looking like a fucking rag doll. I could tell by the way she looked that Nori was no longer in that body; it was a fucking shell.

The door opened, and a nurse walked in, giving us a sympathetic smile before tending to Nori.

“The stroke unfortunately affected large parts of her brain, so she won’t remember a lot,” the nurse explained as Nori’s eyes flickered open.

She stared at the four of us with a puzzled expression, letting me know she didn’t recognize a nigga. Moving closer, I took her small hand into mine, peering down into her empty ass eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ma,” I said. “If you come up out of this shit, we can be cool. I don’t know about close and me calling you mom and shit, but we can be… something. Shit, I don’t know.” I felt my dad’s hand on my shoulder once I finished speaking. “Crazyas it sounds, I love you,” I admitted embarrassingly. How I loved a woman that never loved me was insanity.

“She loves you too,” Brian answered, making my father look over at him.

We stayed there with her for about half an hour, but when they were about to clean her, my pops and I decided to bounce.

“I shouldn’t have cut her out,” I said as soon as we got outside. I took a seat on the metal bench, needing a moment.

Sitting beside me, my dad replied, “This ain’t got nothing to do with you, Sif. You was upset with her, as you should’ve been, and she ain’t do shit to make it better. She came around thinking she could hit a quick lick, and you peeped the shit, even before I could. The fact that you even give a fuck shows what type of man you are, son.” He huffed, rubbing his beard a bit. “While I never want you to hate ya mama, she didn’t deserve ya effort. It was her time to showyou, not the other way around, and she didn’t step up. I hate what’s happened to her because, believe it or not, at one point, I was in love with the woman, still care for her because she gave me you, but I won’t allow you to blame yaself for shit that’s happened to her. You understand?”

I nodded, so he patted my back.

“Aight.” I rose up, and he followed suit.

“Let’s go have a drink.”

“A drink-drink?” I smirked.

“Nah, not for me, but for you.” He shoved his hands down into his pockets.

“Man,” I sucked my teeth, and he guffawed, “I would’ve went to see you even take a shot, but I’m good. My lady making ribs.” I started walking.

“Ribs?” He followed. “We can have the drink at yo’ crib.”

Laughing, I said, “I ain’t say you could come over, dog.”

“I don’t give a damn. I fed yo’ greedy ass for years and still sometimes do. I’m gettin’ some of them muthafuckin’ ribs.”

We cracked up as I bobbed my head to agree before we got into our own cars. That nigga wasn’t playing either, because he, Banks, and moms showed up to my crib about fifteen minutes after me, ready to eat.

Anastazia didn’t mind at all, was even happy to have them over, and it was simple shit like that, that made me love her.

She was home to a nigga, a comforting feeling like bundling up on Christmas and shit. She provided something even a nigga as coined up as me could never pay for. And I would never let her go.

Getting out of the car,I stepped up onto the sidewalk to enter Ocean Prime. I’d been craving their food but in the comfort of my own home, so Asif had ordered it for me. He offered to have it delivered, but sometimes, his little flunkies didn’t hold my shit correctly, causing it to be all lopsided. I never said anything because Asif ran shit with an iron fist, and I would hate to cause one of his soldiers to endure a broken nose or jaw for messing up my food.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up for Anastazia,” I let the man at the hostess stand know.

“Got it. One moment.” He walked off, and as soon as I turned around, I saw Milan walking in as well as a nigga that worked for Asif, with his hand around her shoulder.

When she saw me, she moved his arm from her and told him something before coming over. I noticed she looked moresullen than usual—her typical attitude filled expression nowhere in sight.

“Hi.” She put her hand up, and when her hair moved a bit, I saw the top of her ear had been burned. It looked painful, making me wonder what happened.

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