Chapter 28- Zane
Three days. It had been three days since I peed on that stick and watched two pink lines show up and change my whole damn life.
I was spiraling. I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t stop thinking about what came next. I had pictured a thousand scenarios, and I couldn’t picture this ending well.
Sam was in the living room after we’d come back from buying what was needed for the house we were working on. He was watching a game with the sound low and scrolling through all the pictures and videos the private investigator had sent him. He had been doing everything he promised.
I was sitting in the bedroom with a pillow clutched to my stomach like that would make the thoughts stop.
I was pregnant. By a married man. A married man I hadn’t even known a full three months. And now we were talking about getting married? Like this was some Black romance fairytale.
My phone lit up with a message from my mama: Call me. Now. I didn’t have the strength to reply.
I was scared I would bust out and tell her everything. And what did “Hey Momma, I’m pregnant by a married man” even sound like when I had just started talking to her again after making the mistake of marrying Mark and then spending years in silence?
I didn’t even know how to explain this, and I didn’t want to hear the disappointment in their silence already. I dropped the phone face down.
I couldn’t do it.
I turned over in bed, sighing.
What was Mark going to do? He wasn’t the type to just let shit go. I’d seen the look in his eyes when I crossed lines he didn’t approve of. If he found out I was pregnant by another man? He’d burn the whole world down trying to punish me.
The heat of shame crawled up my neck as I pressed my forehead to the pillow, eyes stinging.
I didn’t hear Sam come in, but I felt the bed dip and knew he had. He didn’t say anything at first. Just rubbed the back of my thigh slow with the pads of his fingers, like he was easing up to whatever storm he felt coming off me.
“What’s going on in that head, baby?” he asked, voice low and filled with warmth.
I didn’t answer.
“You ghostin’ me in the same house now?” he teased. “Disrespectful ass.”
I turned my head, blinking up at him. “This is a mess,” I managed, even though his words made me think about him fucking me in the kitchen back at Mark’s house—and caused a little tingle.
He raised a brow. “You mad you’re pregnant?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Not that. I wanted this. It’s just… I don’t know. Everything.”
He nodded like he understood. “Talk to me.”
I wrapped my arms around myself without thinking, like I needed something to hold me still.
“I’m pregnant by a married man,” I blurted, sitting up. “And I’m married. And now we’re talking about getting married like that makes it make sense.”
He just tilted his head and waited for me to finish.
“What’s my mom gonna say? What’s my daddy gonna say? And what the hell is Mark gonna do when he finds out?” My voice cracked. “He’s not gonna let this go.”
Sam reached out and grabbed both my hands, pulled me closer.
“I know exactly what kind of man Mark is,” he said. “And fuck him, really. You don’t have to deal with him, so it doesn’t matter. Let me handle Mark, and you handle nourishing our baby.”
My throat tightened. I blinked hard, trying not to cry harder.
“I got you,” he said. “Not just when shit feels good. I got you when it’s complicated. I got you when you panicking. I got you when the whole world don’t make sense and you feel like you don’t deserve this. You do. You deserve me, and I deserve you. You happy, ain’t you?”
Tears filled my eyes so fast it pissed me off. I nodded. “I’m so fucking happy.”
I don’t think he could help the smirk that tilted his lips. He was so self-assured it could come off as cocky sometimes—but I liked it.
“You think I’m rushing this,” he said, voice softer now. “But baby, you were telling me you wanted exactly what’s happening before the test even came back. You were begging for it.”
His hand slid up my thigh, gripping the meatiest part. He squeezed, and I almost moaned and forgot what we were talking about.
“I don’t care if it’s fast. I just care that it’s real. And what we have is real.”
I swallowed hard, the panic still buzzing in my chest—but not as loud. I don’t know if it was because he was touching me or because I actually believed what he was saying.
“You’re gonna be a mother,” he said, lifting my hand and kissing the inside of my palm. “And I’m gonna be a father—and whatever else you need me to be to make you feel safe. Fuck everything else, because me and you and this baby the only people who matter.”
He reached up and grabbed my jaw, focusing me, his eyes meeting mine. “You understand?”
I nodded.
“Nah, baby. I need you to use your words.”
“I understand,” I said.
He smiled, all thirty-two of his pearly white teeth on display. I leaned in, pressed my forehead to his, and whispered, “I’m scared.”
He kissed me slow. “Me too. But we in this. And baby, I’m not going nowhere.”
His hand that was on my thigh moved closer to my pussy. He pushed the fabric of my panties to the side.
“Lay back. A nut will calm you down faster than words.”
I did what he said because he was right.. Heart pounding, my core heating.
Our new life wasn’t perfect. But I did want it more than I ever wanted anything before.