“Nothing really. My stomach is just full of salmon and mashed potatoes.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, Gensie told me that she fed you. And that she told you to slow down, but you wouldn’t.”
“Eww, she’s a snitch.”
“She was worried. Is the food staying down?”
“So far.”
“You think you’ll be cool while I take Mocha for a walk?”
“I wanna walk some of this food off.” I rolled over on my side and sat up. “Let’s do it.”
Brixton and I walked Mocha while his security trailed us in his SUV. Once she exercised her legs by running around and did her business, the three of us headed back to the house.
I basically tumbled back onto my sofa. “Ugh. They say when you get into the second semester your energy picks up. I can’t wait for that, because thisI’m always tiredera is for the birds.”
He sat next to me, taking a foot into his hands and removing my shoes one by one. “Give yourself some grace, lil mama. You’re growing an entire human. It’s not supposed to feel like business as usual, even if the baby is only the size of a prune.”
I cracked up. “I love how you’re keeping up with this week by week. Last week, the baby was the size of a sunflower seed or something.”
He grinned at my teasing and put both of my shoes down beside him, then picked up my left foot and began the daily foot massage he gave me. I tried not to melt or cum while he methodically massaged every inch of my foot. He was leisurely with it, like he was never in a rush. With the season being over, he didn’t really have many obligations. He seemed to spend his extra time catering to me and I didn’t complain.
“You brought your bag?” I questioned.
He’d started bringing a bag of extra clothes with him to my house, so if he needed to shower or change, he could do so. Then, he lay next to me in my bed holding me all night. That was literally my favorite part of the day, even though it was dangerous. The feelings I was catching for him, that I was trying to beat back, were being amplified by cuddling up next to him in the bed every night. And the fact that I was horny as hell for him was even more tragic.
“Yeah, I’ll get it in a minute.”
The minute turned into an hour after the two of us dozed off watching television. I awoke to the vibrating of my phone in the pocket of my pants. I quickly fished it out. My father was requesting a video chat, so I accepted it.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said as his face appeared on my screen.
“Hey, Rowdy girl. Did I wake you up?”
I stretched, then gave a yawn. “Brix and I must’ve fallen asleep while we were catching up on our show.”
“He’s there with you?”
“Yep. He comes by every day. Some days, he brings me food. Some days, he walks Mocha for me. He checks on me and takes care of me.”
“Takes care of you, how? That’s a grown man, Ryann. Usually, when grown men are taking care of a woman, there’s something else at play. I think you need to watch yourself. Put some boundaries up, especially around your heart. I don’t want to see you come out of this situation with a broken heart. Pregnant women are vulnerable to their emotions. Don’t let your emotions guide you. Brixton is essentially doing you a favor. I don’t want you to forget that.”
“Brix isn’t doing me a favor. This agreement is mutually beneficial. He wants fatherhood just like I want motherhood.”
He didn’t respond for a few seconds, but the expression on his face was one of concern.
“Why are you looking like that, Daddy?”
He sighed. “Ryann, I realize that you were in an… impossible situation. I mean, to find out that your fertility is compromised while you’re not even in a relationship or entertaining prospectives had to be hard. But are you sure you made the right decision? Not that Brixton isn’t a good guy, I like him. I’ve always liked him. When he was rooming with Chris at college I liked him. But?—”
I could feel my temper rising. I’d always had a bit of a temper, so I couldn’t really blame it on the pregnancy, but the rate that my anger went from zero to one hundred was definitely the pregnancy. At the moment, I felt the strong urge to slap my father. I was glad he wasn’t standing in front of me.
I stood up and left the living room. All I needed was for Brixton to wake up and hear my father talking shit. Once I was in the powder room with the door closed, I spoke. “Well, if I didn’t make the right decision, what can I do about it now, Daddy? You do know that I’m stuffed full of his baby at this point, right? You want me to interrupt this pregnancy? Tell Brixton thanks but I’m gonna go in a different direction?”
“What? No, baby?—”
“Then what are we even talking about, Daddy?”
