Page 45 of Dr. Bell

SeeingDr.GraceinAdir’s face, I coolly tamped down my jealousy at her standing so close to him. She wasn’t the only woman breaking her neck to be next to Adir. The audacity of some of these women going out of their way to make my man notice them should’ve been studied.

My man…Adir was my man. Myhusband.Surely, it was time I acted like it.

Like my first impression of Dr. Grace, her entire aura personified wealth and luxury. I loved that for her. What I hated for me was knowing that this woman was someone Adir had been intimate with. When I saw her heading my way, I gathered up every ounce of patience I owned. This meeting wasn’t about to go well. I could feel it from the way she didn’t crack one smile as she stood in front of me.

“Russ, give us a minute,” I requested. Dr. Grace looked as if she had something to get off her chest. I’d give her the privacyshe needed to unload whatever bullshit she was about to try and bring my way.

“I’m just a couple steps away,” Russ informed me, causing Dr. Grace’s expression to sour. Once Russ stepped back, she let her eyes roam from my toes to the top of my head until her light gaze tackled my eyes.

“Genika Grace. You are?” Her eyes dropped to my left hand and bore a hole into my ring finger. If my ring were a match, my hand would’ve caught fire from the way she stared so hard.

“Coco,” I replied.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious.”

She chuckled. “You know, I find it funny how a man can,in secret, marry one woman one day, while another woman is carrying his child. A child he knows full well about.”

Resisting the urge to react the way she wanted me to, I pulled a smile out of thin air. It was a smile I reserved for little old ladies who I passed in the grocery store.

“Aw, how sweet!” Giggling, I continued, “Let’s hope for a girl. We have enough boys.” My response wasn’t well received. She narrowed her eyes.

“You think this is a game?” she hissed.

Russ caught the energy, but I discreetly shook my head to keep him back.

“I don’t think this is a game. Babies are gifts we should celebrate—”

“Don’t be dense, ho.”

“—and cherish.”

“You’re beneath me, bitch,” she continued.

“Is this your first baby?”

She opened her mouth to speak, however I chuckled, silencing her.

“I hear carrying a baby is both beautiful and rewarding. I haven’t had the pleasure yet. My plan is to wait at least a year.” Playfully, I rolled my eyes. “He’s ready now.”

“Like I said before, you’re beneath me. I don’t care if you wear his name. We sharethatman.”

“Share?”

She nodded.

Across the way, Adir and I locked eyes. Only I saw through that stern stare and recognized concern behind those eyes.

“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’tsharethe same view as you do. If that is my man’s child, your child will have him as a father. That’s it. And while I’m at it, I should tell you… I’m not in the business of one upping any woman, not aboutanything. So, if you see my belly swollen in the next few months, chalk it up tomy manmoving my one-year timeline up a few months.”

Genika seethed. However, she wasn’t about to blow a gasket in front of all these people.

“Do you know who I am?” she questioned indignantly.

Smiling, I shook my head. “Unfortunately, I don’t. You know whoIam. That seems to be the issue here.”

“The issue is that I refuse to come off Adir. I am the mother of his child. Do you think you’re just going to slide in and take what belongs to me? Clearly, you’re not from around here. Everyone knows not to fuck with me or anything that belongs to me.”

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