Promises

-13-

The next couple of days flew by so quickly. Dave took me to class and while he was out at the studio or doing interviews, I stayed home with Kairi. I was growing so attached to this little girl. 

One evening while I was making dinner, Dave got a call and left the kitchen. I didn't think much of it until he came back and looked anxious.

"I gotta step out ma. I'll be back." Dave said while grabbing his jacket. 

"Wait babe. Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm straight baby girl. I gotta meet up with my boy for a sec. I promise I'll be back" he said while kissing me. 

"By the way that smells delicious. Save me some" he said while walking away.

Dave said bye to Kairi and left with urgency. Something didn't feel right but I tried to shake it off and focus on feeding Kairi and making sure she was okay. 

It had been close to 3 hours and I hadn't heard from Dave. I was starting to get nervous but playing with Kairi helped keep me cool. 

I had finally put Kairi to sleep so I decided to message Dave and received no reply. 

I rolled a blunt and stepped into the basement to smoke and calm my nerves. After facing half the blunt, I went back upstairs, checked on Kairi and sat in the living room waiting for him to get home.

It was 2 am when he finally walked through the door. I immediately got up and ran to hug him.

"Baby where were you? You had me nervous" I said. 

I looked up at him and he looked drunk as hell. 

"I fuckin love you. You know that right" he said while slurring his words. 

He took a couple of steps and he could barely keep balance. I gripped his arm and helped him upstairs to bed. I wanted to be so mad at him but I couldn't get myself to actually act on it.

"What happened baby?" I asked while passing him a bottle of water  

"Don't even worry bout that right now. How bout you shake that ass for ya man." Dave said.

"Baby no. Something happened…" I replied.

"You sooo annoying ma. Fine… Me and my boys pulled up on ya lil blood friend. He ain't gonna be a problem no moreee ya heard?" He slurred. 

"Baby stop it. You didn't…" I nervously said.

"No I didn't. I didn't do anything but drink a bottle of Henny in the back seat. My boys handled everything." He said with a smile.

I couldn't believe what I just heard. Dave really had someone off a nigga on my block.

"I told you, karma is a bitch. Why you look like that… I  did this for you" he drunkly replied. 

"Baby I love you but now shit is gonna be worse." I said.

"No no no. Hush. Everything is fine. No one was on the block anyway. My boys had mask and framed the Latin Kings by reppin their colors. We straighttttt. You straight. You sexy as fuck too." He said while trying to slap my ass. 

He was so drunk he missed and almost fell off of the bed. 

I held in my laughter and helped him get comfortable. I knew no matter what I said right now, it didn't matter. He was drunk and the deed was already done. 

Once he fell asleep, I did some homework and had a drink. Dave was definitely a handful. Even though he was out of the hood, the hood was still a part of him and that was something that would never change. 

The next morning I let Dave sleep in and took care of Kairi.

It was around noon when he finally woke up.

"Dada" Kairi yelled.

"Baby girl. Hows my princess?" He asked while picking her up.

He walked up to me and kissed my cheek before sitting down. 

"I good" kairi answered. 

I made Dave and Kairi something to eat and decided to go to tbe bedroom to do my online class. Part of me was still disappointed in Dave. Regardless of his intentions, it was still wrong. 

"Baby girl?" Dave said while knocking on the door.

"Its open babe" I said while looking at him.

"I know, I just wasn't sure if you wanted to talk to me." He replied.

I shut my laptop and gave him my undivided attention. 

"What's up?" I asked. 

Dave walked in and sat on the bed.

"About last night, I'm sorry. I really ain't got no words to say. Theres no excuse for what I had my boys do. I just felt like I needed to do something to keep you safe." He said.

"I am disappointed in you, but what good does that do? It doesn't change what happened. I just wish you would have thought before you called the shot on this niggas head. Regardless, I still love you and I'm gonna ride for you. But can you please not make any more stupid moves? Cause now I gotta be concerned with my safety even more so now that people in the hood know I'm with you." I replied.

"Ma, I promise. No more stupid moves. And about that… Maybe now is a good time to ask you if you'd want to move in with me and Kairi…"Dave said.

I looked at him and laughed.

"I guess I have no choice now. Not until I find a new apartment." I answered.

"I was thinking if you moved in, it was gonna be permanent," he said.

I sat quietly and thought about it. I loved Dave, I loved Kairi, I wasn't really working and I was technically almost done with classes. Nothing was holding me back.

"Fine." I quickly said.

Dave kissed me and hugged me tight.

"I love you ma." He said.

"Love you too." I replied.

"I wanna bring you and Kairi to my old hood." He said.

"Okay babe, lemme just finish this assignment and I'll get ready." I replied.

Dave left to shower and get Kairi ready and we headed to Harlem. Dave introduced me to his boys and it was actually really chill. His boys accept me like one of their own.

While Dave and Kairi were sitting, I took a moment to admire him.

Despite everything that happened last night, Dave was still an amazing man. He was loyal, and his heart was pure. Just watching the way he held Kairi made me certain that this was the guy I wanted to spend my life with. There was officially no doubt in my mind.