Riding Until The End Read online

  “I’m just playing with you, sis. You did good. Auntie’s baby is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. She got all this hair.” Arizona rubbed the side of Blaze’s face as she spoke.

  “That came from Honey’s hairy ass.” Congo playfully pulled at Honey’s ponytail that was sprawled all over her pillow.

  They all laughed as Honey moved her attention to Toro. “What you sitting in the corner all quiet for?”

  He smiled. “I’m just chilling. Lil mama is beautiful though.”

  “Like her mommy.”

  “Here we go.” Toro faked sarcasm.

  Honey’s phone ringing stopped her from talking. She looked at Arizona, who was holding her phone. She was about to ask who was calling, but didn’t need to because Arizona said it as soon as she answered.

  “Hey Zay, what’s going on?” Her tone was cool, giving nothing away. “Yeah, she’s here, and she’s gorgeous… No, she looks just like Congo’s black ass.” Arizona laughed for a few seconds. “She’s doing okay. She did so good during delivery. I’m proud of her… okay I will… it’s just me, Congo, and Toro right now, but Congo’s parents are on the way. She pushed her out so fast she ain’t give nobody time to get here.” Arizona laughed again. To everyone else it might have looked normal, but because Honey knew how giddy Zay had Arizona when he spoke to her, she knew different. Zay was saying something slick to Arizona and Honey knew it just from the way she was laughing. “Cool. I’ll let her know… All right, bye.”

  Arizona hung up Honey’s phone and set it back in her lap. “Zay said he was just checking on you and the baby. He said he was going to come through within the next hour or two to bring y’all some balloons and shit.”

  Honey and Arizona snickered together, with Congo joining in. “I bet that nigga said it just like that too didn’t he?”

  Arizona nodded at Congo. “He did.”

  “He ain’t got no sense for real.” Honey shook her head.

  “He really doesn’t.” Arizona fixed the blanket around Blaze as she shifted her around in her arms.

  “Aye, let me hold her, Z.” Toro’s voice killed every ounce of smile on Arizona’s face.

  It was replaced with a seriousness that couldn’t be missed. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she stood and walked over to Congo. She handed him Blaze before going back to her seat. Honey balled her lips up to keep from smiling. She pointed at Arizona. You petty. She mouthed to her.

  Arizona shrugged and rolled her eyes.

  “Damn, Z, it’s like that?”

  Arizona looked at Toro and crossed her arms over her chest. “You got your own lil bastard coming soon, right? You better get over there and get some practice in with Blaze instead of worrying about how it is with me.”

  “Goddamn.” Congo cursed quietly, but it had still been heard. “That was fucked up.” He chuckled to himself.

  Honey wanted to laugh too, but she wouldn’t. Congo was childish enough for the both of them at the moment. So she just hit his arm instead. He really started laughing then.

  “My own lil bastard, huh?” Toro looked at Z with a raised brow.

  “That’s what the fuck I said.”

  Toro laughed in disbelief. “That’s how you feel?”

  Arizona nodded.

  “It’s cool. I deserve that. I still love you, though.”

  “I don’t care about that. You better take whatever love you have for me and give it to Keyona, or Yona.” Arizona looked at him. “That’s what you call her, right? Yona? Baby mama? Side bitch? Homewrecker? The biggest mistake of your life? Stop me when I say the right name,” Arizona taunted.

  Toro stood silent. There was nothing he could say, so he chose to say nothing, which was the best choice in that moment. Honey wanted to intervene and help him out because Z was eating him up whole. The only reason she didn’t was because not only did he deserve it, but Congo had just told her earlier to mind her business. So she would take her man’s advice on this subject. Not that Z needed her anyway. She was chopping Toro down to his knees with hardly any effort.

  “I said I’m sorry, Z. Don’t be like this.”

  Arizona sucked her teeth and stood to her feet. “Nigga please. Fuck you.” She walked over to Congo and picked up Blaze’s hand then kissed it. “Auntie will be back in a minute. I’m about to run to the house and grab your bag, Honey. Is there anything else you want me to bring back?”

  “A brush. My head looks a mess. Try to hurry up before people start coming up here to see me. I don’t want to look a mess in front of everybody.”

  Z kissed Honey’s face. “I got you, boo. I’ll be back. Congo you want something?”

  “Nah, sis, I’m good. Appreciate it.”

  Arizona grabbed her things and left the room. When the door closed, Congo being Congo, burst out laughing while looking at Toro.

  “Sis ain’t fucking around with your ass, nigga.”

  “Bruh, I know. She go hard like that every time I say something to her.”

  Honey fiddled with the covers on her bed. “What you expect her to do?”

  He shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. At least give me a chance to explain. She ain’t hearing shit that comes out of my mouth.”

  “Why should she? Look at how you did her?”

  Congo took a seat on the side of Honey’s bed and laid Blaze against his chest.

  “I mean she could at least let me explain. We’ve been together for years. She won’t even talk to me.”

  “Well, you knew y’all had been together all of that time when you got your ex-girlfriend pregnant behind her back.” Honey rolled her eyes. She didn’t feel sorry for Toro at all. He was getting exactly what he deserved, in her opinion. “Making her look like a fool in front of everybody.”

  Toro held his head down in his hands. “I don’t know what to do. It’s like I love Arizona, she’s the only person I want to be with, but now that Keyona’s pregnant, things are different. That’s my baby. I can’t just neglect her. The baby is innocent.”

  “No that baby ain’t, either. You slept with its mama behind your fiancé’s back. Tore her whole world apart. You can’t expect that girl to deal with no mess like that. You don’t have to come home to her and look at another man’s baby every day, and neither should she. It ain’t fair, and I honestly think you just need to leave her alone and let her heal. You messed her up big time. You knew you were wrong from the jump. You ain’t had to do none of this.”

  Honey’s true feelings poured out as she watched him act helpless. She had been keeping her mouth shut for the past couple of weeks because Congo said it didn’t have anything to do with her, but after seeing everything Arizona was still dealing with daily, she had no sympathy for him. Congo wouldn’t tell him, but she had no problem doing so.

  “So what I’m supposed to do? Just act like the baby doesn’t exist?” Toro shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’ve been wanting a child for years.”

  Seeing how adamant he was about the baby, that he wasn’t even supposed to be having, pissed Honey off. She sucked her teeth and held her hand up to silence Toro.

  “Shut up. Please just shut up. You sitting here acting like you went and got that baby the right way. Nigga, you cheated with a hoe that you have history with and knocked her up. Don’t nobody care that you’ve been wanting to be a daddy, Toro. You think Z doesn’t want to be a mother? She’s been wanting a baby for as long as I’ve known her, and you go and do this? How you think that makes her feel?”

  Honey scooted up in the bed and leaned forward a little. “You think that girl wants to walk around sad and crying every day? You think she wants the man she loves and planned to marry to be having a baby with another woman? You are so inconsiderate. You get around here and want to mope and act like the victim when you put yourself in this situation.”

  Honey pointed her finger at Congo. “Your friend has been begging me not to tell you how I really feel about all of this, but whatever now. You need to know. You are getting on my last nerve s
itting around staring at her like a lost puppy every time you see her, trying to make her listen to you tell her about some mess that should have never happened in the beginning. Just stop it. Don’t look at her when I’m around because I’mma slap you if you do.”

  Congo and Toro both chuckled at her. “Nigga, don’t you know every time she listens to that mess it reopens the same wound she’s trying to close? Who in their right mind would want to hear something that’s going to tear them apart with every detail? You tell me.” Honey bucked her eyes and waited for him to say something. When he didn’t say anything, she continued on her rant. “Take a second to throw your own lil feelings to the side and think about how she must feel. You want to watch Z sneak around town with another nigga then bring his baby to you like you’re just supposed to accept it? Nope, you don’t, so just let it go. You messed up, and now you have to deal with it.”

  Honey sat back in her bed and was about to allow him to marinate on what she’d said, until his voice stopped her.

  “Honey, I hear everything you’re saying, I really do, and I appreciate you keeping it real with me. But that doesn’t change the fact that it has happened now. The baby is here and I just want to move on. I want to be with Z, and I’m not going to give up until she hears me out. If she doesn’t accept the baby, then we’ll work on that when we get to it, but for now I have to have her.” He shook his head. “I can’t live without her.”

  “Nigga, yo ass was doing just fine when you was all out in the streets with Yona’s maggot ass. I told you.” Congo rubbed Blaze’s back softly.

  “Damn, bruh, you on her side too?” Toro smiled.

  “I’m on the side of the right. You know you my brother and I got you no matter what, but Z is fucked up behind this shit. I just don’t see the point in lying to your ass no more.”

  Toro released a frustrated sigh and sat back on the windowsill. He stretched his legs out in front of him and laid his head back against the glass. He closed his eyes and Honey wanted to roll her eyes again. It was annoying her how stressed he was acting about a problem he caused.

  “Babe, let me see Blaze. She might need to be changed.” Honey reached for her daughter.

  She didn’t have the time nor the patience to be dealing with Toro and his drama right now. She had better things to worry about.

  A couple of hours had passed by the time Arizona got back to the hospital. As soon as she got in, she brushed Honey’s hair into a neat ponytail and helped her get dressed in a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. Congo was gone down the hall talking to one of the nurses about Blaze. She had been taken to get her hearing test done, and he was acting like they were going to steal her or something. Toro had walked with him. Honey knew he didn’t want to be in the room with her alone. She snickered to herself when she thought about it.

  Arizona was snapping the last buttons on Honey’s waist trainer. “What you laughing at?”

  “Girl, Toro. He ran up out of here so fast when Congo left. I let him have it after you left, so he probably didn’t want to be in here with me.”

  “You did the right thing, with his cheating ass.”

  Honey and Arizona laughed as they walked out of the small bathroom. When they walked back in, Zay was coming through her room door. He was holding a large pink bear, a bag of candy and some pink balloons.

  “Ain’t you supposed to be in the bed or something?” He looked at Honey.

  “I’m fine, Zay. The hard part is over.”

  “I’m just saying; you probably should sit your ass down somewhere before you fall apart or some shit.”

  Arizona burst out laughing and so did Honey. “Really, Zay?”

  He set the stuff down on the counter near the sink. “Really, really.”

  “Okay then, Kevin Gates.” Honey walked to her bed.

  Zay held his fingers up in the shape of an L and placed it on his forehead. “You lame as fuck for that, Honey.” He sat on the small stool in the corner and looked at Arizona. “What’s up, baby, you ain’t speaking?”

  The light brown color of Xavier’s skin was illuminated under the bright hospital lights. His light brown eyes flickered whenever he looked at Arizona. And his smile… that smile was so straight and white she could see how Arizona had to make herself stop blushing when he looked at her. The deep, dark, black waves in his head led to the light beard around his face then circled the full lips that Arizona swooned over constantly.

  His face lit up as he watched Arizona. His thick muscular build and deep voice just set his overall appearance off. Not to mention how good he smelled every time he came around. Although Honey could only see him as a brother and nothing more, she could most definitely see why the women loved him.

  Arizona smiled and waved at him. “Hey, Xavier.”

  “Don’t get all funny cuz yo nigga was up here with you earlier. I’m still mad about that shit.”

  “Why? That ain’t have nothing to do with me.”

  “Yes the fuck it did, but I’mma leave you alone for now. I got something for you, though.”

  Arizona looked at Honey and smiled. “He plays too much.”

  Honey held her hands up in the air and shook her head. “My name is West and I ain’t in this mess.”

  Zay and Honey both started laughing. Arizona was the last to join in.

  “I already told her, sis. She gon’ stop acting like she don’t love a nigga just cuz her ex be around.”

  “That’s right, bruh, get her. She knows better.” Honey egged him on.

  “I know. That’s why I got this belt for her. Next time she try something like that I’m beating her lil pretty ass.”

  Arizona couldn’t stop smiling and it made Honey happy. She watched her shake her head and walk to the other chair in the corner and take her seat.

  “Where the baby at, Honey?”

  “It dun took you so long to get here the nurse dun came and got her for her hearing test now. She should be back in a minute though.” Arizona filled him in before Honey could.

  “Well, damn. Thank you, Honey,” he told her.

  She shot him a bird just as the door to Honey’s room opened. In walked Congo, Toro, and Congo’s mother, Donna.

  Congo and Toro, both dapped Zay up before entering the room completely. Congo took the seat next to him while Toro leaned on the wall near where Arizona was standing. Honey watched Zay’s eyes go from Toro to Arizona, before looking back down at his phone. Donna walked to the head of the bed and sat next to Honey. She kissed her forehead before turning around and patting her leg.

  “All of us up in here, but where the baby?” Zay joked.

  “Man, that’s what I been at that nurse’s station trying to see. They dun had her for almost an hour now. Her ears ain’t that big, so I know it don’t take that long to test no hearing.”

  “Congo, shut up. You are so stupid.” Arizona shook her head at him.

  “I’m just saying, though.”

  Donna looked over at Arizona and smiled. “Well hello, little girl. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “I know, Mrs. Donna, I’ve been trying to get everything back on track. I’mma come see you soon.”

  “Well, baby, judging by the way you look and that smile on your face, you must have everything on track already. You’re glowing. You’re not pregnant too are you?”

  “Oh, no ma’am. I don’t think so.”

  “You might need to check because you are lighting up this room, Honey. It’s either that or you’re in love. It’s one of the two.”

  “Well, we all know it ain’t love,” Congo said quietly, but not quietly enough.

  Arizona shot him a bird with a smirk on her face.

  “Be quiet, Congo, you don’t know. It could be love.” Donna scolded him. “It looks more like a baby glow to me, though.” Donna’s eyes squinted at Arizona.

  “I don’t know about all that, Mrs. Donna. It sounds nice, though.” Arizona was still smiling as she stretched her arms and legs.

  “You think yo
u might be pregnant?” Toro’s voice was like a silencer in the room, because in that moment it got so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

  Arizona’s whole face frowned up when she looked at him. “Why?”

  “Don’t you think it’s something we should talk about if you are?”

  Arizona shook her head. “Un uh. Nope. I sure don’t. There’s nothing you and I need to talk about, especially if it involves a baby. No sir. You have Yona for that.”

  Congo sucked air through his teeth and looked down at the floor. Honey slapped his arm and motioned for him to cut it out.

  Toro touched Arizona’s shoulder and surprisingly she didn’t move. She sat still, looking straight ahead. “If you are pregnant, whether you want to or not, we’re going to have to talk.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing that we both know I’m not.” Her voice cracked, and she looked down. “So I’m good on all that talking you want to do.”

  Toro leaned down on his knee so that he was close to her. With his hand moving down from her shoulder to her arm then her leg. She fidgeted at the same time as Zay did, which is why nobody, besides Honey, paid attention to his uncomfortable movement. Honey watched him biting the inside of his cheek as he stared a hole into the screen of his phone.

  “Z, baby… can I please talk to you for just a second?” He tried to whisper, but being that the room was so quiet, everyone still heard him.

  “Congo, go check on that baby again.” Donna ushered him out of the room to cause some sort of distraction.

  Congo left the room again as Zay stood to his feet.

  “I’ll swing back through later, sis, I got some stuff I need to handle real quick.”

  “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Donna Jaquel, Congo’s mother.” Donna held her hand out for Zay to shake, but he came over to the bed and hugged her instead. He then moved past her and hugged Honey.

  “Oh, I like you. You have manners.” Donna touched Zay’s arm.

  He smiled. “Thank you, ma’am. My mother wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “Well, tell her I said she did a good job with you.”

  Zay smiled again, this time a little softer. “She passed, but I made sure she knew before she left.”