“I know you do. And you know I want to be here, Tasha. I really don’t have a choice. It’s a favor for a favor. Don Carlos is one of the reasons I am here with you now.”

“I can’t believe this, Trae.”

“This is the life we chose, Tasha.”

“We chose? You chose this, Trae. Not me!” I regretted those words as soon as they came out.

“You chose me, Tasha. You been about this life. From the wedding, to the murders, to the jail shit, we been living this life. And at no time did I ever hear you say, ‘baby I’m out.’ I need you to ride out with me and roll with the punches like we’ve always done.”

“I know, bae, but damn. Why does shit have to be so hard and so dangerous? I’m tired of living like this. Why do you have to leave now? This is unnecessary stress. I could deliver at any time. The doctor said my stomach is dropping.” I was grasping at straws, anything to make him feel sorry for me and stay.

TRAE

“Tasha, I need you to be strong. Don’t send me away thinking that you are falling to pieces.”

She was trying to be hard, holding back the tears but they came rolling fast down her cheeks.

I hated to see her cry. But once again she would have to suck it up. Although she cried easily, Tasha was as strong as nails. When I came from Cali to New York for Kay’s wedding and was shot, she stayed with me in the ambulance against medical advice and sat at the hospital for the three months I was in the coma. Pregnant and all. The whole time I was unconscious, she talked to me, message me; and although I was out of it, somehow, I heard her, and I felt her.

And throughout all the drama, she still delivered our healthy son. She never gave up hope on a nigga. And now she finally got her baby girl and that’s surrounded by drama. Now I had to dip on her and she was having a complicated pregnancy.

It seemed like every time we said we were out, one more obligation pulled us back in.

KAYLIN

“We’re ready to go, but we need your help,” I told Don Carlos.

“Anything I can do to accommodate, let me know.”

“I need some bodies to watch over our families until we get back.”

“It’s done.”