Then it exploded.
“What?!” Aria shrieked at the same time Rhythm sat up straighter.
Legend’s head turned so fast toward Reek I thought it would come off. Icon looked shocked in the coldest way possible. Big A just stared.
Rhythm’s mouth fell open, and then she turned to Aria and whispered too loudly, “I told you she looked pregnant under those oversized clothes.”
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
I was mortified. Because now every face in that room was on me and Reek. And all around us was exactly what I didn’t have; loving, married couples, proud fathers, all the things I had wanted pregnancy to feel like but would never get.
“Saint, calm down,” I begged, breathless and humiliated.
“Calm down?” he snapped, looking between me and Reek. “Since when the fuck was this happening? You got my little sister pregnant and didn’t even tell me, nigga?”
Reek’s jaw tightened. “Lower your voice.”
“Or what?”
The whole room went tense.
Big A stood up. So did Icon. Legend was right behind him.
Zahra finally made it into the den, breathing hard. Livia went to her immediately, and Aria got up too, but both of them kept looking at me with a pity that made this worse. Even Tempo came near me with her hand reaching out like she wanted to comfort me.
Their comfort stung. Because every last one of them had been loved right and chosen out loud. And here I was getting exposed in front of the whole family with a man who had already made it clear he did not want anything to do with the baby growing inside of me.
Saint looked straight at Reek. “So, you fucked Ava, got her pregnant, and ain’t said shit? You got my wife’s little sister pregnant and had her in here carrying that by herself while you acted like nothing happened?”
Reek’s face hardened. “I didn’t know she was pregnant until recently.”
Saint barked out a sharp laugh. “Recently? She’s standing here five months pregnant. What the fuck do you mean recently?”
I stood there burning up with shame while every eye in the room bounced between me and Reek.
“I just told him,” I said quietly, but nobody was listening.
Saint closed the space between he and Reek. “So, what was the plan? Keep fucking her, keep playing with her, and let her deal with this baby alone?”
Though Reek was trying to remain respectful, the whole room could see that Saint was pissing him off. “Didn’t she just tell you that she just told me?”
“Whenever she told you was enough time to tell me, nigga!”
Sincere stepped between them, slightly pushing Saint back.
“You been known you slept with her, though!” Saint shot back. “You knew you was in some fake-ass situation with Sienna while fucking my lil’ sista. You knew exactly how messy this could get, and you still did it.”
Big A finally spoke, still looking stunned. “Yeah, that was foul, bro.”
I wanted to disappear.
Reek answered without looking away from Saint. “That ain’t your concern. She’s grown. I didn’t force her to do shit.”
“The hell it ain’t,” Saint snapped. “It’s all our concern now. That baby is family.”
Legend spoke up, glaring at Reek. “I’m assuming you don’t want shit to do with the baby either.”
“You don’t know that, baby,” Aria interjected.
