Page 72 of Exit: Us
“I’m good, bae. Go to sleep. Them niggas not coming back,” I let her know.
I could see it in her eyes that she was fighting for her life to stay up with me. She placed kisses all over my face. Kissing me on my lips, cheeks, nose, and forehead.
“I love you,” she told me.
“I love you more. Go to sleep, baby,” I said, leaving it at that.
That’s all it took. She stayed on top of me like this, and in a span of three minutes, she fell asleep. I was so obsessed with this damn girl, that while she rested with her head on my chest, all I could do was look down at her, and admire her.
Amina had a way of sleeping so peacefully around me. I credited myself as a man when it came to that because it let me know that she was safe when she was with me. Even with her being a little shook by what just happened tonight, she was stillable to successfully fall asleep in under five minutes because she knew that she was safe in my arms, and that I wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to her.
We had about a month left on this truck together. Feelings were growing stronger day by day. I found myself thinking about what life was going to look like for us once this job was complete. Amina already made it clear to me that she loved me too much to go back to London. I knew she would stay in Miami with me. I had to continue giving her things that were worth staying though.
I had to continue making her happy. I’m not sure if it’s the peace that I get whenever I’m around her, or the fact that I loved her so much, but I’ve been heavily thinking about marriage lately. That’s never really been something that took up a lot of space in my mind.
Marriage and children. I wanted both. For the first time in my life, I could honestly say that I wanted both, and I was ready to experience those things with her.
Chapter 19
Amina Sinclair
Iwas with Gemini, as he was wrapping up a pre- trip inspection. We were still in Oklahoma. This was our second day here. Gemini said that we would probably leave late tonight, or early tomorrow morning.
Oklahoma greeted us with nothing but crazy traffic, and accidents on the highway last night, and if that wasn’t enough, we had to experience three guys trying to break into Gemini’s truck last night. That shook me to my core. I thought that they would pull a gun out on Gemini, but they didn’t. Hell, I even thought that Gemini would pull his gun out on them and use it. I was glad that they found their common sense, and got the hell on, so I didn’t have to witness a blood bath.
I woke up in a good mood this morning. Gemini and I showered at the truck stop, and I cooked breakfast for us inside the truck. Most mornings, all Gemini really wanted was an omelet, so that’s what I decided to make for him. I chose to make instant oatmeal for myself. We both didn’t play about our coffee, so I handled that too. Now, I was just sitting up front in the passenger seat, with my legs pulled up, with yet another book in my lap. I went through so many books on this truck with him, that I literally lost count.
As I was sitting down, my phone started buzzing in the cupholder. I picked it up, seeing that Gianna was calling me. She was putting a call in to me through facetime.
I answered for her, and her beautiful face appeared on the screen. She was just like her brother because while he was outside working, I could tell that she was somewhere working too. Judging by her chef hat and coat, I knew that she was on the clock somewhere.
“Good morning, beautiful.” I answered for her. My greeting caused her to smile.
“Good morning, baby. How are you today?” she asked me.
“I’m doing good. You? I see you’re up at it early this morning, just like your brother,” I announced, and when I said that, she laughed, while shaking her head.
“His ass is working today? That’s why I was calling you because I just tried calling him a couple of minutes ago, but he didn’t answer. You would think that because it’s his birthday, that he would have taken the day off,” she voiced, and when she said that, I shrieked.
I damn near started crying when she said that to me because I didn’t know that today was Gemini’s birthday. Me, and this man talked about so many things on this truck, but we never discussed birthdays. I felt so damn stupid because his name was Gemini for God’s sake, so you would think that I would have known that his birthday was coming up since it was currently Gemini season.
“You didn’t know that Amina?” Gianna asked me, and my eyes got watery because I didn’t.
I was one of those people that loved to pour into people on their birthday. I loved to get them nice gifts, cake, and just celebrate them. This man didn’t say anything. We woke up this morning, and he didn’t even mention it. He got up and started working like it was just another random day.
“We talk about so much stuff on this truck, but we never asked about birthdays. Gianna, we were together all day yesterday. He didn’t say anything. I cooked breakfast for him this morning, and he didn’t say anything, either,” my voice cracked as I shared this with her, and during this moment that I was getting ready to have, I heard Gianna laugh on the other end of the phone.
“It really doesn’t surprise me. Gemini has to be the only person in the world that doesn’t give a damn about his birthday. He treats it like it’s just another day. He probably purposely didn’t tell you, so that you wouldn’t try to surprise him with anything. Amina, chill out. I could see if you knew when his birthday was, and you just forgot today. You didn’t know. I know you, and you’re about to start,” she threatened, but it was already too late because tears had started falling.
I felt so bad. During the moment that I was having, the passenger door opened, and it was the birthday boy standing right there, just working and carrying on like today was just another random Monday.
“Bae, why you crying? Here. Put my phone on the charger. My shit on 1%,” he casually said to me.
I think I have so many ‘moments’ in front of this man, that he was no longer phased by the tears. Look how he just casually witnessed me crying, and he didn’t bat an eye.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me that today is your birthday, Gemini? I just found out from Gianna,” I croaked, lifting the phone, so that I could show him that his sister was on the facetime call.
He smiled, while kissing my tears away, and then he took the phone from my hands.
