Adir bit into his lip as he regarded me. His eyes said that I was pushing it and so did the tiny smile he tried covering up. He put his hands up in surrender, then backed away from me. That caused Adrian to burst out laughing.
“What?” Adrian looked shocked, prompting me to laugh. “Notthefuckin’ Dr. Adir Bell—”
He barely got the words out before Adir had him in a headlock. That shit was so funny, I fell over my desk laughing. Adrian laughed hard, too, because Adir wouldn’t let him go.
“Okay, okay!” I told them. “Y’all stop it.” Adir let him go, wearing a smile I knew was that of a loving big brother.
Bianca came into my office to witness the foolery her brothers were up to. Poor girl. I could only imagine what she’d been through having older brothers like them.
“You in here mindin’ our business. Let me go find Ant so he can get you together,” Adrian stated.
Bianca scoffed. “Why y’all always putting that man on me?”
“‘Cause he the only nigga we fuck with.”
“Who else it’s gon’ be?”
The brothers spoke at the same time and wore the same grill on their faces. Again, I found myself laughing.
“I heard my name,” Antonias said as he strolled in. His eyes instantly landed on Bianca.
Bianca growled and stormed out of my office, pushing Antonias to the side in the process. He went right after her. Regardless of what she said, Antonias was not playing withBianca. She was playing hard to get, but I witnessed her wall slowly crumbling.
“Let me treat y’all to lunch,” Adrian requested.
I was out of my chair in a heartbeat. We ended up at Tonya’s Steakhouse, the restaurant Quilo and I were at the night we were nearly killed. Only thing was, when I walked inside there, I didn’t feel any tension or fear. I felt truly protected by the men surrounding me.
As hungry as I thought I was, I wasn’t able to finish my food. Hell, by the time I walked out of there, all I wanted to do was lay down. We arrived back at the office, and Adir went straight to handle an emergency call. I wasn’t in my office five minutes before Russ appeared at my door.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Boss said you goin’ home,” he replied.
“What?”
He shrugged. “He told me to take you home.”
The minute you pop up pregnant, Adir is going to shut all that down.
Minnie’s words rattled through my mind, causing me to whine.
“He doesn’t tell me what to do,” I said to Russ. “I have too much work to do anyways.”
“Aight. Who gon’ tell him that?”
Russ wasn’t scared by a long shot. He had a duty. His duty was to follow Adir’s orders. Adir paid him well to follow orders.
“Have a seat and let me finish a couple of things,” I requested. He moved to the accent chair in the corner of my office and stuffed his big body into it. Amused, I shook my head.
Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, I made a call to the nearest obstetrics physician and scheduled an appointment. Their first available wasn’t for a few weeks. However, I took it and added it to my calendar.
Here was yet another transition in my life. One where my mama wouldn’t be present to witness it. Each year without her got easier until something like this occurred to remind me that she really wasn’t here. First, it was my wedding. Now it was my first pregnancy. Before I could stop myself, I started crying.
Russ was out of his seat and headed out of the door when I stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
“To get yo’ husband, the fuck.”
