Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I…you…” She caught sight of me. “Girl!” she shouted. “I’ve been blowing up your phone!”
“I kinda left it in the car,” I admitted.
Immediately, I thought it prudent to step back because it looked like Toni’s head was going to explode.
Darius twisted to me. “Your phone is in your car?”
I nodded. “With my purse.”
He sighed, then turned to Liam and said only one word.
“Boy.”
I stared in marvel as Liam got up, no teenage-boy backtalk or grumbling, and headed to the front door.
“Hey, man,” he said right before he disappeared into the entryway.
Tony strolled in and instantly said to Darius, “Sorry, brother. Tried to stop her.”
Lena sashayed in, her gaze homed in on the wine, and she asked Darius, “Is that from the reserve?”
“Yup,” he answered.
She moved to the couch and sat her round behind on it, mumbling, “When Liam gets back, he can get me a glass.”
This was when Kenneth arrived.
His eyes went right to the triptych.
“Well, that’s just stunning,” he remarked, wandering to it like he was in a museum.
Toni and I exchanged a look.
Tony and Darius exchanged a look.
“What the fuck? My man appreciates good art. Get over it,” Lena sniped.
“What?” Kenneth asked, like he just realized he wasn’t the only one in the room.
Lena patted the couch next to her. “Come sit here by me, love muffin.”
Dutifully, Kenneth padded to the couch and sat by his wife.
“When Toni couldn’t get Malia on the line, they all piled in the car,” Tony explained to Darius.
“Right,” Darius replied.
“Parking around your place is for shit,” Toni griped. “We had to park two blocks away.”
Which explained the wheezing.
She was in heels too.
Yikes.
“Where’s Talia?” I asked.
“She dragged our neighbor from having her feet up in front of her TV. She told her it was an emergency,” Tony explained.
“It was,” Toni asserted.
“Yeah, looks like things are dire here,” Tony replied.
Thankfully, before this could escalate, Darius waded in.
“You guys want wine?” Darius offered.
“What I want is an update. Is shit good?” Toni responded, her attention pinging the short distance between me and Darius.
“She’s got sex hair. Of course it’s good,” Lena put in.
My hands flew to my hair.
“Told you,” Lena finished, aiming this at Toni. “All she had to do was show and poof! All good.”
“Liam caught us in bed,” I told Toni and Lena, moving my head each way and trying to forget the men were also there.
“Oh boy,” Toni said.
“Fucking hell,” Lena said.
“We were done, and I don’t think he could see me. He still says he’s scarred for life,” I shared.
“I’m scarred for life, and I’m just listening to the story,” Toni said.
“I’m not and neither is Liam. He knows his dad giving his mom the business brought him into this world,” Lena said.
Even if she spoke truth, I fought gagging, knowing I’d prefer my son to live his life thinking a stork delivered him to us.
Toni looked to the side and warned an urgent, “Zip it,” two seconds before Liam walked in with my purse.
And my keys.
For such a successful outcome, I’d really blown this operation.
Darius, who obviously didn’t miss anything, didn’t miss my keys.
He looked down at me and muttered, “Baby.”
I stretched out my lips and shrugged.
His lips tipped up, and he slid his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side.
“Sick,” Liam said, using that word as kids used it these days, meaning “awesome.”
He was beaming at us.
Oh no.
I was going to cry.
“Hurry, pour the wine. You can’t cry and drink at the same time,” Toni announced.
“Liam, go get your aunties more glasses,” Lena ordered.
“What now?” Darius asked right before the front door slammed open again and Ally stormed in, followed by Indy.
They halted and looked around the room, their eyes stopping on Darius and me.
Then their torsos swayed back.
In came Lee, and after him, the man who had pulled Ally away from Liam and me at the hospital.
But I only had eyes for Indy.
“Indy, girl, are you pregnant?” I asked a question to which the answer was obvious.
She put her hand on her big belly and smiled huge. “Yeah. Due very soon, in case you couldn’t tell by how giganto I am.”
“I’m so happy for you!” I exclaimed.
Her smile remained in place. “Thanks. We are too.” She took in my dress and noted, “Killer duds, babe. That dress is hot.”
I grinned. “Thanks.”
“I told you it was all good and you didn’t need to go crashing into Darius’s house,” Lee butted into our exchange to aim this at Ally.
“She was taking forever to get over it,” Ally said back. “I thought she was over here, taking her sweet time to ream his ass.”
“When has Malia ever reamed anyone’s ass?” Lee asked.
Liam raised his hand.
“Put that hand down, Liam Clark,” I snapped.
He smiled at me.
Darius gave me a squeeze.
Lee looked to Darius. “Roam and Sniff are in the control room. They saw her car here. They made a deal with Ally they’d tip her off if Malia got near you. They tipped her off. I tried to talk them out of it, but we were having dinner together and Indy fed into Ally, and you know how it goes.”