Saint and Zahra hurriedly opened the display, and a burst of blue exploded out of it. Blue balloons lifted. Blue confetti rained down. Those who were rooting for a boy screamed. Others who were wishing for a girl howled in disappointment.
The music kicked up louder as Ava screamed excitedly, “It’s a boy!”
Saint lost his mind. That man howled so loud the whole room cracked up. He threw his arms around Zahra, lifted her in the air and spun her around, like her belly wasn’t adding twenty pounds to her body weight. Zahra squealed with the happiest grin on her face as they went around in circles way too fast.
Once he set her down, he grabbed Zahra’s face and kissed her like they were the only two people in the room. After that, he dropped down in front of her belly, rubbing it, talking to his unborn son like the baby could hear every word.
Everybody around them melted, but I just stood there watching a man let joy take him over in front of everybody, watching him love his wife and his child out loud, watching what it looked like when a man actually let himself feel.
I turned my head slightly and looked at Reek. He stood there handsome and unreadable.
He was a wall, and I hated how badly I wanted to be the woman who could tear that wall down.
AVA REYNOLDS
After the gender reveal, it was finally time to eat, and the whole crew sat at the long table reserved for the family. Unfortunately for me, that meant being a few feet away from Reek. He was a few seats down on the same side, so I didn’t have to look directly at him, which was the only mercy God gave me all day. But I could still feel and smell him. That clean, expensive scent of his kept floating my way every time somebody shifted or a chair scraped the floor. It made it hard to focus on the catered food being set down in front of us.
Then the Street Kings walked in late and stole the attention of the whole room, thankfully giving me something else to focus on. Taken or not, every woman’s eyes went to the door as the Street Kings smoothly strolled in, and I understood. Wise, Prodigy, and Vega were dressed like money and walked with big dick energy. Each of them carried gift bags from Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Chanel, and Gucci.
Most of the women in our circle were used to fine men with money. But the Street Kings were fresh meat. None of them had been linked to any women in our circle, and, while I was inThailand, Zahra, Livia, Rhythm, and Aria had already told me that every single woman wanted them for that reason alone.
Since Icon, Saint, Big A, and Sincere were at our table, the Street Kings made a beeline straight for us. The men stood to dap them up. Then the Street Kings came around the table, hugging the women and kissing our cheeks one by one. Each of them smelled so rich as they wrapped their arms around me.
Once the greetings were over, they took the empty seats across from me.
Legend lifted his glass. “Y’all been making noise.”
“Good noise,” Icon added.
“Product been flying too,” Big A added. “Y’all been goin’ crazy.”
“We’ve been blessed,” Vega replied smoothly.
Prodigy said something low in Italian. “Tutte queste troie qui ci stanno guardando come se volessero divorarci.”
Wise smirked. “Ti hanno mai divorato?”
Vega chuckled as Saint frowned. “See, this what I be talkin’ ‘bout. Y’all always wanna speak Italian like y’all in a mob movie.”
They ignored him and kept talking.
So, Saint pointed his fork at them. “Aye, y’all in Chicago. Speak English,niggas. Can’t nobody tell if y’all planning a party or a murder.”
The whole table laughed.
Right then, Wise’s phone rang. He glanced at it, answered, listened for all of ten seconds, then hung up looking annoyed.
Prodigy looked at him. “What happened?”
Wise frowned. “That was Bishop. He said he can’t come out later. He gotta go with Milan to her best friend’s birthday dinner.”
Vega started grinning instantly. “Rain?”
Wise cut his eyes at him. “Yes, nigga. Rain.”
Prodigy frowned. “Why we not goin’ to Rain’s birthday dinner?”
Vega gave him a look like he was slow. “Because he’s not about to be nowhere around Rain, if he can help it.”
