Real Girl (Aston Creek High 4)

I throw my arms around him as all our friends come bounding down onto the court. “You’re amazing,” I tell him. “I love you so much.”

“I know, Virago, I love-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nessa groans, cutting him off. “He loves you too, now give me my girl. We need to celebrate!”

Nine Months Later

“Push, Virago.”

“Tell me to push one more fucking time and I’m going to shove my hand up your ass, cut it off, and then tell you to push the fucking thing back out.”

Slade gapes at me. I’m not exactly sure this is what he had in mind when he said he wanted to put his babies inside my guts. I bet he was imagining the sweet moments filled with love and joy, not the vomiting, the screaming, and my stretched vagina.

This is horrendous.

I had in mind that the second we got married, we’d start trying for a baby. I didn’t realize that the timeline would be pushed forward to the night of our engagement. We got home from his game and he instantly threw me down on the bed to celebrate his win and me agreeing to become his wife.

An hour later, I was thoroughly satisfied and unknowingly pregnant.

Fast forward 41 weeks and 6 days and here we are.

I squeeze down on Slade’s hand as he gapes at me. The contraction tears through my body as the doctor stands between my legs, staring at the small human trying to make a daring escape.

Small human? I think not. I’m either giving birth to a small horse or a five-year-old. This baby is huge. Whether it’s a girl or a boy, it’s going to be tall just like its daddy.

I guess we’ll have another NBA or WNBA star on our hands.

I feel as though I’m on the verge of passing out when the head finally comes out. “Good work, Skylah,” the doctor commends as she gets busy checking over our baby and making sure the cord isn’t wrapped around its neck. “Take a few calming breaths and then in a moment, we’re going to get the rest of this baby out. Okay? You’ve got this. You’ve done incredible so far.”

I nod, unable to focus on forming words.

Slade ducks down and goes to press a kiss to my forehead but I raise my chin and catch his lips on mine. “She’s right,” he whispers, cupping my cheek in his big hand. “You’re doing incredible. It won’t be much longer and you can relax with our baby in your arms.”

His words are the best kind of motivation to convince me to continue tearing my body in half.

The next contraction comes on and the doctor nods. “Alright, Skylah. Let’s go.”

Within moments our baby comes out screaming and is laid down on my chest. Tears spring to my eyes. “Congratulations,” the doctor says. “You’ve got a healthy baby boy.”

My heart fills with a love I never knew I was capable of, so strong, protective, and fierce as I hold my baby boy in my arms.

Slade stares down at us in awe as I beam up at him. “We did good,” he says, protectively placing his hand over mine along our son’s back.

“We did.”

He ducks down and presses a warm kiss to my forehead. “Fuck, I love you,” he tells me. “I can’t wait to marry you and give you my name.”

“Three more months,” I promise, adjusting our baby in my arms so that I see his precious little face better.

“Does he have a name?” The doctor asks as she begins cleaning up the mess of blood and guts around her.

I look up at Slade completely unsure. We’ve been playing with a few names for both a boy or a girl and none of them ever stuck. “Yeah,” he tells her, blowing me the fuck away. “This is Jacob Blake Cruz.”

Tears instantly stream down my face as Slade meets my eyes, the emotions far too great for me to handle. “You want to name him after my father and brother?” I question, hoping this isn’t some sick trick or that he’s going to change his mind.

“I do,” he tells me, a smile slowly spreading wide across his handsome face. “Nothing would make me happier.”

I stare up at him, unable to find the words to express how happy I am. I try my best to shuffle over in the bed, making room for him to come and join us as a family.

Slade drops down beside me, being careful not to rock the bed too much, knowing how much pain my lady bits are in. His arm falls around my back, right where it belongs and he pulls me into his chest.

He presses his lips to my temple, kissing me softly as he looks down at Jacob Cruz and just like that, my world is complete.

So full, precious, and filled with love, and despite all the pain I’ve had to suffer through, I know it was all worth it because it brought me right here to this moment where all I know in my world is love.