Heart of the Hustle

by A'zayler

  “I wish it wasn’t.”

  He chuckled. “Me too.”

  “Well, it doesn’t have to be.”

  “Good. Keep it that way.” He laughed again before hanging up in her face.

  Genesis clicked her phone off and continued to cry. Much like her body had the moment she heard she was pregnant, Emmanuel had been sick as well. He was so mean and rude all the time, and she couldn’t understand it one bit. Before, he and she had been really good friends. Never anything more, because she had Angel. But Emmanuel was fun.

  He was always there to make her laugh and smile without asking too much from her. Never pressuring her to give more than she was ready to, like Angel did constantly. Emmanuel had been a fun and welcome break that, on the night of her birthday, turned into more.

  Just like every other time Angel had proposed and she’d said no, Angel had gotten an attitude with her and left her house. Genesis hadn’t been in the mood to spend her day lonely, so she hit D’Angelo up. He told her that he was busy with one of his other women and couldn’t come, so she called Emmanuel. He’d come over with cake and gifts. The two of them drank and laughed the entire night. One thing led to the next and they’d been sleeping together off and on ever since.

  Being that Emmanuel hadn’t wanted more than friendship from her from the beginning, he hadn’t been a problem with her and Angel, until now. His baby was the biggest problem he could have ever caused. He had been so awful to her since finding out about her pregnancy that she almost wished it was D’Angelo’s, which was completely foolish. Had he and she not used a condom every single time they had sex, she would have even pinned it on him just to get away from Emmanuel, but that wasn’t happening. D’Angelo made sure to strap up every time they were intimate.

  “Oh, God,” she cried to herself.

  Hours passed before Genesis was able to pull herself from the floor and get herself together. After a shower and a little makeup, she looked the old her.

  “If he doesn’t want me and my baby, he doesn’t have to have us.” She spoke to herself as she dabbed the lipstick on her lips. “We’re better off without his dusty ass anyway.”

  Genesis pepped herself up the entire time she got dressed to leave. When she was finally dressed and ready to go, she grabbed her purse and left the house. It had been almost a week since Angel’s birthday, and she had a lot of making up to do. She’d acted like such a brat that day and the days following.

  Between ignoring his calls and not allowing him to come home, she was sure he was angry with her. At first, she had planned to use that as her out with him, so she could be with Emmanuel, but that was clearly a no go. She hadn’t even entertained the thought of being with D’Angelo, because that would most definitely never happen. What they did was cool, but that’s all it was. She was no fool to think he seriously cared. They were just two foul people doing foul shit, but Emmanuel was different. She’d actually allowed herself to fall for him for some reason, and now he was getting harder to shake.

  With D’Angelo being an unavailable option, and Emmanuel acting like a jackass, she was better off staying with Angel. If you can’t be with the one you love, might as well love the one you’re with, right? Genesis hoped like hell that she could stick to that motto until she grew to feel the same way for Angel that he felt for her.

  When she got outside to the brand-new red Lexus truck that Angel had gotten her a few months prior, she smiled. How could she not want a man who gave her a new car as a “just because” gift? Maybe spending her life with Angel wouldn’t be too bad, especially since she didn’t deserve him. If he was that good to her, she could only imagine how he would be with her baby.

  Her stomach flipped again as she got into her truck and pulled off. “This baby isn’t going to look anything like this boy,” she said to herself.

  Emmanuel and Angel were total opposites. Emmanuel was extra dark with hair that was nowhere near as good as Angel’s. When Genesis felt the urge to close her eyes while she was driving, she knew it was time to think about something else, so she thought of baby names until she pulled up to his house.

  She groaned inwardly when she noticed Empress’s car in the driveway next to Angel’s. Empress was one bitch who needed to get a life. Genesis hated her and would have beat her ass a long time ago had she not been Angel’s mother.

  “Here goes nothing,” Genesis said to herself as she got out of the car.

  She pulled the long. red dress down so that it was no longer bunched up. It dropped to the buckle of her sandals and flowed around the top of her feet. Before closing her door, she grabbed her purse out of her passenger seat and threw it over her arm.

  Her hands shook in nervousness as she padded up the walkway. She was sure nosy-ass Empress was watching her approach, but she wouldn’t give that enough thought to make herself angry. She had enough on her mind right then. When she finally got to the door, she rang the doorbell and waited. A few minutes passed before she rang the doorbell again.

  Empress snatched the door open with a frown on her face. “Little girl, please don’t ring my bell like that.”

  “Is Angel here?” Genesis purposely ignored Empress’s attitude.

  “Didn’t you just walk past his car in the driveway?”

  Genesis blinked her eyes slowly to refrain from rolling them. “Can I speak with him, please?”

  “You haven’t wanted to talk to him in the past week. What changed today?” Empress placed her hands on her hips. “You must have run out of money.”

  Genesis rolled her neck and placed her hand on her hip. “Listen here, Empress,” she started.

  “I’m listening, ho.” She cut Genesis off before she could complete her sentence.

  This old bitch.

  Genesis’s nose flared just as Vinny walked past the door. He doubled back for a second before walking to the door behind Empress.

  “Darling, leave this girl alone,” Vinny said to his wife, then opened the door wider while simultaneously grabbing Empress’s arm and pulling her. “You know the way to his room, sweetheart. Go ahead.”

  “Yeah, go ahead before I put my hands on your trifling ass,” Empress said.

  Genesis spun around like she was about to say something but stopped when Vinny shooed her away. She huffed and turned back around, taking the stairs to Angel’s room. When she finally got there, she didn’t even bother knocking, she just walked right in.

  Angel was sitting on the corner of his bed with a textbook in his lap and a notebook on the bed next to him. He was shirtless in a pair of gym shorts.

  When he looked up, his eyes were dark, but they lightened when he noticed it was her. He stood from the bed immediately and set his book down, along with the pen he’d been holding, before going to her. His body was pressed against hers when his lips found the side of her neck.

  “You can’t be staying away this long.” He inhaled before squeezing her closer to him.

  Genesis closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have let you leave.”

  “I shouldn’t have left.”

  Angel didn’t say anything after that, he simply held her in his arms until he was finally ready to let her go. Even then, it wasn’t fully, because he was still holding her hand when he pulled her onto his lap. When they were comfortable on his bed, he ran his hand up and down her back.

  “I missed you.” His sexy, calming voice was low and making her center ache wildly.

  She’d been wanting sex for days but refused to talk to him long enough to get it. But today was a new day. Genesis leaned over to pull her dress up some before turning so that she was straddling his lap. Her arms went around his neck at the same time his went to her waist.

  Angel wasted no time getting in the groove of things with her. His touches were just as greedy as hers as they sat wrapped up in each other.

  “Angel,” she moaned into his ear. “Hurry up.”

  “I got
you,” he mumbled as he sat up enough off the bed to push his shorts down.

  Luckily, he hadn’t gotten a chance to get them down, because his bedroom door swung open. Both of their heads whipped in that direction. When Genesis saw Empress, she rolled her eyes so hard they should have fallen out of her head. She was tired of that bitch. If she wanted to keep disrespecting her, then Genesis would disrespect her ass right back.

  “Oh, no, ma’am. You can get your li’l fast ass right on up off his lap. You won’t make no baby over here and drain us dry.” Empress walked all the way in the room. “Take that shit back to your house.”

  “Maaaaaa!” Angel’s word dragged as he let his head fall into Genesis’s breasts. “Get out, please.”

  “When she gets off your lap, I will,” Empress said, not bothering to even attempt to exit his bedroom.

  Genesis slid back and freed Angel’s lap of her ass. “I’ll get off him, but that won’t stop me from getting a baby.” She smiled at Empress. “It’s a little too late for that, boo.” Genesis snatched her purse off the bed and pulled the sonograms out for Empress to see. “Angel, meet your son, baby.”

  Empress shrieked. “Angel, you got this trick pregnant?”

  Angel sat on the bed looking dumbfounded. “I guess so,” he mumbled as he looked over the black-and-white pictures of the baby growing in Genesis’s womb. “Damn.”

  “You little gold-digging bitch. You may have Angel fooled, but you won’t get shit from him or us until we get a blood test.”

  “Tell her, mama,” D’Angelo chimed in. He’d just walked up eating a piece of chicken.

  Genesis’s stomach flipped at the sight of him, but she held it together. “Fine with me.”

  Empress and Genesis stood staring at each other until Empress got mad enough to storm out of the room, with D’Angelo following behind her laughing. She even had the nerve to go back and slam the door behind them.

  Genesis stood in the same place and looked at a laughing Angel. “What’s funny?”

  “My mama hates your ass, and I don’t think my brother is too far behind her.”

  Genesis was quiet before she too began laughing. If only Angel knew just how much D’Angelo hated her. She snickered to herself again.

  “Well, that makes two of us.” She sat down next to him. “I don’t give a fuck about D’Angelo’s no-life-having ass. But Empress, she’d better get a better attitude, or my baby won’t be coming over here. He will not be around somebody that doesn’t like me. Empress won’t be over here pinching my baby.”

  Angel stopped laughing. “My mama wouldn’t do no shit like that.”

  She could tell he didn’t appreciate the way she spoke about his mother, but she didn’t care. She was tired of Empress.

  “If you say so, but I’m serious. I can’t be around no mess like that. Your mama be stressing me out.”

  When Angel scooted closer to her, she knew then that she had him. “Don’t worry about my mama. I’ll handle her.” He touched her stomach. “Just worry about our boy, and I got the rest.”

  Genesis basked in the joy of Angel being excited about her child. That was how Emmanuel should have been, but it was what it was. No need to cry over spilled milk. If Angel wanted to be there, then that’s who would be there.

  “You happy?” she asked him.

  He smiled brightly. “Hell, yeah, I’m happy! All you have to do is marry me now, and we can be one big, happy family.”

  Genesis swallowed the lump in her throat as tears of sorrow filled her eyes. “I will.”

  Angel scooted to the floor in front of her quickly with a look of surprise covering his face. “You for real?”

  When Genesis couldn’t force herself to say it again. She nodded. Thankfully, he hugged her immediately afterward, so he couldn’t see the look on her face. It probably would have broken his heart. She sniffed hard because she would bear the burden for them this time. There was no need to have two broken hearts in one relationship. Her shattered one was enough for the both of them. Maybe her son would mend them, maybe not. Only time would tell.

  Chapter Eight

  When it all falls down

  “Angel, I’m ashamed of you, son.” Vinny’s words cut deep as Angel sat in the living room on the sofa across from his parents.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, Daddy. My intentions were never to hurt either of you.”

  “You didn’t think changing your last name would hurt us?” his mother asked in disbelief. “You’re a damn DeLuca. I don’t care how much you want to pretend you’re not.”

  “I’m not pretending anything, Ma. I just don’t want people to associate Dr. DeLuca with the DeLuca Cartel. Our name is ringing in the streets and has been for a few months now. If I’m going to practice medicine here, Ma, I have to make sure I’m legit.”

  “And you couldn’t do that with the name DeLuca? Fuck these people, Angel!” his father fired off at him. “You are who you are.”

  “I know that, Daddy. I’m just going to be myself with Mom’s last name instead.”

  Empress’s head fell forward for a minute. “The cartel is more than just a name, Angel. It’s a legacy. You’ve seen all we’ve had to do in order to make ourselves, and this is what you do?”

  Angel sat silently as he watched his mother’s eyes start to water.

  “Ma, please don’t cry. I’m just trying to do what’s best for my family and me. It’s not y’all. I promise.”

  “Your promises are no good here.” Vinny pointed at Angel before hugging Empress to him in comfort. “Just get your ass out of here. No son of mine would pull the stunt you just pulled. From this moment on, D’Angelo is the only son deserving of my respect. He may not be the best, but at least he’s loyal.”

  Angel sat wounded by his parents’ words. He hadn’t known changing his name would make such a large impact on them. He’d been thinking of his and his son’s future when he’d made the decision. If only he could get his parents to understand his reasoning, he would be okay.

  “Ma,” Angel started.

  “Just leave, Angel. Go home to your family.” The word family rolled off her tongue as if it was the nastiest thing she’d ever tasted. “I know that little bitch was behind this.”

  “Genesis had nothing to do with this, Ma. It was my decision.”

  “Sure, it was. Your family is all you talk about since finding out about that baby. The DeLucas are your fucking family, boy!” Empress stood up and walked toward the door. “You’re making all of these stupid changes when you don’t even know if that fucking baby is yours.” With that she left the room.

  Vinny stood and looked at Angel over his shoulder. “Let yourself out, and don’t come back until you’re ready to be yourself.” He shuffled toward the door. “Don’t sit idle too long, I don’t have time to waste.”

  Angel watched his father walk to the door and his chest got tight. This was not what he wanted. He needed his family; they were all he had. Why couldn’t they just accept him for who he was? Why was that so hard?

  “I pray to God when you do come back, it’s not too late. I love you, son.” Vinny’s voice resonated in Angel’s head over and over for the rest of that night and the many nights that followed.

  The falling-out with his parents had been almost five months ago, and he hadn’t spoken to them since. He’d talked to D’Angelo off and on, but not even he had much to say to Angel. It had been the hardest, most grueling time of Angel’s life, but his parents had made it very clear that he wasn’t wanted there. All the locks had been changed, his fingerprint entrance to their estate gate had been erased, and every call he’d placed had gone unanswered.

  Although he had Genesis and would have their son at any moment, he needed his parents and brother. He’d always known the relationship they had was untouchable and unlike anything he’d ever experience with anyone else, but what he hadn’t known was how empty he would feel without it. His nights had been long and his days had been dark without them.

 
; He’d give almost anything just to talk to them, but he’d made a decision, and he’d stick with it. It may have been hard at the moment, but hopefully it would all work out in the end. He needed to think about the bigger picture for Genesis and his son. They were the most important thing in his life, and he’d do whatever he had to do to ensure their safety.

  The only reason he knew his parents were still okay was because of Zulema. She was the only person in the entire DeLuca Cartel who still talked to him. The changing of his name had been disloyal in all of their eyes, and they’d made sure to show him their truest feelings about it.

  “Angel, you didn’t hear me?” Genesis asked as she wobbled into the room.

  He looked up. “Huh? What you say, baby?”

  “I said, my water just broke.”

  Angel’s eyes got big as saucers when he noticed the water running down her legs. He stumbled to his feet so fast that he almost fell over the boxes in front of him. They had been in their new house for almost a month and still hadn’t finished unpacking. Genesis was always too tired, and school was wearing Angel out. She’d taken a semester off due to being so sick, so he’d been finishing alone.

  “Where’s your bag?” He rushed to her and grabbed her hands just as she doubled over in pain. “Genny!”

  She squeezed his hand so hard it felt like she was about to break it. No words left her mouth until she stood back upright.

  “In the closet. Get it, please, and hurry.” She winced in pain. “I need to get to the hospital. That contraction hurt like hell.”

  Angel nodded nervously before walking away in a hurry to gather her things. He moved around the house as quick as he could, getting everything they would need before helping her to her truck and speeding them to the highway.

  When they got there, everything happened so fast that it passed Angel by in a blur. One minute, Genesis was on the bed screaming at the top of her lungs, nearly shattering every bone in his head. The next minute they were in a hospital room alone while Genesis slept and Angel held his sleeping son on his chest.