He shrugged, sat on the edge of the bed by my feet, and placed them in his lap. “It said on the box that it helps relax your stomach muscles.” The serious confusion on his face had me giggling, but I shut the fuck up when he applied pressure to my arch. I literally couldn’t do anything but toss my head back against the headboard. “What happened, though? You were just cool,” he quizzed, and I shrugged.
“I don’t know. It must’ve been the yams. I normally don’t like them, but today I ate a couple helpings, and I brought some home?”
“Oh, we definitely throwing them shits away.” His nose turned up, and I instantly went to object.
“I still want them, though!”
“Go to sleep, Essence, before your ass throw up again.”
Tired of him anyway, I closed my eyes and tried to rest, but the fact that I even wanted yams in the first place was really bugging me. Coupled with my pregnancy scare and throwing up, I got nervous. My doctor’s appointment wasn’t for another week, but I was going to make sure I found out what was going on with my body.
My appointment had rolled around quicker than I thought, and after shaking Valentino, I was able to make it on time. Instead of having Bliss or Micah join me, I was doing my trip solo just because I didn’t want to be embarrassed if I was pregnantor shamed if I was pregnant but didn’t know. My doctor, Dr. Abrams, was already going to give me problems for being so risky, and I didn’t need the added stress.
I entered her office with my shades on, and after checking in, I tried to sit in the back just in case I ran into anybody I knew. While I waited to be called, I scrolled on my phone and occasionally looked up to see how many people were still waiting.
“Oh, my gosh, Essence?”
My head snapped up to see who had noticed my ass all the way in a damn back corner, and I rolled my eyes behind the shades. It was Korey, one of the few friends I had who was married and now keeping their distance. Back in college, I would’ve never thought she’d be that way, but she was turning into an entire Trad wife and had little to no contact with anybody who wasn’t living the same lifestyle. I occasionally saw her on Instagram, thinking she was Nara Smith, and I laughed every time.
“Hey, girl, how are you?” I could barely pretend as I took in her round belly hidden underneath the knapsack looking dress she was wearing. This was the type of bitch Andrew had been looking for because she’d changed her whole life for her man. “Congratulations! I didn’t know you were expecting,” I gushed, and she made it a point to place a tender hand on her belly, making sure I saw the diamond on her finger.
“Thank you. I’m going on six months, and I’m already ready to drop. You’re not here expecting, are you?” She lowered her voice and looked side to side. I was sure she’d already peeped that I was without a wedding or engagement ring with her nosy ass.
“Nope, just a regular doctor’s visit.”
“Well, you know John has a few friends that I know you would get along great with whenever you get tired of that singlegirl lifestyle.” She covered up that rude shit with a chuckle, but I saw right through that. Thankfully, they chose right then to call my name, and I didn’t waste any time getting out of my seat.
“Maybe you should suggest that to some of your other desperate friends or your sister. I know she’sstilllooking for a man, but I’ll see you around! Good luck on the baby!” I sashayed to the back and was met by one of the nurses. She did the normal routine and set me up in one of the exam rooms, which was when I finally took off my glasses. A knock at the door had me straightening my spine, and a second later, Dr. Abrams entered, smiling.
“Hey, Essence. Long time no see, huh?” she tried to joke, but I wasn’t really in a joking mood, especially after running into Korey’s funny shaped head ass.
“Hey, Doc, I’m gonna cut straight to the chase. I have had unprotected sex in the last month or so, and a couple of weeks back, my period went missing. Now, I did take a test, and it was negative, and eventually my period arrived, but I’ve been throwing up and eating stuff I don’t normally eat. I think it would be better if I have you give me a test, so I’ll know what my options are, because I don’t wanna have a baby in the toilet,” I rushed, and Dr. Abrams chuckled.
“Okay, well all of that is understandable, and I know this might be scary, but I’ll make sure we take care of you. First, I’ll have the nurse come get some blood, so we can test for pregnancy, and then we’ll go from there,” she said, leaving the room and sending a nurse in a short time later. After they took what I thought was an unnecessary amount of blood, I didn’t have shit to do but wait until they returned.
A half hour later, Dr. Abrams came back smiling, and all I caught was the word, ‘congratulations,’ before the sound of water rushed my ears. Apparently, God had knocked my hearing loose, so I’d missed everything she said, but I was certainly ableto read, and the lab report she placed in my hands said that I was definitely carrying Valentino’s baby.
CHAPTER 17
VALENTINO
“Ithink I know who might’ve robbed us.” Sosa came into my office without knocking, and I immediately got annoyed, but since he seemed so excited, I indulged him.
“Whatever you thinking, hurry up ’cause I gotta get ready for the poker game tonight.” Occasionally, niggas who were heavy in the streets would come through for a high stakes poker game, and they didn’t have any problems paying the house to shut shit down for them. At that moment, I had every person on staff working to make sure shit went off without a hitch and that nothing like what happened at the robbery happened again. Sosa even bringing his ass in there mentioning that shit felt like bad luck, but I was going to be present tonight, so wasn’t shit going to happen.
“I think a nigga named Jordan might be behind it.”
“Who?” I didn’t hide my confusion, having never heard that name a day in my life. Out of all the niggas we dealt with on a day-to-day basis between the casino and the other businesses, I didn’t know who Jordan was or what he wanted from me.
“Jordan, muthafucka, keep up,” he said, holding up a picture of that nigga, and once again, I didn’t recognize him. Unimpressed, I shook my head with a shrug. Truthfully, thenigga didn’t even look like he had the fire power to have pulled off the robbery, but I couldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. “I saw him the other night, right, and he had on the ring that Quick got from his pops. I know that fuckin’ ring, man. The nigga used to definitely show it off enough!”
“Quick ain’t say shit about the ring being stolen, though, so how you know it's even his? Maybe Jordan got a pops who’s into that shit.”
“I gotta ask him, but I don’t think I’m wrong. I’m having Tray do a background on this nigga and whoever hang with his ass,” he grumbled, fucking with his phone.
“You do that but make sure he ain’t wasting time or money on that shit!” I sent Sosa’s mad ass away while I finished getting ready for the night.
Two hours later, I was sitting out at the bar and on FaceTime with Essence. She was on her break and stuffing her face with some food I’d sent over from Panera that had her making the sexiest noises. I had to adjust my dick twice already, and I was on the verge of just getting off the phone with her completely.
