Page 26 of Tap In

There was a beat of silence. Her ass wasn’t slick, and my ass wasn’t dumb. “I mean, I went over to say hello.”

“See, that’s the shit that I’m talking about. You don’t fuck with her. She doesn’t fuck with you. There was no need for you to carry your stupid ass over there to say shit to that damn girl. Spare me that bullshit of you went over to say hello. Your ass went over there on some asshole shit and got your ass handed to you.” I wasn’t cut for the pettiness.

She gasped. “Wow, so you’re victim blaming now. It doesn’t matter what the hell I said. That gives no one the right to attack me and threaten to damn kill me, Joston. I guess the can do no wrong attitude you have about your pregnant girlfriend extends to her friends.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Wait, what did you say? Who was pregnant?”

“Your bitch Jacobia. Keep up,” she said with attitude.

I disconnected the line. She could kiss my ass. I had more pressing issues than her ass getting what she more than likely deserved. After I blocked her number, I video called Chance.

“What’s up?” He answered on the third ring. It looked like he was in his office.

My ear tried to kiss my shoulder. “So that’s what we’re doing now, Chance? I thought we were better than that. I’ve talked to you multiple times, and you forgot to tell me that Jacobia was pregnant.”

“The fuck!” His cheeks under his eyes lifted while his inner brows dipped. “Since when is Jacobia pregnant?”

My shoulders shrugged. “You tell me. You see her more often than I do. You didn’t know she was pregnant?”

“Joston, you honestly think that if I knew she was pregnant that I wouldn’t tell you? Don’t fuckin’ play with me.” His tone was sharp. “I told you the last time that we talked about her that she’s been MIA. I’ve barely seen her in the last few months.” He sat back in his seat. “Fuck, now I guess I know why.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, I’m about to fuck Lark’s ass up. There’s no way she didn’t know that Jacobia was pregnant. That’s why her ass be over there so much.”

I did some quick math in my head. “You said you haven’t seen her in a few months?” Once that was confirmed, I leaned forward on my desk to think for a moment. “She probably stopped coming around when she started to show. The last time we had sex was the morning after y’all wedding reception.”

“Cuz, if you got Jacobia pregnant the same night I got my wife pregnant, that’s going to be crazy. How you going to handle this?” Chance asked a question that I didn’t have an answer for yet.

I sat there for a minute with my thoughts all over the place. “Man, we don’t know how far along she is yet. It could not be mine. At the reception, she was booed up with Bam.”

“Joston, you know good and well that baby is not Bam’s. Let’s not do that. Yes, verify how many months she is. If she’s six months and the conception date lines up with when y’all had sex, then that’s your baby.” Chance’s eyes were tight.

He was right. I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth about not having sex with Bam the night of the reception. There was no need for me to go back-and-forth with the whole thing in my mind. I needed to get my ass on the first thing smoking to Mount Pleasant to talk to her.

* * *

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC

JACOBIA’S HOUSE…

“Joston, what are you doing here?” Jacobia asked me with widened eye lids.

The expression on her face was satisfying. Her skin glowed. I noticed when Chance announced himself, she abruptly sat up to readjust her dress. The way she readjusted it made it flair out from her stomach.

I walked over to where she sat on a lounge chair and took a seat near the bottom of it. “I’m here to see you. You look beautiful.”

Nervousness sat on her face. She fidgeted on the chair before she responded. “Um, thank you. I’m a little surprised to see you here.”

I stared at her for a moment. I glanced at Lark and Chance who had their eyes on me. Chance had taken a seat behind his wife on her chair, and his hand was now rubbing her belly. Fatherhood already looked good on him. I refocused on Jacobia.

“I get that. I’m a little surprised that you’re pregnant.” I extended my hand, then placed it on her protruding belly that she tried to hide under her dress. “How about we go in the house and have a conversation about that.”

I moved my hand from her belly to hold it out to her. She hesitated for a moment before she put her hand in mine. We walked to the house hand in hand after I helped her up from the lounge chair. My entire soul was in an uproar as I walked next to her. This was not how or why I thought that I would need to see her again. We settled on the living room couch for our talk.This is probably where we conceived our baby.

“How far along are you?” I asked once we both were settled and comfortable. I was never one to beat around the bush.

She shifted her body to face me more. One of her hands rested on her belly and the other on the couch. “Um, I’m almost twenty- seven weeks.”

I nodded my head. “So that’s what… roughly six months? Am I the father, Jacobia?”

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