Dad put on a small smile and then lowered his head. “You’re a good person, Kandy. You know that? I guess I didn’t screw up with you after all.” With a grin, he stood and opened his arms, and I pushed out of my chair, walking into his embrace. With a deep exhale, he said, “You’ve put me through a lot of shit…but I love you more than anything. The baby is…well, I’m not going to lie. It’ll be hard for me to wrap my mind around for a while, but I’m here for you. For whatever you need.”
“I know, Dad.”
“Good.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead. “Now let’s get back to the party.”
Dad walked with his arm slung over my shoulders, back to the house. In the kitchen, Lora and Frankie were taking shots of whiskey—the crazies—and Mom, Cane, and Miss Cane were laughing at Frankie’s face every time she took one.
Everyone was smiling. Happy. For the first time ever, we were all together—all the people I loved—and we were enjoying ourselves. We all had our issues, yes, but when the room was full of life like this, nothing outside of it mattered.
These people? They were my family. I had no idea what I would do without any of them, and knowing that my baby would have their love was going to be worth it. Of course, Dad didn’t really talk to Cane for the rest of that night. Cane didn’t bother making an attempt to speak to him. They kept their distance, and it was fine, just so long as they didn’t end up in each other’s face all over again.
Around 9:00 p.m., Mom and Dad left. They had to work in the morning and still had the drive back to Atlanta. I hugged them goodbye and watched them go. When I could no longer see their tail lights, I went back to the kitchen.
“Frankie, you should definitely stay the night,” Miss Cane insisted as I rounded the corner. “I refuse to let you drive after taking five shots of whiskey.”
“Dude, I’m totally fine! I can drive!” Frankie tried convincing her, but by the stern look on Miss Cane’s face, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“She is not fine,” Lora tittered. “That bitch is fucked up.”
“I guess this is my night out, huh?” Frank giggled and threw her arms around my neck.
“Yeah, you’re drunk,” I laughed. “You’re staying the night, and we have a few extra rooms, so no excuses.”
“Yep. You can sleep it off,” Cane said.
“Okay, okay. Fine. Well, if that’s the case…” Frank pulled away from me to pick up her shot glass and the half-empty bottle of whiskey. She topped her glass off and then raised it in the air. “I’ll keep sipping on this whis-kay! Cheers to you, Cane and Kandy! I hope the baby is just as amazing as you guys are!”
“Fuck yeah!” Lora squealed, picking up the whole bottle of whiskey. Apparently, she was just as drunk as Frankie. “Cheers!”
They clinked glasses, and Cane, myself, and Miss Cane laughed while Lora drank straight from the bottle while Frankie downed her shot.
They were insane, I swear, but I wouldn’t have traded them for anyone or anything in this world.
Fifteen
CANE
Having a pregnant fiancée was hard work. There I was, thinking it would be a breeze—a simple nine months of bliss and happiness—it was anything but.
For one, I was stressed. Stressed about the baby. Stressed about Kandy and her comfort and health. I knew she was getting tired of being home so much. She still went to school for her classes, but she’d come right back home, doing as I told her to.
At first, I felt bad for being so insistent about her modified bedrest, but she and I both agreed we would do whatever it took to protect the baby and keep her healthy. When we got deeper into winter, it only intensified my stress. Lora had gotten a cold, so I told her she had to quarantine herself in Mama’s bedroom so Kandy wouldn’t get sick. Of course Lora was annoyed by it, but I didn’t give a damn.
Not only that, but Kandy was starting to show and…I don’t know. There was something about the sight of her carrying my baby that had me reeling. When she undressed around me, revealing her prodding belly, all I wanted to do was lie her on the bed and thrust my cock between her legs. I wanted to kiss her from head to toe, but mostly her stomach, where my baby rested. I wanted her to know that I put that baby there. Me.
I couldn’t have sex with her for nine months, and if I could be perfectly honest, it was fucking torture already. I had made a mental countdown to the days I’d be able to make her body mine again—once my baby was born, and she’d healed properly.
In the meantime, I settled with kissing her…until one night, she surprised me.
“Lay down,” she ordered, walking out of the bathroom in her night gown.
I was sitting on the bed, scrolling through emails on my phone. I’d just gotten back in town from Charleston. Kandy waltzed to the bed, sweeping her eyes all over me. She climbed on top of it, and my brows dipped as I met her gaze.
“What are you doing, Kandy?” I asked, as she tugged on the waistband of my pants. I lifted my hips as she pulled them down to my ankles.
“We haven’t been able to do anything in months. My morning sickness is going away and the smells don’t drive me crazy as much anymore. I need to please you for putting up with my shit so far.”
At that, I laughed. “Please me? And how exactly are you gonna do that?”
“I’m going to give you what you want,” she murmured. “What you need.”
“And what do I need baby?”
“My mouth…around your cock.”
A deep groan filled my throat. She didn’t even have to touch me for me to get hard. It’d been five and a half months of no play. I’d had the urge to jack off, but a part of me wanted to wait until we could do something again, just so we could experience the anxiousness together, but I doubted I’d make it that long.
“You sure about this?” I asked as her mouth hovered over the tip of my cock.
“Positive,” she sighed, and then she parted her rosy lips, sealing her mouth around my tip. She gripped my shaft, and the combination of her soft hand and slick mouth was enough to have me throbbing.
“Shit,” I groaned. She took me deeper into her mouth, almost choking on it. “Look up at me,” I ordered. “I want you to watch me while you suck my cock.”
She moaned around me, the vibrations sending spasms down to my balls. Her hand shifted up and down, fisted around my cock, pumping lightly while her tongue swirled around the head. Not once did she take her eyes off of me. She knew I loved that—when her eyes were on mine while my cock was in her mouth.
A deeper groan built up in my throat as I lifted a hand and pressed it to the back of her head. My fingers got tangled in her hair, and I clutched a lock of it, forcing her face down, making her take down every inch.
She gagged around me and then came back up for air.
“Do that again, baby,” I rasped, and she had no problem doing so. She took me all in again, her eyes dropping for just a moment to concentrate—to breathe—and when she came back up, her big brown eyes were on mine again. “Fuck, you look so sexy.” She kept doing that same action again, over and over, taking my cock as deep as she could into her mouth while her hand stroked and pumped the base of my cock. “Shit, I’m about to cum.”
Like I said, it’d been months, and in this moment, patience was not on my side. Gripping either side of her head, I tilted my hips and shoved my cock down her throat. She made a muffled noise, but stayed in place, and a thunderous groan ripped right through me as my cum spilled down her throat.
“Oh, fuck, baby!” I couldn’t even control my voice. That’s how intense my orgasm was. I shuddered as she kept slurping and lapping me up, drinking every drop of my cum. With my hands still on her head, I pulled her head up and watched as she kissed the tip of my dick, making it twitch. “Fuck,” I panted. “You’re still so full of surprises.”
She grinned, and I released her. She climbed up beside me, throwing an arm around my waist and resting the side of her face on my cheek. “Whenever you need to let go a little, jus
t tell me. I still want to please you.”
“I know you do, but it’s fine, Kandy. I will live.”
“I like going down on you,” she giggled. “I like when you lose control.”
“I see that,” I chuckled.
She sighed. “Have you thought of names?”
“No, not really.” We’d decided at Kandy’s 20-week appointment that we didn’t want to find out the gender. We figured whether it was a boy or a girl, we would love him or her regardless. Of course, we shopped for unisex colors, like yellows and greens, and Kandy and Lora had even started decorating one of the extra bedrooms, setting it up as the nursery. We were excited for the baby, and even happier that this miracle was happening right in front of our very eyes.
“I think I’ll leave the name-picking up to you. I’m not really good with names,” I murmured.
“I’ve been Googling some, searching on Pinterest, but there are so many. What about Leo for a boy?”
“Meh. I know a Leo, and he’s an asshole. What else you got?”
“Okay…what about Valerie for a girl?”
“Hmm…I kind of like that. Put it on the list. Any others?”
She sat up, pressing down on the bed with a flat hand. “Okay…this one is going to sound weird…but what about Chance, for a boy?”
“Chance? Like take a chance?”
“Yes!” She broke out in a laugh.
“Isn’t there a rapper with that name?”
“Yes, but that’s not why I want to use that name. The way I see it, this baby is our fighting chance, and if someone ever asked, I’d have no problem explaining how.”
I raised a brow. “Wow. Now that you explain it, it makes sense.” I looked into her eyes. “I like that.”
“So Valerie for a girl, and Chance for a boy?”
He smirked. “I can get down with those.”
“Good.” She climbed on my lap, and her belly settled between us. I felt a kick in my abdomen and smiled. The baby was moving. My baby. “I love you so much,” she said to me, her arms laced around my neck.
“And I love you, little one.” I kissed her upper lip. “So much.”
I’ll be honest, I never thought there would be a day when I was excited to have a baby on the way. My life had been so chaotic and busy that I deemed it impossible, yet on my lap was a pregnant beauty, five and a half months along, and in her womb was my child. Mine. I’d planted that seed, and we were watching it grow.
I never knew such happiness existed, but now that it was happening, I never wanted to let go of it.
Sixteen
CANE
3 1/2 Months Later
Remember when I said if there was too much peace in my life, a storm would always come rolling by? Well, I could feel it coming, and for the first time in my life, I knew this was a storm that was going to make me suffer. I’d drown in its treacherous waters with no one to save me. Because sometimes, we couldn’t be saved. Sometimes we got swept away with no one to help us.
My phone buzzed on my desk, and I saw it was a text from Kandy. I remembered the day she texted me. March 20th.
Kandy: Not feeling well today.
Can’t tell if I’m having really bad Braxton-Hicks or actual contractions.
Me: Need me to come get you?
Take you to see Dr. Maxine?
Kandy: No. I think I just need to lie down. Tired. Text me when you’re on the way home.
Me: I will. Get some rest.
If you need anything, ask my mom or Lora. They’re there to help.
Kandy: I will
I’d told Cora I couldn’t fly out of town for three months straight. The work was going to have to come to me since Kandy had just hit the eight and a half month mark and the baby was due at any time. Not only that, but the Braxton-Hicks contractions were getting stronger.
Her doctor suggested that I remain close, and also mentioned that since Kandy was such high risk, that the baby could come way before forty weeks. Her induction was scheduled in two more weeks, so yeah…this was happening, and the whole pregnancy felt like it had flown by. Kandy was currently at thirty-four weeks, her belly growing rapidly. She thought she looked awful, but to me she was a goddess.
While l worked on writing up emails, my phone buzzed on the desk again. A call from Lora.
“Q!” Lora yelled into the phone. I could hear the worry in her voice, so intense it was almost like I could feel it. I jerked to my feet.
“Lora? What’s going on?” I asked.
“You need to get to the hospital right now! I’m taking Kandy there. She had a few bad cramps this morning and took a nap, but when she woke up, there was blood on the bed. We’re on the way now but she’s in a lot of pain.”
I didn’t have to hear her completely before I was charging out of the office. “I’m coming.”
Fuck. My heart pumped faster, going into overdrive. I jammed my thumb into the elevator button, impatiently waiting for it to open.
“Is everything okay, sir?” Cora asked behind me. I turned to look at her. Her face was etched with concern.
“Kandy is having some bleeding,” I said as the elevator doors open. I marched in. “Clear my schedule until further notice.”
“Of course, sir. You got it. I hope everything is okay.”
Yeah, I hoped everything was okay too.
I jogged through the lobby to get to the parking deck. When I was in my car, I started it up and zoomed away from my building. I remained as calm as I possibly could, but it was hard. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, and I prayed to the Almighty above that it was just a false alarm and nothing too bad was happening. Something deep down inside me was always telling me that this bliss wouldn’t last, that something was going to disturb our peace and shake up our world. I could handle a lot, but losing her or the baby was something I wasn’t so sure I would be able to handle.
To my good fortune, there was no traffic, so I got to the hospital in record time. I shut my car off and jogged to the emergency room, scoping the lobby as soon as I was inside.
“Q!” Lora’s voice rose and I looked to the left, spotting her rushing my way with Mama trailing behind her.
“Where is she?” I panted. “Is she okay?”
Lora looked defeated, her eyes watering. “I—I don’t know.”
I walked around her, going to the counter. “They took a girl back there,” I huffed, focusing on the woman behind the counter. “Kandy Jennings. I need to be with her.”
The woman seemed unfazed by my urgency. I wanted to slap some sense into her for taking my situation so lightly. “I can’t let you back unless you are related to the patient or are a spouse.”
“She is my fiancée!” I yelled.
“But you aren’t married yet,” she stated through clenched teeth. “There is nothing you can do until we hear from the doctor. You’ll have to wait out here, sir.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” I snapped. I glared at the woman behind the counter. “I need to be back there with her. She is my fiancée, and she’s carrying my baby. If something happens to her again, I’ll—”
I didn’t even have the words in me. Couldn’t complete the thought. If something happened to Kandy, I’d lose it. I swear to God I would.
“Sir, I understand your frustrations, but I can’t let you back until we have authorization from the patient. Now, I’ll let them know you are waiting, and someone will come speak to you when they can. Until then, please try to relax,” she said, but her words were meaningless. She didn’t know Kandy’s situation or the risks. She didn’t know what would happen, and she didn’t care.
“Cane?” Mama called, and a hand wrapped around my wrist. “Come sit, son. Please.”
Fuck that! How was I supposed to sit when my girl and my baby might have been dying back there, alone? I snatched my hand away and trudged away from the counter, going to a corner. Lora and Mama followed after me.
“If something happens to her or the baby…” I paced back and f
orth, shoving fingers through my hair.
“She’ll be oaky, Q,” Lora murmured, but even she didn’t sound too convinced.
“You don’t know that!”
“Cane…” Mama stepped in front of me, stopping me mid-pace. “She will be okay. What is it that you’ve always told me?” I stared down at her, but it was hard to see through the thick layer of tears. “She’s strong,” she reminded me. “That girl is strong. Just sit. Wait.”
I snatched my eyes away, looking up at the ceiling, then sniffled, dropping my hands to dig in my pocket. “I need to call Derek.”
Mama grabbed my elbow, guiding me to a chair. I found Derek’s number, and he answered pretty quickly, his voice sharp. “Cane? What’s going on?”
“Hey, D. Something happened with Kandy. She had some cramps this morning but started bleeding, so we’re at the hospital now.”
“What?” he wheezed. “Is she okay?”
I looked toward the double doors, where they most likely took her. “I don’t know. They won’t let me back since I’m not related, and I guess they aren’t in a position to ask her permission.”
“Fuck—all right, I’ll call Mindy. We’ll get there as soon as we can.” He paused, and I heard him sigh before continuing. “It’s scary as hell when this happens, not only for her, but for you too, I’m sure.” He cleared his throat. “Keep me updated.”
“Yeah, I will.”
He hung up, and I lowered the phone. We all sat in the lobby, waiting for someone to come out and tell us something—anything. My pacing continued, my eyes flicking to the double doors every few seconds. It took two endless hours for someone to finally come out and say Kandy’s name.
The Cane Series: A Complete Forbidden Romance Series (4-Book Set) Page 82