Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Antwone didn’t answer. He’d snuck out of her apartment.
All he had was his memories but he knew he was doing the right thing. He had to allow her to live her life. Being with him would put her life in danger and he couldn’t allow that. He took a deep breath, ending the call, and turned to Draven.
“Yes, I’m okay.”
He was going to ignore Candice. His craziness of visiting the woman was over. The three fucks he’d gotten from her were all that would happen between them.
It was over.
****
Candice felt tears fill her eyes.
He ended the call.
There was no long, drawn-out ringtone, giving her the option to leave a voice message. Just an ended call. Would he block her number?
She sat on her sofa and looked across the living room. Falling asleep in his arms had been magical. She loved being in his arms, just as she loved going to bed with him. That morning, she’d woken up, and Antwone was gone. There had been no sign of him even entering her apartment apart from her memories, and to her, in that moment, it felt even more cruel.
Why had he done that? She didn’t for a second think of him as an asshole, not like this—getting what he wanted and that was it, over.
Candice pressed her lips together, feeling the tears build. She knew it wasn’t just a coincidence that he’d ended her call. Antwone was done.
She dropped her cell phone and got to her feet, pacing the length of her sitting room.
Fine. It was fine. It would be fine.
That was all she could hope.
****
One Month Later
Candice looked down at the stick and felt even more sick to her stomach.
This wasn’t fair.
One magical night with Antwone and she had been a massive fool on so many different levels. He had used her for a good time, and she’d been so fooled by his performance, she hadn’t even asked for protection, and now she was pregnant.
This was not what she wanted. She didn’t know what the hell to do.
The past month, she had watched the door of the bar, hoping he’d walk in and all her doubts would be exactly that—doubts, but not founded.
What was she going to do with a child?
Reaching for her cell phone, she had spent many nights staring at Antwone’s number, hoping to delete it. She refused to call him, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to delete that number. She stared at it. Would he even want to know if she was pregnant with his child?
Nibbling her lip, she waited, hovering over that key. Her heart broke, because she should have known. When Antwone kissed her, and then made love to her, in his own way he was saying goodbye. She didn’t know his real story. She didn’t know anything about him.
Tears filled her eyes once again.
“I know you’re going to need your daddy,” she said, talking to her stomach.
Even though this broke her heart, she knew she had to give it a try, so she put a call through to the number.
Much to her surprise, it rang and rang and rang. Tears filled her eyes.
When the call went to voicemail, she quickly hung up. What was she supposed to say? What did she tell the man she loved? The same man who had broken her heart. Abandoned her.
Her hands shook. For the sake of her baby, she needed to grow a backbone and deal with this. Taking a deep breath, she pressed his number again. Once again, it went to voicemail and after the beep, she didn’t say anything, and then she spoke.
“Hi, Antwone, it’s me, er, I know you don’t want to talk to me. I haven’t seen you in over a month, but I just … I honestly don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just … I’m pregnant.” With that, she hung up and then dropped the cell phone to the floor.
That was all she could do.
Tears dropped down her face and reaching for a pillow, she held onto it, curling around the soft plush pillow, and sobbed.
She wanted her mom.
She wanted her dad.
And what she hated most of all—she wanted Antwone.
Chapter Eight
Six Months Later
“You don’t like any of the women?” Draven asked.
“Draven, leave him be,” Maria said, offering him a smile.
In the past six months, Antwone had avoided going to his brother’s house as he knew it would come with questions.
His brother always looked so happy, but as he glanced over, Draven looked pissed. Maria was heavily pregnant with their third child, and their other children were playing on the grass.
It was hot as fuck out, but Antwone still wore his suit.
“Yeah, Draven, listen to your wife. Leave me be.”
Draven glared. “A word.”
Antwone wanted to argue but Draven kissed Maria’s cheek and then they walked several feet away, stepping onto the plush grass that had clearly been recently cut.