Page 30 of Dom 5: The Finale
“You say that dumb shit every time.”
“No, I’m serious this time.”
“Yeah, aight.”
“I am.”
“Aight,” I said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She got quiet. Then she laughed because she knew I was right. “You so full of shit,” she said.
“And you still gone answer.”
“Probably.”
I smiled to myself and ended the call after that. I turned T.I’s new track all the way up and finished my joint as I drove for a while without really thinking about where I was going until Irealized I was already headed toward my parents’ house. That’s where I needed to be anyway because when life started lifeing, that was still one of the only places that ever-made sense to me. I needed real food too, not takeout, not no club food, and not some expensive chef-made shit. I needed the kind of food that came with the perfect seasoning, and old music playing in the background, and somebody yelling at you to wash your hands before you touch anything. I needed that food that could only come from ma dukes and maybe, if I was lucky, I’d get a little advice too because for the first time in a long time, I was really stuck with the thought of settling down and that shit was scarier than anything I’d ever been through in life.
CARMEN ROYAL
Afew weeks had passed since everything took place, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like life was finally starting to settle down. Not completely because nothing in my world would ever really be calm for too long, especially not married to Dom, but enough that I could breathe again without feeling like something bad was waiting to happen again. This place was perfect because sometimes a home could feel like a big expensive place just to live in, but I could truly say that this wasn’t that.
I smiled every time I walked into the massive walk-in closet. My heels were lined up in the closet, and the rest of my things were organized perfectly. In the other closet Dom’s sneakers and boots, clothes, and his watches sat in trays on the dresser. My skincare products had completely taken over one side of the bathroom counter. There were throw blankets on the couches, candles burning in different rooms, and little touches of me all over the place. Half the guest rooms were already starting to fill up with baby stuff too because nobody knew where to put anything anymore. We had so much baby stuff already that it was ridiculous. Since we didn’t want to know the sex, everything was unisex with cream blankets and gray onesies, even tiny littleshoes the baby wouldn’t fit for months. We had books, stuffed animals, and little neutral outfits that we loved.
O’Shynn had already bought designer baby clothes because apparently my unborn child needed a wardrobe better than most grown adults. Candy D bought old school baby stuff like she thought I was about to raise this baby in the nineties, but it was the cutest and she bought a new blanket every time she stepped inside a store. Even Dique had randomly shown up one day with a giant stuffed elephant almost as tall as him because he said the baby ‘needed some real gangster shit in the nursery’. He also was stopping by dropping off other gifts and most of the time had had Keondra with him even when Amour wasn’t. I had been meaning to ask him about that, but he hadn’t been moving like that was just the mother of his child if you asked me.
The baby had started moving a lot too and I was in pure bliss because the movements were so strong now. I couldn’t believe I only had three more months to go and was carrying exceptionally well. Every day it felt like there was something new with full-on movement that would make me stop in the middle of whatever I was doing and put my hand over my stomach without even thinking about it.
Dom was just as obsessed as me and every night he had his hand on my stomach. Every morning before he got out of bed, he’d roll over and touch my stomach first like he had to make sure both of us were still there. Every time the baby moved, his whole face changed and he would kiss my belly.
That morning I had every intention of sleeping in because I had worked late the night before and I was tired, but Dom clearly had other plans. I was half asleep, all wrapped up in the blankets, when I felt his hand slide slowly up my thigh under one of his old t-shirts I slept in. That was another thing, because I was used to going to bed cute in a silk negligee or gown but the later I got in pregnancy I wanted comfort.
“Get up wifey,” he said.
I opened one eye and saw him standing beside the bed already dressed in a pair of black Prada jeans, the matching fitted shirt, his hat on, as well as his thick gold Cuban around his neck. I could see that his edges had been tapered crispy and so was his beard. He smelled like a million bucks as his Aventus Creed filled my nostrils.
I groaned and pulled the blanket up higher. “No.”
He chuckled and gently tugged at the blanket. “Yeah... come on ma.”
“No Dom, you look good and you smell even better, and I would love to just jump all over you right now but I’m tired.”
He stood there looking down at me for a second like he was debating whether he wanted to argue or just physically remove me from the bed. “We going out.”
“I don’t wanna go out.” I said.
“You been in this house all forever ma, it’s time to move around.”
“I have a job. You made me stay here and do it, remember?” I chuckled from under the covers. Seriously I was just too tired to move.
“And today you got a husband.”
I looked up at him from under the blanket. “That was smooth.”
“I know.” He smiled, which wasn’t something he did much of. He walked away to grab his guns, tucked them where they needed to go and came right back.
“You practiced that?” I teased.
“Nah. It just came to me.”
