Page 58 of Forbidden Property
My brother contemplates my question for a moment, but he can’t seem to decide what to think or what to say.
“I don’t know how to undo the way Nicki brought us together. She thinks I’m there for her out of obligation but… I’m there because I love her.”
“Is that what she wants then? Proof?”
“How much more proof does she need? I…Never mind.”
Knowing my brother, he did something fucked up like shoving a banana up her ass while dribbling papaya juice over her pussy lips and licking them clean to prove to her that he had feelings for her.
“If it’s more than sex, she wants to see that you’re there for more than sex.”
“I don’t understand. We spent every minute together.”
“Except after the contract ended.”
Renzo scowls. He hatesfeelingsof any kind and this emotional state reduces his control over both himself and the situation. For a man like my brother, control is everything, but it’s also utterly absent in the field of romance.
“I love her for far more than the sex. She knows that.”
“Then keep showing her. Show her after the baby comes. Show her even if she never returns your feelings.”
Renzo raises an eyebrow. “Eventually, I’ll snap and tie her to the bed.”
“Don’t.”
Renzo shrugs. “I’m not that patient.”
“If you love her, you’ll find a way to wait.”
“Shut the fuck up, Oprah.”
“More like Dr. Phil, since you’re a fucking psycho.”
“Whatever.”
“Are you going to take my advice?” I ask my brother as we tilt the mugs of beer to our lips at the same time. He smiles, but he doesn’t answer.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Geralynn
The Baby Comes On Friday Before Noon And…
Iwake up Saturday at 3:33 a.m. with a sharp inhalation as I realize with a panic that I’m not alone in my house. I have a baby. Ihada baby. He was 7 lbs and 10 ounces, and long for his weight, which might mean something. Roman had a full head of hair when he came out of me and now…he’s crying.
My legs instinctively fling themselves over the side of my bed before my brain is fully awake. My aching breasts leak rivers of warm milk as Roman’s crying gets louder. I don’t make it two steps out of bed before a dark figure appears in the doorway to my bedroom. I gasp, not surprised that he’s here but surprised that he woke up with me to feed the baby.
“Hey,” Renzo says in a low voice, the blankets from the couch wrapped around his shoulder. “Roman needs you… And you need company.”
Friends. We’re just friends now, but it makes the thought of coparenting a little less scary now that the reality of having a new baby in the house hit me properly. I can’t imagine doing this alone and even if I don’t want to admit it, having Renzo stepup makes a huge difference. I didn’t even have to ask and get nervous that letting him into the house meant anything would change between us.
We’reover.
We just are.
He’s not going to be my boyfriend or anything more than the father of my child who earned that role because of the fucked up situation Nicki put us in. There’s no point in romanticizing it.
I keep the baby’s crib in what used to be the walk-in closet. Renzo converted it to a small baby room which connects to the living room so when he’s on shift with the newborn, I can have complete privacy. It’s weird not having him mess with me by calling me mop girl or by smacking my ass.
