Page 111 of Intercept My Heart

“Wait, what?” I stood there, genuinely confused.

“Oh, you really thought I was gonna let you go on a date with another nigga while my baby is in your stomach? You’re crazy as hell.”

“I don’t understand. Are you the reason Bryce canceled on me?” It would have made no sense because I never told him who my date was.

“Yeah. I pulled up here as soon as you mentioned the date. I explained to the young man that there were safer options for him, and I thought it would be in his best interest if he drove away while he still had the opportunity to do so.”

“Are you insane!”

“Behind you and my kids? Absolutely. Now, are you ready to go, or do you want to order in?” Baffled didn’t even begin todescribe my feelings. The man had run off my date and then had the nerve to ask if I wanted to go out with him.

“I don’t even know what to say right now. Actually, yes, I do. Before you showed up, I talked to my girls, and I realized that I’ve been making a lot of stupid decisions and wasting time that neither of us has. I’m tired of running, and I want to be happy. Like really happy.”

“What are you saying?”

“I want you. I want our family. I’ve made a lot of decisions because of fear, and it has cost us so much. You’ve been more patient than you should have been, and I’ll always appreciate it. However, I don’t want to co-parent. I don’t want to watch you and the kids take family trips together while I sit at home, staring at the pictures. I used to feel like you were too good for me, but I don’t think there is anyone who could love you the way I do. I don’t want to be loved by anyone else.”

Dinero’s eyes peered into my soul, and I wanted to know what he was thinking. I’d known him for a long time, and he’d never been the type to react to things without thinking. It used to bother me, but I understood why he did it. He was intentional about everything, and when he finally spoke, that was law.

“You didn’t have a choice.”

“What?”

“Being loved by someone else. I would never have allowed that to happen. When I told you that we needed to focus on the boys, I didn’t mean I wasn’t coming back. There were so many things happening at once, and we needed time to adjust. I sat back and realized that we fucked a lot of shit up because we failed to communicate with one another. I’ve been spending all of this time with you because you’re the only person who brings me peace. The only reason I hadn’t made my intentions clear was because I knew you wouldn’t agree to be with me with this wedding bullshit. When you told me about your date, it put a lotof things in perspective for me. I wouldn’t be able to sit back and watch another man do what I was made to do, and that’s love you.

“I don’t want to dwell on the past because nothing will give us that time back. All I want to do is make things right so you’ll never feel like you have to keep things from me, and I’ll do the same with you. ’Cause either we’re gonna be together, or it’s gonna be a lot of sleepless nights and innocent lives hanging in the balance.”

“Dinero! You were doing so good, and then you had to fuck it up.” His arms wrapped around me, and for the first time in a long time, I felt whole. I never wanted to let this feeling go.

“I meant what the fuck I said. Then you had the nerve to have that square ass nigga pull up to the house. You really didn’t care about his life at all.”

“I thought you would have calmed down with time, but I see you’re still the same crazy man you’ve always been.”

“Only for you. I haven’t gotten into a single fight since college, and then here you come, and now I’m back to pulling my guns out. I’m not the problem here. It’s really you.” He shrugged, and I ignored him, then kissed him on the lips.

“How come I didn’t get any alerts when Bryce showed up to the house?” It dawned on me that I never knew he was out there.

“I turned it off. I wasn’t sure how things would go, and I damn sure wasn’t about to incriminate myself.”

“Dinero!”

“Don’t Dinero me. I saw the way you were biting your lip. Don’t try to pretend like you don’t like that shit.” My jaw dropped when he called me out. It’d been so long since we’d been around each other like this that I almost forgot how much he knew about me.

“Whatever. Since you ruined my date, you need to feed me. I think your daughter wants steak and a loaded sweet potato.”I removed my dress since I no longer wanted to go outside. I would much rather sit in the house and relax for the weekend. Tamia texted me to inform me that my baby daddy sent her four thousand dollars to keep the boys for the weekend, so I might as well enjoy the time.

“You gon’ fuck around and be hungry taking your clothes off in front of me like this.” The hunger and desire in his eyes made me blush, but we had plenty of time for all of that.

“If you don’t feed us, you’re gonna be right outside those doors looking crazy. I don’t play about my food.”

“You know I would never let my girls go hungry. I need to get you good and full so my baby can go to sleep. I’m about to do some nasty ass shit to her mama, and I don’t want her to be awake for that.”

I covered my mouth to hide the smile on my face. Pregnancy had increased my sex drive times ten, and I needed some dick in the worst way. I thought about asking him before since he was the only person I would be able to be with anyway.

When our food arrived, we sat on the couch, talking and reminiscing about the past. I had so many regrets about the things I could have and should have done better. However, there were no regrets when it came to being with Dinero. He never liked for me to say it, but he was the biggest blessing I’d ever received outside of our kids. Being here with him brought back so many memories, and I couldn’t believe how many times he stepped up and saved the day for me. He never hesitated to defend me, and our boys had the same heart as him.

“I’m gonna have to work on Moolah’s temper before he goes to middle and high school. I don’t have time for him to be beating ass on the first week of school.”

“Don’t talk about my baby. He’ll be just fine as long as nobody messes with him.”

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