Page 18

I t’d been a few days since all hell broke loose, and the streets had gone silent for now, but I knew that wouldn’t last long, that’s why when it was too quiet it didn’t sit well with me.

It felt like the calm before another deadly ass storm.

My body was still healing from the chaos, and the soreness in my ribs reminded me that I wasn’t bulletproof.

Still, I got up and moved like I was simply ignoring it.

I had motions to file, cases to prepare, and a life to keep pushing even with the weight of the world on my shoulders feeling like bricks.

I had just left the courthouse downtown.

The judge approved my motion for a continuance for a trial in the making, which gave me more time to work my angle of the case.

My suit jacket was draped over my forearm, and my heels were clicking against the concrete with every step as I made my way to the car.

With every step that I took, I could feel eyes watching me.

I scanned the street twice, but nothing looked off to me.

However, I still couldn’t shake the eerie ass feeling that rolled down my spine.

When I made it to the penthouse, I locked the door behind me, kicked off my heels, and stepped out of my dress allowing it to form a puddle around my ankles before I stepped over it.

That damn underwire in my bra had been cutting into me all day.

I slipped into a tank top and some boy shorts before brushing my hair up into a messy bun.

I wasn’t trying to be sexy. I just wanted to be comfortable…

but when Dom showed up fifteen minutes later, his eyes said otherwise.

“Still hurtin’?” he asked, with his eyes gliding over my body.

“Yeah, but who cares? I’m breathing, so I’m okay with that.” I gave him a dry smirk and nodded toward the couch. “Sit down and let me check that damn wound. You stubborn as hell.”

Dom peeled off his shirt like it was nothing and my pussy began to throb at the sight of his ripped frame.

That scar was healing, the dressing was wrapped good, real good.

I knew it was still painful, but that man wouldn’t dare say a word about it.

Hell, he did everything in silence. He loved in silence, hurt in silence, and sometimes popped off in silence.

I gently pressed my fingers around the gauze as I peeled it back to see it. “This shit looks like it hurts like a hell.” I winched.

He chuckled through clenched teeth. “Ain’t shit but a graze. I can’t let it slow me down.”

I gave him a look and raised a brow. “You a lie.” I knew it had to hurt.

That man sat there like a damn statue while I applied ointment, cleaned the wound again, and rewrapped it.

“You done?” he asked, gazing at me with that look in his eyes.

“Yup.”

“Aight good… now let me check on you.”

Before I could even roll my eyes or play hard to get, he pulled me down into his lap, like he owned my body.

My sore thighs naturally wrapped around him and within minutes, his dick was out, my boy shorts were pulled to the side, and I was riding him like I had something to prove and maybe I did.

I tossed my head back making sure not to brush against his wound.

With my bottom lips tucked, I rode Dom’s hefty dick like I was riding a wave as he stared in my face with a dominating yet satisfying look on his face and in his eyes.

I could tell the feeling of being inside of me was taking his mind off of his wound and that was the plan anyway. I don’t know if it was the pressure between us both with everything going on around us, but before I knew it, we were both cumming as I squirted all over him.

“Mmmmm! Fuckkkkk!” I squealed with my eyes shut tight feeling my thighs quake around him.

“Damn girl,” he groaned with his hands plastered on my thighs allowing his dick to pulsate through my warm walls.

It took me a few minutes to gather myself but if it were up to me, I would’ve never moved.

I rested my head on Dom’s shoulder while he wrapped his strong arms around my body.

I had wanted this kind of attention from him for so long, I was afraid that it would just disappear one day.

I didn’t know if Dom was just going through a phase or if he was actually truly opening up to loving me.

I did know it didn’t feel forced. When I finally peeled myself off of him, I barely made it to the kitchen before my phone rang.

I was going to get Dom and I some water.

As soon as I answered, Dique’s voice came through.

“Y’all better not be late,” he said as soon as I said hello. “You know Ma be mad emotional on her birthday… and don’t come empty-handed neither. I told her you was bringing the banana pudding.”

“Boy, I will throw you off a bridge. I didn’t say I was bringing that.

” I laughed. “But we on our way.” I let him know as I peeked over at Dom.

Shit , I thought. With all the chaos going on, I nearly forgot about my own mother-in-law’s birthday cookout today.

I was excited to see the look on her face when she received her gift from her children though.

Later that day, we rolled into the hood in two trucks as the shadows followed.

We pulled up to one of Dom’s cousins’ houses on the northwest side, where the block was alive.

Music was bumping and kids were running around with water guns as the meat on the grill was smoking.

As soon as we stepped out, I felt eyes on us.

Not in a dangerous way… but in that ‘Damn, they fine as hell’ kind of way.

Dom had on a black Amiri tee with matching jeans and white low-top Forces.

He was very simple today. I kept it casual too with jean shorts, a cute little crop top and a pair of New Balances.

Dom dapped up some of the old heads, he hugged his aunties and handed a stack of cash to one of his little cousins running who was running the Kool-Aid stand.

You could just see in everyone’s eyes the respect they had for him.

Every block boy that saw him gave that same nod because they knew when the King was around, they were good.

Mrs. Delores was glowing and aging backwards.

She had a plate in one hand and a Solo cup in the other.

She was already two drinks in and talking shit at the spades table with one of Dom’s uncles.

“Y’all don’t know nothing ‘bout running a Boston!” she screamed across the table.

“Me and Tony been doing this since before yo mama had her first perm!”

We cracked up and it felt good to be around regular shit for once.

O’Shynn pulled up fashionably late, wearing a fitted sundress and huge hoop earrings, already with a plate of ribs in her hand and Dique was on the side, rolling dice with a few of the OGs.

The air was filled with Miami bass, BBQ, and joy.

“Carmen!” one of Dom’s cousins yelled. “Come get in this spades game! I need a real partner.”

Dom walked up behind me and slid his arm around my waist. “Don’t let her fool you, she ruthless with the books.”

“Ruthless?” I looked back at him. “I’m a shark, baby.”

For the most part, we sat, we laughed, and we danced.

For a few hours, we weren’t lawyers or killers or shadows caught up in a war.

We were just family… just regular people and it absolutely felt like something worth protecting.

As the sun started to set behind the clouds, I sat back and looked at Dom across the yard.

He was laughing, had a drink in hand, and showing that carefree smile I only saw in rare moments like this.

He was far from perfect, and that’s what made me love him even more.

Everything I’d done for him; I’d do it again and again.

The sun had set just enough for the citronella candles to flicker around the yard as the warm breeze surrounded our bodies.

The laughter still bounced from the dominoes table, and Delores was somewhere talking shit and hugging necks while truly enjoying her day.

Pops, Dom’s father was busy on the grill most of the time and O’Shynn had the Bluetooth speaker on fire playing some old-school Trick Daddy.

A few minutes later, Dom stood next to me with one hand on my waist and the other nursing his drink.

Dique came strolling back from the dice game, stacking his little wad of cash and cheesing like he’d just robbed a bank.

“Yo,” Dom called out, low enough so only our circle could hear. “We need to holla at you.”

Dique slowed his step, immediately clocking that it was serious. “What’s up slime?”

“Let’s take a walk,” Dom said, already leading us toward the side of the house, past the grill and the cousins smoking by the gate.

We landed near the back fence, away from the noise and I could tell from the look in Dom’s eyes, he didn’t want to say it, but this was something that couldn’t wait.

We had danced around it long enough at this point.

Dom took a slow sip of his drink before setting it on the edge of the concrete wall. “Look… we got the DNA results back.”

Dique squinted. “DNA? You mean Keondra?”

Dom nodded his head. Dique scoffed, but it was all for show. I could see the way his hands curled into fists at his sides. “Man, I already told y’all that ain’t my…”

“She is,” I cut him off. “The test came back. Keondra’s little girl… she’s yours.”

Dique stared at us like we just sucker-punched him. “The fuck?” he mumbled in disbelief. “Nah. That girl don’t even look like me. I done been around her, and I…”

“That’s what we thought too,” Dom said cutting him off once again. “But DNA don’t lie.”

It got real quiet till the point all we heard was the muffled sounds of the music coming from the yard but back here, it was a different vibe right now.

Dique looked away clenching his jaws. For a second, I thought he was going to swing on Dom out of frustration, but instead, he kicked the brick wall with the side of his foot.

“So what y’all tryna say?” he finally asked. “That I’m a fuckin’ daddy now? Overnight?”

“You been one,” Dom said. “You just ain’t know.”

“And we aren’t telling you to go run over there and start playing house,” I added. “But you have a daughter now… a real one. That baby deserves to know her father.”

Dique slowly turned with glossy eyes and not from tears, but the kind of pressure that starts in your throat when you realize your whole life just fucking changed. “She got my blood?” he asked Dom in a low tone.

Dom nodded. “She a Royal, homie.”

Dique looked down, placed his hands on his hips and then let out a long exhale.

“Shit…” he exhaled. Dique always came with the jokes but right now this was as serious as I’d ever seen him unless he was shooting at somebody.

He wasn’t angry anymore; he was just shocked and processing it.

He may have been proud but just wasn’t ready to admit it.

“You gon’ be alright,” Dom said, looking his brother dead in the eyes. “But don’t say nothin’ to Keondra yet. I already called her ass and made it clear we’d handle it.”

“And she knows about the cease and desist,” I added.

Dique smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Y’all muhfuckas really be out here runnin’ the streets and the legal system, huh?”

I shrugged. “Somebody has to do it.”

He gave a dry chuckle still shaking his head. “Damn… a kid, though?”

“I told you, you got this,” Dom said again. “But it’s on you how you move now nigga.”

Dique nodded, more to himself than us. “Aight… say less.”

As we turned to head back toward the party, Dique lingered behind for a second, staring up at the sky like he was waiting for a damn answer.

I knew that look. It was the same one I had the night I realized Dom would change my whole life.

This was the beginning of a new chapter for all of us and now we had a baby Royal to worry about.