Chapter 14 #2
We settled into lying on the sofa, my head in her lap and my hand against her still flat abdomen. She’d run me through her day, her excitement at the sanctuary, then her thoughts about the zoo as a whole. She was ecstatic about the freedom and had a million ideas for it.
“What do you think it is?” Her hand covered mine on her nonexistent belly.
“My daughter.” I grinned at the thought.
“How do you figure? What if it’s a boy?”
I smiled. “I’d be ecstatic, but I feel it. You’re carrying our daughter first, Nic.”
I was running on the treadmill when the music in my ears was interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing.
I squeezed the tip of my headphone, continuing to run.
“Yo.” I mustered through burning lungs and a need to slow down but I was pushing it.
“It’s been handled.” I recognized the voice as Winston, the mayor.
“Good.” I double squeezed the headphone to hang up, then focused on my run.
I had been slacking the last few weeks. Between adjusting to being here with Nic and settling into our life together, there wasn’t much time.
Not to mention, I had a whole ass family to knock off to make sure she and my unborn were safe from their bullshit.
With Chief Logan out of the way, O’Leary was in a rough spot, which left him not only unprotected but spiraling. We had a meeting coming up Friday. I intended to let him stew. He didn’t know what was coming, but he would, and by that time, it would be too late.
I was done with my workout and wiping sweat from my face when my phone rang again. This time I looked to see who was calling. It was Otto.
“Yo,” I answered, continuing into the house.
“I thought we said we weren’t gonna do it that way.”
I knew exactly what he was referencing. “We didn’t. Found a different way.”
“I’m at the front. Open the fucking door.” He hung up on me before I could respond. His rude ass was lucky I was headed that way because I for sure would have left him outside.
When I opened the door, I also smelled food, which had me moving toward the kitchen with his mad ass in tow.
“I thought we said we weren’t gonna handle it that way, Hon?”
“We weren’t and we didn’t. Nigga still alive, ain’t he?” I walked up on Nic flipping pancakes and kissed the side of her face. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Otto shook his head. “What’s up, sis? But you know what I mean.”
I shrugged, then slid into the nook. “He’s breathing.”
Otto shook his head.
“Otto, do you want breakfast?” Nic asked, rounding the island and bringing my plate to me.
He slid in across from me and nodded. “Hell yeah, I came at the right time. At least I can get a meal since somebody isn’t listening to a word I’m saying.”
She laughed right before she set my plate down. “Everything?”
“Yeah,” he responded. “How do you think this is gonna go? You just baited him.”
“Nah I didn’t. I took away his only way out of this mess. Plus, you know Logan had it coming after everything that happened. He should be glad he got his name dirtied and not engraved.”
I dug into the eggs on my plate, then stuffed the fork into my mouth.
From Wednesday to Saturday, Nic gave Alysia and the chef the time off.
She said she could cook and manage her own home and wanted it to just be us.
I understood that and craved moments when I knew it was just us.
Not only that, ever since Nic cooked for me that one time, I craved her cooking and that intimacy more than anything.
Otto shook his head. “So what is your next move?”
“Finish what they started. And make sure my wife is safe walking through any door she decides. Just make sure that meeting is scheduled.” I grinned, then reached for my orange juice.
My brother and I talked for a minute before he got the itis and found a room to sleep in. He knew there was no talking to me when I made up my mind about something, so thankfully he gave up on the lecture.
I took a call from my father in the room, then a call from Curr letting me know everything with the casino was good. He asked if I could pass the word to Otto. I would when he woke up.
“You’re letting your hair grow.” I stepped behind Nic in the mirror while she brushed her hair.
She smiled, continuing to brush. “Not too long, but I figured I’d see how collarbone length treats me. You like it?”
“I like everything about you. Kinda fucking biased.”
She laughed and so did I, trapping a few strands of her jet-black hair between my fingertips.
“That’s a good thing. Are you mine today?”
I chuckled at her question. “I’m yours every day, but if you’re asking if I’m with you today, then yeah. I figured we’d go find a new couch.”
She cackled. “I love that couch.”
“I hate it.”
“And remember what I said. You hate it, then we can pick something out together that we’ll both like.”
“So get dressed. Let’s go sofa shopping.
” It felt so weird coming out of my mouth given I had never been.
I wasn’t above it or anything like that.
I just didn’t. Any place I’d ever had, I paid somebody to decorate.
The last two, Amethyst handled. But last night I texted her, asking for a few spaces to privately view furniture.
Turned out she too hated the couch, so she set up a private showing for us.
“Sofa shopping? Hondo?”
“Yeah. Then let me feed you and we’ll get into whatever we get into as the day progresses.”
She smiled widely. “I like the sound of that. I shouldn’t be long.”
“Good.”
While she dressed in the bedroom, moving into her closet, I dressed in my closet. I put in a quick call to have dinner prepared on the marina, and a few private shopping experiences put together for us, given we’d be that way.
We left the house two hours later and arrived at the furniture showing almost immediately.
It was closed to the public, so I didn’t have to worry about having it shut down for safety reasons.
We were in a four-story building with nothing but furniture and several people on the clock to aid us in spending a fortune.
“I like this one. Don’t you?” Nic asked, taking a seat on a cream chaise sectional. “It wasn’t here when we came.”
The saleswoman began to speak when I took a seat next to Nic. “It’s one of Norwalk’s newest designs. We just got it in yesterday. The colors are a dark earth and this beige cream.”
The last three sofas Nic liked I hated, so I didn’t take a seat or test them out.
“Honestly, this isn’t bad,” I responded.
“Good, can I see the earth color?” Nic asked.
“Coming right up.” The sales associate smiled, then pranced off, leaving just me and Nic in the area.
“What’s wrong with this color? You like it.”
“We’re about to have a baby, then a toddler. This cream won’t stand a chance ,no matter how much I like it.” She frowned a bit, which brought a smile to my face. The reason she’d picked that ugly ass sofa at the house was her being practical.
“Nic, get the color you like. This one. You’re thinking ahead, but what’s to say we’ll still have this couch when the baby comes? Or when she’s a toddler? Get what you want. P.S sofas can be cleaned.” I said that last part to fuck with her.
“First of all, I’m aware of that, asshole.”
I grinned, watching ol’ girl bring a swatch of the other color. “Nah, we’re good. We’ll take this color. And how long for delivery?”
“Today, if needed,” she offered, looking from me to Nic.
“Good, What’s the process of donating a couch?” I then asked and Nic nailed me right on my shoulder.
“No need. It’s going in the in-law suite,” she said quickly, side eyeing me.
I laughed. “Yo, as long as I don’t have to look at it, fine.”
After we left the furniture showing, we went by a couple stores where she shopped and I enjoyed the luxury of watching her try on piece after piece.
She loved it, even though she kept saying she didn’t need all of it.
I loved seeing her happy, in a state of contentment and easiness because it fit and she deserved everything good in this world.
It would be nuts to say I’d been in love with her since we were young, but it was true. Everything I ever told her was true.
“I love you,” she said randomly when we were in the back seat of the truck headed to our next destination. “And not because you spend money on me either, but because you bathe in my joy as if it’s your own. You love me in a way I don’t think any man has ever loved me.”
I chuckled, given her statement and the thoughts just in my mind. She had to be reading it.
“You hate to hear me thank you, so for every moment I feel like saying thank you, I’ll remind you that I love you.”
I smiled, turning to look at her. “I fuck with that.”
“Good.”