He stared at the text, dissecting the words. What if I’m pregnant? Drake was hit with a dilemma. Should he go to her and ask her what she meant, or send a lighthearted text like “stop playing around. LOL.”

Deciding against both options, he typed: We’ll talk later. He hesitated for a minute, deleting and retyping the same message at least three times. Sighing, he hit Send and dropped his phone into his pocket.

A few minutes later, he was knocking on El’s office door.

El swung the door open, a pinched look on his face. “You do know that I actually have a job that I do on a daily basis.”

Pushing past his uncle-brother, he made himself comfortable on a little bench by the window. “We need to talk.”

“You’re lucky my appointment canceled.” El took his seat, crossing one ankle over his knee. “What do you want?”

“Love might be pregnant.”

El stared at him, a blank expression on his face.

“Say something,” Drake said. “Wait.” He pulled a dollar out of his lab coat and slapped it on the desk.

El shook his head. “In a minute, I’m going to recommend you spend a few days in the ward. Take that damn dollar back.” He picked the bill up and flung it at Drake.

The weightless paper didn’t make it far, landing on the floor in front of the desk. “Keep it. I need to know you won’t tell anyone about this.”

“I’m a little insulted that you feel the need to constantly swear me to secrecy, as if I make a habit of telling your business.”

El the psychiatrist would never even think of sharing a patient’s stories with anyone. El the uncle-brother would definitely spill the beans at the wrong moment, like a family barbecue or something. Of course, he wouldn’t do it maliciously. It was just what “big brothers” did. El had tormented him and his younger siblings for years. If that meant embarrassing them in front of everyone and their mama, El couldn’t resist at times.

Drake jumped to his feet, pacing the room with long, impatient strides. “We haven’t talked about a divorce,” he confessed. “It’s kind of an afterthought. When we left Vegas, we were committed to ending this marriage as soon as possible. And we haven’t even hired a lawyer. What does that mean?”

What Drake didn’t add was that he wasn’t as miserable as he’d imagined he would be. Being married to Love wasn’t awful. It was actually pretty damn good. “It’s only been a few weeks, but it feels right to me, like this is the way it’s supposed to be between us.”

“You slept with her again,” El said. It wasn’t a question.

Drake glared at him. “How the hell do you do that?”

“Occupational hazard.”

“More than once.” Drake pinched his nose, feeling overheated. “I’m not sure I can stop at this point.”

“Are you in love with her?”

It was unrealistic, plain and simple. They’d been married for only a few weeks, had never even been on a real date. But he was sure he was. Hell, he’d probably always been a little bit in love with her. “It’s impossible, right?”

El shrugged. “Not really. Not with your history with Love.”

“I guess not, but it’s still weird.” The feeling only seemed to intensify as the days passed.

“Love is a beautiful person, bruh.”

Drake smiled to himself, thinking about his wife. Love was beautiful and intelligent, and she took good care of him. She was the best of both worlds. “What happens if this doesn’t work out?”

He didn’t expect a verbal answer. It was El’s style to just let him talk until he figured it out himself. So when his brother said, “Why would you go into this thinking it will fail?”

Sighing, Drake told El about the confrontation with Love’s father. “The man has a point. I suck at being committed to any woman. If I mess this up, I not only lose my job, but I will destroy the best relationship I’ve ever had. She’s my best friend, my confidante, my support. Do I risk that for an uncertain outcome?”

“I think your question should be, how can you not? Look, love isn’t easy. You know that. It hurts, but when it’s good, it’s really good.”

Drake knew El was speaking from experience. Even though things hadn’t worked out with El and Avery, his uncle-brother still believed that love was worth it. “You’re right.”

“Are you afraid to fail, afraid to take a chance on Love?”

“It’s not like I had a good role model on being faithful and committed to one woman.” Drake had made it a point to date wide and far. His father had set the example for him. But El’s assertion that he was afraid to take a chance on Love was wrong. One thing that Drake always did was bet on Love. She’d never failed him. That alone made him want to be what she needed, whether it was with her or without her.




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