C H A P T E R
S E V E N

       Fluffing the pillows on the couch, Justin took a step back admiring the living room then sniffed the air before nodding in approval.

Amir soon appeared shaking his head, "Will you relax? Been up all morning cleaning and shit. Everything will be alright, this is our first meeting and all they are doing is letting us know what we need to do to get ready for an adoption."

"I know but they are still going to be checking out the house to see if this is a safe enviroment for a child to be living in so this meeting is just as important as the others to come."

"I know and I get that .. but you need to relax. The place looks good, and smells amazing. But you also need to get dress they'll be here any minute now and you just dressed in boxers and tube socks."

Looking down at himself, he cursed in his head realizing he forgot all about getting dressed. "I'll be back, shit."

Taking off running, Amir just shook his head as he took look at the maroon and black living room. Grabbing the remote he turned the channel to HBO family to see Everything Everything was playing.

Sitting on the couch, he decided to watch that to pass time. As he watched the movie he couldn't help but wonder what if his life was like hers. Being away from the world all because she was sick, he felt like he would eventually kill himself.

Halfway through the movie their doorbell went off, "I'll be out in five minutes." Justin called from their room.

Amir knew he was probably being picky about what to wear, he honestly didn't see why he was so nervous. It wasn't like the child was coming today or anything.

Unlocking and opening the door, he was met with a pretty grey-eyed woman. "Hello, I'm Ms. Sanders .. social worker from Rainbow of Love. This is the Sinclair residents right?"

Amir nodded and shook her hand before letting her in. "My fiancé will be out in just a second .. do you want anything to drink?"

"Oh no—I'm fine thank you, but I must say you look very familiar or you favor someone I know." She added taking in his features.

Chuckling to himself, he shrugged. "The only people I might favor is my dad and my younger brother that you could possibly know since we all from here."

She nodded, "Maybe so, lovely place by the way. The color scheme is really nice."

"Thank you, my fiance and I picked and decorated it together since these our a few of our favorite colors."

"How long have you guys been together?"

Smiling small Amir looked at the tattoo on his arm that they got together for their one year anniversary which was many years ago. "Eight years going on nine. We met in college and it was like an instant connection .. I guess I could say it was like love at first sight."

Him and Justin been through a lot due to being black gay men but their love for one another never faded, never cracked, and never stopped. Justin was like Amir's bestfriend, he could go to him for anything and he knew Justin would always be there and vice versa.

Amir wasn't Justin's first boyfriend but Justin was Amir's and would be his last since he didn't see himself dating someone else besides him. He felt that what they had was forever.

She smiled at his words, and the look in his eyes he had when he spoke about it. "She's a very lucky woman,"

Amir frowned then went to reply to correct her but stopped when he saw Justin coming. "Hello, sorry I'm late .. I was getting dressed." He greeted.

Shaking his hand with a firm grip, she smiled. "Hello, I'm Ms. Sanders and you are?"

"This is my fiancé Justin, Justin this is Ms. Sanders."

Her eyes went into total shock from the information she just found out. She had nothing against gay people, but she would have never suspected either of them to be that. "Oh I am so sorry, when you kept saying fiancé I just automatically assumed it was a woman .. just shows that I need to have more of an open mind." She chuckled nervously.

"It's fine, we get the same reaction everytime." She nodded thankful that Amir took no offense, she now knew that she needed to wake up and realize that times have changed and that everybody isn't what we may think they are and instead of assuming to ask first.

"Alright, well are you guys ready to start?"

Nodding their heads, Amir and Justin lead the way to their living room taking a seat on the love seat while she sat on the other couch. "Okay so .. you guys want to adopt a child well the first step in adoption or foster care is orientation and you guys have already did that ..so you guys sorta have a feel of what to expect which is why I am here today .. so now I'm here to explain what happens from this moment on."

"So I'm going to be totally honest .. adopting is far from fast and easy. It is a long process, but it can and will be done. First we will need back ground checks on the both of you just so we can just check for any criminal records and things of that sort then once that is good, you will be able to meet kids and parents of those who are willing to give their child up for adoption .. but please be aware that some people will change their mind and decide to keep their child and there is nothing you can say or do .. and if that were to happen you guys would have to wait for another child."

They both nodded, listening to everything she was saying. She went onto explain about house inspections that they were gonna have and more information they needed to know in order to be able to bring a child home.

"But the key step that matters the most in my opinion is knowing exactly what you want and by that I mean like do you guys want a boy or a girl or multiple kids and the age ranges you want."

"We want a boy and any age is fine with us but if we had to choose .. um I guess ages between three and seven," Amir explained.

"Let me ask why do you guys want to adopt?"

Amir looked over at Justin, letting him have the floor. "Well as you see we are gay and as you probably know as well is that our sexuality isn't accepted by many people in our fucked up society. My family basically disowned me and I just want to be loved unconditionally by someone and I know I can get that from a child .. kids are innocent and they only see the good in people until an adult forces nasty, negative opinions in their brains and that is when people like Donald Trump are created. My nephew Marquette has a bestfriend by the name of Ken that he loves dearly who has down syndrome, growing up I witnessed a lot of kids with birth defects and disformities get picked on simply behind something they had and have no control over but my little nephew looks pass that and hangs out with him because he likes too and wants too despite how he looks and I want to be able to raise a child and teach them how to love people regardless of race, gender, religion and sexuality."

Reaching over she touched his hand, "And you will,"

Giving her a small thank you, they continued to discuss few more things before their meeting was completely over. Standing to their feet, she grabbed her purse as Amir lead the way to the door. "It was truly a pleasure to meet you guys and I cannot wait for this journey to begin."

"It was pleasure meeting you as well Ms. Sanders," Justin responded with Amir nodding in agreement.

Waving them off she laughed, "No need to be formal anymore, just call me Nia .. but again pleasure meeting you guys, see you both in three weeks."

Sitting in the bleachers Cali watched Ahmad coach on the sideline but she was mainly focused on the tight nike shirt he wore that highlighted every indention on his muscles. "He makes me sick being this fine," Cali mumbled earning a laugh from Alisha who was holding Nolan.

"Right, just sickening. Shaun looking like a whole catfish dinner plate ready to be eaten but fuck him right now. He pissed me off." She groaned not once taking her eyes off him, he felt her staring and looked back blowing a kiss her way but she held up the middle finger in response which made him laugh and nod before looking away.

Ahmad, Dave, Shaun and Marcus started up a little league football team along with a few other guys from his church. It started off small with just a few church members kids playing but as each season pass the team and support grows.

Ahmad thought of the idea when he rode by a park headed home and saw some little kids playing football, it reminded him of him and Marcus back in the day. When he pulled over and asked if the boys played they all explained that the little league teams around the area were just too expensive so that gave Ahmad the idea to form a league for low income parents and so far it was a success especially with churches donating money for uniforms, balls, cleats and other equipment they needed.

So far they had two teams, a flag football team which was for the kids around Adrian and Nolan age and then you had touch football which was for Marquette age group and up. The plan was to have more teams for older kids as well, he loved coaching and loved to see all his hard work pay off.

"What's up with you and Shaun?" Cali asked taking a sip of her gatorade.

Alisha sighed, "We went and saw his dad yesterday and lets just say shit got ugly. His mom was there and we all know how that man feels towards her so it was just a big mess and he took his anger out on me .. which at first I understood cause I knew he was hurting but he just went to the extreme when he yelled at my baby because he was crying. Like look nigga if ya dumb ass wasn't running around here all mad and yelling my baby wouldn't even be crying in the first place so me and Nolan ignored his mad ass for the rest of the night and this morning. We even slept in the living room together just to be extra."

Cali laughed shaking her head, "You and Nolan something else.. child only two years old and already being petty and giving silent treatments."

"Oh well, we'll probably talk to him tonight .. well shit I know I am, we gon' have the house tonight to ourselves and I want some dick so I really need to stop playing before his ass gets childish and tries not to give me any."

"Y'all a mess, but where the hell are my kids? I told them to play where I could see them."

Alisha looked around then pointed to the concession stand, "They over there with Twan looks like they getting hot dogs."

Cali then nodded once she saw they were in good hands, "Twan is something special forreal, like he does so much for us and half the time we don't even have to ask ..he just does it."

"Yeah with his cute self, I wonder when he'll ever settle down again.. The whole time we been here these little fast tale girls been eyeing him and sending friends to approach him but he been shooting em all down."

Cali only shrugged, "He really loved Ahmad's sister.. that's all I can really say. She is still his lock screen on his phone no matter if he gets a new phone or not. So I honestly feel like the next girl he ever dates has to be someone truly special but he told me he was fine with being single so I don't know."

"Hm, if he's happy that is all that matters. How is Imani doing?"

"She's taking it day by day, Derek went up there yesterday and spoke with her and he told us she opened up about alot of things that she has been going through but of course he couldn't tell us but he did say he was going to talk with her more and help her."

"That's really good, rape is such a tramatic experience .. I'll never forget mine but she will get through it.." Alisha mumbled.

Cali touched her shoulder, "He's dead now, he got what he deserved.. You got your justice."

"Indeed I did but onto something more enlightening.. I'm taking a pregnancy test today after the game."

Cali squealed, "Yes, I hope that shit is positive. Armoni needs a girl friend .. she is surrounded by only boys and her ass is starting to get rough like them too."

"More boys more protection, that's how I look at it."

"True but still we need more girls, we about to be out numbered bitch."

Laughing Alisha waved her off then turned her attention back to the game. Cali watched the quaterback throw the ball to Marquette then watched as he ran and took off down the field full speed with the ball causing everyone to stand up and yell, "Go," cheering him on.

"Go baby! Keep running!" Cali yelled excitedly.

Alisha jumped up as well yelling and almost dropped Nolan but by the grace of God, she caught him in time.

Ahmad being Ahmad was running down the sideline right with him not missing a beat as he egged him on to keep running until he made a touchdown. Running out onto the field, Ahmad scooped him up in his arms, as the rest of the kids on the team ran over to congraulate him.

Putting him down, Ahmad high-fived them all. "Good job on blocking boys, keep doing that and it'll be more touch downs and more touch downs mean more wins! Back to the sideline, defense get ready to go out!"

All jogging back to the sideline, Ahmad wrapped his arm over Marquette's shoulder. "Good job, I see you did that technique I showed you."

"You told me to never let them touch me so the only way they can't touch me is if I out run them." He quoted.

"Exactly, you keep that mindset and you'll be unstoppable but always remember sometimes you will get tackled but then you just get back up and get better each time."

"Yessir,"

"Alright, head back to the sideline .. I love you."

"I love you too,"

Cali watched their little moment and smiled as she retook her seat. "Marquette out there tryna beat world records and shit running like a straight crackhead." Alisha joked.

"Get off my baby but yeah everyday him and Ahmad practice and its not even Ahmad forcing him .. he gets up wanting to practice .. he really likes it."

"That's good, what's been going on with Reggie? I saw his post he made about getting a new job in Austin."

Cali rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, "Don't know and don't care honestly."

"What he do now?"

"Making my life a living hell .. a few days after Ahmad and I got back from our honeymoon Reggie kissed me. And he's always making slick comments about Ahmad and of course I check him but I'm just like why can't you just do your part as a father and just be there for your son but instead he gotta cause problems."

"Okay and have you told Ahmad any of this?"

Cali shamelessly looked down, "No but I will I swear."

"You asking for trouble, when you finally tell him he's gonna be pissed because you took so long .. you had this nigga smiling all in Ahmad face and you know Ahmad is all about respect so he's going to be hurt and pissed that you kept this from him and honestly sis ..I'll be on his side cause you are wrong."

"I know, I'm going to tell him tonight."

"Good, but as far as being a father towards Marquette is that going well?"

Cali nodded, "Yeah but you know Reggie isn't into sports so Marquette isn't allowed to play 2k or other games like that so he hates that but far as doing for him yeah he's good."

"Speaking of the devil," Alisha mumbled fixing her eyes towards the gate where Reggie was entering greeting folks.

When he walked over to Ahmad and slapped hands with him Alisha scoffed. "He has some nerve forreal. You really need to tell Ahmad and fast."

Cali knew she needed to tell Ahmad but she was more so scared of what his reaction may be.

After the game, Cali and a few of the other moms stayed to clean up the trash people left. "I know he's married but niggas cheat daily and baby boy is just too fine ..plus what his little wife doesn't know won't hurt her. Cause lawd the things I'd do to him .. the lord only knows." A lady who was a few rows down said laughing with her friend.

This was one of the things Cali hated about Ahmad, he was too damn fine and bitches always overstepped that boundary of disrespect towards her. Everyone there at the game knew exactly who Aubrey Calieen Sinclair was yet females loved to act stupid as if they didn't know Ahmad was married man or just didn't care.

Even though Cali saw none of the females as a threat, since she knew her baby wasn't dumb enough to cheat she still hated when they said and did shit like this especially around kids.

Cali was never the type to fight over a man, but she would beat a bitch ass behind Ahmad end of discussion and most of the ladies there knew that but that didn't stop them from trying to get at Ahmad so Cali knew one day she was going to have to show her ass to let them know she wasn't playing games.

Laughing to herself, she leaned forward tapping the lady on her shoulder to get her attention. "Can I help you?"

"Actually you can, see that fine man you wish you could do things to is my husband so I advise you to first look else where, second keep your dirty and trashy thoughts to yourself or I will beat your ass and third get your own man. Are we clear?"

The lady rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else as she turned back around.

Alisha laughed nudging Cali's arm. "Don't let that girl get to you, she be tryna get at everybody man .. she tried it with Shaun but we all know I go stupid behind that man. So I nipped that shit quick."

Nodding her head, Cali looked back at the girl having a feeling that even though she just threatened her to stay away from Ahmad, she felt deep down she was going to be a problem and when the girl looked up and sent a smirk her way, Cali's assumptions were proven.

The girl was a cute yellow bone chick, with wild curly hair that was the color of sandy brown. She was real thick, and had pretty light brown eyes that some women may kill to have. Cali often saw othet men try and get at her but Cali just continued to tell herself that no matter how cute she was, she believed that what her and Ahmad had was solid and unbreakable no matter what.

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Thanks for the love & support
- Denise 💋