It had to be the pregnancy. These days, I was blaming everything on the pregnancy.
Chapter Sixteen
SORAYA ‘YAYA’ CRAWFORD
“Hmm,” Alecia said, trying to put a glass in front of me that housed Taylor Port inside.
I watched her when she went into the cabinet, and she took out two glasses, but truthfully, I was so zoned out, that I didn’t even stop her from wasting her time, getting a glass for me, knowing that I couldn’t drink. She had her hand out, stretching it out with the glass in her hand, offering it to me. I put my hand on top of hers, shook my head, and ushered the drink back her way. When I did that, she looked at me like I was crazy, squinted her eyes a little bit to see what my problem was, and it’s almost as if I could see the lightbulb go off in her head because she placed the drink down on the counter, put her hand over her mouth, and she came closer to me.
“Oh, girl! Your pregnant?” she asked it in a hush tone, as if she didn’t want the men outside to hear her.
We were having a double-date night at the King’s residence. Alecia called me earlier in the week, asking if me, and Law wanted to come over to her, and Montana’s house, just to have a little date night. It’s almost as if she knew that I was stressed out from the drama of the world because her offer couldn’t have come at a much better time. Ever since that podcast came out,Law has been trending day after day, and it wasn’t always for good things. I feared this day coming. I knew that the day Reggie had his day in court, and the people found out that Law was no longer representing him, that it would be drama, and that’s exactly what it was.
Ever sinceReporting for the Cultureput out their podcast, speaking on it, so many other people followed suit, giving their think pieces on how they felt about the situation. The thing is, people knew that they didn’t think that Law was in the wrong for choosing to back out of the case, but because of the love that they had for Reggie being their favorite rapper, they were acting like Law was a monster for handling it the way that he did. It had gotten to the point that I had to deactivate my personal Instagram because I couldn’t stand to see the shit get talked about anymore, and I was sick of people tagging me in it. I had to turn my comments off on my business page as well because people were bringing that shit over there, too.
A bitch couldn’t even enjoy my pregnancy the way that I wanted to because it was so much mess going on. Crazy thing is, that mess wasn’t even the thing that had me stressing out these days. It was this attorney ball that was coming up in a few weeks that had me ready to shit bricks. I knew that Dominic was going to be there. I went online, where they were advertising the flyer, showing all the big attorneys that would be in attendance, and his name was right there on the list. I couldn’t just not go. This event was always something that was big for Law. Our kids would attend, my mom would come, along with my sister. He would have all his attorneys there, and he would bring Dutch to the event as well. Awards would be given out at the end of the night, so I had to be there in full support. I just knew that I wasn’t a good liar, and I was afraid that that night at the ball, I would be forced to come clean about it. Also, when it came to me, Law didn’t miss shit. He was always up on game with me, solately, he has been on my ass, trying to find out what was wrong with me, and I just kept summing it up to being stressed out with the shit that he had going on.
“Where were you on social media two weeks ago when Law posted that video with us, and the world picked it apart, seeing the acupressure wristband that I had on, and started with the pregnancy rumors?” I asked, and she tilted her head to the side.
“Girl, I just got back on social media a few days ago. I been so busy with work. The first thing that I saw on my timeline when I got on social media was the mess with Law, and Reggie. That’s why I called you to come over because I just knew that it had you stressed out. Answer the question. Your pregnant?” she asked me again.
Alecia stood right in front of me. I was sitting at the island in one of their fancy barstools. She had originally been in the kitchen, finishing up the shrimp scampi that she had on the stove, and checking on the asparagus that was in the oven. I tried to get up, and help her so many times, but she kept telling me that I was a guest, and I didn’t have to worry about helping her.
Her husband Montana was outside, putting steaks, and baked potatoes on the grill. Her kids weren’t here. She told me that they were with her parents. This was an adult night, free of any children, but with the problems that I had going on, I knew that it was going to be filled with drama.
“Girl, good, and pregnant. I couldn’t even cry when I saw the positive pregnancy results. I been fuckin like it’s going out of style,” I told her, and she laughed. I wasn’t even supposed to tell her. I was going to keep it on the hush for a while. My own mama, sister, and best friend didn’t know, and I threatened my boys not to tell them, either. It’s just Alecia was right in my face, and I knew she wouldn’t drop it until I told her the truth.
She came closer, and she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. Her skin was so soft, and she smelled so damngood. Alecia was such a beautiful woman. Each time that her husband would come into the kitchen to ask her something, or to get something to take with him outside, he had to touch her, rub up on her, and just stare at her, and truthfully, I couldn’t even blame him because this woman was truly blessed with a face of an angel. Her chocolate skin was so rich. There wasn’t a lick of make- up on her; just the lip- gloss that I could see, and yet, she was still so perfect.
Since we were at her house, she wasn’t dressed in anything over the top, but she still looked cute. In fact, when we walked in, I complimented her on the brown two-piece set that she was wearing, that hugged at her curves. On top of it, since it was cold in the house, was a big knit cardigan, in a beige color, that went down to her ankles. She wore her house shoes, and she had long, jet black hair, but since she was moving around the kitchen, cooking, it was pulled up with a claw clip. Nothing about her shape gave that she was a woman that carried two children because her shape was perfect. Waist was tiny as hell, and if she removed that cardigan, you would see all the ass that she had on her.
“Congratulations. I have faith that you and Law are going to get it together. I know a couple that’s in love when I see one. What’s wrong with you though? Your energy is off. I noticed it the second you walked through the door,” she voiced.
I sighed, turning my head, looking at the glass sliding door, wondering if I should tell her. Wondering if the men were going to come in here and overheard what I was going to share. I’ve never spoken to anyone about this; not even my own sister, and best friend. It’s not that I trusted Alecia more than I trusted them, but she reached me at a time where I was drowning with this confession, driving myself crazy, and I just wanted to tell it to someone, so that I could get peace.
“They not coming in here no time soon. We have time. What’s up?” she asked. I picked my hand up, and I ran it through my curls. I threw my back into the barstool that I was sitting in, and I folded my arms.
“You know Dominic, right?” I asked her.
“Attorney Dominic? Blackwell?” she asked.
“Yeah, him,” I said.
“Ima hope that you not going somewhere with this that I think you’re going. Yeah, I know him,” she said.
“See, no. I don’t even want to say it. You gone make it worst,” my voice cracked, my eyes got watery, and I felt like I was getting ready to start crying.
“Soraya, what? Now, I’m invested. What happened? You fucked him?” she wanted to know.
“Almost,” I whispered it, and when I said it, a tear fell, and I looked to the door, just to make sure that Law, and Montana weren’t coming in, but they weren’t. They were still talking amongst themselves, not worried about what we were doing.
“When? Like recently?” she asked.
“No. It’s old. Really old. Over a year ago. Around the time that me, and Law were in the middle of our divorce,” I said, and she nodded her head.
“Why you just now stressing about it though? What happened?” she inquired.
“I had forced myself to forget about it. I don’t even think about that man. He called me a few weeks ago when I was in the D.R. visiting my dad. Supposedly, while he was leaving court, walking to his car in the parking garage, he overheard Edward Sterling on the phone, talking about ways to get that stuff brought up again with my son. I can’t tell Law that Dominic told me that because the second I do, Alecia, you know that he’s going to put two, and two together. So, lately, I’ve just been hinting at it. I’ve been telling him that Edward has been tooquiet, and if he can see what’s going on. It’s like I’m telling him but not telling him. I don’t know what the fuck to do. I’m driving myself crazy,” I started rocking my body back and forth, feeling like I was about to have a whole meltdown, but it had to be controlled because if Law came in here, and asked me what I was crying about, and when I lied to him, he was going to know I was lying, and try to force it out of me, and shit was going to go left from there.
