He stopped thinking about Angel as much. He felt like he was finally moving on with his life. He had a great weekend with his girls, though they wore him out. After dropping them off, he hung with his aunt and uncle and watched movies with them. For some reason, he didn't want to be alone.

He did not leave there till late, with a ton of food his aunt made him bring home.

He thought of Angel when he unpacked the food and put it away. He was thinking how she would have devoured everything in sight. He loved watching her eat.

He shook his head of those thoughts.

He bet she wasn't thinking of him. She was probably laying under that professor dude right now. He bet they were doing all the crazy sex things she liked to do with him

"Man!" he shouted out to no one.

He played some music on his phone to help him fall asleep.

As promised, he picked up Shareefa to take her to her doctor's appointment. Thinking about the baby would keep his mind off Angel. The baby was going to end up ending them anyway. No way would she stick around while he cared for a baby he had by another woman. It was better things ended as they had.

"I'm so excited to find out if we gonna get a boy. You know if we have a boy, we should give him your name...I mean, Antoine, so he can be a Junior. Antione Lawrence, Jr. He better look like you, with those dimples and eyelashes. He's going to be a heartbreaker." Shareefa was babbling the whole drive there, and he listened and nodded and agreed to whatever.

He should be excited about whatever the baby was. Another girl would be great. A boy...well, every man wanted a boy. If he was having a son, he wanted to spend more time with him.

When they were finally able to see the doctor after a long wait and lots of paperwork, Shareefa started to act brand new.

"Hook, you can wait out here. It won't be long."

"Why can't I come in?"

"You're the baby's father?' the doctor asked.

"Yeah."

"He can come on back," the doctor said.

"I just thought-"

"Naw Reef, you asked me to come so we can find out together. I want to see the baby too."

"Probably can't even see anything."

"We'll be able to see a lot," the doctor said. "You missed your last appointment Shareefa. We could have found out the sex six weeks ago."

Hook raised an eyebrow. Why would she hold off wanting to know? Six weeks ago was when she told him she was pregnant.

The doctor prepped Shareefa's stomach and the image came on the screen. He could see the baby's outline and that made him smile. He was glad he was here.

"Everything looks perfect. Growing just fine."

"Hook, look at our baby."

"Can you tell what it is yet? Do you see...you know?" he asked.

"We're at twenty-four weeks now, so yes, we can tell the sex. Want to know?"

"Yes! Yes!" Shareefa said quickly.

The doctor looked at Hook, but he was busy doing math in his head.

"It's a boy," the doctor said.

"Aw!" Shareefa yelled out! "I told you Hook. We have to name him Antione. You like that huh? Antione Jr."

"Doc, how far along is she, you said..."

"Twenty-four weeks out exactly," he said, checking the records. "Entering the third trimester."

Hook turned to look at Shareefa, disbelief in his eyes. They had sex about four months ago. How was she that far along and was claiming it was his?

"Doctor must be wrong Hook," Shareefa said, pulling down her shirt. " I mean, it's just a guesstimate, right. I'm not that far along, I..."

"Based on the weight of the baby now and your last reported period, we can pinpoint conception down to the week, give or take a day."

"And when would that be?" he asked.

"Hook! The doctor you can't give him my personal information!" she yelled at the doctor.

The doctor looked between both of them, not wanting to cross any lines. He stepped back.

"I'll uh...give you two a moment," the doctor said and walked out of the room.

"Reef, tell me the damn truth! You said there was no one else. Are you telling me you were pregnant when we fucked?"

"No!" she said quickly. "No, no, I'm just saying...I didn't know I was pregnant. When I found out I was pregnant, of course, I wanted it to be yours because you're a great father to Ravyn. I didn't know how far along I was till the stupid doctor said-"

"Oh, you knew! Don't bullshit me! You knew my ass would do the right thing and I fell for that shit. I'm done with your ass!" He stormed out of the room.

This was the worse feeling he could have, even though he should have been relieved. This is what he wanted, but now he felt some kind of way about it. Leaving Shareefa's ass, he made his way to his car. She had friends and other dudes she could call for a ride. She was no longer his priority.

He felt like a fool. He should have known. She looked far along, but he was a man, how could he tell. And yes, he did not use a condom, so it could have been his. If he would have stopped to put on a condom she would not have been able to fool him. She planned that whole thing and he fell for it hook, line and sinker. She always wanted him back, but she never sweated him so hard he caved in and gave her dick. Soon as he dropped Ravyn off, she sent her mother and Ravyn off so they would be alone.

He laughed in the car. This shit was pathetic. He was pathetic. Twenty-eight years old and going through shit he went through in his teen years. His aunt was right, he thought with his dick in his hand.

"Un-fucking-believable!"

The first person he wanted to call was Angel. All the stress this situation had put on their relationship was for nothing. He was not having a baby. He looked at his phone, pulled up her number but did not call. Why did he need to tell her now? It didn't change anything.

He needed to talk to someone and get this off his chest. He made it to his boy Davion's and was glad he was home still on baby duty and not out slanging.

"Yo wuz up playa!" Davion said, greeting him with a hand dap, as he held his baby in the other arm.

"Why are you stuck on baby duty? I thought you were about making yo money?"

"Man!" They sat on the sofa in the messy living room, with baby things everywhere. A large stroller in the corner, the car carrier by it, stacks of pampers, a pile of folded onesies on the table. "Sasha had to work yo, so I gotta do what I gotta do."

"How are you making money if you always watching the baby? I mean, I ain't knocking it, but you a slanger man, that's yo job."

"Imma put in work later man, get out my pockets!" He bounced the baby on his shoulder. "Yo, my son looks just like me. I got them good genes."

Hearing him talk of his son brought a rush of feelings through him. Shareefa was having a boy, but it wasn't his. He was glad...but sad also.

"You good with him," he said, watching him. For a twenty-eight-year-old guy that had been dealing drugs since he was twelve, he still took care of his. Six kids, five baby mommas. He needed to put a cap on making more babies, but he did take care of them once they were here. Fathers never got the love, even when they were trying to do right.

All he ever wanted was to do right by his girls.

"Maybe Reefa giving you a boy this time."

He grunted. "It ain't mine, man."

"What?"

"I was just with her at the checkup. Ain't mine, and she knew it. Lying ass."

"Whoa!"

"She got me fucked up. I can't believe she played me like that."

"Them bitches always trying to get the man. She knows you are a good dude with a little money in yo pocket. That's fucked up. Sorry man. You good? You need something to drank, smoke?"

"I'm straight," he said

"So what yo girl say about that? Since that's out the way, everything should be smooth sailing with y'all."

"You in my personal life now?"

"You always laid up with her somewhere, not hanging with my ass, so I figure she got a lock on you. Got yo ass pussy-whipped."

"Man, whatever. If I was pussy-whipped, I wouldn't have ended it."

"Wha? I gotta hear this shit. Hold on, let me put lil Drake down." Davion got up and walked out of the room and put the baby in his crib, then walked back in.

"I can't believe you named yo son after some rapper."

"Nigga, seriously? Ravyn? Symone?"

He laughed. "Yo, I had a mad crush on her back in the day."

"She ain't want yo ass." He sat back down and pulled out a blunt, firing it up. "You good?"

"You know I don't smoke man, never did."

"Mo for me," he took a long puff. "So what happened with ole girl? I thought she was the one make you put a ring on it."

"She got mad, crazy money bro. Like, not just from her business. Her ex-husband, the one she capped, left her like, millions or something. What the fuck I look like with my couple of dollars to my name, paycheck to paycheck ass."

Davion squinted his eyes at him, stubbed the blunt out, and put it back in his pocket.

"You a fool."

"What you mean?"

"Yo bitch...sorry man, yo woman got bank you don't dump her! Lay yo pipe right, you can stay living the good life.

"Man, I don't want her money."

"Who said you were going to take it? Just be adjacent to it. What the fuck, you want to stay in the hood the rest of your life? We already see you ain't that nigga like me that's gonna slang till the day he die. A bitch got bank like that and she wanna be down with me, Imma stay on her good side long as possible."

"That ain't me Dav. I make my own, I don't want my woman taking care of me."

"Fuck that! Millions? I'd be fucking her every night just right, she would never leave my Black ass."

He shook his head at Davion. He did not expect to hear that from his friend who wilded out in the streets and couldn't stay with one girl long after they dropped his baby. It was an endless cycle with him, and he feared he would continue on that path. How many kids were enough? If he never got out of the drug game, what kind of life was that for him and his children?

He wanted more for his girls. It's why he worked hard being legit for them. He couldn't buy them everything they wanted but they did not want for much. If his business turned around and he generated more income, he could really give them the extras.

"I didn't even get to meet yo woman. You ashamed of your dope slanger homie?"

"Naa man, just...the right situation. You should have come to my birthday party, she was there."

"You know auntie hates me."

"True."

"She got this nice store by the Galleria man. You probably ain't gonna wear anything there, but def shop for your lady there. She built a whole business off social media man, making cake. From clothes."

"Bitches like to shop."

"She was supposed to help me with the shop but then..."

"What?"

He rubbed a hand over his face. "It just was not meant to be."

"Because you shitted on it."

The baby started to cry.

"See, I get no rest," Davion said as he stood up.

"Let me go get him," Hook said and went to the baby's room.

He picked the baby up and bounced him a little, then cradled him next to his chest and rocked him. He missed the first year and a half of Symone's life. He was too young and stupid to know what he was doing when he was fifteen with a baby. They grew up so fast.

A/N: Everybody happy the baby is not Hook's?🎊🥳🎈🎉