Page 111 of Set me Free

Then—

"Okay," I said softly. "I won’t make any decisions until after the trip."

A flicker of relief crossed his face. "Thank you," he murmured. I didn’t respond. Because deep down, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

“How’s my God daughter?”Ari asked. We were on FaceTime, and I was enjoying the weather in Phoenix watching Gio run around the backyard. Creed was at the arena, had to go in early leaving me, Gio, Cree and Tasha here alone.

It had been a week since we’d had our conversation, and I would be a liar if I said things hadn’t been awkward as hell. In the back of my mind, I already had my mind made up that I wouldn’t be staying in Phoenix, but I was giving him his time to process it.

He’d sent me the itinerary for our trip in a month; on a private island near Antigua. It was a smaller island- Jumby Bay Cove. The house was beautiful, more space than we needed for just a small group. But, he also planned on bringing Trina, who had been Gio’s nanny especially when he was alone with Creed, to help take care of the kids.

“She’s good, sleeping.” I glanced at the baby monitor at my sleeping angel. It was almost annoying how much she resembled her daddy. I put in all of that work to bake her for nine months just for her to resemble him. But hey, they say the person you can’t stand the most during your pregnancy is who your baby comes out looking like. Sometimes, I wonder if Sienna hated herself the most when she was pregnant with me.

“So, how are things… with Creed?”

I sighed, trying to find the right words to explain things.

“Weird, especially since we had that conversation a week ago.”

“He still not happy about you moving back home?”

“Nope. He wants us to be this big happy family and I want that too; but just not right now. I still have some healing to do and honestly so does he. I keep telling him, there’s a reason Gianna was so easily persuadable to get him to sleep with her. I mean, that nigga folded asap. He obviously still has feelings for her.”

“Maybe he doesn’t though Toot, maybe he really just fucked up and there’s nothing involved beyond that.”

“I haven’t told him, but I asked my Dad to look around for something for me and Cree. I’m going to give him his vacation but I already know what I want to do and it’s not here in Phoenix.”

“Renity, Renity.” Gio called out to me.

“Hey, I gotta go, I’ll call you later so you can see Cree.”

“Okay, love you.”

“Love you back Ari.”

I hung up the phone before turning my attention back to Gio as he approached me.

“I hungwy.”

“Okay babe, let’s get you something to snack on before dinner. I walked him back into the house, going into the kitchen and looking in the fridge for one of the Go-gurts I knew he liked. Tasha was at the stove cooking spaghetti and fried catfish. “Okay, let me know when you’re done and we can get you cleaned up before Nana finishes dinner.”

“Otay.” He replied placing the snack in his mouth as soon as he got it.

I turned to Tasha before placing the baby monitor on the counter. “Hey, I’m going to go take a quick shower. Cree may be waking up soon.”

“No worries.” She replied. “Dinner is almost done.”

I smiled before making my way towards the bedroom. Every single time I entered the room, I found myself thinking about the way Gianna waltzed her bitch ass inside like she owned the place, as if her name was on the deed and not mine. Maybe that was the issue, maybe I needed to sleep elsewhere.

Who was I kidding? Whenever I was in a house with Creed, my place was only in his arms.

32

CREED

The moment the private jet touched down in Antigua, I knew this trip was either going to fix everything or break us apart for good.

Antigua was paradise, no doubt about that. From the moment we stepped off the plane, the warm, salty breeze wrapped around us like a welcome embrace. The sun was just starting to set, painting the sky in shades of burnt orange, deep purple, and gold.

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