City Of sins
Nasir leaned against the counter, folding his arms tighter across his chest as he watched Reign stir the pot on the stove.
“Why you worried about me so much anyway?” he repeated.
Reign let out a short laugh, the kind that carried more frustration than amusement. She finally turned to look at him.
“You are kidding, right?” she asked. “Did you forget who I am to you?”
Nasir’s jaw tightened.
“Nah, I ain’t forget.”
“Then stop asking stupid questions,” Reign snapped. “Every time my phone rings late at night, my heart drops because I think it’s somebody calling to tell me you’re dead. Every time sirens go by, I wonder if your name about to end up attached to another arrest report.”
She pointed the spoon at him.
“You think this is funny? You think I enjoy arguing with you? I love you, Nasir. That’s the problem.”
The kitchen went quiet.
Nasir looked away first.
“You act like I be trying to get locked up.”
“You don’t have to try,” Reign shot back. “It just keeps finding you because you keep putting yourself in situations you know ain’t right.”
“I do what I gotta do.”
“No,” she corrected, her voice softer now. “You do what you’ve always done. There’s a difference.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“You think I don’t be scared?” he asked quietly. “You think sitting in that cell ain’t have me thinking? I had nothing but time to think.”
Reign turned the stove down before facing him completely.
“Then what did you learn?”
Nasir opened his mouth, then closed it.
“I learned…” He exhaled heavily. “I learned I got too much to lose.”
Reign’s eyes searched his face.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yeah.”
“You said that last time.”
The words hit him harder than yelling ever could.
Nasir looked down at the floor before taking a few steps closer.
“I know I did,” he admitted. “But when they was talking about years… when I thought I wasn’t coming home…” His voice cracked slightly. “The only thing I could think about was you. You in this kitchen. You fussing at me. You telling me to take my shoes off at the door because I tracked dirt through the house.”
Despite herself, Reign fought back a smile.
“You are hardheaded,” she muttered.
“And you mean as hell.”
“I mean because you don’t listen.”
He finally stood in front of her.
“I’m trying to now.”
Reign looked up at him, tears threatening to form in her eyes.
“I can’t keep losing sleep wondering if every goodbye is the last one, Nasir. I can’t build a future with somebody who’s always one bad decision away from having it all taken.”
Nasir reached for her hand carefully.
“So tell me what to do.”
“Choose us,” Reign whispered. “Every single time. Choose us over the streets. Over proving a point. Over whatever loyalty got you in trouble to begin with.”
He squeezed her hand.
“And if I do?”
Reign stared at him for a long moment.
“Then maybe…” she said softly, “…I can stop waiting for the day I have to bury the man I love.”
For the first time since he’d walked through the front door, Nasir had nothing smart to say.
He simply pulled Reign into his arms.
And Reign let him hold her.
But resting her head against his chest, she couldn’t ignore the thought lingering in the back of her mind:
How many chances could love survive before it finally ran out?
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