Chapter 3
It's been three months since I last spoke to Angel. After three weeks of him ignoring me, I just left him alone. I stopped going to the clubhouse and stopped answering EZ's calls. Sitting on the side of the tub, looking at two pink lines, I feel the tears fall down my cheeks. Could things get any worse? Angel, one of my best friends is ignoring me, EZ is busy with the club like Angel is and now I'm knocked up. I walk to the living room and pick up my phone off the coffee table and call Angel's number one more time. "Leave a message." the recording says. "Angel, please call me. We need to talk." I say into the recording, knowing he won't call back. I guess I'm on my own.
The next call I make is to the doctor to get an appointment to confirm it and they tell me that they have an opening that afternoon. I book it and head to the doctor. "Carissa Morgan." my name is called and I head back with the nurse. We head to the exam room and she does the blood work and takes my vitals and thirty minutes later, I have the ultrasound pictures in my hand telling me that I am ten weeks pregnant. I walk into the house and sit on the couch, rubbing my barely there bump and start to cry...again.
My phone rings and I see it's EZ. "Hello." I say. "Hey. I've been trying to call you." he tells me. "I've been busy." I tell him. "What's going on?" he asks. "Nothing I can't handle. What's up?" I ask. "Just checking in." he tells me. "I'm good. Look I gotta go. Gotta get some shit done." I tell him and he says "Okay." before we end the call.
It's been, now six months since I've seen or talked to Angel and three months since I've talked to EZ. I have been avoiding EZ's calls and not answering when he comes knocking on the door. It's better that I cut him out since Angel isn't talking to me. I just don't know what I did wrong. I head out to the store to pick up a few things and I am reaching for something on the upper shelf when a hand reaches up and grabs it for me. "Here you go Princess." I hear Gilly's voice. I turn a little and he sees my stomach and says "Holy shit." I put my hand on my stomach and he says "Looks like you've been busy. How far along are you?" he asks me. "Yeah. Just trying to get by, you know. Six months in." I say. "I know. Have you talked to Angel or the prospect?" he asks and I shake my head and say "Not in a few months." I tell him. I look at my buggy and say "I better head out." He smiles softly and says "Yeah, don't want your old man seeing you talking to another man." I nod before walking off and hurrying out of the store.
Gilly walks into the clubhouse and sees Angel and EZ sitting there. "Guess who I just saw at the store." he says and they look at him. "Cari. Looks like she's doing pretty well. Got a little baby bump going on. Says she's about six months pregnant." he says and Angel's eyes go wide. He jumps up and heads out the door and to his bike.
Sitting on the couch, eating some fruit, I hear a bike pull up and I tense. I look out the window and see Angel getting off his bike. Fuck. Gilly must have said something to him. I hear a knock on the door and I don't answer. He knocks again and says "Cari, I know you're in there. Open up please." he says. I finally open the door and he sees my stomach. "Is it mine?" he asks and I say "Does it matter?" He runs his hand down his face and says "It does." I shake my head and say "No it doesn't. All the times I tried to talk to you to tell you and you ignored me. So no, it doesn't matter." I say and I try to close the door. "Is it mine?" he asks. "Yeah but don't worry. I'm not asking anything from you." I say and he says "I'm sorry." I scoff and say "No you ain't. You feel guilty. Well, don't. I can handle taking care of my son." I tell him. "A son?" he asks. "Yeah." I say. He reaches for my stomach and then stops. He looks up at me and I sign and nod my head yes. He puts his hands on my stomach and our son kicks his hand. He looks up at me shocked and I say "He's really active." I step back and let Angel in and he pulls me close and says "I'm sorry." I pull away from him and say "Don't worry about it. Look, I'm not asking you for anything. If you want in his life then we will work something out but if not then that's fine too." I tell him. "What do you need for him?" he asks. "Only thing left to do is put the crib together and I'm doing that tomorrow." I tell him. "I can do it now." he tells me and I look up at him. "Please?" he asks. I nod and lead him to the nursery.
Walking into the nursery, he sees it's softly decorated with Harleys and then sees a little elephant in the rocking chair and picks it up. "You still have this?" he asks. "Yeah. You gave me that when we were little. You said your mom got it for you." I say and he sits in the rocker and says "Come here." I walk over and he pulls me into his lap. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. I felt like shit after we hooked up. Scared you would think I was just using you." he tells me. "I know better than that and you should too." I tell him. He cups my face and says "Will you let me be here?" I nod my head yes and he kisses me softly as his hand moves to my stomach. I stand up and say "Let's get this bitch put together." He nods and we spend the next hour putting the crib together.
After it gets put together, he heads to the door and I say "I have another appointment on Friday if you want to be there. I can get the nurse to do the ultrasound so you can see him." I tell him. "I'll be there. Just text me the info." he says. I nod and he kisses me softly and says "Thank you bebita." I nod and say "Good night mi vida." After closing the door, I walk to the couch and think about what happened. I can let him be there for our son but I don't know if I can be his best friend anymore.
Pulling up to the clubhouse, Angel walks in and EZ asks "Where'd you go?" He gets the beer that Chucky hands him and says "To Cari's. Had to talk to her." Creeper looks at him and says "You been ignoring her for six months now and now you want to talk to her?" he asks. "Yeah. Had to find out something." he says. "What's that?" EZ asks. "If the kid is mine." Angel says. "What?" Gilly asks. "Yeah. When all that shit happened with Adelita, we hooked up. I felt like shit for using her like that and started ignoring her. She's the only woman that never turned her back on me and never betrayed me. She said he's mine and I know he is." Angel says. "He?" EZ asks. "Yeah. Kid is a boy. I get to see him on that ultrasound shit Friday." Angel says. EZ hugs him and says "Congrats brother. Now to tell Pop." and Angel can't help but smile.