In the pit of me.

  In the pit of me… that belonged to her.

  It went beyond attraction and attachment. I was falling for this girl… hard as fuck, too.

  The quicker I did these bullshit ass wishes so she could gone about her business the better. I couldn’t risk falling for her or anyone else.

  “I think that was exactly what I needed to regain my full strength,” Genie shared, hopping down from her seat with a wide smile. “What would you like your first wish to be?”

  Releasing an exhale, I wiped my mouth and thought over her question. Didn’t take me long to say, “I want enough money to make sure my bloodline will always be straight financially. Make me a billionaire. But not the flashy kind. Let the money come to me in secret. And don’t let it change me. Just let it be there for my family, I don’t even have to touch it.”

  Her smile was warm. Eyes bright and watery. “Very noble first wish. Your wish is my command.”

  Genie rubbed her hands together, then she lifted the left one to her mouth. Palm open, she blew in my direction, and pink and purple smoke headed in my direction. It went up my nose, causing me to shiver as a chill went through my spine.

  “Done.”

  She sat back down and took a sip of her orange juice.

  “Just like that?”

  Genie smiled and nodded. “Just like that.”

  “How do I know it’s real?”

  “Check your email.”

  I grabbed my phone and checked my email. There were several emails popping up one after another with confirmations of deposits into several offshore accounts, stocks and bonds, real estate investments through a company named after Lovie, and businesses that she’d apparently made me a silent investor of. She slid a black folder in my direction that wasn’t there before and told me all of the information was inside of it as well along with instructions on how to access safety deposit boxes at banks all over Essence.

  “Also, there’s that.” She pointed behind me, and the entire back wall of the kitchen was stacked with money. “There’s a million there. Unmarked money. You can use it how you want with no worries.” As I looked back at her she asked with a smirk, “Do you believe now?”

  Speechless, all I could do was nod my head. I was a whole billionaire thanks to her, but I had absolutely no desire to spend any of the money. Meaning what I said, this was basically for security. I could rest a little easier now knowing that my baby and her babies and their babies would always be straight. And I was going to get Lovie into business investing as soon as I could so she could flip this shit and make even more.

  Standing, I walked over to the money and began to flip through the stacks one by one. “I ain’t got nowhere to put this shit.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that. The beautiful black bookshelf in your living room has a fireproof safe behind it. When you’re ready for me to, I can store it for you there.”

  Genie had literally thought of everything. All that came out of my mouth was, “Thanks. I’m sorry. I don’t even know what to say.” Chuckling softly, I walked back over to her and pulled her into my arms. She melted against me, releasing a satisfied sigh.

  “You’re more than welcome, Hareem.”

  Pulling myself away from her, I stared into her silver eyes. I wanted to kiss her. Bad as hell. But I couldn’t. We’d agreed that what happened last night wouldn’t happen again. Yes, it was the best sex I’d ever had, but it went beyond that. What we experienced… I’d never felt with any other woman before. And I knew if we got physical right now… it would only increase. It would be spiritual. Couldn’t risk that – no matter how much I wanted her.

  Clutching her stomach, Genie doubled over. Instinctively, I grabbed her arms. “You good?”

  “Eh. Do you… need anything else right now?”

  “No. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry, but I really, really need to go back into my lamp.”

  “What? Wh–” Before I could even ask why, she was running out of the kitchen holding her ass. As I laughed, she yelled for me to shut up.

  “You try eating human food after two hundred years and see what happens!”

  That only made me laugh harder. Her silly ass could have easily used one of my bathrooms, but I guess she wasn’t comfortable enough to do something like that yet. With a shake of my head, I began to clear off the island as I waited for her to handle her business.

  Damn.

  Even the thought of her shitting in a lamp was cute to me.

  Type of crazy ass shit was that?

  When I came back out of my lamp, Hareem was stretched out on the couch asleep. There was no way in hell I was going to poop in his home. We were not that close yet. Probably would never be. He was one wish in, and now that he realized this was serious, I was sure the next two would come soon.

  As I placed the blanket over him, I couldn’t help but take in how beautiful he was. There was no denying how much I liked him or the love that was blooming within me for him. But I also knew that there would never be anything real between us.

  Releasing a sigh, I looked around the living room. I didn’t want to go back into my lamp just yet, so I figured I would go to my room and watch some TV. Before heading that way, I took the time to really take in Hareem’s décor. It was simple, dark, and masculine, but the pictures on the wall added a dose of love that softened the place up. There was a picture of him and a pregnant lady kissing, and right underneath it, was a picture of him holding a little girl.

  I couldn’t help but assume that was the mother of his child. A part of me wanted to know where she was, but I couldn’t pull myself to ask. I walked over to the collage of pictures on the wall. The longer I stared at the picture of him and the woman kissing, the more possessive of him I felt. Before we had sex last night, I didn’t bother asking if he was attached to anyone. I just assumed he wasn’t, but I shouldn’t have done that.

  Just because he didn’t want to be in love didn’t mean he wasn’t in a relationship.

  “She was beautiful, huh?”

  Jumping at the sound of his voice, I turned and faced him as I chuckled nervously.

  “Yes. Who is she?”

  Hareem’s hand went to a picture that was further on the right. As his finger traced her frame, he said, “That’s Sandy. She’s Lovie’s mother. She passed away giving birth to her.”

  Clutching my chest, I turned in his direction and had to keep myself from walking over to him. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Hareem. My condolences.”

  “It’s cool,” he mumbled, taking my hand and leading me back into the living room. “It’s not cool, but we’ve adjusted.”

  We sat down, and I was surprised when Hareem began to tell me about him and Sandy. They met about ten years ago through his mother. She was having a mimosa’s with mom event at her church and Sandy had shown up without her alcoholic mother. His mother’s empathy wouldn’t allow her to ignore Sandy’s sad expression, so she asked her to join her and his sister at their table. During their talk, his mother learned that Sandy and her mother had a very rocky relationship.

  She had an addictive spirit. Between her drinking, drug use, and gambling, she hadn’t been a very active mother at all.

  Sandy and his mother, Meerah, developed a very close relationship. It got to the point where they were with each other at least three times a week. For the first two years, Hareem and Sandy were only friends. One day, Meerah had to cancel her plans with Sandy suddenly, and she volunteered Hareem to entertain Sandy. That day sparked their relationship, which eventually led to them getting engaged after Lovie was conceived.

  “But… you’re a Nairobi. Shouldn’t you have… you know… when she did.”

  Hareem smiled softly as he pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket. “I would have if I was in love with her. Turns out I wasn’t. So I’m still here.” I could sense the sadness in his tone as he stood. “This is my mother. I gotta take this.”

  “What’s up, Ma?” His shoulders and stance grew rigid. “How long has this been going on? – I’m on my way. I’ll meet y’all there.”

  I stood as he jogged out of the living room. “Is everything okay?”

  “Nah. Lovie is sick,” he tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the stairs. “I have to meet them at the hospital.”

  “Do you want me to come with you? I’ll come with you.”

  Dropping the sheet, I closed my eyes, spun around, and clothed myself in a white bodysuit, high rise jeans, and thigh high black boots. It was January in Essence, which was about an hour away from Memphis, and it was about fifty degrees. I put on a light blazer instead of a thick coat because I got hot easily.

  Hareem rushed back down the stairs, and I was right behind him as he headed out of the door. More than anything, I just wanted to be there for him as moral support. I couldn’t imagine how he felt right now knowing his little girl was sick and he wasn’t with her. Offering to drive, I headed for the driver’s side of the car.

  “I can get us there faster,” he believed.

  “I seriously doubt that.” With a wink, I smiled, and that finally eased his nerves a little bit. Hareem nodded as he opened the door for me. Once we were inside, I told him, “Close your eyes.” He did. When he opened them, we were riding down a back alley to get to the hospital.

  “Damn. That wasn’t even three seconds.”

  Pulling into the hospital parking lot, I smiled at the feeling of his aura shifting. We headed into the emergency room waiting room as I asked, “Do they have an idea of what’s wrong with her?”

  His head shook. “She had a fever and was dizzy, but they don’t know why.”

  At the sight of him, an older couple that I recognized from his pictures stood and made their way over to us.

  “Where’s my baby? Have y’all heard anything yet?”

  The man I assumed to be his father spoke up first. “She’s in room 3B. We haven’t heard anything yet.”

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” the woman said.

  Hareem released a sigh that had both her and me stepping closer to him. When I wrapped my arm around his and he looked down at me, she stepped back with a surprised expression on her face.

  “Can I get you anything, Hareem?” I checked.

  “Nah. Just stay close to me.” With a nod, I smiled and slowly led him to the empty seats. “Ma, Pops, this is Genevieve. Genevieve, this is my mother Meerah and my father Diesel.”

  “Hi,” I spoke, extending my hand to both of them. They both shook my hand, smiling from me to Hareem. All he did was roll his eyes and stand to his feet, mumbling that he needed answers. I started to go with him, but I figured he wanted to go alone. It was clear that his mother wanted to ask me something by how she was staring at me, but she bit her tongue. I gave her a warm smile so she would feel a bit more comfortable with me.

  When Hareem returned, there was a look of pure disgust on his face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he didn’t get the answers he wanted.

  “Motherfucker won’t tell me shit. Talking about they are still running tests,” he grumbled sitting next to me and putting his hand on my thigh.

  “They are just doing their job, son. Give them a little time. She’s in good hands,” Meerah assured.

  “If you want answers, we can get you answers,” Diesel offered.

  “Don’t gaslight him, Diesel. Both of you sit here, pray, and let them see to my grandbaby in peace.”

  Scratching the back of his neck, Hareem dropped his head as it shook.

  After hours of watching them worry and shed a few tears, Lovie’s doctor finally came over to us with an update. We all listened intently as he told us that she had a heart valve misfunction. The normal heartrate for her was supposed to be between sixty and seventy beats per minute. Earlier today, it was beating close to one hundred and twenty beats per minute. They’d spent the bulk of their time trying to slow her heart down before even being able to run tests.

  “Is this permanent? Is it something she can grow out of?” Meerah asked.

  “How do we fix it?” Diesel asked.

  “When can I hold my baby?” Hareem asked.

  The doctor explained that her increased heartbeat was permanent. Tachycardia was only life threatening if the muscles of the heart couldn’t get enough oxygen which would lead to it stopping or a heart attack. With Lovie being so young, he didn’t foresee her having a heart attack anytime soon, but they definitely didn’t want to risk her heart beating so fast that it eventually gave out on her.

  Before he could even go over the options Hareem broke down. He immediately started to blame himself. For whatever reason, he felt like this was something he should have known about as soon as it became an issue. The doctor stressed that tachycardia didn’t always have symptoms.

  Some forms didn’t require treatment at all while others would. Some lingered and came from other causes and issues while others attacked children with normal hearts and health. It could have been possible that with Lovie being anemic, this was the one and only flare up she’d ever had, which would explain why she’d never had any other symptoms or issues. After assuring Hareem that this wasn’t his fault or a case of neglect and not seeing to his child, Doctor Wilson went over possible treatments.

  He started with letting Hareem know that he wanted to keep her for twenty-four hours to get an accurate count of her resting heartbeat and run some more tests to see if she’d need treatment or not. If she did, there were three options – medication, a catheter, and surgery. Surgery would avoid the catheter and medicine, but Lovie was so young and so small that Hareem didn’t even want to think about her chest being cut open.

  “Can I see her?” Hareem asked again, to which the doctor shook his head.

  “We don’t want her to get excited and riled up just yet. Let her rest for a couple hours more, then you can see her.”

  Hareem stood as the doctor walked away.

  “Baby…” Meerah cried, to which Hareem lifted his hand.

  “I need some time to think.”

  His voice broke as he walked away, and my heart broke too.

  Hooking my fingers through my oversized hoop earrings, I resisted the urge to go after him. My leg began to shake as I stared at the door he went out of.

  “He did tell you to stay close,” Meerah reminded me. When I looked at her, she gave me a soft smile. “Who are you, Genevieve? There’s something about your vibe.”

  Fluffing my hair, I smiled nervously as I stood. “Just a friend,” was all I could offer her. I didn’t go around telling people that I was a Genie. If Hareem ever wanted her to know, he would have to tell her. Before I could walk away, Meerah grabbed my wrist gently. I looked back at her, and she smirked as she looked me over.

  “You take care of my son, Ms. Genevieve. Okay?”

  I agreed as she released me, then made my way outside. Hareem was in the car, losing his shit as I expected. After opening his door, I pulled him out and opened the backdoor for him. He got inside, and I scooted in next to him. Hareem wasted no time burying himself in my embrace. It didn’t matter what I had to do to make this better for him… I would.

  Once Hareem was calm, we went back inside hand in hand. His mother was staring at me with a smug look on her face, as if she knew something that I didn’t know. We waited another two hours before Diesel was looking for the doctor to see if they could go in and see Lovie.

  It was then that I decided what I wanted to do.

  When they all stood and headed for Lovie’s room, I stayed behind and took care of the arrhythmia. Those new tests would confirm that Lovie wasn’t suffering from tachycardia, anemia, or anything else for that matter. When she opened her eyes, she would be a perfectly healthy little girl. As if he felt the lack of my presence, Hareem stopped walking and looked behind himself.

  His head tilted as he ordered, “Here. Now,” pointing at his side. Biting back my smile, I stood and quickly made my way over to him.

  “This is a family thing,” I whispered as he took my hand.

  “I don’t give a fuck about that. You give me peace.”

  I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so I nodded and inhaled a deep breath before following his lead to her room. The doctor met us there, and he chuckled as he walked over to the heart monitor.

  “This is… odd.” Doctor Wilson looked from the monitor to his chart. “Her heart rate is back to normal.”

  “That’s good, right?” Hareem asked.

  “Very good. Just odd. And quick. Let me check with the nurse for those new test results.”

  After he excused himself, Hareem walked over to Lovie and took her tiny hand into his. Meerah looked over at me, but I avoided her eyes. Normally I wouldn’t think that she was on to me, but since she was familiar with Nairobi men, I didn’t want to take a chance on her figuring things out. As Hareem caressed Lovie’s hair, she slowly began to open her eyes. At the sight of him, a huge smile crept across her face as she almost yelled, “Daddy!”

  “Relax, baby. We don’t want to get you worked up. How do you feel?”

  “I feel good. Can I go home with you? Or am I going back to grandma and pop pop’s house?”

  Hareem smiled as he pulled the chair closer to her bed and sat down.

  “You might have to stay the night here, Lovie. What happened today?”

  Her expression saddened as she pouted and shrugged. “I don’t know. I got really hot and my heart was beating really fast and I felt like I was about to pass out and throw up.”

  Hareem pouted as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Well I’m glad you’re feeling better now. Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  “No, but I do have to pee pee.”

  That was understandable. They’d given her tons of IV’s to slow her heart down. When the doctor returned, he shared that her tests had come back clean. Her valves were normal. And her heart rate was back to normal. Not only that, but her hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were normal.

 

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