Ava Reynolds
After the gender reveal, it was finally time to eat, and the whole crew sat at the long table reserved for the family.
Unfortunately for me, that meant being a few feet away from Reek.
He was a few seats down on the same side, so I didn’t have to look directly at him, which was the only mercy God gave me all day.
But I could still feel and smell him. That clean, expensive scent of his kept floating my way every time somebody shifted or a chair scraped the floor.
It made it hard to focus on the catered food being set down in front of us.
Then the Street Kings walked in late and stole the attention of the whole room, thankfully giving me something else to focus on.
Taken or not, every woman’s eyes went to the door as the Street Kings smoothly strolled in, and I understood.
Wise, Prodigy, and Vega were dressed like money and walked with big dick energy.
Each of them carried gift bags from Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Chanel, and Gucci.
Most of the women in our circle were used to fine men with money.
But the Street Kings were fresh meat. None of them had been linked to any women in our circle, and, while I was in Thailand, Zahra, Livia, Rhythm, and Aria had already told me that every single woman wanted them for that reason alone.
Since Icon, Saint, Big A, and Sincere were at our table, the Street Kings made a beeline straight for us.
The men stood to dap them up. Then the Street Kings came around the table, hugging the women and kissing our cheeks one by one.
Each of them smelled so rich as they wrapped their arms around me.
Once the greetings were over, they took the empty seats across from me.
Legend lifted his glass. “Y’all been making noise.”
“Good noise,” Icon added.
“Product been flying too,” Big A added. “Y’all been goin’ crazy.”
“We’ve been blessed,” Vega replied smoothly.
Prodigy said something low in Italian. “Tutte queste troie qui ci stanno guardando come se volessero divorarci.”
Wise smirked. “Ti hanno mai divorato?”
Vega chuckled as Saint frowned. “See, this what I be talkin’ ‘bout. Y’all always wanna speak Italian like y’all in a mob movie.”
They ignored him and kept talking.
So, Saint pointed his fork at them. “Aye, y’all in Chicago. Speak English, niggas. Can’t nobody tell if y’all planning a party or a murder.”
The whole table laughed.
Right then, Wise’s phone rang. He glanced at it, answered, listened for all of ten seconds, then hung up looking annoyed.
Prodigy looked at him. “What happened?”
Wise frowned. “That was Bishop. He said he can’t come out later. He gotta go with Milan to her best friend’s birthday dinner.”
Vega started grinning instantly. “Rain?”
Wise cut his eyes at him. “Yes, nigga. Rain.”
Prodigy frowned. “Why we not goin’ to Rain’s birthday dinner?”
Vega gave him a look like he was slow. “Because he’s not about to be nowhere around Rain, if he can help it.”
Vega laughed, telling Wise. “You way too bothered by a woman you swear you not attracted to.”
Wise scoffed. “I could never want a woman that bougie. She act like her shit don’t stink.”
A few minutes later, Prodigy stepped away to take a call. Everybody kept eating, drinking, and joking while the Street Kings somehow felt folded into the family and still separate enough to feel like the next big thing.
Then the event planner, Tiana, came up to Saint and Zahra with her clipboard. “It’s time to open gifts.”
Saint looked over at the mountain of presents and groaned. “That shit gon’ take hours.”
Tiana smiled. “You guys only have to open the biggest ones and the specialty gifts. You all can open the rest at home.”
As Saint and Zahra got up with her, Prodigy came back to the table looking too serious.
Reek and Sincere noticed it first.
“What’s up?” Sincere asked.
“Still looking into my father,” he answered as he sat down.
Big A frowned. “You still trying to find him?”
Prodigy shook his head once. “I’m not looking for him. I’m looking for what made him hide.”
That quieted the table.
Sincere leaned in asking, “What happened?”
“My father vanished when I was ten. He just disappeared. My mother told me he left because he didn’t want to be a family anymore.
They were arguing a lot then, and he got caught with a few women.
I didn’t believe that, though. Even if he didn’t want my mother, he was a great father to me.
His brother—” Then he angled his head toward Wise and Vega.
“—who is their father spent years looking before the family gave up and assumed he was dead. My mother still thinks he just dipped on his responsibilities. But his brother and family thinks he got caught up with the game and was killed.”
Icon chuckled. “Y’all mamas must’ve really loved Italian men. How both of them manage to meet Italian brothers?”
Wise laughed. “Our mothers were best friends in college. Then they moved to Italy teaching English before Prodigy was born. Both of them met our fathers over there. Then they came back to the States with us and my pops when I was five.”
Sincere nodded and then Rhythm started to ask Prodigy about growing up in Italy since he was sitting closest to her.
That was when Wise turned his attention to me, wearing this sexy smirk. “Good to see you back in the States, Ava.”
Smiling, I replied, “Thanks.”
“Thailand looked good on you,” he said. “I was watching your stories on Instagram. You was over there glowing.”
Before I could answer, Reek cut in. “How much y’all move last quarter on the west side?”
Wise looked over at him, then answered. “Enough to make niggas uncomfortable.”
Reek continued to probe him, so I lowered my eyes to my plate so nobody could see the little smirk trying to pull at my lips.
A few minutes later, Wise looked back at me. “I want to know about Thailand. I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“You should. It was amazing—”
“What that new route looking like through Cicero?” Reek interrupted again.
I held back my smirk, as Wise reluctantly gave his attention to Reek.
On the inside, I was tickled.
Reek was hating.
Little did he know, he didn’t even have to worry about me getting with another man anytime soon.
Not with a belly full of his offspring.