Synergy
Page 24
When the day arrived, there was more food than could feed an army, and they all woke up early to get ready for everyone arriving. Though it was predominantly a kids party, Shaneeka and Dashal came with their boys, and she invited Tip and a couple of her other friends over, just so the adults could have their own time while the kids played. J had pulled through on his promise of making a piñata, and he’d filled it with all sorts of candy and toys. Joy had made way too much food than would fit on the table, so in between getting ready the adults snacked on the rest of the food that was left over.
Though Dee had told Trey where they were living now and still made it clear he was allowed to see him, his visits were getting more and more sporadic. Though Dee didn’t exactly want to invite him to the birthday party, she had for the sake of her son, and though he’d agreed to come, he turned up late, so late, he’d missed him blowing out his candles. Everything inside Dee wanted to smack him upside his head the minute he’d arrived at the party, but she had to keep it together for everybody there, and most of all for Tushaun. Despite Trey’s actions, the day had been perfect; the perfect start to a new life in a new home.
Jason had finally met the elusive Trey, and once everybody had left, Jason told her he didn’t like him, and that he too, in fact, had wanted to smack him upside his head. It made Dee laugh to hear him say it, and she actually appreciated the unity of the hate, rather than him trying to be nice about it. Just maybe, things would work out between them, just maybe.
Chapter 34 – Labour
A week passed, and the 1st of October came. Dee was starting to feel like a real family for the first time in her life. She had the perfect house and the perfect son, and now she had a boyfriend that supported her and loved her. His family accepted her as their own, and she could finally be one of the rare people out there that could say she had nice in-laws. She routinely mentally pinched herself just to be sure this had actually happened and she wasn’t dreaming it all. Now she had hit seven months pregnant, Jason had released a statement to his fans to tell them he was taking a little time off from everything until his baby arrived, something most people were supportive of, though there was always some that would hate on the fact he was having a baby out of wedlock with a stripper.
They hadn’t managed to keep Dee’s private life out of the tabloids for too long, and though Dee was a strong woman, it still hurt to read some of the things they were printing, as well as the comments people replied to online. Jason had warned her not to read the comments; he told her how nasty and brutal people could be. He reminded her that these people were behind a keyboard, and faced with her in real life they probably wouldn’t say anything. Dee knew that was probably true, but she couldn’t help but read them anyway. She’d never been in a situation in her life when her private life was advertised anywhere. No-one had ever known she’d existed outside of her hometown so to have random people mentioning her name was intriguing, and she couldn’t tear herself away from looking.
Most comments derived from the fact she was a stripper by trade, and most people couldn’t get their heads round why a respectable man like Jason would shack up with a stripper. It was funny to her how people were judging her just by her job, because that was something that had never really happened at home. People got by any way they could in the streets, so to judge somebody for what they did for money was ridiculous. If anything, you would judge them if they weren’t working or hustling to make a living, and sponging off somebody else for example. Right now, that was exactly how she felt; that she was sponging off Jason’s money and generosity. No longer did she have to pay bills, or sell drugs to make money. He told her he would continue to support her financially until she’d decided to get back into work, though he wasn’t sure she could go back to the club now she was ‘famous by association’ as he put it. That was crazy to Dee, because it had always been her plan to get back working once she’d had the baby and got her figure back.
She knew for certain she wasn’t living off Jason’s money forever, and she was anxious about the prospect of finding another job, what would she do? She wondered if her new found ‘fame by association’ could help her get some more acting or modelling jobs. She’d modelled in the past, but found it hard to get the money to travel to casting calls, and acting jobs were hard to come by, though she had starred in that one music video. Music videos, movies, modelling; she wanted to do it all, but she was worried that for one, she might not get any offers, or two, she might get offered things purely because she was with Jason, and she wasn’t sure she wanted that either. She didn’t want to become a Kardashian type, famous only for who they’re related to or who they’re fucking, it wasn’t in Dee’s nature. She knew there was a lot of things she needed to figure out in her head, and she didn’t have a lot of time to do it, since the baby was due in only six weeks time.
Now that Dee had a new place to live, and was settled in, Jason phoned up the baby shop they’d ordered everything from months ago and asked for everything to be delivered. They’d already set about making one of the spare rooms into a nursery. The colour was already neutral, so they’d placed wall stickers of animals around it, making it a little brighter and more baby friendly. Now, they just needed the furniture to make it complete. Of course the baby would be sleeping in Dee’s room until it was a little older, but she didn’t see anything wrong with getting everything organised beforehand. Though Dee still called it her room, it may as well have been Jason’s too since he’d been staying every night since she’d moved in. Though they’d both agreed it was too early for them to be moving in together, it seemed stupid for Jason to be staying at a hotel when there was a perfectly good house now, plus he was her boyfriend, it wasn’t exactly unusual to want to be in the same bed.
Dee had made sure she’d had the chat with Tushaun about what Jason was to her. Though she’d initially introduced him as her friend the first time they met, it was too complicated to explain why he was practically living there with them, and she needed to make him understand that he was the new baby’s daddy, though he wasn’t his. As usual, her little boy took it all in his stride.
As a result of practically living at the house, Jason was spending a lot of time with Tushaun, whether that was picking him up from school with Dee, or sitting down and having dinner together, and he had to admit he loved that kid. He was a real little character and everything he said had Jason laughing. He felt like they were starting to become a family already, and he knew the new baby would just be icing on the cake for them. He’d never expected a pre-made family like this, but he couldn’t imagine it any other way now.
It had been a long day for Dee, who had been busy doing housework, cooking dinner, visiting her family, and adding some finishing touches to the house, so she hadn’t noticed so much that the niggling pain she’d woken up with had been getting progressively worse as the day went on. It had started almost as a flutter, which she thought had maybe been the baby kicking and she’d gone about her business as usual, but now that she was sedentary, settling on the sofa for the night, she noticed it was more than a niggle, more than a flutter. She tried to ignore it the best she could, but as she sat chatting idly with Jason by the television, he noticed the look on her face.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, watching her wince as she touched her stomach.
“I don’t know”
“Is it the baby?”
“Yeah. I think so” she said, before a stabbing pain hit her so hard it took her breath away.
“Fuck” she exhaled, as her body tensed up in response.
“Dee, what’s happening?” Jason asked, growing more concerned by his girlfriend’s facial expressions. He stood up to get next to her and that’s when he saw her face change. It was no longer a look of pain, but one of utter terror.
“My water broke” she said through tears.
Author Note
Thank you to anybody who has taken the time to read this book. It genuinely means a lot to me. I hope you’ve fallen in lo
ve with Dee and Jason in the same way that I have, and that you continue to support their difficult relationship. This isn’t the end of their story, merely the beginning, and a second book is currently in the works. I hope you’ll continue with their journey in the next instalment.
Georgia