12. Chapter Twelve
12
Chapter Twelve
Nic
a few weeks later…
I t’s been a few weeks since I’ve been to Buck’s house and surprisingly, he hasn’t been the asshole that I know he’s known to be. He wasn’t a complete saint, because his mouth was still reckless, but it was bearable. After our first day together, he took me to my mama’s house to get some of my stuff, and I re-introduced them. Keenan called himself, checking him, and I had to remind Buck that he was a kid. My mama wasn’t too comfortable with me staying at his place, but I promised I would be there to see her as much as possible. Mel wasn’t feeling it either, but she understood. After getting things from my mama’s, he went to his parents’ house at the request of his mother. I was nervous as hell to meet her, but she made me feel welcomed and threatened Buck if he was mean to me. It was cute to see how he was with his mother. He was definitely a mama’s boy.
Today was my first doctor’s appointment, and Mel was going to take me. I didn’t bother with asking Buck because he didn’t talk about my pregnancy unless it was to ask if I ate or if he knew I felt sick. I was putting the finishing touches on my appearance when my phone rang.
“You here?” I answered, grabbing my bag so I could head down to meet her.
“Yeah, but Benson said I had to wait for Mr. DeLuca to approve me to come up. That nigga ain’t the President. Come on, before I tear this shit up down here.” The call disconnected and all I could do was shake my head. I don’t know why she came inside in the first place. I told her I would meet her outside. When I walked out the room, I walked right into Buck’s hard chest.
“The fuck you going?” he asked with a sexy scowl.
“To the doctor’s.” I tried moving past him, but he blocked me.
“Why didn’t I know about you going to the doctor? You tryna go get rid of my baby, Goldie?” he damn near growled the last part.
I now had a scowl on my face that matched his? “Excuse you? Why would I tell you anything that has to do with this baby when you don’t even talk about it?” I cocked my head to the side. I was getting pissed off at his sense of entitlement.
“The fuck you mean, why would you tell me? You said it’s mine, right?” His frown deepened.
“Yeah, but―”
“―but shit. Come on.” He walked off, not giving me a chance to decline.
Shaking my head, I followed him upfront where he was waiting by the door. Exchanging no words, we exited his penthouse and rode on the elevator in silence. When we made it to the lobby, I saw Mel standing by the door with a scowl on her face.
“Not you had to get an escort,” she jested once I got close.
“Aye, you need to let somebody know when you’re coming here. As you see, you can’t walk in here like you want,” Buck interjected before I could respond.
“I’on need permission to come see my sister,” Mel snarled.
“I see not listening is a family trait. Did I say you needed permission or that you need to give a heads up or your lil’ tough ass gone be sitting down here looking stupid?” He frowned. “Goldie, come on,” he announced.
“Nic, I thought you had a doctor’s appointment?” she asked, rolling her eyes at Buck in the process.
“I do.”
“We do,” Buck corrected. “You’re more than welcome to come if you want, but leave that funky ass attitude here. I’m tryna show your sister I’m a nice nigga, and that attitude you got gone make me forget all about that shit.” He looked at me. “I’ll bring the car around since you already up here,” he mentioned before walking off. I found myself admiring my baby daddy until I heard Mel calling my name.
“Nic?”
I turned to look at her and she had a smirk on her face.
“Huh?”
“You’re falling for him, ain’t it?” she probed.
“You’re delusional.”
“And you’re in love with your baby daddy.”
I shook my head at her because she was really reaching. Of course, I liked him. That wasn’t a secret, but in love? I doubt it. He has been showing me a different side of him these past few weeks, but I wouldn’t say love. More like shocked.
“I’m not in love with him, Mel. We’re just trying to make the best of our situation. That’s all,” I clarified as we walked outside.
“Mhm. I know he better watch how he talks to me. I don’t have a problem beating his big ass and his brothers’,” she said. I gave her a look because it sounded like she said brother’s and not brothers.
“His brother’s?” I questioned. I saw the look that she thought I didn’t, but I was going to let it pass.
“His brothers, as in plural,” she confirmed.
I chose not to respond because I didn’t know how, plus Buck was pulling up. He stopped right in front of me and Mel before hopping his fine ass out and opening the passenger door for me.
“You still coming, right?” I asked my sister. Even though Buck was coming now, I still wanted her there.
“Ask your warden if it’s cool.” She smirked.
“Nah, I’ll leave that up to you,” he shot back, causing Mel to squint her eyes at him. He helped me inside of the car and followed suit. I gave him the address to my doctor’s office, and we headed in its direction. I looked in the side mirror and saw that Mel was following us.
“Can you be nicer to my sister?” I asked.
He glanced my way before looking back at the road. “I’m not mean to her. She has a smart ass mouth and I’m just matching her energy.”
“She means no harm. That’s just how she is.”
“And I’m how I am. It’s cool, one phone call gone straighten all that out.”
“What you mean? Are you threatening my sister?” I know like hell he wasn’t threatening my sister and expected me to be okay with it.
“Not even.” He looked at me. “How much you know about your sister’s nigga?” he nosily asked.
“I don’t know who she’s dating,” I answered honestly. Mel was secretive about her love life. “Why?”
“What if I told you that your sister was fucking with my brother?”
I looked at the side of his face like he lost his mind. “Stacks?”
Tugging at his beard, he looked straight ahead and said, “Nah, my other brother. Kilo.” When he responded, he looked at me since we were at a red light.
“How did you come up with that assumption? Isn’t your brother in prison?” I countered.
“Yep. In Wood Haven.” The light turned green, and he continued to the doctor’s office.
“That means nothing. Besides, she could lose her job.”
He chuckled. “Why you think you’on know?”
“I don’t believe you.” I folded my arms across my chest because he was tripping.
“She got that car last year around her birthday. It was brand new. Straight off the lot. Fully customized and loaded. I knew that shit looked familiar when I popped up at your crib.” I looked at him in disbelief because everything he said was true. She told me that her boo got it because her other car put her down but told our mama that she bought it as a birthday gift to herself.
“How do you know this?”
“Me and my brothers don’t keep secrets. I was the one that picked it up. We never met her, but we knew he was fucking with a C.O.”
I couldn’t believe this shit. She was keeping secrets and was in a whole relationship with an inmate who so happened to be Buck’s brother.
“I can’t believe this shit,” I mumbled just as we pulled into the parking lot. I couldn’t wait until he parked so I could get out and tell this bitch about herself. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I was pulling her car door open.
“Damn, so we’re keeping secrets now?” I frowned.
“Girl, what are you talking about?” she frowned, matching mine.
“You’re fucking Buck’s brother? That’s how I was able to get the job? That’s who you called?” Shocked flashed through her eyes before it was replaced with agitation. She looked over at Buck and rolled her eyes.
“You got a big ass mouth.”
“Don’t blame that shit on me. I’ain the one keeping secrets and shit. Hell, I just figured it out after seeing your car again. You’re welcome, by the way, because that nigga got on my last fuckin’ nerves about that shit. I asked her because I thought she knew. Now that I know, I need to holla at Kilo because you got a fly ass mouth. I’on wanna hear that nigga’s mouth if I curse you out, because trust me if you keep talking to me like you do…I will.” He looked Mel directly in her eyes when he said that. He didn’t even bother to say anything else before swaggering off ahead of us.
“Bitch, I can’t believe you’ve been fucking a DeLuca brother and didn’t tell me.”
“It’s complicated, Nic. I could lose my job if our relationship got out. That’s why I said nothing. I didn’t intentionally keep it from you,” she confessed, and I believed her.
“I guess I understand. This shit is crazy.” I couldn’t do anything but laugh as Buck held the door open for us and I went to sign in. I only had to wait for about twenty minutes before they called me back. When I got to the back, I was greeted by Cousin Saint’s wife, Eve.
“Hey, girl. When I saw the name, I thought it was you, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t expect to see you here.” She smirked.
“I know right,” was all I said.
“Hey, Mel. How you been, boo?” She greeted my sister while she prepped me to take my vitals.
“I’ve been good,” Mel responded.
“And you must be dad,” she spoke to Buck, who had a stoic look on his face. “I’m Eve. I’m married to Nic and Mel’s cousin, Saint,” she informed. When she said that, he had a look on his face that I couldn’t quit read.
“Wassup,” was all he offered.
Once my vitals were done, she asked me to go to the bathroom so I could give a urine sample. Of course, Buck followed behind me.
“You can’t come in here.” I stopped at the door to keep him from coming in.
“Goldie, stop playing wit’ me and get in there and piss in that cup,” he commanded.
Rolling my eyes, I went inside the bathroom since he clearly wasn’t leaving. I washed my hands and prepped myself with the wipe that Eve gave me before squatting over the toilet, holding the rail with one hand, and the cup in the other.
“Don’t touch that shit. Here, grab my hand.” I looked up and Buck was standing in front of me with his hand extended for me to grab. Hesitantly, I grabbed his hand and peed in the cup. When I was done. I placed the top on it and was about to put it in the window that they instructed me to put it in, but Buck halted my movements.
“Nah, hand it here,” he ordered.
“Huh? What are you going to do with it?” I frowned.
“Goldie, hand me the cup and stop asking me so many damn questions.” He frowned his handsome face.
Reluctantly, I handed the cup over, then washed my hands. When we exited the bathroom, he took the cup back to Eve and handed it to her personally. She smirked as she took it and informed us to go inside of the room to wait for the doctor. The three of us sat in the room in an awkward silence. Both Buck and Mel were on their phones, while I sat on the examining table, nervous as hell. When the doctor came in, I was glad because that meant that I didn’t have to be here much longer. She introduced herself and, once again, Buck acted like the charming asshole he was known to be. I expected him to sit in the chair the entire time, but when she did the ultrasound, he stood beside me with his arms folded across his chest and stared at the screen intensely.
“Well, Nicari. It looks like you’re measuring about ten weeks,” she informed. I looked over at Buck, and he already had his eyes on me.
“Uhm. When will I be able to take a DNA test?” I asked the question I knew Buck wanted to know.
The doctor looked between me and Buck before answering. “You can do it as early as you want, but I would suggest that you get it done as soon as you can.”
I nodded.
After she cleaned me up, she gave me a prescription for the nausea and prenatal vitamins. She informed me to let the receptionist know that I wanted to schedule a DNA test, and she gave me an appointment for next week.
“I got a meeting to get to. I’m late for the shit so your sister can take you back.”
“You didn’t have to miss your meeting,” I stated.
“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t being sneaky and not telling me,” he shot back.
Instead of responding, I walked off until he stopped me.
“Give me those prescriptions so I can fill them for you.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can get them myself,” I countered.
“I’ain ask you that. I said give ’em to me so I can fill them.” We stood in a standoff until I handed him the slips, and he walked off.
“Girl, you have your hands full.” Mel laughed.
“I know you’re not talking. From what I hear, so do you, and I wanna hear all about it, so come on.”