Chapter 13 Make Things Clear
Make Things Clear
ADAI
Tonight, I stood on business, knowing that Pryce would move with a sense of urgency to get this situation resolved.
This Alexis chick was playing a dirty game, and I hated it for her.
Pryce didn’t play fair when he felt like his back was against the wall, and the fact that his second weird run in with her was with me, I knew he was hot.
Which is why he should’ve kept his dick in his pants in the first damn place.
That was the thing about most men. They didn’t vet women well, and most of the time, they only thought with the head that had a mushroom tip and not the one on top of their neck.
In the back of my mind, I knew Alexis wasn’t pregnant, but I wasn’t a fool.
Knowing and having clear cut proof was two different things.
And as pissed as Pryce was when he dropped me off earlier, I knew he’d find his way here tonight.
It was the exact reason why I ended up back downstairs on the couch after working upstairs. When I heard the knock at the door, I got right up to open it. He stood on the other side of it, leaning against the doorframe like he was on a serious mission.
“I’m not sleeping alone tonight,” he said, placing his hand over my stomach and guiding me backward until he was fully inside the house.
Kicking the door shut with his foot, he locked it then turned back to me.
“I take it that you handled your business?” I asked a question and made an assumption at the same time.
He didn’t answer verbally. Instead, he pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped on the screen a few times, then held it out to me.
I took it and saw a picture of two pregnancy tests.
Just like a woman with a keen eye for detail, I zoomed in on a foot with a French pedicure in the corner of the picture.
“She took these?” I asked, handing him back the phone.
“Yeah.”
I then looked back up to him. “You watched her do it?”
“Yeah.”
“Now I’m mad.”
He squinted and threw his head back. “You losing me. You mad cause they negative?”
“No. I’m mad cause you stood in the bathroom and watched her pee.”
“Yo.” He held his fist to his mouth and chuckled. “Let’s keep focused on the important shit, Ma. She not pregnant.”
“You right,” I conceded.
“And you the only woman that will ever bear my children.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close.
“Right again.”
“I meant what I said about not sleeping alone too, so we gon’ do the couch or the bed?”
I laid my head on his chest. “Definitely can’t both fit on the couch with all this stomach. We can go upstairs.”
“Aight.” He kicked his sneakers off, and we walked up the steps to my bedroom.
Pryce undressed, taking off everything including his boxers, and got in the bed.
“I’m gonna throw your clothes in the wash.” Picking his stuff up, I walked out of the room before he could stop me.
Tossing them in the washing machine, along with a Tide pod, I started it and returned back to the room. Climbing in the bed, I got comfortable on my side with my back facing him, while he cuddled me from behind.
“Bae,” he called out lowly.
“Hmm?”
“We bout to have a little girl. That shit is crazy.”
I smiled and interlocked my hand with his that rested on my stomach. “I know, right? And she’ll be here soon. You happy it’s a girl?”
“Yes and no, honestly. Yes because I know she’ll be a Daddy’s girl and a miniature version of you. No because the thought of the lengths I’ll go to to protect even scaring me when I’m thinking about it.”
“You don’t think you’d feel the same if we were having a son?”
“Of course, bae. I’m a protector first and foremost. It’s just that bond between a father and daughter is different. Look at how you are wit’ your pops. How Key is with hers. Still, despite his condition, Uncle Step is still her world.”
I nodded, seeing where he was coming from.
“I’ma have to be a superhero out this bitch. Like she really gotta believe Daddy wear a cape. And not no regular shit either. My shit gon’ be swagged out.”
I laughed softly. “I know that’s right, baby. I’ll be right there with the glue gun and Bedazzler, helping you get it right.”
“Bedazzler? You got me fucked up. Go to sleep, woman.”
I smiled into my pillow. It got quiet, and as my body settled, I could feel Pryce’s dick on my cheeks.
“Baby.”
“Wassup, love?”
“You wanna do it?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Come on.”
Like he’d been waiting for the sign, he pulled my shorts off and lined his dick at my opening.
“I love you,” he said, sliding in slowly.
“Sssss, ahhhh. I love you too.”
He rocked me back and forth and through two orgasms before we fell asleep in our mess. We ended the day the same way we started it, on a high.
I woke up before Pryce to put his clothes in the dryer. When I moved and he didn’t, I knew he needed the rest, so I left him to it. While he slept, I decided to whip up a little breakfast to serve him in bed. I was in the middle of mixing the waffle batter when my phone rang. It was Ebone calling.
“Morning, boo.” I answered on speaker.
“Hey, babes. You home?”
“I am.”
“Okay. I’m headed your way. Kyiris asked if I could drop y’all clothes off for the shoot. Lucky for her, I have a free day.”
“Awww, thanks, boo. I could’ve picked them up or had Pryce pick them up from you.”
“All good, love. You didn’t call me yesterday. How’d the appointment go?”
“It went well. And get ready to do more damage at the mall. God done gave us a baby girl.”
“Girl, shut up! Yessss.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
Pouring the batter into the waffle maker, I set the bowl down and leaned against the sink.
“That’s so exciting. Go us. I mean, go y’all, but us too.” She laughed.
“You know this all of our baby.”
My baby was super blessed already. The village I had didn’t play about me, so I knew they were going to step behind her.
“You told your parents?”
“You know I can’t hold water. I went to their house last night and spilled the damn beans.”
“Now that’s a damn shame. I guess it’ll be a surprise for everybody else then.”
“Right.”
We both burst out laughing. I looked up from my phone to see Pryce walking down the steps. I involuntarily bit my lip. He was just so damn fine.
“Morning,” he said once he made it into the kitchen. He put his hand around my neck and kissed me.
“Morning, handsome. I see your clothes are dry.”
“These were,” he said, referring to his boxers.
“I’ll see you in a minute, hunny.”
“Okay, boo.” I ended the call.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“Ebone. She’s coming over to drop off some clothes Kyiris picked out for us for the shoot.”
“Oh, aight. She texted me this morning. Said for us to be there by one o’clock. And damn, she done picked out the clothes too?” He chuckled and shook his head. “Key need to stop fuckin’ around and make this a business.”
“That’s what I said.” Turning the waffle maker, I pulled the waffle out and put it on a plate. “You want me to put the toppings on this one now or wait until I make your other one?”
“Nah. I want you to sit down and eat that one. I’ll make mine.”
“Orrrr I can eat mine and still make yours at the same time.”
He stared at me through squinted eyes. “You don’t want me using yo’ shit, huh?”
I tried to hold back my smirk, but I couldn’t. “I really don’t.” I laughed. “Baby, you gon’ burn my stuff.”
“You cold. Go head.”
Stepping aside, he let me continue.
A half hour later, Ebone pulled up, dropped the clothes off quickly, and left. There was a handwritten note attached to the bag from Kyiris that said, The theme is denim. Bring the sonogram. Taking the bag into the living room where Pryce sat on the couch, I laid everything out.
“Oh, this is cute,” I said, seeing the matching denim outfits from G-Star Raw. “Bae, look.”
“Yeah, that’s hard,” he agreed.
“I’m gonna start getting ready now. I gotta do my hair and stuff. I don’t wanna be late. Can you wash my hair for me? In the shower?”
“As long as you know you getting fucked in there, I can do that.”
“I was hoping so.”
I didn’t know if it was pregnancy that had me in heat or the fact that it had been a while since I had sex. Whatever it was, I was enjoying making up with Pryce.
“How many more angles we gotta do? My muhfuckin’ eyes hurting from all this flashing and shit,” Pryce complained.
I tried so hard not to laugh, but the way Key was ignoring him while continuing to direct us for the perfect shot was hilarious.
“Only a few more, bae.” I answered him.
“She doing this shit on purpose. We done stood here like mannequins for the last hour and a half.”
“Okay, Dai. Let your jacket drop off your shoulders and hold the sonogram up in front of him,” Key directed. “Spread it out so we can see the pictures.”
Pryce was missing the part where he let the directions go over his head, so it took longer to get the shot. I took the direction and did as she asked. And I was enjoying myself.
“That’s the one, Mike,” Key said like she’d been doing this her whole life.
“Okay. Three more then we good to go.”
“Mannn, count me out,” Pryce let out, frustrated.
“Good. These are solo shots of my girl anyway,” she told him. “We gotta go into the building across the lot though. There was a room there that I think you’ll love as a backdrop.”
The shoot ended up being curated for the early 2000s.
It was the cutest thing. I absolutely loved how my jean outfit fit me.
The jeans were snug at the waist and loose at the leg.
I kept them open to let the bump breathe.
I wore a cropped wife beater under the jean jacket, and Pryce and I both had on a pair of Uptowns.
We looked like a couple straight out of a Nelly video.
“Across the lot? Didn’t nobody mention switching locations.”
“Stay here then, Pryce. Damn.” Key matched his tone.
The two of them together could be a sitcom.
“Bae, just come on,” I encouraged softly. “She said three more. And you agreed to the photoshoot.”
“Exactly,” Key chimed in, walking out behind the photographer.
“Aight, man.”
We followed them across the lot to a bigger building. When we walked inside, I could hear music playing.
“Did somebody overbook?” I asked Key.
“They bet not had,” she said, snatching the door open.
“Surprise!”
I blinked twice and thought I was losing my mind. Denim everywhere. Family with smiles as big as the room everywhere.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed out, jumping up and down.
Everyone came crowding me as much as they could with Pryce standing at my side as security.
“Y’all did not!” I said to Ebone and my mother, who clung to me the longest.
“We did,” they replied in unison.
“Girl, we’ve been planning this for months,” Ebone said. “Well, I helped execute, while Ma did most of the planning.”
“Oh, my God. Mommy, this is so nice. Look at this.”
The décor matched the shoot theme to a tee.
“Baeeee,” I cried, looking back at Pryce, who looked just as surprised as me.
“Yeah, they got me too, Ma.”
“I almost told yo’ ass to go home with that attitude,” Key said, shaking her head.
“You knew too?” I asked, pulling her in for a hug.
She crossed her arms proudly. “As of two days ago.” She laughed. “You see what Big Key can do in forty-eight hours though. David Tutera ain’t fuckin’ with the girl.”
I chuckled and turned to my mother. “You said you’ve been planning in your head, Ma. This,” I looked around the room, “takes planning to a whole other level. How’d you even get everybody to show up?”
“Baby, I’ve been putting this together since you were in Houston. I just knew I couldn’t tell anyone about the pregnancy. So, I worked around that. As far as how I got everybody here, that’s Daddy. He paid for two charter buses to pick everybody up from one location.”
“Like the ski trip days.” I smiled.
“Yup. And everybody showed up off the love they have for the two of you and now this baby.” She bent down to kiss my belly.
“Well played, y’all. Well played.”
I turned back to Pryce, who was now smiling more than he had been during the photoshoot.
“Who you know gets a photoshoot and a baby shower all in one day?” he asked, looking down at me.
“A very blessed baby,” I replied, kissing him.
The Sullivan crew headed toward us with his mother leading them.
“Hey, baby.” She spoke to Pryce, hugging and kissing his cheek then doing the same with me.
“You couldn’t have thought we were going to let you bring yo’ lil one in the world on some regular shit.” Aura stepped forward to dap him and give me a half hug.
Tay followed. “Nigga, this a Sullivan baby. I got a baby Benz truck pulling up as we speak.”
We all laughed.
“Lambo in back of that,” Jay added behind him.
“Yeah. Real rich shit,” Aura followed up.
“Rich and ghetto,” Key commented. “I love the combination.”
I watched as they crowded him, and his shoulders visibly settled into the moment instead of fighting it. This was our family. This was that solid foundation that my father was referring to. Something I could never get in Houston. Not when my heart was with him.