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Asa nodded. “Of course.”
André let out a heavy sigh. “Okay,” he muttered to himself.
Mary looped an arm through André’s and he allowed her to lead him out the door.
Once they were gone, Asa brought the only chair in the room closer to Nikki’s beside.
“You’re such an overachiever,” he said, voice quiet. “Winning Producer of the Year and giving birth in the same night. Who does that?”
Nikki smiled, blue eyes shining. “It was kind of a big night, huh?”
Asa nodded. She didn’t know the half of it.
He still hadn’t turned his phone back on, afraid of what might happen next. Not that keeping his phone off prevented any more pandemonium, but he could pretend.
Nikki winced. “Breast feeding fucking hurts. They keep telling me that it gets better and my nipples will get used to it but, damn.” She shook her head.
Asa chuckled at his best friend. “How was labor? Did you go natural like you had planned?”
“Fuck no,” she said, making a face that had him cracking up. “I chickened out of that almost immediately. Nothing went according to plan. Homegirl was lodged in my pelvis and I wasn’t dilating. It was a whole drama. Then when they did the epidural, they nicked an artery and blood sprayed everywhere.”
“Oh shit.”
Nikki rolled her eyes and nodded. “André held it together. I was pretty out of it. And then they were telling me to push and here we are.”
“You’re a fucking legend,” Asa said, meaning it.
Nikki hummed as she peaked under the blanket at the baby. Her deep blue eyes tracked back to Asa and he felt the question before she asked it.
“What happened withyoulast night?”
He recounted the events of the night before, playing up his panic attack because it made her laugh. He left out some of the more personal things he and Zara had shared because they didn’t seem relevant anymore.
“She’s pretty cool, isn’t she?” Nikki said.
“She really is,” Asa agreed.
“How are you feeling about…?” Nikki didn’t finish the question. She didn’t have to. He knew what she was asking.
Was he freaking out about being back in the media’s crosshairs?
He shrugged and forced a swallow. “I accidentally read the comments?—”
“Asa!” Nikki scolded keeping her voice low.
“I know. I know.” He rubbed his tired eyes with his palms.
Never read the comments. He’d violated one of the basic rules of internet protocol.
He dropped his hands away from his face and sighed.
“I don’t want to turn my phone back on,” he confessed.
Nikki nodded. If anyone understood why, it would be her.
“Maybe they won’t notice,” Nikki suggested. “Maybe it’ll blow over quick and they’ll never even see your name.” Shemaneuvered the small baby in her arms and started patting and rubbing her back.
“Yeah, maybe.”
