Page 56 of A Player's Prayer
Life from here on out was only going to get better, and I owed it all to my husband.
“McKnight at the thirty! At the twenty! At the ten! Touchdown, Reapers!”
The theatre room erupted as Flash scored his third touchdown before halftime. Tonight, the Reapers were playing against the Cowboys for their season opener in Paris and have been whooping ass the entire game. Marrying into this family, I found out they didn’t mess around when it came to their professional hometown sports. Since Adrian and I are finallysettled in our new home, I was more than happy to host the game night.
“I ain’t gone lie, bro. That exclusive collection is looking tough out there.” I heard Uno tell my husband as I brought in the sandwich platter. “I gotta get me a pair of those.”
“Yeah, the Kodi Love 7s are the hardest pair to date.” Adrian winked at me as I passed by, causing me to blush. “I knew they were going to be a hit when I first pitched it to the design team.”
After bringing in all of the food, I took a seat in the corner to take a breather. I had been running around nonstop today to get everything set up. I wanted to make sure we had food the kids loved, on top of having enough for the adults. I’ve never really hosted for so many people before, and next time I will do like my husband suggested and get someone to cater.
“Baby, have I told you how proud I am of you?” My father came over and sat beside me. The end of the first half was approaching, so I knew they were going to move around and get food soon. “You’ve built a nice life for yourself. I know your mother and grandmother would be proud of you too.”
Feeling the tears starting, I smiled at my dad as he pulled me into his arms. It’s been two months since he’s been home and officially moved to the city, and each day has been a blessing. He was able to cash in on the trust, and when he offered to give me some of the money, I told him to keep the entire three million. Between my husband and my job, I was pretty comfortable. My main concern was making sure that he had what he needed so he would never have to leave me again. After buying Adrian’s previous hoe pad, he decided he wanted to get to work immediately. Uno was able to get him a maintenance job with the city, and he was content with that. Instead of selling the house, I talked him into renting it out. I just didn’t want to part ways with it. Thankfully, he agreed to rent it out, and he would go to Florida periodically to make sure the upkeep was intact.
“Thank you, Dad.” I was finally able to say. “How long are you staying? You don’t have a hot date tonight?”
“Actually, I do, and I’m going to leave at halftime.” He smiled, wiggling his brows. “Marie and I are going to the blues show later.”
Deciding not to pry into his business, I let him have that. In my eyes, my father was still young, so I knew what time he was on after being locked up for so long.
“Come here, baby,” Adrian called out to me once I got up to fix myself a small plate. “You've been neglecting me all day.”
Giggling, I bit into my sub as I made my way over to my man. Refusing to let me take the empty seat beside him, he pulled me into his lap and began kissing my neck and face immediately.
“You smell so damn good,” he mumbled into my hair. “I can’t wait until these people get the fuck out so I can taste you.”
Clinching my thighs together, I turned in his lap and fed him from my plate. One thing about Adrian is that he doesn’t care if we both have plates of food in front of us: he’s going to eat off mine.
As the first half of the game came to an end, we were up 24-0, and no one was interested anymore. The crew was about to assemble at the small buffet of food set out for them, until a breaking news story came across the screen. Confused, everyone either took seats or gathered around to see what the fuss was about.
“Reporting live from Milly Grove, a local designer wanted us to showcase his newest shoe line. Roll the tape, Bob.”
Colors flashed on the screen as women danced in all black, only their body silhouettes visible as they moved in sync to the hype Hip-Hop beat. As the camera panned out and focused ontheir feet, clear as day, every dancer was rocking the Kodi Love 7s.
“What the fuck?” Adrian shouted as he all but pushed me from his lap. “I know damn well them niggas overseas ain’t leaked my shit without permission.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m going to kill?—”
The camera then blurred with only one woman being the focus. Walking confidently toward the camera, all you could see was the Kodi Love 7s due to everything else being black. It felt like forever for the damn lady to get closer to the camera and say what she needed to say, but once she did, the camera slowly rose up her body as she dangled a custom pair of baby shoes that looked like the Kodi Love 7s with a stream of ultrasound screen grabs swinging from the strings. The camera panned out, and the once black backdrop flashed to white. Gone were the dancers, and the lone woman stood alone, rubbing her pouchy stomach to show she was expecting a baby.
“Ahhhhh!” Noemi screamed first in excitement as she was able to recognize the woman before the camera zoomed completely in on her face. The music cut, and in the living room’s silence, you could hear the bated breaths of every Mills family member as they waited for what was about to happen next.
The camera focused, and there I stood with a single tear falling down my cheek and a smile so big, you would think I locked my jaw after filming this. “Buckle up, Mills Clan, it’s about to get Wild!” I shouted into the camera while rubbing my stomach and shaking the custom baby shoes. The black backdrop shown again, and in a huge, green-letter font, the message, “BABY MILLS COMING THIS SPRING!” popped up.
As I waited for someone other than Noemi to react, I stood and took off the apron I’d been wearing to hide my growing belly from family. Adrian hadn’t mentioned my slight weight gain,and I figured it was just him not caring if I was getting fat since all we did was eat, sleep, and fuck.
Slowly, Adrian dragged his eyes to me before he dropped them to my midsection. He shakily reached out and palmed my barely-there baby bump. “B-Baby,” he croaked with tears in his eyes. “Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,” I whispered. The tears were already streaming down my face. “We conceived on our birthday.”
His eyes went wide in shock before he dropped to his knees and lifted my shirt. Thank God I went against wearing the smock dress today. The nigga would’ve had all my ass out in front of his brothers. I waited as he gently traced my belly with so much attentiveness before he placed small kisses all over it.
“I promise you that as long as I have breath in my body, you’re going to be the happiest baby in the world.” He smiled as the tears ran down his face. “You have the absolute best mother and the coolest daddy.”
We all laughed because the baby was in for a time with Adrian as a father. As Adrian continued to pour his love into a fetus the size of a lime, I looked around the room and felt the adornment from every single person here.
“I love you and your mother’s entire life, Baby Wild. I can’t wait to meet you.” Hugging my torso, I ran my hands through his dreads as he looked up at me with not only tears in his eyes, but love and admiration. “Thank you, Kodi.”
With that, the entire room erupted in cheers. He continued to hug me for a few more minutes before he was on his feet, swinging me in his arms. He kissed me so nastily, I was tempted to say fuck this party and take him upstairs and do him in. Letting me go, he was pulled into hugs by his brothers while my daddy did the same for me.
