Page 52 of The Price of My Sins

“I can’t fit shit!” I groaned.

I grabbed the only thing that halfway fit, a stretchy maxi dress that Bo had bought me. I’d been avoiding it because it hugged everything. Throwing it on, I went to the mirror, slicked my edges back with a little gel, and took one last look in the mirror.

“You look beautiful, babe,” she complimented me.

“Lies! I want to fuck Bo’s ass up for sticking that good-ass dick in me!”

She laughed, but I didn’t see anything funny.

“Girl, bye! We barely got off the phone good last night before you were hoping on that same dick. Now, stop it. You look fine. Let’s go before you are late for your own gender reveal.”

“Okay… I’m ready. Let me slip on my shoes and grab my bag, and I’ll follow you out.”

“Should you be wearing them heels?” She pointed down at my feet.

“Not really. But they are the only thing that’s making me feel a little sexy. So let me be great; I already feel like a whale.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Bo is going to kick your ass.” We shared a laugh. “And you don’t look fat. Just big-boned.” She laughed. I rolled my eyes and gave her the finger. She blew me a kiss. “Let’s roll, baby mama.”

After locking up, we left the house and headed to the venue. The Escalade rolled to a slow stop in front of the building, and I could already hear the bass thumping from inside. The whole place was lit up in blue and pink neon lights. The driver opened the door, and Lexi hopped out first like she was stepping onto a red carpet, not a sidewalk.

“Come on, Liv. I swear… you are a brat when pregnant,” she said, smacking her lip gloss on and adjusting her dress.

I rolled my eyes but smiled, then eased my way out of the backseat—one hand holding my bump and the other holding onto the door, so I didn’t fall on my ass in these heels.

As soon as we stepped inside, the energy smacked me in the face. The place was packed with family and friends. Blue and pink balloons were everywhere I turned. Lexi did a big one decorating the space so beautifully.

My eyes scanned the room for my baby daddy, but I didn’t see him anywhere. Everyone came up and congratulated me, touching my stomach, and I hated it.

“Aww! Look at my baby! You look so beautiful, sweetheart.” My mother came up and gave me a hug along with my father.

“You look so beautiful, Pumpkin.”

“Thanks, Daddy.” I beamed.

I walked around, speaking to everyone I came in contact with, but I had yet to see my man. Just when I was about to go and ask Mama Zora, the music cut off, and the lights went low. I turned toward the small stage, and there sat my baby daddy. He was sitting on a tall stool, legs spread casually, one arm resting on his thigh, and the other holding a black guitar. He had on all black, simple but smooth. His gold chain gleamed under the lights, and his eyes were locked dead on me as if nobody else in the room mattered.

My heart damn near stopped seeing how fine he looked, making my pussy thump in my panties. I felt the whole room disappear, and it was just us. Me standing there, belly round, and him, looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Bo’s country drawl rolled smoothly through the mic, thick like honey and suave like velvet, laced with that little smirk he always wore when he knew he had me caught up. My whole face lit up with passion, and I blushed like some schoolgirl with a crush.

He adjusted the guitar in his lap, his eyes still locked on mine as he spoke into the microphone. “I don’t usually do this in front of people,” he said, looking a little bashful but still cocky as hell. “This song has been stuck in my head all day, though. Ever since I woke up and saw your fine ass laid up on my chest, knocked out from a dick coma…” He chuckled, and I gasped.

“Bo!” I covered my face because my parents were here.

Laughter broke out from the crowd, and I dipped my head, trying to hide my smile. He wasn’t lying. I was knocked out, drooling and snoring like I paid rent in that man’s lungs. Still, the way he said it, you’d think I looked like an angel.

“All I kept thinking about… was how I can’t ever let go of you, Cin.” He let the silence hang in the air for a second. It was like everybody in the room felt it. “In the short time you'vebeen in my life, you flipped my whole world. And now, you’re carrying my legacy.” I bit my bottom lip, and my eyes burned from the tears about to spill over my lids. “All I can think about is protecting you, and loving you right. Making sure our baby knows what it looks like when a man really stands ten toes behind his woman. You ain’t just some girl I messed with, O. You home to me. You’re my peace. And if I ain’t do nothing else right in this life, I know I did right by choosing you.”

By the time his fingers hit the strings, my eyes were already full of tears. Then came that first note—that melody. “Can’t Let Go” by Calvin Richardson. I damn near lost it. His eyes never left mine, and the way he played every chord was like a love letter I didn’t even know I needed to read.

Right there, in front of everybody, he told the whole world he couldn’t let go of me. And I knew I wasn’t letting go of him either. He was my forever, and I chuckled because when I first met Josh, I thought he would be my forever, but he was just a placeholder. God had a plan for me. He sent me the right puzzle piece to fit into my heart. And that piece was Boris Anderson—the man who was the price of my sins.

After the song ended, Bo stood up, set the guitar down, and walked off the stage straight toward me. The spotlight followed him, but all I saw was him, eyes locked on me like I was gravity.

He pulled me close, one arm sliding around my waist and the other cradling the back of my head like I was fragile, and I was his soft place too.

“You feel that?” he whispered against my ear.

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