Be sure you've read last chapter, "7. They both knew"
February 21, 2017
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The throuple had finally made it to Amber Cove, Dominican Republic and had successfully completed the 40 minute hike to get to the waterfalls of damajagua—Kasim and Nala were clearly out of breath and out of shape compared to Zuri who hadn't so much as broke a sweat even with the hiking gear and swimming gear on. Nala and Kasim couldn't have prepared for what they had experienced— now that they were up there though? They gawked at the scenery. It was beautiful.
"We're supposed to just jump—-" Nala gasped when Zuri had ran full force and jumped over the edge and into the water, "pumpkin!" She peeked over and rolled her eyes when Zuri swam to the top of the water and waved them in to do the same.
Nala shook her head—she didn't know that when Zuri told her to take her wig off and go bare faced today that this was why. She was the only of the three that didn't know how to swim, she simply knew how to survive if anything was to go wrong but full on swim like Zuri and Kasim? She absolutely could not. She was all for sharing a special part of Zuri's life with her but she didn't see herself jumping that far into a deep body of water.
"Please sunshine? For mama?" Zuri called up to her—Nala'a eyes widened seeing a few people look around and hearing Kasim snicker behind her.
"Stop yelling," Nala's face heated up from slight embarrassment.
Zuri laughed and held her arms open wide, Nala peeked down again and backed up. Kasim wrapped his arms around her waist, "want me to jump in with you sweet baby?" he asked kissing her shoulder, making her face heat up again. However she let him hold her and kiss on her—the uneasy feeling soon going away about being around others and cuddled up.
She looked up to him and gave his lips a quick peck, Kasim raised his eyebrow. He wanted to tongue her down but he didn't want to push it—deciding to take what she had gave him. He was satisfied with holding her, kissing on her neck/shoulder and the little peck she did give him. It was clear that was trying to be more open, although they assured her that she didn't have too and they were fine with her the way she was. Nala just wanted to be more like them—watching them in public and interacting had always made her smile and she wished she could get over how she felt and engage with them more. Pecking his lips might have been baby steps to her but it was huge for Kasim.
"Okay...I'm ready," she told him.
"Ready to fuck right here?" Kasim asked, her eyes widened and she gave him that tight lipped smile, "Oh shît—my bad mama. Ready to jump into the water...got it." He chuckled, grabbing her hand as they walked to the edge, "you ready?"
Nala nodded, he counted to three for her and they both jumped into the water. Once they sank down and came back up, Zuri swam to them and Nala clung onto Kasim for dear life until she made sure her vest was indeed keeping her above the water. Zuri kissed her cheek and then Kasim's lips, "it's beautiful isn't it?"
"It is, I didn't know how much something like this meant to you baby. Our one on one dates I'll have to start taking you places," Kasim swam to her and wrapped his arms around her, she held around his neck.
Zuri smiled, "aww—you'd do this for me again?"
"Glad he will, because I'm not." Nala spoke—looking around she smiled. "It's beautiful though pumpkin' I can see why you and your godfather did things like this. You must miss him often,"
Zuri nodded, "I do. Losing my father at the age of thirteen only to later lose my godfather at the age of twenty? They were the two best men in my life and I'm so thankful that you two would experience things like this with me in remembrance of them, it means alot..." she smiled.
Kasim snuggled into her neck placing kisses there, "they're always with you mama, and you know that what's important to you is important to us' sweet baby just chattin,"
Nala smiled, "you know that we love you, and it's okay to be vulnerable pumpkin,"
"I'm sorry about last night," she sighed.
Seeing Carlos again after years had triggered her and caused her to lash out—and for Destiny to be on his arms had really hurt her feelings more than it should have because if no one knew the depth of her and Carlos? Destiny definitely did.
Destiny had literally watched Carlos mentally, physically, and verbally abuse Zuri. Imagine going through all of that, losing your godfather and being pregnant on top of it? Imagine your friend that held your hand through it all being the same friend that your ex was now flaunting around? It triggered her to her core, what hurt the most was the he'd killed their son on purpose by repeatedly kicking her in the stomach, while Destiny only sat there and watched. That was why she cut her off four years ago, neither of the two was there when she had Zion stillborn, neither attended the services for him, nor had ever felt any remorse from that night. That had fucked Zuri up.
She'd lost her godfather, and then her son months later. Zuri was bitter, angry, hurt, and had never properly grieved neither three deaths or got over how Carlos had done her. It was clear that she needed therapy, and last night had showed Kasim and Nala just how badly she needed help. She'd done good with pushing certain things to the back of her mind but seeing them two had made her snap and all of that hurt resurfaced. Carlos was the reason she'd sometimes lash out and accuse Kasim of things she knew that he'd never do, and Destiny was a reason she wasn't as open with Nala as she used to be. She was traumatized.
Destiny had stalked her on social media—it wasn't a surprise since Zuri was an social media influencer. She'd posted her gifts from Kasim and Nala, and mentioned the cruise. Of course Destiny had seen it and booked the same dates and cruise too, she always envied her and was jealous but Zuri never knew why because Zuri had been nothing but a great friend to her.
"Stop apologizing for shît' you can't control," Kasim told her, "all of us have our triggers ma,"
"Exactly," Nala swam closer to hug her, "and I better not see Destiny around."
Zuri and Kasim both chuckled, "you gone beat a bitch for mama?" Zuri teased.
"Yup, don't underestimate me."
"We know you for sure got them hands sweet baby, I only had to see you fight one time back in high school to know that you ain't to be fuçked with," he chuckled, "I'll never forget that shit,"
Nala blushed and rolled her eyes, "she spit on me—and I didn't even do anything to her. I'd just got shunned by my family too, I was already on edge. I just snapped,"
"Aye—didn't Orion come up there after school and beat that girl brother and dad up?" Zuri asked, "that nigga was ruthless for that." She burst into laughter remembering the time, "they hated to see Orion come to that school, nigga got so bad where he couldn't even take you to your prom anymore,"
Kasim snickered as they followed Nala who swam to the big rock so she could get out and sit on it. Zuri rested her arms on the rock and laid her head on top of her arms, while Kasim snuggled under her from behind. "Them kids knew that if Orion was up there after school it was finna be a fight, I missed the bus home so many times when I seen that nigga. Knew I'd have me a good show,"
"Y'all making Orion sound real bad right now—let's not forget the time he got jumped...who ended up in county jail for knocking two dudes unconscious?" Nala asked.
Kasim looked around, "who would do such a thing?"
"I forgot all about that," Zuri gasped, "why would you ever repeatedly ram their heads together like that? I think that's when we knew just how dangerous you really were, I mean you had to beat alot of niggas in school, but that time? You blanked forreal,"
Kasim sucked his teeth, "aight—'miss got expelled for kocking Joy's teeth out by slamming her head in the water fountain' get off me. A nigga got tired of being picked on, had to show them mothafucka's."
They all sat there and reminisced about highschool days, and Kasim's mind drifted off to Orion and how'd he been mentally. They had been close at one point through Nala but shît had got weird, on Kasim's end when he noticed himself wanting to be around him more than his bestfriends at the time back then. How he protected his women now was how he was back then with Orion—he didn't know if was because Orion used to look out for him beyond the money and clothes Nala used to get from him for Kasim or if he had formed some kind of feelings for him. Back in highschool he pushed those thoughts to the side because he had way too many girls to be into dudes—however as he got older and more in tune with himself he noticed that he did indeed have some type of soft spot for him.
Kasim had never acted on it because he hated to think that he was curious about a man, especially growing up seeing how his dads side of the family were indeed homophobic, and how it'd look for him to be a street nigga at the time with another nigga on his arms? Niggas would take him as joke. To top it all off, being a black gay male in today's society was frightening to him back then, the stories he'd seen and heard. So, he never explored anything with a man or had questioned his sexuality again, he had just stopped being as close as he was with Orion and had stopped talking to him, being around him, and soon let the thoughts subside.
Once College came around, the last two people Kasim thought he'd end up with was his bestfriends. By that time, he had even forgot Orion had him questioning his sexuality. Hearing the stories now though had those moments resurface for some odd reason, it shocked him a little bit because he had forgot all about them and truthfully, he felt bad for how he had did Orion. He'd let Orion think that they weren't as close because he'd came out as bisexual to him, when truth was he was only running from his own curious thoughts at the time.
Over the years the two had stopped speaking to one another altogether, and Orion was back to only speaking to Nala. He and Zuri had never really got close so, they only spoke here and there.
As they all caught up and swam for a while longer they all had made the hike back to where they were staying—and in the room they had showered. Kasim wanted to go and ride the ATV's while Nala wanted to lounge around and shop. They decided that they'd do both—Nala was okay with riding the ATV's first—and then shopping around until they had to get back on the cruise at 4PM.
Making it to the destination the tour guiders had wrapped them up with scarves to cover a good portion of their faces—and Kasim had bought them all goggles knowing how bad the sand could get. Once they knew what trail to take, it took no time for them to be in competition, especially Zuri and Kasim while Nala drove pretty and recorded. She was helping Zuri make content being that she always forgot to record, and her followers wanted badly to see her vlog the entire cruise trip. They'd also wanted to see more of Kasim, most because he was fine and others because they adored his love for his women. It was even women asking if they needed a fourth add on, the comments were always wild. Of course, there were negative ones too but rather they were positive or not, Zuri's check still cut the same each month so she could careless.
After racing and damn near crashing they were literally kicked off of the ATV's because what they were doing was "dangerous", it was still a fun time for Kasim though. Both women were too excited to see him enjoying himself and actually having a great time, he'd never got to do things like this due to having to grow up too fast caring for not only his sister but his mother as well. Kasim never had time for fun in his life, if it wasn't for his women he still didn't think that he would—Zuri and Nala had a way of making him let loose. It was why they were so excited he'd decided to come on this trip with them, they understood he was now a millionaire and had multiple companies to run but they wanted him to enjoy life sometimes too. He was always on the move, never taking a moment to himself to just...breathe. He definitely deserved it.
"How are you feeling today daddy?" Nala asked Kasim as they now walked around with their drinks in hand, browsing little shops for souvenirs, "are you enjoying yourself?"
He and Zuri held hands, "I am sweet baby. It feels good not to have the weight of the world on my shoulders." He admitted, "I'm gone try to start making more trips with y'all too, I've been neglecting y'all and that isn't my intentions. Imma find some balance,"
"You promise?" Zuri looked up to him.
Kasim kissed her forehead, "I promise baby,"
Both women sighed in content, the rest of the walk was filled with them drinking and grabbing little items to take back home. Today for all of them had been wonderful, it meant a lot especially to Zuri. She hadn't hiked a trail in five years, and in a sense it felt like her godfather was with her when she did. She thought that she'd cry or change her mind because that was their thing but having the two she loved most by her side had pushed her through it without them even knowing how much they helped her through today. For them to hike with her and share something that special with her only reminded her how much they actually loved her, and would do anything to see a smile on her face. Her godfather would be proud of the woman she had became and how she lived life for herself, no one else. Even her father would be—in her heart she knew they'd accept her for her. She knew it.
"Oh my God," Zuri's face had lit up seeing a little spot that had music playing and a small dance area, "we have two hours left—can we go learn their dances please?" She begged.
Nala laughed, "you know I can't dance pumpkin,"
"You'll do fine, come on." She grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the establishment.
"Well...fuck me then huh?" Kasim sucked his teeth as he followed up behind them, carrying all of their things, "the fuck am I? A bag boy?"
Zuri looked back at him and laughed, "you're a sexy bag boy, you'll have your turn....sois patient papa," she winked at him.
Kasim stared at her and licked over his lips, he loved when she talked French to him. It turned him on and she knew that, he wasn't as fluent as her but he understood some of it. Just then she'd told him to be patient and called him daddy, so he did just that. Sitting their things down and having a seat himself, his eyes trained on them—he loved to see Nala try and dance although she couldn't and how effortlessly Zuri caught on to any dance and made it sexy. As promised, once Nala had attempted—Zuri then danced with Kasim.
Halfway through Destiny and Carlos had made their way to the spot, and had been unnoticed until Destiny of course wanted to be seen. As Zuri, Nala, and Kasim danced around and goofed off to themselves Zuri had felt something wet hit her back. Turning around, Destiny stood there. "Oh my gosh girl, I am so sorry.." she told her, Zuri felt Kasim's grip on her tighten, they were out of the country and he didn't want to get locked up where they weren't familiar, especially as a black woman/man. It wasn't worth it, and she'd catch her back in the states, that was nothing to him. Zuri was always quick to fight, however they had to think of the bigger picture.
Kasim had been so into holding Zuri he hadn't thought about or even expected Nala to run up and punch Destiny so hard in the face that she stumbled back and fell on her ass—busting her lip on impact, "throw another drink bitch," Nala walked up to her and Carlos had shoved her away with more force than he intended. Nala had meant what she said last night, when she seen Destiny she'd swing on her. Rather that had been on the cruise itself or one of their stops.
Within the blink of an eye Zuri had felt Kasim's grip loosen, and saw his eyes shift a shade darker as his jaw clenched. He had blacked out as he had his eyes trained on one person—-Carlos. As fast as he had thought about being locked up in another country had vanished when Carlos laid hands on Nala. Surrounding people felt the energy radiating off of Kasim and cleared the area quick, "look man I ain't mean to push yo shorty, I told you I ain't want no issues," Carlos told him, he too wasn't trying to get locked up in an unfamiliar territory, "we can do whatever it is that you wanna do when we get back to Miami, you know going to jail here won't be worth it,"
Destiny had stood to her feet and held her leaking mouth, "nah baby, whoop this nigga ass. His bitch snuck me, fuck that!"
"Snuck you?" Nala lounged for her but Zuri held her, "what you snuck and did was throw that drink on my woman and I'll beat anybody ass behind her, dumb ass weak ass bitch."
Kasim licked over his lip and nodded, just as security and police officers were headed their way. "Sayless, rather you meant too or not just know you getting dealt with bitch boy,"
"Is there a problem over here?" The officer spoke.
"Nah, just a little misunderstanding is all.." Carlos grabbed Destiny and put her behind him.
After the situation was deescalated—they had made their way back onto the cruise ship and while the women decided to take a nap, Kasim found himself eating edibles and sitting on their balcony that was connected to their room. From inside the room he could hear one of their phones going off so he stood incase it was his and went to check, instead he noticed that it was Nala's and a random number FaceTiming her. He knew that it was Orion, he'd always call from random numbers. Staring at it, he tried to wake her but she didn't budge neither time, he sighed a decided to let it ring.
Once it had rung about two more times he decided to answer himself, "Nala' round?"
"She sleep,"
He watched Orion nod, he had one arm behind his head while he laid back. "Tell her I'm good to have the phone all night—she can just call me back,"
Kasim noticed how exhausted he looked, "I got you, uh...how you been? You good? You look like' some bothering you." He walked back to the balcony and took a seat, "I can set the phone up by her if you just need to sit on the phone."
Orion chuckled, he was a bit caught off guard to see Kasim try and hold a conversation with him, they hadn't said more than a few words to one another over the last few years. Since he had came out as bisexual to him actually—that was when shit between them had got weird, Orion hadn't dwelled on it because he knew that most people wouldn't accept him and he had been hiding way too long. So, twelfth grade year was when he lived in his truth and of course had lost many friends/family along the way. Kasim Included and he didn't expect that because they had grew to be good friends, however he didn't trip on it and let it be. He wasn't one to force nobody to fuck with him, he had Nala and that was all he needed truthfully. He could admit his feelings was a bit hurt but if Kasim was homophobic there wasn't anything he could do about that. He was just thankful that he didn't try and do something like make Nala cut him off once they'd started dating in college, and he didn't make how close they were an issue for him.
"You ain't gotta fake no conversation with me bro, I'm good. Just let her know to call when she get up, thanks for asking tho, preciate it,"
Kasim went to tell him that he was genuinely asking about him but Orion had hung up the phone instead, he sighed and figured that it was best he hadn't tried to repair their friendship anyway because he in fact was wrong for how he had did him. He hadn't known how it affected Orion but from the way he'd just reacted to him let him know that he did in fact hurt his feelings—that was honestly never his intentions though, one day he'd get the chance to apologize but it was clear that it was too soon right now. Now that Kasim was older he realized just how shitty it was for him to cut him off because he was confused, and let Orion coming out be the reason he'd done it. When in reality he hated himself for being curious, he had now outgrew that curious stage in his life and an apology to him was long overdue.
As Kasim sat on the balcony he let himself relax and take in the beautiful scenery and sounds of the waves hitting against the boat, his high had started to take over. Tomorrow they'd be arriving to San Juan and he was excited to explore and see what they could get into there, it felt surreal to him that he was living life worry free when just three years ago he was working in a gym, and paying his way out of the game with his work checks. His mom was working two jobs just to make ends meet, he'd went from that to being a millionaire overnight. It was crazy to him, he' never thought he'd be able to fully take care of two separate households, and four women consistently. He' only dreamed to be able to do the things he was now doing, to be where he was right now was insane to him. To see his mom and sister live a stress free life was something he took pride in, they'd never go back to where they used to be as long as he was alive, and he kept his money invested into something. He didn't let the money get to his head which is why he worked 24/7, to ensure himself and those he loved a good life. They deserved it.
Hearing the balcony door slide open, he looked up to see Nala with the cover wrapped around her. "I thought you'd be around here having a good time, did us falling asleep ruin that?"
"Nah baby, I'm chilling. How'd you sleep?"
He grabbed her and sat her on his lap, she smiled and snuggled under him. "You weren't in the bed, you know I can't sleep without you, without all of us. What's on your mind?"
"A little bit of everything honestly, just basking in the moment right now though. Enjoying life,"
Nala yawned, "you know that you can always talk to us when you're ready."
Kasim nodded and rubbed her back up and down, "I know sweet baby—Orion called you too, he said call him back he'd have the phone all night. It look like something might've been wrong with him,"
He watched her grab her phone and call the number back from her recents, Orion answered almost immediately. "Hi, teddy.." she smiled into the camera, Orion smiled back.
"Wassup Bear, I ain't interrupting y'all vacation am I?"
"No, are you okay?"
Orion sighed, "yeah—just wanted to talk to you before I lost my mind in here. I hate this shit man,"
Kasim tapped Nala so she could stand and he could walk in it the room to give them privacy, not wanting to listen in on their private conversation. Truthfully he didn't want to hear anything he might've been going through because it'd only piss him off, he didn't deserve what he was being put through in the system. Orion was just battling things and—misunderstood.
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