Page 110 of A King’s Obsession

Her expression changed. She looked away, resting a hand over her stomach, and the fight seemed to drain right out of her.

I rubbed the back of my neck, realizing I'd probably gone too far.

"Look, Jru. All jokes aside, I'm glad you're okay."

"I know." She stared toward the parking lot. "But I needed to get away, Malachi. I couldn't stay there after what happened."

Fuck.

I knew exactly why she'd run.

Ezra had pulled some sneaky-ass shit, marrying that girl without her even knowing what the fuck she'd gotten herself into. Then, instead of telling her the truth when she confronted him about having a wife, his dumb ass had looked her in the face and said yes.

Technically, the nigga hadn't lied.

But he damn sure hadn't told her the truth either.

And now I was standing in front of his pregnant wife, knowing the one thing that could clear up this mess was the very thing Ezra had no business keeping from her in the first place.

"Jru, listen. I know Ezra fucked up. Believe me, I know. But there's some shit you don't understand about that situation."

She turned toward me, her expression hardening. "What's there to understand, Malachi? He's married. He admitted it himself."

Lord, give me strength, because my brother was one stupid motherfucker.

"All I'm saying is you need to have a real conversation with him. That shit ain't exactly what you think it is."

"Well, whatever it is, he can keep it. I'm not interested in being anybody's mistress."

I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to tell her right then and there that she was the whole damn wife.

This secret was getting harder and harder to keep.

I dragged both hands down my face. "Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and everybody else in the fucking Bible. Girl, I'm about to have a motherfucking stroke."

Before Jru could respond, my phone started ringing. I pulled it from my pocket, and the second I saw my wife's name flashing across the screen, I sighed.

"Speak of the damn devil."

Jru glanced at my phone. "Is that Ashlynn?"

"Yeah, and if she calling to cuss me out about something else, I'm changing my fucking identity."

I answered, bringing the phone to my ear.

"Baby, before you start, I need you to—"

"MALACHI!"

The panic in her voice wiped the smile clean off my face.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"My water just broke!"

I froze.

"Your what?"