The argument with Milani led me to my bar where I took too many shots then drove back home; trying my best not to end up in a ditch. Fumbling with my keys, I walk into the house and see Tae laying on the couch so I try quietly walk by until I hear his voice. Sighing loudly, I stop in front of him; hoping that he's just talking in his sleep.

"D, you know you was wrong for that right?" He says and I walk over to the loveseat, sitting across from him.

"What you talking bout, nigga?"

"I understand y'all had an argument, but you was wrong for walking out on her. You always running away from your problems, but you keep preaching to me about being a man. You a hypocrite and that's fucked it."

Looking at him from the corner of my eyes, I just laugh for a minute; trying not to snap. "Nah, you wanna know whats fucked up? Getting Milani's hopes up by pretending you're gonna change; knowing you're not. Don't come up in my house tryna call me out. You know why our argument started? It was because she found your dumb, high ass not waking up and I said it was her fault for babying you. We got into it real bad and she started lying saying you been seeing my mama's face and hearing her voice."

"I am gone change. Ima change just to prove you wrong. Yeah, I got some shit I need to handle within myself but so do you. Milani ain't just yo girl no more, that's yo baby mama. You gotta move differently now. Earlier, she was crying for hours over you. You ain't supposed to make her eyes wet, only her pussy. As for the stuff about Aunt Serena, she wasn't lying. It's the truth. I just didn't tell you because you don't listen. All you know is tough love." Tae says as he gets up and walks into his room.

Sighing loudly, I start to think about him and Milani's words about me not being a good listener. Maybe tough love isn't the best approach. Walking into the kitchen, I make myself a sandwich and eat it quickly then head upstairs.

"Baby, can we talk?" I ask Milani when I enter the room and see her snuggled up on her phone.

"No, I'm listening to a podcast. I don't wanna talk."

Changing into my pajamas, I slide underneath the covers with her and take her phone; putting it on the nightstand. "Milani, come on now, talk to me. I'm trying to make things right."

"What do you want, Drummer? You need to make up your fucking mind. First it was we've talked enough tonight, but now you wanna talk."

"Look, me and Tae had a talk and he made me realize some shit. I was wrong for walking out on you and for the shit I was saying. I apologize for calling you a liar. I promise I'll focus more on being a better listener and less on tough love. I wanna raise my son differently than the way I was raised and I'll need your help doing that. I know every day/night won't be peaches and cream so I'm committed to communicating and working through things instead of running. I just need you to take your time with me. As for Tae, I'll be a better cousin and role model to him. Ima get him the help he needs to get through his shit."

With a smile on her face, Milani wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my lips; climbing into my lap. I deepen the kiss as I rub circles on her hefty ass cheeks causing her to moan in my mouth and smile against my lips. I wrap her hair around my hand and pull her head to the side allowing myself easier access to lick and suck her neck. Lifting her shirt up, I slip my fingers into her panties and rub circles around her clit; leaving hickeys to let these niggas know whats mine.

"Mmm shit." She moans and practically tackles me backwards until I'm on my back.

"We ain't finna fuck right now. We need a break from this house. Lets go skating then I wanna take you somewhere that's special to me." I say as I softly lift her off me and put her on the floor. "We gone fuck when we get back though." I laugh, smacking her ass.

"Damn right we are and if you be tripping Ima take my dick."

I buck my eyes pretending to be afraid of her sounding like a rapist. She laughs at me before walking towards the bathroom with a big ass smile on her face. Following behind her, we take a shower together and get a quickie in because I just couldn't help myself. I wanted her and she wanted me so we made it do what it do then cleansed our bodies. I let her have the bathroom while I got dressed in the bedroom.

As I'm putting on my shoes and cologne, Milani walks out of the bathroom wearing a neon pink bodysuit with light pink details running down it. Her hair is curled and her makeup beat to the gawds as she would say. My baby look good. I'm so lucky to be with her

"Mmm, this shit you wearing gone put us behind schedule." I lick my lips as I pull her into my chest, kissing her forehand then her lips as I run my hands all over the smooth material. "Baby, you bad as hell. I'm glad I knocked yo ass up."

"Thank you, baby daddy. I hope you only wanted one kid from me cause that's all ya getting. Now let's go."

My eyes are fixated on her ass as I follow her downstairs and just as we're about to step out of the house. Tae goes into the living room looking sad, his eyes trained on Milani. I can tell he feels bad for causing our argument earlier.

"Lani, I uhh.. can we talk?" He asks lowly.

"There's nothing to talk about Jontaevious. There's no bad blood between us. I just want you to do and be better. I'm not mad at you about earlier. You just disappointed me." Milani says before walking over and hugging him. He hugs he back and she kisses his cheek then we get in the car.

"Aye, don't be kissing other niggas in my face, Milani." I scoff, acting jealous.

"Awwww the baby is jealous! How cute!!"

Milani pinches my cheeks while doing the baby talk so I swat her hand away and she laughs then starts rubbing my dick through my jeans. Relaxing under her touch, I focus on the road and keep letting her be a tease. I'll get her ass back later.

"Aaahh fuck."

"You like that shit, daddy?"

"Hell yeah." I groan as she pulls my dick out, rubbing her thumb across the wet tip. My precum glistening as it leaves a trail from the tip to her thumb. Glancing over at her, I watch as she sucks her thumb then puts my dick back into my pants.

"Yo ass always playing games, Lani. Ion wanna hear no shit when I break yo back in tonight."

20 minutes later, we finally pull up to the skating rink so I buy our wristbands and get our skates while Milani orders us some nachos. Handing her the skates and a wristband, I sit down at the table and eat the nachos before putting my skates on.

"Damn girl, you gone drink up all the soda! You should've gotten me my own."

"You said you didn't want any so give it back." She says, trying to take it from me and loses her balance; ending up on my lap. I kiss her cheek before helping her up and giving her the almost empty cup.

My eyes scan the rugged, white floor of the rink and the neon light beams shine brightly as people skate around the circle; some skaters better than others. A smile comes across my face when I see what I assume to be a family of three. The mama and dad skate along side the small child who is using a walker to help her balance. That could be me and Milani one day.

"What are you staring at?" Milani asks as she skates beside me, locking her fingers in mine.

"Nothing. Lets skate. Remember you're pregnant so you need to be careful."

"I got this."

Milani pulls me onto the floor then lets go of my hand. I'm surprised at how good of a skater she is. She flows around the circle elegantly then spins around and starts skating backwards, grinding slowly to the song that plays aloud.

Skating up to her, I get behind her and wrap my arms around her waist then continue to skate us backwards; being careful to turn around every now and then to make sure we don't hit anyone. Her scent invades my nostrils as I move her hair aside and kiss her neck.

Breaking away from me, she quickly skates off towards the bathroom and I go after her; not knowing what's wrong. I skate into the women's bathroom not caring about the screams I'm getting from other women. I'm here for one reason only and that's Milani.

"Baby, you okay? What's wrong?" I ask her loudly, outside her stall.

"I-I'm... fine!...Get....out!" She yells back, vomiting in between words.

"Nah, open the door."

I began to get impatient until I hear the door unlock and see Milani on her knees continuously throwing up so I stand over her; holding her hair out of her face. Rubbing her back, I let her get it all out before helping her up then we skate over to the sink so she can clean herself up.

"My makeup is ruined, ugh. I look like a fucking rat." She groans as she wipes off the last of her foundation.

"You still look beautiful. Makeup or no makeup, you're the baddest woman here." I say as a random woman in the bathroom looks at me. I guess she's offended. "Yeah, she look better than you so quit looking at me and get outta our fucking business." I tell her, making her quickly leave the bathroom.

The both of us go back out to the floor and Milani complains about being hungry so I head to the food stand while she sits down at a table. It amazes me how she wants to eat after throwing up. The line is long, but I still wait because Milani will kill me if I don't get her something to eat. I guess my son got her starving.

"Can I get a whole pepperoni pizza, a water, a blue raspberry slush, a pickle, and curly fries ?" I ask the cashier.

"Sure, coming right up. That'll be $13.35"

As I'm handing him my card, I hear Milani's soft laughter and a deep voice from behind me. Turning around, I see a tall dark skinned nigga in her face, sitting down in my spot at the table.

"Uh sir, sir! Your card! Here is your card!!" The cashier repeats so I snatch it and slide it into my pocket as I skate over to the table.

"What the fuck going on over here?...Nigga, why the fuck you at my table with my woman?" I ask the dude as I pick him up from the table by his shirt collar.

"Get yo fucking hands off me, bruh. Yo bitch wasn't complaining." He says, pushing me off him.

We get into each other's face and I punch him in his jaw; making Milani and everyone else scream.

"Drummer, stop!! He was just talking to me, that's all!" She yells out and I just glare at her.

"See nigga, yo hoe ass bitch liked that shit. She was feeling a nigga." He laughs as he wipes blood from his mouth.

Him disrespecting Milani makes my blood boil so I reach for the gun in my waistband and watch as his eyes grow wide; fear overtaking his body. He quickly skates off as I yell "Naw nigga, what's all that tough shit you was talking!?" I laugh, snapping out of my sadistic laughter when I feel Milani's hand over mine; making me release my grip on the gun.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Drummer? Have you lost your damn mind!!? It's kids and shit in here! Were you just gone shoot the place up!!?" Milani yells loudly as she takes off her skates.

I don't say a word as I turn in my skates then walk over to get our food. Deciding that we can't stay here, we carry the food to the car and eat inside.

"I wasn't gone shoot. You should know me better than that. Ian bout to risk killing or injuring a kid or anybody else over sum petty ass shit like that." I say as I bite a slice of pizza. "Ian like how you was taking up for him! Talking bout he was just talking to you. That's wild disrespectful."

"Drummer, you can't try to shoot every nigga that talks to me. As fine as I am, you'll be outta bullets. Wasn't nobody disrespecting you. I was just tryna keep him from being killed by your crazy ass."

"Fuck that, ain't no nigga finna flirt with my baby mama while I'm alive and well. You shouldn't even give another nigga the opportunity to talk to you. Ion disrespect you by talking to bitches so you need to show me the same respect I show you. Ian playing with you, Milani. I'm deadass right now. You hear me?"

Rolling her eyes , she continues eating her food and washing it down with her slush. "You're right, I hear ya. You still need to learn how to handle shit differently. You can't keep putting us in danger because what if he would've had a gun too, then what?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You didn't think about that. If you want me to respect you then you gotta earn it by gaining some self control. I shouldn't have to worry about whether or not you'll shoot sum shit up when a nigga makes you mad." She says when I don't respond.

Once we finish our food, I crank up the car and drive us back to my old neighborhood where I used to live in a run down shack that we called our house; until my daddy got some money and moved us.

"You see that lil shitty ass place right there, Lani?" I ask as I point to it and she nods. "That's where I grew up at until I was like 7. It ain't much, but living there was some of the best times of my life. We ain't have much food or expensive shit, but we had each other and that was all we needed. Ima make sure you and my son never have to experience the shit I went through in that house. Some days we had to boil water in a pot on the stove just to take a hot bath. My mama used to steal food from the store to make sure we ate. I can still feel how cold I used to be during winter when we had no heater and had to pile up together on a palette on the floor. Shit was crazy."

Milani's eyes fill with tears as she looks into my eyes and hugs me tightly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. No wonder you work so hard to keep money in your pockets. I understand now. Thank you for letting me see this."

"It's all good. I'm just glad we made it outta here before things got too bad." I say as I crank up the car and start driving until I pull up to a better, bigger house.

"Baby, I think it's time you formally met my pops. He only knows you as Tony's ex girlfriend and I don't like that. I want him to know you as the mother of his grandson and his future daughter in law."

As we get out of the car, I hold Milani's hand with my left hand and knock on the door with my right. When the door finally opens I'm facing a tall, caramel skinned, curvy woman wearing scrubs.

"Uhh who are you?" I ask with a raised brow.

"I'm Hazel, your father's nurse."

"Last time I checked, my old man didn't need no nurse. He can do shit just fine on his own."

Before she can respond, Milani buts into the conversation. "I apologize for his behavior. I'm Milani, his girlfriend. We're here to see his dad so do you mind if we come in?"

"Lani, you ain't gotta ask her that. This ain't her house." I say as I push around her and walk inside calling out for my dad. "Pops! Pops! Where you at, man?"

Dragging Milani along with me, I walk upstairs to my dad's room and find him sitting in his recliner; watching tv. His eyes are fixated on the western he's watching until he notices us. "Drummer, boy, what you doing here unannounced? Everything okay?"

"Yes sir, everything straight besides the lil nurse that act like she didn't wanna let us in. Who is she anyway? You don't need no nurse."

"Honestly son, I don't need a nurse, but I do need some company with your mama being gone and she's just that. She takes care of me both ways if you know what I mean."

Hearing him say those things, sting at my feelings because I can't believe he's moved on so fast. If Milani died, I couldn't imagine moving on from her and we're just dating so ain't no way he's moved on after being married to my mama for so long. I exhale deeply when I feel Milani rubbing my arm. She's always here when I need her.

"Anyway, Ian here to talk about that. I wanted you to finally meet Milani as my woman and not Tony's."

"Nice to meet you, Drummer's woman. How has my boy been treating you?" Pops smiles as Milani hugs him.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Jacobs. Honestly, he treats me very well, but we have a lot to work on. We're so alike, yet, so different so sometimes we clash."

"Call me Deandre.. Take it from me, relationships ain't easy but in the end, it'll all be worth it. As long as y'all love each other and are both willing to work for it, y'all will be okay."

I leave Milani and my pops to talk while I step out and answer my ringing phone in the hallway.

"Wassup, B? You good?"

"Nah D, I'm not. I uhh need to talk to you. Can I pull up?" Brandon says into the phone.

"Me and Milani at my pops house. We finna head out and I'll hit you up when we make it back to the crib."

"Bet."

Walking back into the room, I see Milani and my dad laughing and talking like they've known each other for years. It warms my cold ass heart.

"Babygirl, we gotta go. Brandon needs me, but before we go, pops, Milani is pregnant. I was gone tell you in a better way, but I thought you should know." I say as I dap him up.

"Congratulations, I can't wait to meet my grandson." He smiles widely.

"Grandson?" Milani asks and I smile at her.

"Yeap, I just got a feeling. Y'all two gone get outta here and see wassup with Brandon. Me and Hazel got some bidness to handle."

After saying our goodbyes me and Milani head back to the car then go home. She goes upstairs while I send Brandon a text telling him to pull up. I just hope he ain't on no shit cause I don't feel like being in them streets tonight. All I wanna do is cuddle with my woman and talk about our lives together.