Chapter 15 #4
I removed the girls safely from my vehicle and got them to their door in record time.
Upon arriving on their doorstep, I was scanned in and given access.
With Elle in my hand and the girls at my side, we marched in like a solid unit.
That’s exactly how it felt, too. The girls were so well-behaved and only moved when I moved although we were in their home.
It was eerily quiet downstairs. Not even Luca was there to greet us. With the girls in tow, we took the right staircase up to the second floor. Suddenly, there was movement and low chatter. We followed the baby’s sudden cries into the nursery that had been redesigned for Lucas’ arrival.
Elle’s time in the beautiful extension of Luca and Ever’s room had come and gone.
Her decorations were moved into the big girl’s room, which had also been expanded.
They’d knocked out the wall to combine the room beside it to make space for three growing girls who preferred sleeping together rather than sleeping alone.
Elle’s nursery was transferred into the new space along with a new crib that would eventually be converted into a toddler’s bed.
“Poor thing. TT is here to save you!” I yelled from the hallway before turning the corner of the nursery.
As I rounded the corner, the smile that I’d worn the entire way up the stairs quickly faded. My heart began pumping dramatically, spiking my blood pressure and sending my body into premature shock. Because nothing could’ve prepared me for the sight before my eyes.
“He’ll be fine, nigga. Close the diaper up before he pisses on your black ass,” Luca advised.
“What’s up, baby?” Laike greeted me, causing me to tear my eyes from the changing table where Lucas was.
“Uh. Hey.”
“Fuck wrong with you? You aight?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Laike,” I assured him, catching Luca’s eyes on me as I turned my body in Laike’s direction and then back in Lucas’.
“Then, why are your eyes and shit swollen?”
Keanu’s head popped up, neck snapped, and eyes zeroed in on me before I was able to respond. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, gnawing the inside of my jaw and trying my hardest to be mindful of the next words to leave my mouth because they mattered.
“My best friend just had a baby. A boy, after losing her first child, who happened to be a boy. Forgive me if her redemption has me in my feelings. This birth hit a bit different from the others,” I explained.
There was nothing left to be said. Silence coated the space we all occupied. Until his voice penetrated the air.
“Fuck. This little nigga done got my fucking shirt wet.” Keanu gasped.
“I told you to finish putting the diaper on.” Luca chuckled. “Scoot out of the way and let his auntie handle him. Nigga, you still got some learning to do.”
“Exactly why I stayed my black ass over here,” Laike added.
“Black where?” Keanu interjected.
“This dick black. If you can’t determine that by the color, then I guarantee you can determine it by the size.” Grabbing his crotch, my brother thrust in Keanu’s direction.
“I’m really happy the girls went to their room.” I huffed, almost disgusted with the amount of bickering the three participated in when together.
“Me, too, ‘cause this motherfucker has no couth.” Luca sighed.
“It’s like we didn’t come from the same home,” I told Luca as I made my way over to the new addition.
“I’m about to go get you a t-shirt so you can get out of that piss,” Luca said, patting Keanu’s chest.
Though I’d expected him to simply pull back the sliding door that led to his bedroom, he disappeared altogether.
I quickly pumped the sanitizer from the cleaning station next to the changing table.
I rubbed my hands together as I tried my hardest to ignore the drumming of my heart, the shattering of my nerves, and the wave of emotions.
Stepping next to Keanu, I could feel the heat radiating from his frame.
I missed him something awful, but admittedly the pressure of being around him and my brothers simultaneously had dissolved.
I assumed it was because we’d separated weeks prior, and I didn’t feel as if I was living in secrecy any longer.
“We’re getting out of here in a few minutes. I have to go kick shit with my nieces for a bit and then we can roll,” Laike shared.
“Bet,” Keanu responded.
“Where’s Ever?” I asked no one in particular, but I was hoping Laike was the one to answer. I had nothing to say to Keanu. Not today, anyway.
“She was cleaning up and tasked us with keeping an eye on that nigga. He was aight with me until he shitted. Then, Luca made this dude change his diaper. That’s taken almost an hour,” he explained with a shake of his head.
“Heeeeey, little man,” I cooed, staring back at the big, blue-eyed boy on the table.
I listened as Laike’s footsteps got further away and a bit harder to hear.
Soon, the only thing I could hear was my racing heart and the voices in my head encouraging me to exit as soon as possible.
But, with Lucas in my care, it wasn’t something that could be done right away.
He still needed to be cleaned up, changed, and wiped down.
I started with the organic, damp cloths that Ever kept in a pale just like wipes and wiped down every inch of his tiny body.
Lucas didn’t like it one bit and squealed the entire time.
Once clean, I wrapped him in a small towel and grabbed a onesie while he waited and dried.
The tiny diapers made me sigh with obsession before I secured it around his waist. I slid it onto his little limbs as he protested, making the cutest noises.
I appreciated the silence so much, but I could feel Keanu’s eyes penetrating me and having a look inside.
Attempting to ignore the regurgitation of my feelings for the handsome man that was only a few feet away, I scooped my nephew into my arms with his mother’s room as our destination.
Though I could’ve pulled the sliding door back, I wanted to follow Luca’s lead.
With Ever cleaning herself up, it was possible she wasn’t clothed and I didn’t want to expose her.
“Lyric,” his deep, familiar tenor bellowed in the distance.
The raw, unfiltered emotion that was evoked couldn’t be mistaken or missed.
Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, my stride halted as I turned on my right heel.
The sight of a visibly broken Keanu tore at my heart’s strings.
Rubbing a hand down his face, he shook his head.
I could see the gnawing of his bottom lip as I waited for him to say something…
anything. Like a sick puppy, I hung onto hope as seconds passed us by.
It wasn’t until I released my breath to accept new oxygen in my lungs after a prolonged period that I realized how long I’d been waiting and how much longer I’d be waiting if I stuck around.
With prickly eyes and a bruised ego, I turned around and continued toward Ever’s bedroom.
It wasn’t until I made it into the hallway that I rested my back against the wall and released another stream of air.
I quickly wiped the tears that fell down my cheeks.