Marz

Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

Marz

For the past week, I’d been overworking just to avoid thinking about Heir.

While I was at the academy, I could block her out of my head and heart.

The moment I made it home, thoughts of her plagued me.

Tonight, I decided to stop by Pops and Mama Neo’s house before going home.

I said it was because I wanted to check in on them and Ariel, but truthfully, I just didn’t want to go home and be alone with my thoughts.

While I didn’t regret putting a boundary in place with Heir, I was starting to wonder if I should have let it be a lesson and remained in her life.

The sight of Pops and Mama dancing across the living room floor usually would make me smile.

Tonight, it annoyed me. It made me think back to dancing around the kitchen with Heir.

I should’ve been planning us a dinner and dancing date instead of trying to get her out of my system.

With a huff, I looked over at Ariel and told her, “I’m about to head out, Sis. You need anything before I go?”

“I’m good, baby. Are you? You seem kind of down.”

“Yeah, I’m good, baby sis,” I said as I stood.

“You sure? Is this about my girl?” she asked me with a syrupy smile.

“You still talking to Heir?”

“Of course! Was I supposed to cut her off because you did?”

“How is she doing?”

“I’m not getting in the middle of y’all. If you want to know, call her yourself.”

My eyes rolled toward the ceiling as I pulled her into my stomach by her hair. Before I could tickle her, she yelled for mercy, and that was the only reason I released her. That, and the fact that her infectious giggles made me smile for what felt like the first time all day.

“Come on in here and get you a to-go plate, baby,” Mama Neo said, and I certainly wasn’t about to turn that down. As I leaned against the island, Mama put one item after another into the foil container. “Did your daddy ever tell you about how I ran off while he was guarding me?”

Chuckling, I shook my head as I gripped the edge of the island. “Nah. He never told me about that. What happened?”

She released a sneaky sniggle. “Welll, you know I was dating someone else at the time. One night when I was at Rey’s house, I found out that he had been cheating on me with his baby mama.

Chile, I booked an Uber and left so I could beat him and his baby mama ass.

I can’t remember what Merc was doing at the time, but when he found out, he wasn’t just upset that I’d left…

he was also worried sick thinking something terrible was going to happen to me.

” Her head turned slightly and she locked eyes with me briefly.

“He had every right to be upset and afraid because Gatlin had his cousin following me, so while I was focused on my revenge, I’d walked straight into a trap.

Had your father not tracked me down, I’d be dead.

It took him a little time to get over his frustration with me, but clearly he did because we’re still together now. ”

“So it’s common practice for a woman to risk her life and drive her man crazy in the process is what you’re saying?”

Mama laughed as she closed one container and started filling another one.

“In this family? Yes. In that moment, I didn’t really care about what could go wrong.

All I cared about was my hurt and anger.

I didn’t think about how upset your daddy was going to be.

How scared he’d be that something was going to happen to me.

How guilty he would have felt if I would’ve gotten killed.

I couldn’t process any of those things until the dust settled, and that was when I regretted it. ”

Sighing, I sat down at the island. “I was sick, Mama. If something would have happened to her, I would have carried that guilt for the rest of my life. How would I have even lived if she would have died while I was supposed to be protecting her? I couldn’t have faced myself in the mirror after that.

I mean… I get why she did what she did, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about it. ”

“It doesn’t have to,” she said softly. “You’re entitled to have different feelings and perspectives. You’re entitled to disagree. I know this is bothering you because you care. You care because you care. That’s proof that you’re invested enough in her to work this out.”

“I’on know, Mama. How can I be with someone who doesn’t trust my lead? Who doesn’t communicate with me? Who goes behind my back and does shit that she knows could hurt us both?”

“I think the better question to ask is, was that decision a reflection of her character, or an emotional mistake? You’re entitled to your boundaries, and I’m not telling you to go against them.

I do wonder if that’s a boundary you shared with her to begin with.

If so, and she still violated, stay away from her.

If not, give her the lesson and keep her and her love in your life.

Maybe she didn’t see it as crossing your boundary because she didn’t know it was one you had. ”

“That’s true,” I confessed. “We talked about a lot of things, but boundaries and what partnership and marriage looked like for us wasn’t on the list. Honestly, I didn’t feel like we needed to.

I knew she was going to be my wife regardless, so I felt like we’d navigate certain things when we got to them. ”

Mama Neo chuckled as she put the containers in a bag and walked them over to me.

“I want you to consider her position. How do you think she’s going to feel if she can’t trust you to be a partner who’s willing to work with her through the problems you all face?

If your solution is to demand accountability before you walk away…

where’s the healthy communication in that?

” She was right, so I couldn’t even respond.

“You and Heir have a solid connection and the chemistry is there, no doubt about it. And while you may have made the choice to love her and be with her, there’s still so much you have to learn about each other.

Talk about your boundaries, needs, the things you’re willing and unwilling to tolerate.

She may have done something that you didn’t like, but don’t let your ego be the reason you lose her forever. ”

Mama placed a kiss on the top of my head and gave me a hug that I willingly leaned into.

“Thanks, Mama. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Of course, Son. Maybe I can sympathize with her more because I made a similar choice. Imagine if your father would have been so upset that he let me go. I know the protector in you feels violated because she handled this on her own, but it’s handled, Marz.

The enemy is gone. You won. Don’t take an unnecessary loss.

You owe it to yourself to at least have a conversation with her, but only when you’re ready to listen. ”

I gave her another hug before I thanked her and stood.

After saying my goodbyes, I headed to the car but checked my notifications before pulling out.

I noticed I had a missed call from Kiana.

Cursing under my breath, I called her back.

She’d called me twice while Heir and I were at the safehouse, but since she didn’t leave a voicemail or text me, I figured it wasn’t that important.

Kiana was my first best friend and kindergarten girlfriend.

Our parents swore we were going to be together forever.

The crush I had on her when we were five faded away by the time we made it to first grade.

Everyone urged us to be together, so we tried again our senior year, even going as far as giving each other our virginities after prom, but it ended there.

We only had sex one other time, and it was a pity date more than anything.

There was no emotion in it, not on my part at least. I was just trying to be there for my girl and things went a little too far.

We agreed we’d never take it there again, especially because it temporarily made things weird between us, and I valued our friendship too much for that.

“Sheesh. About time you called me back,” she said, making me smile.

“My fault, Kee. Life has been crazy. Wassup though? You good?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I need to talk to my best friend. When can you make time for me?”

Since I wasn’t trying to go home any time soon, I told her I could pull up on her now, and she said that was cool.

I asked her if she or her man needed me to bring anything and she said nah.

After disconnecting the call, I put on an Al Green album that made me think about my wife even more.

When all was said and done, I’d have to get my baby back.

I stared at Kiana in confusion, as if she was speaking a foreign language.

Though I understood the words she was saying perfectly, them being combined didn’t make sense.

Of all the things she could have called me over to say, her being pregnant and there being a possibility that it was my child never came up as an option.

About three months ago, Kiana broke up with her man.

She was so distraught she called me crying acting like her world was over.

Honestly, she reminded me of my mother. My heart went out to her, and as much as I wanted to tell her to toughen up and move on, I took her out of town to try and take her mind off things.

Our last night out of town, she expressed how much she appreciated me being the one consistent man in her life… and she kissed me.

I chalked it up to her being drunk, but she’d only had a few glasses of wine.

We went back and forth about it for a while, and the consensus was that she was sober and in no position for me of all people to reject her.

I was so disgusted by the act that I made sure she understood it could never happen again the next morning, and she agreed.

Kiana was beautiful, and her pussy wasn’t bad, but having sex with her felt like I was having sex with my damn sister.

I tried to please her as quickly and thoroughly as I could because it was hard for me to even keep my dick up, regardless of how wet her pussy was.

That was the last test I needed to prove to myself that she would always be just a friend to me, and in that moment, Kiana agreed.

Now, she was sitting here telling me she was pregnant and there was a chance the baby was mine, but she wasn’t sure.

“So you had sex with him close enough to the time you had sex with me for you to not know who the father of your baby is?” Her eyes rolled and she crossed her arms over her chest, but I lowered them.

“I’m not trying to offend you. I’m trying to get an understanding.

I guess I’m more confused by you not being sure it’s mine more than anything else.

You told me you and Daniel got back together a month ago, so unless you fucked a stranger, the timeline is off, Kee. ”

Her head hung briefly as she sighed and pressed her thumb into her palm.

“I lied about when we got back together. I knew you were going to say I took him back too easily, and I didn’t want to hear your mouth.

Daniel was at my house when we came back from our trip.

He ended up taking me out that day to apologize and get back together.

When he wanted to have sex that night I tried to give him an excuse, but since he knew I’d been out of town with you, he started talking about you were the reason and all that bullshit.

I really just had sex with him to shut his ass up. ”

Sighing, I sat back on the couch and looked toward the ceiling.

Our friendship had always been a source of conflict for her and Daniel.

He swore there was something between us because of how close we were, so it didn’t surprise me to hear that he gave her static about taking the trip with me, though that wasn’t the first time Kiana and I had gone out of town together.

And even if it was, they’d broken up, so what she did with me or anyone else didn’t matter.

“Did you use a condom with him?” I asked, and she shook her head no. “And he came in you?” She nodded. “So there’s more of a chance that he’s the father than me.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t want to use that logic and have this baby and blindside him. The truth is, I had sex with two men in one day. You and I used a condom but still. It could be either one of you.”

“Have you told Daniel that you’re pregnant yet?”

“Yes, but I haven’t told him there’s a chance the baby is yours. He asked me to marry him last night, Marz, and I said yes. If I tell him there’s a chance the baby isn’t his, he’s going to leave me.”

I sighed again and sat up in my seat. “He technically can’t be mad at you having sex with someone else while y’all weren’t together, but he can be mad at you if you keep this from him. He needs to know there’s a chance the baby isn’t his, Kiana. Especially if you want to marry him.”

“No.” Her head shook adamantly as she lifted her leg under her. “I want to get the test results before I tell him. If he’s the father, there’s no reason for him to know.”

Hearing that flawed shit come out of her mouth caught me off guard. Self-preservation I suppose, but I didn’t like the idea of keeping something like this from her man. It made me question what else she planned to hide just to keep him, but that wasn’t my business, so I didn’t press it.

“Well let me know when you want to do the test and I’ll be there. If you wanna keep this from him until then, it’s on you, but if he finds out, I’m telling you this shit is going to blow up in your face.”

Her eyes watered. “You may be right, but I can’t risk it. He didn’t propose to me until after I told him about the baby. I just… want to be careful.”

“Are you sure he’s marrying you because he wants to spend the rest of his life with you? If he only proposed for the baby—”

“It wasn’t just for the baby. It was because of the timing,” she reasoned. “We would’ve gotten married eventually, but me being pregnant just sped the process up.”

“That’s what he said?”

“That’s what I believe.”

Standing, I gave her a brief hug. “Let me know when you want me to go take the test, Kiana.”

“I will. Thanks, Marz.”

I didn’t bother to respond as I walked out. Her situation was sounding more and more like my mother’s. Omar had only proposed to my mama because she had gotten pregnant with Ariel. The moment Omar had an out, he took it. I needed to talk to my pops about this shit.