The Love She Needs

1. Aspen Webb

“I’m so sick of his shit,” Aspen mumbled to herself as she dragged her feet across the cold, wooden floor to the kitchen for a snack.

It was after three in the morning, and her boyfriend, Lance, had failed to come home again.

When Aspen checked his location to see where he was, he had it turned off, which meant he was up to no good.

The life of being tied to a rapper.

Aspen was exhausted from waking up to an empty bed, especially one she needed help getting out of.

She was five months pregnant with twins, and they were weighing her body down.

The doctor warned her that a twin pregnancy was different than a normal one, and although Aspen had never been pregnant before, she believed Dr. Hudson.

While pregnancy was such a beautiful thing, Aspen felt as if her body was going through something traumatic.

After grabbing peanut butter and graham crackers, Aspen sat at the marble island and curbed her craving before sending Lance a text.

Where are you? And why is your location off?

Ten minutes went by. Lance had read Aspen’s message but hadn’t responded.

Rolling her light brown, almond-shaped eyes, Aspen debated on whether she wanted to call Lance or not.

Nine times out of ten, he wouldn’t answer the phone, especially since he’d left her on read.

Deciding it would be a problem to handle later in the day, Aspen finished her snack, poured herself a glass of milk, and headed back to bed.

It took her a while to get up the stairs.

The round ligament pains she experienced were no joke and mainly happened at night.

Aspen took it step by step. By the time she reached the room she shared with Lance, she was completely out of breath.

It took everything in her to make her way to bed and climb in.

As she got comfortable, Aspen set her glass of milk down and checked her phone again. Still no response from Lance. Against her better judgment, she scrolled through her phone and went to the FameVsYou app to see if he had posted on his story.

“It’s always something with him,” Aspen griped, clicking on Lance’s story to see him holding two bottles of liquor while strippers surrounded him.

Aspen didn’t need him to tell her where he was for her to know.

Bratty Things was his favorite strip club to go to, and Aspen hated it.

He would show his ass on social media, then try to come home to her like everything was sweet.

She had enough of watching his theatrics, so Aspen closed the app and locked her phone.

Polishing off the remainder of her milk, she lay down and prayed sleep found her.

Time was ticking. Five o’clock would creep up on her before she knew it, which frustrated her more.

If it was a day she didn’t have work, Aspen wouldn’t have been as upset with Lance.

She understood the life of a rapper, but she also wished he wasn’t the type to be easily influenced.

There were plenty of rappers in the industry who had girlfriends or wives and knew how to act.

Lance was one of the many who didn’t, and Aspen wasn’t sure how much longer she could put up with it.

Being a single mother wasn’t something she ever desired for herself, but if it meant having peace in her home and life, she would take that step.

Aspen’s parents had a healthy marriage until the day her father took his last breath.

While they had their share of problems, none of them included infidelity on either end.

Greg and Savannah’s love was strictly for one another.

They took becoming one seriously, and Aspen wished she could have that.

Thirty minutes passed, and sleep was a stranger to Aspen, so she got up to get her day started. She would be meeting her brother, Denver, for their weekly breakfast date at six, which would give her time to get ready and study before leaving.

Between her pregnancy, nursing school, and working, Aspen often didn’t know whether she was coming or going.

The last thing she wanted was to get pregnant in her last year of nursing school, but she and Lance slipped up.

Neither of them was ready for kids. Lance was in the height of his career, and Aspen was busier than ever.

When she first found out she was pregnant, she debated on getting an abortion.

She didn’t tell anyone but Denver, and he kept it close to his heart, encouraging Aspen to do what she felt was best. Her first doctor’s appointment changed her mind.

Hearing not one but two heartbeats made Aspen immediately fall in love.

She couldn’t fathom terminating the life of two babies, so she decided to continue with the pregnancy despite the odds stacked against her.

Aspen’s phone vibrating caught her attention as she did her morning skin-care routine. She rolled her eyes, seeing it was Lance calling. Pressing the red button on her screen, she continued with her routine, only for him to call right back.

“I shouldn’t answer it,” Aspen mumbled and answered anyway. “What, Lance?”

The loud music blasting in the background immediately annoyed her. Not in the mood for him to be yelling over the phone, Aspen hung up. Lance called right back.

“I’m not talking with that loud ass music in the background, Lance.”

Lance dramatically smacked his lips into the phone. “Mane, go on somewhere with that shit, Aspen. Why are you even up? Don’t you have work in a few hours?”

“If you were home, you would know why I’m up. Why did you leave me on read and turn off your location as if I can’t see where you are from social media? Make it make sense.”

“Because I knew you’d be tripping about it. I was coming home after my appearance, but they asked me to come through and perform a few songs. You know I’m not about to turn down any money for us and the twins. I told you that I’m in grind mode until they get here.”

Aspen waved her hand and rolled her eyes as if Lance could see her. “Don’t try to feed me that bullshit. If you were only going there to perform, you would’ve left after instead of drinking and feeling up on bitches.”

The snarky chuckle Lance released had Aspen fuming. If it wasn’t for one of the babies kicking and calming her down, she would’ve snapped.

“It sounds like I need to come home and feel up on you to get rid of that attitude,” Lance replied.

“You wish. You’re not touching me after having hands on them.”

“Mane, I need you to be in a better mood by the time you get home after work. No one wants to deal with that after I’ve been hustling all day.”

And there it was.

Aspen had been waiting for Lance to find a way to blame her attitude on anything other than him.

He loved throwing the fact he worked long hours in Aspen’s face, as if her hustle didn’t match his but on a different wave.

Just because Lance was bringing in millions didn’t mean Aspen’s grind was minuscule to his.

Putting on her favorite wavy wig, Aspen put it in a low bun and sighed. “Whatever, Lance. I gotta go study.”

She hung up without waiting for him to reply. Conversations with him seemed to always drain her mood. That wasn’t the way she wanted to start her day, so she went to her office and buried her head in her books to clear her mind.

For as long as she could remember, Aspen loved getting an education.

She was the child who never missed a day of school and received awards for her superb grades.

Graduating in the top ten of her class was an easy accomplishment for Aspen.

The number of scholarships she received saved her parents thousands, but all that went down the drain when Greg fell ill.

Savannah and Greg were adamant about Aspen continuing her education and not worrying about them, but she couldn’t help it.

Her mind was no longer locked in on her education but on ensuring her father was good.

When her grades started slipping, Aspen withdrew from all her classes and started working.

Her parents were upset, but Aspen didn’t care.

Not one time did she regret choosing them over herself because, in the end, she got the time with her father before he passed.

Shaking off the sadness attempting to creep in, Aspen went to the spare room she used as an office and started studying.

She was glad she’d gotten dressed and ready and set an alarm during her study session for when it was time for her to leave the house.

She was meeting with her brother, Denver, for breakfast.

Aspen had trouble putting shoes on by herself, so she was grateful she could wear closed toe slip-on shoes at the hospital. After sliding her feet into her favorite pair, she grabbed everything she needed and headed outside to where her driver waited.

“Good morning, Ms. Webb. How are you?” Her personal driver, Hudson, greeted her as she stepped outside.

Greeting him with a bright smile, Aspen replied, “Good morning, Hudson. I’m well, and yourself?”

“I’m great. It’s a beautiful morning. Are we going to meet Mr. Webb today?”

“Yes. We can head to our usual spot.”

“Sounds lovely. The twins are making a big appearance today. I think the pink scrubs bring out your belly, but in a beautiful way. Pregnancy looks great on you.”

“Really? Thank you. I don’t feel it does. I’m only halfway through it, and I’m so over it. I’m so tired.”

“You carry it well, Ms. Webb. Hang in there.”

Hudson winked at Aspen as he opened the door and assisted her in getting inside. Once they pulled off from the house, Aspen sent Denver a text, informing him she was on the way. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was already there and ordered their food. He was thoughtful like that.