Page 94

I had tried to set boundaries with Gianna before but the problem was I had not only her to deal with, but my mama too. She was my next call. Pressing her contact, I waited for her to answer.

“Hey baby.”

“Hey ma, I need a minute.”

“Okay, what’s going on? Is Everything okay with Serenity and the baby?”

“Yeah, she good. This is about something else.”

“Okay, well what’s up?”

A long silence rang on the line. I didn’t know how to tell her any other way, so I just ripped the band-aid off.

“I think maybe we need a break.”

“We who? You and Serenity? I thought you two were already on a break.”

“Nah, I mean me and you.” There was another long silence, so I continued. “You was out of line bringing Gianna and Lynette to my place. You made the comment about me fuckin’ off in a house I shared with Serenity, but you brought that girl and hermama to our crib knowing SB didn’t fuck with them. Why would you do that, if you wasn’t tryna be messy?”

“I—”

“And you and Ms. Lynette need to get over this notion that I’m going to be back with Gianna. That shit ain’t happening. Truth be told, that girl ain’t never want me for me. She wanted me for what I could do for her, for the life she knew I could provide. Do you know I DNA tested Gio?”

“Why?”

“Because Nas told me he saw Gi coming out of Nate’s bedroom one day while she was pregnant with my son. Why the fuck you think I ain’t have no instant connection with him? Why you think I didn’t want to bond with Gi that whole time? Let me guess, you thought it was because of Serenity?”

“Well, yeah we all assumed?—”

“That’s the problem y’all was assuming shit and didn’t know the full story. Gianna was fuckin with Nate on and off the entire time I was in school. It’s part of the reason that nigga didn’t like me, he was fuckin my girl. She was just playing her role. And it was by chance that Giovanni came out to be my son on a fluke. I wasn’t even supposed to be at her house that day. So, when he was born, I had him tested. Thank God he mine.”

“I didn’t know Creed. I just wanted you to be happy.”

“Did you though? Because I told you I was happy with Serenity and you didn’t believe that shit. I showed you I was happy with her and you still didn’t believe it. I got her name tatted across my chest you’ll never see Gianna’s name anywhere on me. I fell in love with her in months all before I could even have her. I love that girl so much that not having her is slowly killin me—” my voice cracked but I took a deep breath trying to calm down. “Bottom line, I fucked up the best thing that had ever happened to me. She didn’t want shit from me, but me and I gave her my ass to kiss. I accepted my role in that, I just got offthe phone with Gianna and made sure she knew hers and now I’m doing the same with you. You gotta do better Ma, because when it comes to that one I will go no contact with you. This is nonnegotiable.”

“Wow, okay.”

“I love you to death. I’d do anything for you, but I need you to understand me when I say I am going to marry Serenity Bradshaw one day. If you can’t get on board with that, then you’re out. Period, point blank.”

“You love her that much?”

“Like my life depend on it.”

“And do you think she loves you like that?”

“Shit, I hope so. But also, I’m willing to take the risk.”

I felt betterafter the phone calls I had with both Gianna and my mama. Those phone calls were over a week ago and now the only person left to have a conversation with, was my baby.

She had contacted me weeks ago to let me know her doctor had scheduled her ultrasound so we could figure out the sex of our baby. She called me because she wanted to make sure I was there to experience it.

I was grateful as fuck for Serenity. She could have been bitter and locked me out of all of this, but she kept me in the loop even if it was only through texts. She even had me download some app to my phone to help me keep track of our baby’s progress. At 20 weeks my seed was the size of a banana and was extremely loved by both his or her mama and daddy.

I couldn’t fucking wait to lay eyes on her so I booked a flight for the morning before the ultrasound so I could spend time withher, touch her, feel her. I missed Serenity so fucking much and these weeks without her were hell.

I had arrived a little past 2pm. The moment I left out of JFK, my car service was waiting for me and I immediately asked them to bring me here, to her apartment. I had one bag with me, a small one, for a short stay. I had not bothered booking a hotel, for what? I just wanted to be laid up with her, hopeful that she wouldn’t turn me down. But I wasn’t stupid, so I had Sheena on standby making sure I could get a room last minute just in case.

When I entered the building, they recognized me and I used my code to access the private elevator. Once inside, Arielle stood outside the elevator waiting on me with her arms crossed.