Page 21 of That Fire

“So, I need to apologize, baby. My ego got the best of me.”

I stared at Royal as we lay in bed, facing each other. Last night . . . well early this morning, after our fuck session, Royal brought me to the guestroom and stripped my bed. Thankfully, I had one of those waterproof mattress covers. Otherwise, my shit would have been destroyed. I’d cum so much until I was seeing stars. When he was done, we took a shower, and I went back to sleep.

This morning, I got up to pee and went ahead and brushed my teeth and washed my face as well, then lay back in bed. I was worn out in the best way possible. When he woke up, he kissed my forehead, then went to the bathroom and cleaned up as well. Now we were back in bed, staring at one another as we started our much-needed conversation.

“Just because you’re pregnant with someone else’s babies doesn’t mean I can’t be here for you. It was eating me alive not talking to you, not being in your space, not fucking you. That was when I realized just how much I loved you. All this time, I’d been convincing myself that I just cared for you deeply. It’s much more intense than that.”

“I accept your apology. I’ve known for a while that I loved you, but I didn’t want to say because I knew what we agreed to. We only agreed to a no-strings attached arrangement. We were having fun . . . so much damn fun. I convincedmyselfthat I was good with that as long as you were still in my life. Then the DNA test halted everything. I understood your apprehension at first. I should have communicated better, Royal. It doesn’t matter who the father is. I want you, baby. Only you.”

He kissed my lips and gave me a half smile. “I think you want more than me, girl. Last night proved that shit.”

I rolled my eyes and turned my head away from him, and he kissed my neck as I giggled. When he pulled away, I stared at him, deciding that he needed to know what became of the test with Brian, without saying Brian’s name. “I took a DNA test with the other potential father. He wasn’t a match either. There’s only one more person it could be, but I highly doubt it. He didn’t nut in me . . . not down there anyway. Unless I got pregnant from precum.”

He looked away from me for a moment, and I thought he was angry until he turned back to me with a big smile on his face. “So umm . . . I talked to Bali about doing another DNA test. My sister, my dad, and Bali all seem to think the first one got botched some kind of way.”

My eyebrows lifted. “My mama said the same thing.”

“Well, Bali said we could go in whenever, and she would do it and send it off to a lab for us.”

“Damn. Okay. I have an appointment Monday anyway.”

“Okay. So, why did you quit your job?”

I looked away from him and lowered my head. “I was feeling overwhelmed with everything. I missed you. When I found out the last DNA test results weren’t favorable, I sank even lower. Going through all that and having to deal with those bad ass kids was a deadly combination. I was ready to choke somebody’s child. So, it was better that I quit than get arrested for fucking a kid up while pregnant.”

“I would have bailed yo’ pretty ass out.”

I slowly shook my head as he rubbed circles on my stomach. When one of the babies kicked, his eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Either they are saying hey or they want me to stop touching you.”

I chuckled. “They have been extremely active. I could feel them moving all night last night. They were probably beyond pissed.”

“They probably were.” He paused for a moment as he continued rubbing my swollen belly. “So what are we doing, baby? Are you going to contact this other guy for a DNA test? You can definitely get pregnant from precum.”

I huffed. “Honestly, I don’t want to. He was a thug . . . not even all that nice. I don’t even know why I fucked around with him in the first place. It wasn’t even that great of an experience. Super aggressive niggas, in my experience, have small dicks. That shit was lowkey whack.”

He chuckled. “So, we’ll just wait until you have them then. If they’re mine, those Henderson genes will come shining through. I promise you that shit. What that nigga look like?”

“He’s dark brown complexioned . . . about my mama’s skin color. You’re taller than him, so he’s probably about five-ten or so.”

“We don’t have similar features then.”

“No, not at all. Like night and day.”

“Good. So I guess we’ll find out in a couple of months, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, snuggling up to him. “Does this mean we’re going to be a couple?”

“Absolutely. You’re mine, baby, and I’m yours.”

“What does that look like to you though? Are we exclusive? Just me and you? We play around a lot, and I just want to be sure.”

“I don’t know. How do you feel about it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. At one point, I was lowkey aggravated seeing them on your dick, then other moments, I was turned the fuck on. Can we just play with Nikki and Lareesa from time to time until my mental is stable enough to make a decision about it?”

“So no new people, and no outside shit . . . meaning, the only time you’re able to fuck someone else is when we’re together. No solo voyages.”

I chuckled. “No solo dolo.”