Sorry for the wait. Love y'all🥰💕

Ashley POV

I wake up panting as I try to catch my breath. I feel a shift beside me signaling that Israel is up before he flicks on the lamp beside him.

"What's wrong ma? I'm right here" He questions as he rubs my back. Being that I'm still trying to catch my breath I am unable to reply to him . He then gets up from the bed before returning a few seconds later with a water bottle.

"Here... drink some of this" he says as he unscrews the top of the bottle and helping me hold the bottle due to my shaky hands. "You good?" He asks as I shake my head. "You had another one?" He says referring to the nightmares I've been having for the past few days. Every night I wake up in a puddle of my own sweat and out of breath. And everytime I dream about the same thing. Being locked in a room only being seen by my torturer.

"I'm sorry" I mumble before finishing off the water.

"Don't apologize it ain't yo fault." He says taking the bottle from me throwing it away before turning the lamp off. "You good?" He asks before I shake my head yes. "Let's lay down we gotta get up early" he says kissing my shoulder. We have a doctors appointment to check on baby #2 in the morning. I feel bad for waking him up since he has been working hard having to take over all Cash operations and still have to manage his home life. Overall I know he is stressed but I really appreciate him still making time to be here. I'd be going crazy if he wasn't.

I lay back down snuggling up against him as he places his hand on my stomach rubbing it gently as I listen to his breathing. I stare at the curtains which allow the moonlight to peak through lightly. As I begin to fall back asleep I hear Aiden begin to shift in his crib. We've moved his crib into our room since I really don't feel comfortable leaving him alone in his room just yet.

I hear him begin to whine signaling that he has woke up. I unwrap Izzys arm from around me slowly feeling him shift. He really only sleep when I lay with him so I feel bad whenever I have to get up to use the bathroom or get Aiden

"Where you going" Izzy mumbles out with his eyes still closed.

"Aiden, baby" I say throwing my legs over the bed before standing onto my feet. I guess Izzy went back to sleep by him not responding. "Hi, bubby" I say to Aiden as I stand over his crib getting him out.

"Dada" he says aloud. I swear since he learned to say that he won't stop. I don't mind but he can't say mama damn I'm trying.

"He's still sleeping baby" I say to him as I pick him up checking his diaper. Seeing that it is full I go ahead and change it and decide to bring him back into the bed with Izzy and I so he can go back to sleep and I can sit back down.

I turn on the tv, lowering the volume before I lay onto my pillow and lay Aiden beside me. I watch as he slowly begins to fight his sleep before closing his eyes.

I then feel a arm wrap back around me waist as Izzy brings his body closer to mine before I fall back asleep.

•

The next morning

•

"Ash come on we gotta go" Israel yells from the bottom of the stairs. He got ready before me so that he could get Aiden ready while I took a shower.

"Okay I'm coming" I grab my purse before checking my simple outfit of some tights and a graphic tee. I walk down the stairs to see Izzy sitting down with Aiden on his lap. He looks up noticing me standing there before getting up and hearing towards the door.

We hop in his car before making our way to Dr.Jackies office. I really still can't believe I'm freaking pregnant. Again. I mean i figured it was going to happen some time but not so soon. How the hell ima deal with two kids still in diapers.

I look over to Israel admiring his fine ass driving as he places his hand in mine rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand before bringing it up to his lips. Since we have been back, Israel has not been wasting a second with us. I can understand he doesn't want anything to happen to us again so I don't mind and of course I've missed him. He even scheduled today's appointment.

As we arrive I feel my bladder begin to weaken due to all the water I've been drinking. My leg begins to tap as I grab my purse waiting for izzy to park close to the building.

"I need to go to the bathroom really quickly baby can you get my checked in?" I ask him as he lets me know he can. I rush out of the car and almost run into the doctors office hurrying into the single restroom. I let out a deep breath as I empty my bladder before cleaning myself up. As I am washing my hands the door knocks.

"Someone's in here" I say as the door opens before the girl apologizes and walks out. Damn I could've sworn I locked the door. Even if I didn't she didn't hear me.

I walk out of the bathroom walking towards Izzys seeing a woman trying to talk to him. As I get closer I notice it is the same girl from the hospital. Is she a stalker ? Not again damn. I watch as he rolls his eyes and she try's to engage in conversation. Girl give it up it is okay leave him alone.

"You got everything handled baby?" I ask him causing her head to snap up. Yeah bitch why else would he be in a gynecologist office.

"Yeah we good baby" he say before I grab a teaching Aiden from him. I look over to the girl whose name I forgot signaling her to hop up out my seat. I guess she took the hint and got up allowing me to sit down.

"Well Izzy it was nice seeing you again" she says smiling at him.

"You have a nice day" I smile to her before she walks away. "Bitch" I mumble to myself. "Ion know what you be doing to these girls but I'm lot trying to have another situation so do sum bout her" I say bluntly. I may be coming off harsh but I'm tired of dealing with his sprung flings.

"Chill Ash...that girl just desperate" he says to me.

"And desperate people will go to desperate measures " I say as the nurse comes out calling my last name. As we get up Izzy carries Aiden back while we are being showed to the room. The nurse goes ahead and takes all my vitals and weight.

"Knock knock" Dr Jackie peeks her head in to us. "How is this beautiful family doing" she asks looking over my chart.

"We are fine Dr:Jackie and you?" I say politely

"Just well. Congrats on your new addition let's get everything started" she says as she begins to wash her hand. She instructs me to lay down so she can do a ultrasound.

"Would you like to know the gender?" She asks as she begins to turn off the main light

"No" I say fast causing Israel to look at me fast. I could see the confusion on his face as he looked over to me before letting out a deep breath and looking to the screen. I wasn't trying to be controlling but I honestly am not sure if I'm ready to know the gender. I don't mind what we have but deep down I am afraid it's a girl and I won't be able to stop thinking of the torture Cash put me through and I don't want to project that onto my pregnancy or my baby.

We watch as Dr.jackie shows us our baby while Aiden babbles in the background not knowing what is going on around him. Once again we are able to listen to the babies heartbeat which makes me tear up a bit. I was afraid I was going to have to go through this pregnancy alone.

"Okay so you guys seems to be about 18 weeks as of now which mean you're in your-" she is cut off by Israel's phone ringing. He cuts it off only for it to ring again.

"Hold on" he says handing me Aiden before stepping out into the hall. Who the hell calling him.

"Ashley I'm going to be completely honest with you..." Dr.jackie sits back down. "I can see this pregnancy being high risk. From your blood pressure to your last pregnancy not being that far back. Your body hasn't had much time to heel back. If you are planning to go full term I'm going to need you to take things easy and not stress. I'll let dad know the same thing but from my twenty plus years of marriage let me tell you communication is key and by the way he looked earlier he was lost. That none of my business but we need to make sure everything is okay with you and the baby." She explains as I nod my head in agreement.

We are cut from our discussion as Israel walks back in before taking a seat beside me.

"My bad what did I miss" he says placing his hand on my thigh before looking to the doctor. She basically just explains how I need to be very cautious and careful this go round.

"So we've been thinking and we want to use a doula this go round how do we go about that" I say to her before she gives me a list of references to go by and we are on our way.

"You hungry" Izzy asks me as he cranks up the car before pulling out of the parking lot. We decide on something quick which ended up being Popeyes and picked it up on our way home. By the tone we got home it was fine for Aidens nap so I went ahead and got him fed and settled before coming back downstairs to the kitchen seeing Izzy sitting waiting on me to eat.

"You could've went ahead baby" I say washing my hands before going to begin fixing food. He always waits for me to eat even though I know he be hungry.

"I gotta make sure my baby's eat" he says looking up from his phone. I just smile before handing him his plate and going around to take a seat. As we began to eat we sat in silence.

"Moms called.. she think you ignoring her" he says to me

"I'll call her as soon as we get done I just been so tired" I say digging into my chicken.

"I'm sorry" I say breaking the silence again.

"Fo what ma" he says looking over to me

"Saying we didn't want to know the gender. It's not just my baby you have a say so too and we should've talked that over before I made a decision" I say to him looking down.

"I understand ma. We don't be been through a moot in this past month I wasn't mad at you but you had a nigga a lil hit cause I'm like damn what if I wanted to know" he says explaining to me.

"It's bittersweet almost. Like I'm excited for another baby but At the same time are we ready for another one and we haven't even been together that long officially" I say to him

"Don't worry bout all that. We been doing good so we just gotta keep pushing forward and keep doing what we been doing. And we been doing good with Aiden we can handle another one. I know ima be working a lil more but if you feel like it's too much we always got both moms and hell ion fuck with that nanny shit but we'll get one. I just need you to stop stressing you heard what the doctor said. Ight ? We gone be good" he says looking at me as I nod my head. I love that Izzy can talk things out and express his feelings which is a trait many men lack. He always seems to make me feel better and forget my stress even if it's for a moment.

"Let's go take a nap I know you tired" he says making me smile cause god I am. For the remainder of the day we pretty much chilled since my mom can over and got Aiden so we could be alone.

"Hey ma" I say through the phone.

"Girl where the hell you been at? Not answering your phone for weeks." Sharon says to me. Izzy has told me that he didn't tell her what was going on so I knew not to say anything.

"I'm sorry ma. My phone was broken and something about i had to send it so it took a while" I lie. I hate to lie to her but i understand.

"Yeah. Okay. Anyways when are y'all coming to see me? I miss my grand baby." She says

"Soon I'll talk to Israel about it and Aiden is at my moms so you can call her. But about grand baby I have something to tell you" I hint

"What happened to my grand baby Ashley I'll hurt y'all." She says making me chuckle. I've missed her.

"Nothing happened to your grand baby it's just.. you are going to have another one" I say causing her to scream though the phone.

"I knew it would happen the way you two can't keep your hands off each other. Oh my god how far are you?" She asks dramatically

"18 weeks this week"

"Are you excited?" She asks me

"It wasn't expected but yes" I answer

"Baby I don't know how you didn't see it coming the way you two be-" I cut her off

"Okay ma I'll talk to you later Israel is calling me" I say

"He ain't calling you but bye baby I'm going to call Melyssa" she says before we say our departures and hang up. When I return to the room I see Israel laying on the bed looking at his phone before i lay down as well. We lay in silence before I break it asking something I've been meaning to ask.

"Did you kill him yet?" I ask Israel as we lay up in the bed. I didn't know how to go about asking it so I just blurted it out.

"Nah not yet" he responds rubbing my stomach. I could tell he had much rather me not worry about it but i was genuinely curious.

"Why not?" I sit up looking at him. This man had put our family though so much not even explaining what he put me through and he isn't dead?

"My bad big gangsta" he joked looking at me. "What you gone do it yo self" he says before I shake my head yes. Hell I'll do it myself. I think.

"Man you ain't gone do shit with my child in yo stomach so chill out and I got shit handled so don't worry bout him." He says running his tongue over his lip. Why would he do that to me. I'm mad. I'm supposed to be mad.

"You know I gotchu right?" He says looking up at me with his enchanting eyes.

"Yes baby" I shake my head.

"Then let me handle it" he says to me before I lean down slowly kissing him. I lean in closer to him deepening our kiss before climbing onto his lap and slowly rocking my hips.

"Slow down ma" he breaks out of the kiss as I throw my tee over my head before sliding my pantys to the side. I feel his tool grow harder as he looks at me biting his lip before I reach my hand into his shorts and pull it out. I run my hand up and down his shaft before aligning him with my entrance and slowly sliding down. He watched my every move as I hissed adjusting to his size before slowly beginning to move my hips. I watched his head fall back as I moved at a steady pace sliding up and down as my hips rolled. He sucked on my tender breast as he placed his hands on my waist moving me faster which caused my moans to grow along with his goans. I felt myself getting closer before as I watch his expressions signal his point which we made together.

I wake up hearing Izzy mumbling on the phone before I feel the bed shift. I turn around watching him place his shirt on.

"Go back to sleep baby" he says to me

"Where you bout to go?" I questioning covering my bare chest

"Warehouse" he says before I toss the blanket off of me sitting up before going to my closet. "The hell is you doing" he asks in confusion as I continue to get dressed.

"I'm coming with you" I say softly sliding my simple dress on which fit comfortably.

"Nah ma gone head and go back to sleep I'll be back" he says trying to get me to go lay back down

"You got me messed up to think I'm staying in this house all alone." I stop and look at him. We stare at each other for a while as he tries to figure out what to say. I'm not staying here so he can forget that.

"Man come on." He says walking towards the room door. I smile a little at my victory before following behind. The hell he thought this was why would I stay here after so much done happened. We hop into his G-wagon before heading off into the night. As we pulled up he locked the doors not letting me out.

"Ight when we get in here you gone stay in my office if you need me I'll have somebody you can tell to let me know" he says as I agree

"Sir yes sir" I joke

"Man come on." He gets out before coming around and opening my door. "Ion even know why my dumb ass let you come here" he mumbles to himself as we walk through the dark entrance. The warehouse was a normal warehouse but it was disguised as a operating one. So actual people worked here but didn't know what was actually being shipped or brought in. Once we got into the warehouse he took me to his descent sized office.

"Ashely I'll be downstairs. It some snacks n shit in that drawer over there I'll be back" he says before kissing me and leaving out. I spend a little time eating his snacks and messing with things in his office while scrolling through social media.

"Fuck" I mumble as I realize he didn't have any more water. The fuck I'm supposed to wash down these dry ass cookies with. I go to the door which someone is supposed to be there to see a man in guard uniform sleeping in a chair. "Idiot who gone be unemployed" I mumble before going to the stairs and try and find something to drink. At least a vending machine or sum. As I get to the main part again i notice a man sitting in a chair and Izzy standing over him. I didn't think he was going to be right here like Damn maybe a back room or sum.

"What you need Ashely" I hear his deep voice say without turning around. I watch as he wipes his hands before stepping away from a bloody cash. I see Cash look up at me then down to my stomach before smiling. I place my hand over my stomach before looking to Izzy.

"I-" my voice cracks so I clear my throat. " your out of water so I was looking for a vending machine." I say to him now that he is infront of me. I look to his eyes seeing they look a little different. They aren't as soft and open as they usually are but cold and scary.

"Go back upstairs and make a right it some in the refrigerator" he says to me as I nod my head. He then brings his body to mine by pulling me in and putting his lips on mine. He gave me a rough kiss before roughly smacking my ass and rubbing it. He pulled away leaving me shocked at what had happened in a few seconds.

"I'll be done soon and we can go home" he says as I nod my head before going back upstairs and getting me a water then sitting down. This time in his office I get nosy and open the file that's on his desk. I read over the numbers of his newest shipment seeing something wrong.

"You ready?" I hear him enter as I continue to read the spread sheet. At this point I don't even care if he sees me " what you doing" he says moving in closer before standing over my shoulder.

"What's this" I ask

"Product why? I ain't had time to look over it" He asks

"Because either somebody fucked up there numbers or they fucking you over for this last shipment" I point. "See. For the past 6 months it been 15% less for the same amount but this month it went up 10% for twenty less. Which would make up have to buy two or atleast one a half. Either way looks like your getting fucked over" I show him before he looks it over and takes a deep breath.

"What would I do without you"he says wrapping his arms around me kissing my neck

"Lose more money than you profit." I say sarcastically

"You think you funny let's go before I lose my shit" he says holding my hand opening the door. When we walk out I notice the guard gone and downstairs clean as if nothing happened.

Once we got home I was tired. It was already 3 am and I'm used to being asleep by now.

"So what you gone do?" I ask referring to the shipment.

"Don't worry about all that" I watch him take a deep breath turning on the shower. " ain't nothing for you to stress over" he says getting naked. I watch as he strips infront of me before getting in the shower. I sat on top of the counter top waiting before he got out and I handed him his towel.