Page 43 of I Need It

We had so much fun with Christian’s family last night, but I was nervous as hell to tell them I was pregnant. Before we even left for his mother’s house, I had to call my dad. I was still in Christian’s plush bed, soaking up just how comfortable it was. My damn bed felt like a brick compared to his. He had a few calls to go on this morning, so I had the entire bed to myself.

As I rolled over, my phone rang, causing me to huff. When I saw Maui’s face appear, I smiled. She was such a sweetheart. All of them were… well, except those twins. They were a lot like me. I could tell they didn’t take no shit through the FaceTime call. Maui was so excited to introduce me to them. When one of them answered with a scowl on her face, my eyebrows had lifted. They looked just like Mister Mayor.

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t want to get on their bad side before I even got to know them. They seemed extremely irritable, but they were nice enough to express an interest in getting to know me. I supposed I would be irritable too if I were finishing up my first year of medical school.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey, boo! Were you still asleep?”

“Hey. No. I’m still in bed though.”

It was nine in the morning. Clearly, they were all early risers. “I’m sorry. We were just excited to invite you to come hang out with us at the diner for brunch. I know Christian is working. The diner has a fire brunch, and a special guest is going to be there today. They won’t say who.”

“Well, it sounds fun. What time should I be ready?”

“Yay! Can you be ready in an hour?”

“Yes. Thanks for the invite.”

“Of course! See you in a little while.”

I ended the call and huffed. I had planned to get up and eat a couple of donuts Christian had brought back for me this morning and then write a bit. I wasn’t feeling as down and anxious as before, and my creative juices seemed to want to flow while I was here. Although I was nervous about what my dad and Christian’s family would say, I knew the only person’s thoughts that mattered were his. Christian was excited about being a father.

I shot him a text, just in case I wasn’t here when he got home. Hey, Christian. Maui invited me to brunch. She’s going to come pick me up.

He responded almost immediately. Okay, baby. I’ll call you in about thirty minutes.

I smiled slightly. I liked how he just fell into the habit of calling me baby. Whenever he said it, I smiled. It made me feel all warm inside. I went to the bathroom and started the shower as my phone rang. I frowned slightly, wondering who was calling me. It was too soon to be Christian. I went and got it from the nightstand to see a number I didn’t recognize. I answered anyway, despite the little voice in my head telling me not to.

“Hello?”

“I thought you said you lost the baby.”

I frowned and looked at the phone. “Janson?”

“Yeah. I saw you going to the obstetrician last week. You obviously blocked my number since you never answered my calls or returned any messages. You’re still pregnant.”

“No. I lost the baby and was in the hospital for three days, jackass. I guess I’ll have to block this number too. You didn’t even want to be involved when I told you.”

“That was a mistake. I want to be involved now.”

“Well, it’s too late! The baby died!”

I ended the call and blocked the number then went to shower. I refused to let Janson steal my joy, but I knew I would have to tell Christian about this. Withholding it could bite me in the ass later and have Christian thinking I was playing games. The last thing I wanted to do was fuck this up. He was a good man and way more mature than me. He knew what he wanted.

When I got out, I dried off and went to the bedroom to moisturize, only to see Christian entering the room. “Hey! You’re off?”

“Hey, baby. No, I needed to see you. This heifer I used to fuck is trying to make me lose my shit on her ass. I knew seeing you would help me to calm down.”

My eyebrows lifted slightly. “I guess we’re both having trouble. Janson called, pressuring me about the baby. He saw me going to the doctor’s office last week. I blocked his number, so he used someone else’s phone. I told him that his baby died. I didn’t confirm that I was pregnant though. What’s going on with her?”

“She keeps wanting to fuck. I know her main issue is she’s wanting to borrow money. But like Uncle Jasper says from time to time, I know she tryna stick me for my paper. I think she’s on that shit.”

“What shit? Drugs?”

“Yeah. Meth. I should’ve researched her ass before diving back in that. She’s clearly not the same person from senior year.”

“When did y’all last fuck?”

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