Chapter 3
Neo
My heart beat against my ribs like gorilla fists against a cage.
I wasn’t exactly sure why I was nervous.
Maybe nervous wasn’t the right word. I was anxious—anxious to finally share the news with Merc.
Life and love had been treating us well.
Marz was growing up to be the coolest little guy, and Merci was blossoming.
Our businesses were flourishing, and our love had no end.
Words couldn’t describe how grateful I was that God allowed me to connect with Mercury.
He was truly my life partner and my soul’s sole mate—the man I was meant to walk through life with.
After having Merci, I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel like myself again.
Getting the diagnosis and intentionally working on prioritizing myself along with the trip to Bali made all the difference in the world.
As nervous as Merc was about me getting pregnant again too soon, I wanted to stick to our original plan of having our babies back to back to get the pregnancies out of the way.
Once I was done, I wanted to never have to worry about getting pregnant again and being able to truly enjoy my life.
Merc agreed and respected my decision, which I appreciated. Though we were on the same page, I didn’t get pregnant right away. It happened organically and unexpectedly just a few months before our wedding, which we’d have in Bali.
“You ready?” Beethoven asked as his arm wrapped around me for a side hug. “If so, I’ma tell Whiskee to bow out so it can be your turn.”
Releasing a shaky breath, I nodded and looked up at him with a smile. The crew of brothers were just as close as they’d always been. Regardless of how life, marriage, and fatherhood shifted their priorities, they continued to look out for each other.
“I’m ready, Toe.”
“Aight, bet.”
Beethoven casually walked over to his wife, and after whispering something in her ear, she looked over at me with a smile.
Everyone in this room knew what was about to happen except Merc, so she faked having to use the bathroom to do her part.
We took game nights seriously, so Merc would have been suspicious if we didn’t complete the last round of the card game without announcing a winner, but we had to move on to charades before it was time for Asylum and Dauterive to leave in preparation for their flight.
“Well, let’s play a quick round of charades,” Innvy suggested, locking eyes with me briefly as I walked toward her in the center of the room.
It seemed like fate for us to meet and fall in love with best friends.
Life had been perfect and full ever since.
Though I initially wanted to avoid Merc, and Innvy had her rough patch with Bully, I knew neither of us would trade our men for anything in the world.
“I’ll go first!” I offered, rubbing my palms together.
“Hol’ up. We ain’t picking partners?” Merc confirmed, looking around the room.
A scowl covered my face, but it was only temporary.
I couldn’t help but laugh. We were great partners at a lot of things, but charades wasn’t one of them.
My dingy ass could never figure out what he was trying to say, and he said I made my stuff too simple and gave him too many options to choose from.
He also wasn’t the most patient man when it came to teaching me things, though he was soft with me in literally every other way, which was weird because he was a whole instructor now that he’d opened his training academy for security and bodyguards.
A part of me wondered if I was the problem, but that couldn’t have been the case.
“Couples against couples,” Bully said through his chuckle.
“I’m going to ignore you disrespecting me,” I told Merc, getting a quiet laugh out of him before he took a sip from his red plastic cup.
“I’m just saying, bae. You’re great at a lot of things but—”
“Moving on!” I yelled cheerfully.
I lifted two fingers and Merc said, “Two words.” After nodding my agreement, I pointed at myself as everyone started to record us.
“I’m . . .” Smiling, I shook my head. “Oh, you.” Chuckling, I nodded.
“You what, Neo?” My fingers trembled as I put my hand at the top of my stomach.
I made a half circle in front of my stomach before sticking it out and putting my hand on my waist. His head tilted and eyes tightened in concentration as he stared at my still flat belly.
When I rubbed it, a clipped chuckle escaped him. “Pregnant. You’re pregnant?”
“Mhm.” I nodded adamantly as he stood. “Yes! I’m pregnant, babe.”
“Bae,” he called, gently yet forcefully pulling me into him by my arm and picking me up. “You’re having my baby again?”
With a giggle, I cupped his cheek and gave him a sweet, quick kiss. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut as they watered. “I promise I will be there for every single moment just like the first time. Thank you, Neo. My baby is having my baby again!”
He grew more and more excited as the weight of the announcement settled within him, and the anxiousness I was feeling to tell him dissolved and was replaced with excitement of my own.
As our friends congratulated us, Mercury held me close.
So close it was like he never wanted to let me go.
I was okay with that, because I didn’t want him to let me go . . . ever.