A deep sigh drifted out of Raq as she glanced over to Aniyis. “Still the same, son. If anything were to change or happen, I promise you I will call you quicker than the speed of light. “
“A’ight. I appreciate you for doing this.”
“No problem, son. Enjoy some time to yourself. You need to have a sound mind for ‘Niyis.”
Kross nodded, agreeing with his mother. “I heard that, Ma. I’ll call later.”
The two shared goodbyes before the call ended. Kross pulled into the condo before stepping out of the car. As he hit the locks, he took another brief moment to admire his new purchase. Hewas grateful that despite being locked up for seven years, he didn’t have to go back and start at square one again. He made his money work for him while he was locked up, and only a handful of niggas could do that.
Once he got upstairs, he was met with an Edible Arrangement delivery that was sitting in front of the door. Although he couldn’t do much, he always made sure to get a reoccurring delivery for Cassie at the top of each month. It was just a small token of appreciation for her to look forward to. It never crossed his mind that now that she was gone, he needed to put an end to the deliveries. With a deep sigh, he grabbed the arrangement before stepping inside. He picked the card out of the arrangement, reading the little message he would always write to her.
“Forever my lady. Love you, Cass,” he read aloud, causing a tightness to surface in his chest.
There were days where he felt like he was strong enough to move forward and heal from losing Cassie. Then little reminders would come about and knock the fucking wind out of him. This shit was hard, and the only way he felt like could cope was channeling his pain into anger. He’d always been hot tempered and quick to flash out, but as of lately, he’d just been a completely different person. He knew he could’ve handled the fall out with his little brother without getting physical, but he was desperate to have someone else feel the same pain he felt or something close to it. Kross just wanted to get to a point where he was no longer at war with his emotions and find peace, but he knew that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon since he had a couple niggas to put down behind Cassie and Aniyis.
Finally having a moment for himself, Kross decided to just kick back and relax. He appreciated the silence in the condo since he had gotten used to the constant beeping of the monitors that were keeping Aniyis alive. Just as he sparked his blunt,there was a knock on the door. His brows bumped together since he wasn’t one to ever really have company, and neither was Cassie. He kept his piece on him as he made his way to the door and craned down a bit to look through the peep hole.
On the other side of the door was Amoura, prompting a sense of relief to wash over him. He opened the door, and he was met with her holding a box that was packed to capacity with a sewing machine and a few rolls of fabric.
“Hey. I got a call from the manager of the suite Cassie rented, and he said he needed her things out for his next tenant,” she explained with a depleted tone.
He took the box from her before he stepped aside and let her come in. “Fuck. I been meaning to get around to that. I just got caught up.” He ran his hand down his face frustratedly. “You could’ve called, and I would’ve handled it.”
She shrugged her shoulders lightly. “It’s cool. It was nice to have a little a moment in there alone since we had so many memories there.” He could tell just by the red tint in her eyes that the packing wasn’t as easy as she was portraying. It cut deep, and she spent most of the time crying her eyes out. “Cass had a lot of shit. There’s more in the car.”
He sat the box down with a nod of his head. “Bet. I’ll bring them up. You can chill since you did all the packing,” he offered while extending his hand for her car keys.
In response, she smacked her lips before waving him off. “I can help you. It’s nothing,” she assured.
He took her word for it, and they both took the elevator down to the car. Upon seeing the trunk, back, and front seat of Amoura’s Jeep Cherokee, Kross smacked his lips. “Man, how big was this fucking suite? She used to complain about how she ain’t have enough space in there, but she ain’t tell me it was because she had all this stuff.”
Amoura laughed as she opened the trunk so he could grab the mannequins inside. “She had the biggest suite in the building, but you know Cass loves to decorate.”
He shook his head as he grabbed the two mannequins so he could haul them up. “Be careful with those please. Those are the last two dresses she made before she died,” she enlightened him.
Hearing that prompted him to sit the mannequins down so he could admire his lady’s work. She was a beast when it came to sewing and creating. She never really thought it would become her career until she dropped out of nursing school once she got pregnant with Aniyis. She needed something to busy herself and make her money, so, with some support from Kross, she started her clothing line called Body Chemistry. For the most part, she made the pieces by hand and even did some custom gowns for prom season. It wasn’t until recently that she had gone into mass production and was working with a manufacturer. It was a huge success, and sadly, she was gone before it could reach the new heights she dreamed about.
It was evident that the dresses weren’t finished yet, but from what Cassie had gotten done so far, he knew they would’ve been fire. He had no clue what he was about to do with all her things from the suite because he knew if he decided to just leave them around the condo, it would cause him to bury himself in a deep pit of grief. For now, he was just gonna have to deal.
Together, they made a couple of trips back and forth from the car to the condo to haul all of Cassie’s things. Once they were done, Kross stood in the center of the living room with his hands in the pocket of his gym shorts, eyeing all the boxes and small pieces of furniture. “I appreciate you for doing all this, Amoura. For real,” he expressed his gratitude for her.
Like always, she waved him off. “Cass would’ve done the same for me, no question.”
“I would try to break you off some paper as a thank you, but I know you ain’t gone take it.” He smacked his lips with a shake of his head, which evoked some laughter out of her. “I was just about to spark one before you came. You trying to smoke?”
“Depends on if your weed hitting or not,” she jested.
Arrogantly, Kross scoffed as he reclaimed his seat on the couch. “Man, don’t even play with me like that. My shit always hitting.” He lit the blunt before taking a pull from it.
Amoura grabbed a seat on the couch as well, allowing him to pass her the blunt. She took a pull from it, immediately nodding her head in a pleased manner. “Oh, shit. I guess y’all Paper Chase niggas know what the fuck y’all doing.”
“Always, shawty,” Kross laughed.
They had a nice little smoke session going, which prompted Kross to roll another blunt before the first one died. “My auntie been going in on your ass on Facebook. Have you seen it?” She raised a brow at him.
He scoffed carelessly. “My mama sent me the shit Joyce been saying, but I don’t really give a fuck. She know what she did for me to not let her visit Aniyis, so she can keep playing victim on the socials all she want. I be trying to keep the peace out of respect for my lady, but they be trying me.”
Amoura nodded her head, agreeing with him. “Joyce is just looking for somebody to blame for Cassie dying, and you’re just the easiest person to put it all on.”
