She didn’t have to have an abortion. She could make him take full custody of the baby but that wasn’t an option either. There was no way she’d carry a child for nine months, give birth, then hand it over to the father, while she went along with her carefree life. Averi snatched the bag from his hand and stalked to the bathroom. The entire time she peed, she prayed that the plan Bhad worked. If God got her out of this one, she’d go get on birth control immediately. Nah fuck that. She wouldn’t need birth control because there would be no more sex. This new breed of niggas didn’t deserve pussy. At least not hers anyway.
When Blak heard the toilet flush, he walked into the bathroom. As she stood at the sink washing her hands, Averi cut her eye at him. He’d forever be on her shit list. She dried her hands and leaned against the counter while he leaned against the wall staring at her.
“What?” she snapped.
“I love you.” His tone was low. Serious. She heard him, and her anger toward him doubled.
“One thing I’ve learned since becoming an adult is that a lot of grown niggas play little boy ass games. Ten months, Justin!” She screamed out his government name. “You had ten months to do whatever it was that you needed to do and say what it was you needed to say, and you wait until now. Fuck you.” She was so angry it felt as if her blood was boiling.
“I didn’t know man. Not until you tried to walk away. I’ve never been in love before. That’s the main reason that I agreed to marry shorty. I didn’t think I’d find a woman and want to do shit the traditional way. That didn’t seem like it was in the cards for me. When I saw you talking to another man something in me clicked. I can’t lose you.”
“If you choose to walk down that aisle that’s exactly what you’ll do.”
Blak’s jaw muscles flexed. He’d messed up royally. He agreed to marry Naomi months ago. Had anyone told him he’d fall in love with Averi, he would have said it was cap. But there he was. Loving the fuck out of her and not knowing what to do about it. He had always referred to her as cool, but she was more than cool. She was his friend. And from that friendship, his feelings grew. He was at peace when he was with Averi. She didn’t naghim or constantly try to get him to put a title on what they were. She just let him be and from that, something organic and unexpected had occurred.
Averi’s eyes landed on the test, and the results made her chest tighten. She didn’t know why the hell a smiley face was staring back at her because she was doing the exact opposite of smiling. When tears spilled over her eyelids, Blak’s heart sank. Hell nah he wouldn’t mind having a baby with her, but if she was really against it, he’d have to take that L. He peered at the results as Averi tried to push past him.
“Averi, man, stop. Come here,” he pleaded, and she cried harder.
“I will never forgive you for this shit.” She struggled to get away from him. “Never.” Her voice croaked as more tears fell. Blak truly felt like shit, but there was no way for him to fully express it. He’d done some devious shit. His ego had him delusional. The average female would kill to have his kid. He didn’t think it would be that bad, but she had shown him, that she wasn’t average.
Having his child was the last thing on her mind. Holding her wrists tight, he spoke into her ear. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that shit. If you have this baby, you both will be taken care of for as long as I have breath in my body and after. If you choose not to have it, I can only respect that.”
There was a moment of silence before she spoke. “Please let me go. And give me my abortion money before you leave.”
Blak knew he’d never succeed in making it off her shit list. He continued to hold her until his phone vibrated in his pocket. Blak was snatched back to the present and remembered that he was supposed to be meeting Naomi at three for cake tasting. He didn’t give a damn what kind of cake they had at the reception, but she had invited him. He promised to be there. He had noclue what time it was, but it had to be close to three. And Averi lived twenty plus minutes away from the bakery.
Blak let her wrists go and pulled out all of the money that he had in his pockets. He had counted it, so he knew it was $11,000. Blak placed the money on the sink and walked out of the bathroom.
“Shit!” he hissed when he checked the time and saw that he had two missed calls from Naomi. It was 3:15. By the time he got to her, it would be around 3:40 and that was if traffic wasn’t bad.
Blak shot her a text message letting her know that something urgent had come up. He told her to get whatever she wanted. In his car, Blak’s head rested against the seat. He was in too fuckin’ deep, and he didn’t know how to fix the mess he’d made.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Why you looking so sad?”Vesha questioned her friend later that day.
“Why aren’t you looking sad enough? Didn’t your baby daddy just get locked up?”
Vesha’s lip curled. “Fuck that low life ass nigga. He got arrested because he swerved with dope in his car. You know why he swerved? Because he was fighting the chick that he swore to me he wasn’t dealing with. I’m so happy he’s locked up. I hope he never gets out. I’m about to move out of this apartment and get my own place. He won’t know where I live, and I pray I can be rid of him.”
“You think it will be that easy?” Averi asked her friend skeptically. Vesha had been going back and forth with Rodrigo for the past seven years. They had a four- and six-year-old, and Vesha claimed she’d been tired of his shit. Averi didn’t judge her for not wanting to parent alone but the longer the relationship went on the better being a single parent looked to her.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to try. One thing I can commend the bastard for is that he took care of home. He has no idea how much money I make doing lashes. I have $39,000 stashed. I can get me and my kids somewhere nice to stay and be straight. I caneven switch suites, so he won’t know where I’m doing lashes at. The love has been gone, and I don’t care what he does or who he does it with. I just want him to leave me alone. My dad is keeping the kids tonight. Come help me pack some stuff and tell me why you look like you lost your best friend. You want some wine?”
“Bitch, I didn’t come over here to do free labor,” Averi joked.
“I know. That’s why I’m going to pay you in wine.”
“I can’t drink.”
Vesha eyed her friend’s solemn expression. “Friend you better be pregnant ‘cus I know that nigga don’t have you on antibiotics.”
“I’d probably hate him less if he did have me on antibiotics. The man knew I was ovulating. He said he’d pull out. He did not.”
Vesha’s eyes ballooned out of her head. “Blak?!”
“Yes about to be married black ass Blak.”
