Page 56 of Save Room for Us

“Couple years.” He kept strong eye contact with me, seemingly trying to read my mind. “When I first got in, I was working the same way my brother taught me, but I realized we all work differently. So, I changed shit up like a month in, tripling my income, so ain’t no need for me to hold onto this shit.

“Type of shit I’m into, I would never get out if I got hemmed up. That’s why I lay low, make my bread, and I get rid of muthafuckas at the first sign of disrespect, disloyalty, and anything else I don’t fuck with.”

Now it made sense why he was different from his father upon first meeting.

“You don’t consider any of the guys you work with your friend?”

“Not really. I might kick it here and there, but big moves, I make on my fucking own. Only nigga I can say I would let in on big shit is Low. He young though, twenty-one, so he still reckless. But once he get older, I can tell he gon’ tighten the fuck up.” He nodded. “When I was his age, I was a knucklehead ass nigga too.”

“You?” I was thoroughly shocked. I couldn’t imagine him like that.

“Yeah.” He grinned a little before it dissipated. “I was misguided, only giving a fuck about pussy, weed, and more pussy. Tried the college shit, but I wasn’t focused. Started to feel aimless and shit, knowing I needed a purpose. Didn’t just wanna be the son of that one kingpin nigga. But when my brother decided he wanted out, I knew I wanted in, and everybodyassumed I was too wayward for that shit, but I buckled down. I’d already started to mature out of my previous mindset, but being in this game made me mature a bit faster. I saw a lot of shit six fucking months in.”

“That’s crazy.” I tried to imagine a version of Asif like the one he’d just described but couldn’t. He was too wise, alert, and tenacious for me to see him any other way. “It’s not difficult having people you don’t trust in something like this?” I frowned, admiring his handsome face and all his little quirks, like the way he stroked his beard or ran his tongue over his bottom lip when in deep thought or how he gave a closed mouth smile, letting his eyes twinkle before he would actually show teeth and laugh. I’d even become privy to his love for candy straws, because he always had a pack in his car, and I’d seen some more fresh packs in his bedroom.

“Nah, I got friends, my brothers. These are niggas who would never turn on me. You could put any one of ’em in a torture chamber, and they wouldn’t say shit. Then I got my pops. He got that sweet spot shit down pat. He’s always been my best friend, my homie, but made sure I respected him as my father.”

I admired how close he and his brothers were and often forgot they were stepbrothers. It only stood out when they were all together, simply because the Compton boys looked so much alike.

“I don’t know why I’m asking when my only friend is Analicia and her damn sisters-in-law.”

“They’ll be yours soon too.”

“Asif.” I chuckled, and he gave me a closed mouth half smile. “So handsome,” I had to admit, touching his beard.

“And you beautiful.” He slowly began to remove my jean jacket, also known as my shield. I hesitated at first, then allowed him to. “Everything.” He pecked my lips, my neck, collarbone, and then my breasts through my shirt.

Chills ran through me as the hair raised on my limbs like they always did. Feeling his mouth near my nipples made them extra sensitive, even through the fabric.

Bringing his lips back to mine, he deepened the kiss, parting our lips.

“You said?—”

“I know, but I can’t fucking help it.” He spoke against my mouth before slipping his tongue in.

We sat there kissing for what seemed like forever but not enough time at the same time. We broke it off for a tiny bit, just so we could talk, and I noticed I was comfortable talking to him, even about things I wouldn’t think someone would be interested in, like the crazy shit I found online while researching.

However, after swapping information, we got right back to it. Before we knew it, it was time for me to go home.

Irritably, I perused the aisle of CVS looking for the specific bottle of vitamin C I wanted but had kept coming up short. I hated to be out, so the fact that I was taking longer than I expected, on what was supposed to be an in and out trip, annoyed me.

“There is, Mommy!” Sophie shouted, pointing her tiny finger at the bottle I was looking for.

“Good Lord.” I shook my head at myself. “Thank you, baby. You are so smart.” I stared down at her as she sat in the front portion of the basket. I meant it, she surprised me every day, and I think it was a combination of my genes and spending all that time in her aunt’s daycare.

“So freaking cute,” I heard a whiny voice say, making me snap my eyes up from my baby.

I saw it was Milan, and my heart dropped. I didn’t know what she was on, but I didn’t get into confrontations in front of my baby, not since she was this coherent and smart. Even Cedric held it together somewhat when she was in the room.

“Hi!” Sophie waved to her and showed her the doll she’d just gotten from her uncle Bashar.

“Don’t you think you should be focusing on being a mom and that murder trial coming up instead of dick?” Milan folded her arms, focusing on me.

She was a very pretty girl—no real flaws that one could point out unless you ventured to the inside.

“Attempted murder.” I winked, trying to remain cool, even though on the inside, I was already bashing her head into the metal shelf to the left of us.

“Right. Whatever. I know you can go to jail for either, so what does it matter?” She rolled her neck, strong perfume making Sophie cough a little bit.

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