Part 2 of this story will be on that account ]

Beaumont, TX.

❦

"Preciate it, Mir." The old head said as he stood outside my car window.

"Be easy, og." I dapped him up.

"Where can I find you next week?" I chuckled and leaned back in my seat.

"This is the last of the weed I have here in Beaumont, the rest is down in Houston."

He sighed,"So Cj and 'nem wasn't lying when they said you were done with this shit huh?"

"Cj got a fat ass mouth but yea. I'm finally done with all this for the most part." I shrugged.

He let out a deep breath, glancing around the neighborhood. "You know that means that lil' nigga Rol gon' try to pick up where you left off right?"

I huffed and clenched my jaw, not trynna show how og mad I really was. Rol is this lil' 19 year old nigga here in Beaumont that's been trying to piggy back off my ass for years. I found out the nigga had his friends buying weed from me so he could go resell it, like this is some typa charity or some shit.

He was still a senior in highschool at the time but I didn't let him off the hook 'cause the nigga definitely knew what he was doinh. So I had a few people rough him up for me and he never did that shit again.

But that didn't stop him from still trynna sell on my corners and flooding the streets he knew I ran. Him and Jonah are similar in the way that they both tried to piggy back off of me and failed miserably. Niggas wanna make money so bad but don't wanna work for it.

Now that i'm leavin' all this street shit behind and not caring who's hands it falls into, I know Rol gon' be the first to jump in and try to take my spot here in Beaumont. The thing about it is he just graduated last year and got no clue what the fuck he's doing.

I'll give him a year max before he's in debt with way more people than he can handle. I don't have to kill him because I know eventually someone else will.

I mainly sell in Houston anyway so i'm making sure that my corners are still gonna be ran by the boys that work for me in the traps down there. As for anywhere other than Houston? I don't care what

happens. I don't stay up here so it don't got shit to do with me anymore.

"Whoever wants to pick up my spots up here after i'm done can be my fucking guest. I don't give a fuck." I told og.

He chuckled, "You sound just like Nas when Harmoni gave birth to yo long legged ass and finally made him leave the streets."

"You gotta brace yourself before you stand up with yo old ass." I told him and he bussed out laughing

"Mane gon'! But aye, holla at Nas and yo siblings for me and take care of yo self son." Og pointed at me. I nodded and he tapped the roof of my car before crossing the street.

I started my Hellcat and checked the time to see that it read, 1:12pm. I blew out a breath and started backing out of the neighborhood quickly.

Me and Mari have the ultrasound appointment today to find out the gender of the baby. Beaumont is a lil' over an hour out of Houston. The appointment is at 3pm and I already know if i'm late Mari's gonna handle my ass. Her hormones been going crazy lately and i'm not trynna die before the birth of my first child.

⇊

About 2 hours later I pulled into the parking lot of the building, already seeing Mari's Benz parked a few spots down. I offered to pick her up earlier so we could just come together. But knowing my ass she knew I was gonna be late and here I am 20 minutes late because of traffic.

I turned off the car, grabbed my phone, and got out, rushing into the grey cement building. When I walked in, Mari was sitting in the waiting room on her phone, rubbing her stomach with her other hand. She looked up at me and rolled her eyes.

"About damn time." She mumbled angrily. I chuckled and leaned down to kiss her lips. I helped her stand up and she waved the doctor over.

"It's nice to see you two again!" She smiled, tucking her clipboard under both arms.

"You too." Mari gave her the slightest smile.

"Hi." I mumbled. Just shut the fuck up and take us to the room.

She walked us down the narrow hallway and put us in the same room we were in a few months ago. I held the door open for Mari. She made herself comfortable on the bed while I sat in the chair right next to her.

"So! Today we're finding out the gender, correct?" The doctor looked up from her papers at me and Mari who both nodded.

"Great! While I take your blood pressure I'm going to ask you a few questions about your pregnancy so far, seeing as a lot has changed since the last time you were here." She said, rolling the blood pressure machine in front of Mari.

Mari just nodded in response, clearly trynna get all this shit over with so we can find out the gender.

"So can you tell me about how your pregnancy is so far?" She asked, taking Mari's blood pressure.

"Uh, I have really bad back problems, and I have to pee like every 30 minutes." Mari started. "Certain foods still upset my stomach but I'm not throwing up as much as I first was, and he or she is way more

active now."

"And the mood swings." I made sure to add.

Mari looked at me with hooded eyes before turning to the doctor who was already chuckling. "And the mood swings." She rolled her eyes.

"Well those symptoms are completely normal for the stage you're at right now. You're well into your second trimester right now so the cravings, constant need to go to the bathroom, and the backaches are all expected." She said making Mari nod.

"You did mention the baby being more active, does your surgery wound hurt when he or she is moving around?"

Mari shrugged, "When I'm layin' down on my side and the baby is moving, I feel the most pain from the wound. Other than that not really."

"That sounds okay. If the pain increases though you might want to sleep in a different position or buy a pregnancy pillow." She explained.

After listening to Mari and Dr. Trent have a whole conversation about what she's been eating, her exercising, and Mari lying about not eating junk food, the doctor finally decided to shut her ass up and step out of the room to get the gel.

"She talk too damn much." I mumbled, reaching over and rubbing Mari's bare belly.

Mari put the palm of her hand on top of mine as I rubbed circles over her stomach. "You're so rude." She muttered.

"That's rich coming from you."

"Samiron that's literally all you! You're mean as fuck." She raised her eyebrows. "Cap." I shook my head.

"Remember the first time I talked to you when we were on my balcony? You asked me for my name and I told you it and here you go talking 'bout, "I didn't ask for yo full name, shorty but aight." She mimicked me in a ugly ass deep voice.

I bussed out laughing,"First off I don't sound like that and second, you asked too many fuckin' questions. Like who just goes up to someone and asks them for their full name?"

"You were in my house!"

"Anddd?" I trailed off and she rolled her eyes. "Fuck you."

"Later, baby." She rolled her eyes and I winked, continuing to rub my hand over her stomach in circles and feeling my son or daughter move around slightly. "Babys' moving." I told her.

"Yes Samiron, I can feel it." She replied sarcastically.

"Aight smart ass." I grumbled.

"Every time you put your hand on my stomach or talk to the baby, it starts running track. I don't understand that." She said and I started laughing.

"Cause he or she fucks with me more already. They know their daddy's voice." I shrugged. Next thing I know she swatted my hand away from her stomach with a mug on her face.

"Bye Samiron! I'm carrying this muthafucka, peeing every 30 minutes, waking up in pain, and throwing up randomly, they better fuck with me more. I'll be damned." She snapped and I stifled my laugh.

"We'll see." I taunted and she rolled her eyes.

"Shut the fuck up." She huffed. "Did you get the club?" I looked over at her to see the eager look on her face.

I chuckled, "Yea."

She shot up from her laying position and reached over, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me towards her. "Yay! I'm so happy for you." She cooed, kissing the top of my head and I laughed.

I love her lil' ass.

''Preciate it." I smiled and took her face in my hands, kissing her lips a few times.

After a few months of viewing different buildings for the club, we finally settled on one in downtown Houston. It's a good 20ish minute drive from me and Mari's cribs so it's not too far. I made sure to not choose an area too far because I don't need Mari calling me crying 'cause i'm taking too long to get to her.

See? I could be considerate sometimes.

"Is there a lot of work y'all needa do?" She made sure to ask, 'cause the sooner the club opens, the quicker I can leave the streets in her eyes. If only it was that easy.

"The club used to be a male strip club." I told her with an unimpressed face."So they got all these cages and shit that we gotta take down."

She bussed out laughing,"Cages? Mann, I would've wanted to see that!"

I snapped my eyes towards her and she was already pressing her lips together to avoid laughing. Slow ass li' girl. "Yo stop playing with me, Mari."

She just waved me off and continued laughing as she laid back down, still keeping my hand in her grasp. One of these days she's gonna learn to stop playing with me.

"I'm happy for you though! You deserve this." She turned towards me, flashing her pretty ass smile.

I smiled back, "Preciate you." I kissed her hand and she grinned, turning her attention towards the door where the doctor had finally walked in.

"Sorry for the holdup. I had to go down the hall to get some more gel. Anyway, let's get started!"

Dr. Trent instructed Mari to lay back which she did. After applying the gel to her stomach, she started rubbing the doppler over the gel.

I scooted my chair up closer to get a better look at the screen. I exhaled deeply and rubbed the palms of my hands on my jeans, trying to get rid of the layer of sweat that had formed.

I glanced over at Mari who was biting down on her bottom lip nervously with her eyes glued to the screen. She reached out and grasped my hand again in an attempt to calm her nerves.

The doctor continued darting her eyes from the doppler and back to the screen, trying to get a better view. "Baby keeps moving." She muttered.

The doctor finally looked at the screen with a smile stretching on her face before turning towards us. "It looks like you're having a little.."

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𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚃𝚇;Duck & Tasia's House

"Ugh! She won't stop crying." Tasia blew out a breath of frustration, sitting on the couch and holding a whining Zariah.

"It's cause you feedin' her that nasty ass shit." Eli commented with a mouth full of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Tasia narrowed her eyes at him, "Last time I checked you don't have a damn baby Elijah so do me a favor and shut the fuck up." She snapped making him look at her with raised eyebrows.

Medina chuckled and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Here sis, let me hold her." She reached out for Zariah.

Once Medina took Zariah and walked into the kitchen to get her bottle, Tasia leaned back onto the couch and blew out a breath.

She wasn't dealing with her postpartum depression well at all. Being a new mom was hard enough and on top of that, she was still dealing with issues between her and Talayah.

For some godforsaken reason, her older sister thought she still had a right to see her niece despite everything she said and did throughout Tasia's pregnancy.

Tasia found it funny how Talayah didn't bother to even claim Zariah as her niece until after she gave birth to her. Regardless, Zariah had Camille, Aijah, Mari, and Medina as her aunts and that was more than enough for Tasia. She didn't need her two-faced sister to be a part of her daughter's life at all and she could definitely live without her sister's judgmental comments.

"What am I doin' wrong..?" Tasia muttered to herself, leaning onto her knees and resting her palms on her forehead. Taking care of a baby seemed easy before it was actually time to do it. There was still so much for Tasia to get used to.

Eli frowned seeing how stressed Tasia was. Usually Duck would be the one to console her at times like this but he was touring a vacant gun range at the moment so he wasn't home.

"Talk to me." Eli said, sprawling out on the floor in front of Tasia and putting the bowl of cereal in his lap.

Tasia sighed, feeling tears sting her eyes, "It's just hard. Everything is hard!"

"Keep going. What's hard?" He encouraged.

She took a deep breath before starting, "First off, raising a newborn is so much harder than I anticipated. I thought that after all the books I read and the people I asked for advice from, that i'd be prepared but I feel like i'm not. And then I have this bullshit with my sister going on. And now I feel like I wasted my time trynna get this degree because I won't even be able to start workin' anytime soon with Zariah being so young but the thing is I really wanna work!"

"I didn't work my ass off after high school for this degree for me to just not use it. And it feels like everyone else is advancing in their lives and i'm just stuck in the same spot with no direction." Tasia explained. It felt good to finally lay everything out on the table.

Eli put the bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the coffee table in front of him. "Well for starters I think you need to calm the fuck down."

"You just had Zariah so obviously you still got a lot to learn. Reading about raising a baby and actually raising one is two completely different things. And don't worry about job right now. Listen to Duck when he says he got y'all covered." Eli reassured.

"And as for your sister? Fuck that bitch."

"Period!" They both heard Medina exclaim from the kitchen where she was making Zari her bottle.

Tasia sniffed and nodded, genuinely trying to take in everything she was just told.

Eli might be slow 90% of the time but everyone knows that he's an easy person to talk to. He'll probably laugh and make fun of you at first, but the advice he offers is genuinely how he feels.

"Take it easy." He reassured, taking a spoonful of cereal in his mouth as Tasia nodded.

Just then, they heard the front door unlock and open. Duck walked in holding a bag from the grocery store with Rell, Aijah, and Kania trailing behind him. Duck walked over and pecked Tasia on the forehead and dapped Eli up before going to the kitchen while Rell, Aijah and Kania greeted the two as well.

"Where is she?" Kania asked excitedly about Zariah. "Kitchen." Tasia laughed. Kania wasted no time rushing to the kitchen to see Zariah who was awake and being held by Medina.

"Where y'all comin' from?" Eli asked Aijah and Rell who sat on opposite sides of the living room.

"I was at the studio wit' Kania teachin' her how to work the register." Aijah explained. After much deliberation, Nas agreed to let Nia work at the studio. He knew Aijah and Mari well so he trusted them and he knew that Nia wanted a sense of independence.

With her being the only girl in a household full of boys, Nia felt like she was too spoiled by all the men in her life. Her dad and both of her older brothers had to hustle and work in the streets at a young age to make a living, but she didn't have to ask twice about anything. She'd show Zion a picture of some Alexander McQueens that she thought were cute— next day they'd be in a box delivered to her house.

While she appreciated that her brothers and dad went out of their way to keep her happy, Nia wanted independence and she felt like it was rewarding to say that you bought something with money that you actually had to work for. As opposed to being handed whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted it.

"She's so cute!" Nia cooed, walking into the living room holding Riah with Medina walking behind her. Duck put a few groceries back in the kitchen.

"Look at those lil' cheeks." Aijah poked her bottom lip out, staring up at Riah from the couch.

"Damn, now I want a baby." Rell blurted making Eli bussed out laughing while Tasia and Aijah both exchanged I know you heard that dumb shit faces with one another.

While everyone cooed over Zariah, Duck came behind the couch and tapped Tasia's shoulder. "You good?" He asked, sensing something was wrong with his girlfriend.

Tasia turned around slightly to meet his face. "I will be." She reassured and he nodded in response, kissing her cheek.

Just then, Zariah started whining, probably from all the chatter and noise around her. "Uh oh." Nia muttered and looked to Tasia or Duck for help.

Duck went around the couch and took Riah from Nia's arms carefully. "She's crying 'cause y'all treatin' her like a whole zoo animal." He joked, rocking Riah back and forth.

"You went to the range?" Rell asked Duck while the girls got carried away in their own convos.

"Yea, it looks good." He nodded, referring to the gun range that Duck and Eli agreed to co-own.