Page 1 of Christmas Luvin

FOUR MONTHS LATER

“Takea shot,Bri.Youkeep pacing, mami, you going to make me dizzy with all this movement.Whatyou want?Whiteor brown?” my cousinCarmensaid, glaring at me with a look on her face that said she was sick of me.

WheneverIwas nervous about something,Itended to pace.Therewas no hiding the worried look on my face, andIhad probably stressed out just about everyone around me because my problems would soon become theirs.Iwouldn’t say thatIwas having a problem, butIwas a perfectionist, andI’dbeen planning this party for months.Ijust wanted everything to go as planned tonight.

Itwas my man’s birthday today.OnDecember1, 1992,Goddid one of the best things ever, which was havingPandorabirth such an amazing man.Becausehe was so amazing,Iwanted to surprise him this evening.Mybaby turned thirty-two years old today, and leave it to him to be working on his birthday.Pee-Weehad been inCaliforniafor a week working on a collab for his clothing line with another big named designer.

Whenhe told me about the trip a week ago,I’mnot going to lie;Iwas happy as hell for him because the collab was with a clothing line thatPee-Weereally admired.Heloved their fashion and designs, so this was major for him.Onthe other hand,Iwas saddened by the news becauseI’dalready planned this big party, and it sounded like he wouldn’t make it back home in time.However, he assured me that he would be back this evening, soIwas able to breathe and have faith in that.

Ispoke toPee-Weeabout thirty minutes ago.He’dalready landed, andDacewas responsible for picking him up and bringing him to this location, where everyone was waiting to surprise the birthday boy.Pee-Weewas going to get the shock of his life because he didn’t suspect a thing.Myman was flashy as hell.Heloved his nice jewelry, his designer clothes, his fancy cars, and his luxurious lifestyle in general, but when it came to celebrating his birthday, he didn’t want to do anything.Hisexact words were, “Iwant to go out, eat steak, come back home, and put a baby in you.”

Iignored every single word that came from him becauseIalready had his surprise party planned.Originally,Iwas going to rent out a hall and have the party there, but a few months ago,Irepresented a client by the name ofJefferyon a battery charge.Jeffreygot into an altercation with someone at a supermarket and beat the shit out of them.Ofcourse, they pressed charges.Thatwas his first offense—never even had a single traffic citation in his life.Iargued in court that he just had a bad day and bargained to have him take some anger management classes, so it wouldn’t happen again.

Iwon the case, andJeffrey’sparents were so thankful that they insisted on gifting me with something, even thoughItold them that doing my job and succeeding at it was the best giftIcould get in return for all my hard work.Jeffrey’sparents were in the business of renting out luxury mansions in theMiamiandFortLauderdalearea.I’mtalking about the kind of mansions that big timeNBAplayers and rappers live in, andIknew they made so much bank from being a part of that industry.Itwas basically likeAirbnb,but it was black-owned.Theyhad their own app calledLuxLiving,and each property that they rented was on there.

Theyoffered me one of the properties for the holidays and saidIcould use it for aChristmasparty or whateverIwanted to have it for.IinsistedIdidn’t need it, and they didn’t have to gift me anything, but they were even more insistent on doing something nice for me.Finally,Iagreed and decided to use the mansion forPee-Wee’ssurprise party.Thehome looked like something straight out of a luxury home living magazine.Iremember whenJeffrey’sparents sent the pictures to my email.Mymouth was damn near hanging to the floor.Then, to see it in person, and the pictures literally did this home no justice, it had me happy thatI’ddecided to throw this party for my man and takeJeffrey’sparents up on their offer.

Thehome was a beautiful glass structure that had twelve bedrooms and nine bathrooms.Thehouse was so big that there was an elevator inside.Therewere two pools: one outside and the other on the lower level.Amodern style home that was built earlier in the year.Iknew how muchPee-Weeloved black, so black was the color of the night for everyone’s attire.I’dhired an event planner, and they had been there since ten this morning.Thedecorations were finished maybe two hours ago, and allIcould say was that they were worth every pennyIhad to pay them because they’d done an amazing job.

Outside, near the pool, were the numbers three and two in big marquee numbers, referencing thatPee-Weewas turning thirty-two years old.Theywere surrounded by a bunch of black and gold balloons and full-body cardboard cutouts of him, which happened to have been one of my favorite features.Goldstands housed some of the treats, and off to the side was a beautiful white and gold cake.Insidethe water were real-life mermaids thatI’dhired for entertainment.Therewas aDJoutside playing music, and all our family and friends had gathered around, mingling, eating, and just waiting for the birthday boy to arrive, so we could celebrate him.

“Iknow.Iknow.Ijust want it to be perfect.I’lltake a shot.Somethingstrong.IneedHenny,”Isaid toCarmen.

Shelaughed and walked over to the bartender.CarmenandIwere super close.Ididn’t thinkI’dever met someone and just instantly clicked with them the wayIclicked withCarmen, which is crazy because she andIwere so opposite.Carmenwas wild as hell, she could be a little reckless, and she had a mouth that was so blunt and would let whatever fly out of it without thinking.Iwas shy, timid as hell, super soft-spoken, and was usually somewhere quiet and chilling.

Ithink the fact thatCarmenandIwere so different balanced us out.Shewas super genuine, though.Crazything is,Iwas super different than my other cousins,Sirena,Mercedes, andOlivia, too, but they weren’t genuine people.Theywere super weird, which was why we’d never been close likeCarmenandIwere.Ihadn’t even knownCarmenfor a portion of how long my other cousins had been in my life.

Carmenlived inAtlanta, but she made it seem like she was going to leaveAtlantaand move toMiami, butIwould have to see it to believe it.Shewas in the bartending business.Ihad watched her make drinks, and she could literally fix a drink with her eyes closed.Mycousin was well known, had half a million followers on social media, and because she was in the club just about every night, working at the bar, she knew so many people.Nomatter where we went, she knew someone.Carmenhad a beautiful daughter namedSofia, who was three years old.Thatwas my buddy right there.Shewasn’t inMiamiwithCarmenon this trip, though.Shewas back inAtlantawith her grandmother.

Carmenco-parented withSofia’sdad.Theirsituation was baddddd.Verytoxic, but that was a story for another day thatIwasn’t going to get into right now.

“Here.Calmdown, mami,”Carmenstated as she walked over with the shot in her hand.

Ilooked over at my cousin, taking in her beauty.AstraightMexican/AfricanAmericanfirecracker is whatCarmenwas.Herdad was my dad’s brother, my uncleLucas.Someof the men in the family loved themselves some black women, because my dad was with my mom, who was a black woman, and my uncleLucasgot withCarmen’smom, who was a black woman as well.

Carmenreminded me so much ofJessicaAlba.Thehoney blonde hair, the hazel eyes, and she even had the same slim/thick body frame as she did.Forthe all-black dress code,Carmenwore a black top that was cut down the middle and tied at the front, exposing her small waist and diamond belly button piercing.Shewore a tiny black pleated skirt, and with one wrong move, her entire ass would be exposed.Blackboots were on her feet that stopped at her ankles, and when it came to a makeup brush,Carmenwas going to kill her face, and today was no different.Herlong hair was parted down the middle, hanging loosely, and she just looked so pretty.

“Yousure you want to drink that?Pee-Weesaid your little ass gets aggressive when you drink,”Montanasaid as he walked over to us.Hewrapped an arm around my shoulder, giving me a quick hug.

Laughingat his comment,Iturned my head to look at his wife,Alecia, hugging their mom,Pandora.Igushed at her five-month baby bump.IknewAleciawas pregnant long before she told everyone at the firm.Itwasn’t becausePee-Weehad told me either, butIjust remembered when she was pregnant withMarcellus, especially at the beginning.Shewas always super tired, andIloved my boss to death, but she would also get annoyed really fast.Thesmallest things would piss her off at work, and she would often call meetings to address whatever pissed her off.

I’mnot going to lie;Iwas super happy whenIfound out thatAleciawas pregnant again, but a part of me was nervous, too, because she’d gotten pregnant whileIwas still on probation with the company.Ifeared that one small fuck up would have her firing me and not officially hiring me as a permanent associate.Iknew how her mood swings could be when pregnant, andIwas not trying to get my ass fired.Bythe grace ofGod, though,I’dofficially made it off probation a month ago, andIwas officially a member ofJacksonLaw.

“That’sonly ifIdrink too much.Thisis allI’mgoing to have.LookatAlecia.Ijust saw her earlier in the week, and her belly wasn’t showing that much.Awwww,”Icooed.Herbaby bump was on full display in the black silk romper she wore.

Myeyes happened to look up atMontana, and my heart melted at the way he openly lusted over his wife.Thetwo of them had just arrived, and it was the weekend, soIwas sure they’d been with each other all day.Butthe happiness, the joy, and the love displayed between them,Ipromise it was something you didn’t get to witness too often.

“Yeah.Myprincess got her spreading,” he agreed.

Ilaughed when he said that because it wasn’t confirmed thatAleciawas having a girl yet, butIguessMontanawas speaking it into existence.Healready had his son, but now he was going for a daughter.Lowkey,Ihoped they got a daughter becauseIcould only imagine how beautiful that little girl would be.Istill had a small ounce of baby fever and the slightest urge to kidnapMarcelluswheneverIgot around him.

Acouple of weeks ago,AleciadroppedMarcellusoff forPee-Weeand me to watch him while she ran some errands, andIdidn’t want to give him back at all.Hewas such a good boy.Herarely cried, and he was just as sweet as he wanted to be.Beingaround a baby like him had me so close to wanting to give my man the baby he kept asking me for, butIhadn’t even begun to make a mark yet in the legal field, soIfelt like babies shouldn’t even be on my mind.

Montanaeventually removed his arm from around my shoulder and gaveCarmena hug next.Theyall looked atCarmenas family too.Whenevershe was in town, andPee-Wee’sfamily had a function,Ialways brought her with me.Theywelcomed her with open arms, just as they’d done me whenIcame into the picture.

“Lookat you,Bri.Youlook so pretty.Thishouse is niceeeeee.Tana,IthinkIwant this forChristmasinstead,”Aleciasaid after giving me a hug.Shethen huggedCarmenand looked over at her husband, waiting for his answer.Hejust stood there and shook his head.

“Shorty, didn’tIjust buy you a house?” he asked, pulling her to him and possessively wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

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