More Than Business

Chapter 56

Nicki POV

I called Lydia on facetime early the next morning.

"Hey Mrs. Graham." She smirked.

"Don't call me that." I snapped.

"Oh come on. You're having his child, meeting his parents, and conjoining businesses. You've only skipped one step in the process." She reasoned.

"Ha. Ha." I rolled my eyes.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" She asked, less playfully.

"Oh right.. umm this isn't my first time being here." I blurted out.

"What do you mean?"

"You know about the time I ran away from my unc-" I began.

"Oh my God they were the ones who saved you?!"

"Shhhh!" I put my finger to my lips, "yes."

"Thats so cool. Its like you and Aubrey were meant for eachother." She winked.

"I can't even think about that whole marriage thing until I can seriously figure my life out." I sighed.

"You're back on this?" She scrunched her nose.

"Honestly, I was never off it." I confessed.

"Well whatever you do, you know I'm with you 100%." She assured me.

"Thanks."

"Can we talk abo-"

"Nope. You're away this is the closest you've ever gotten to taking a vacation. No working." She read my mind.

"But I just wanna kn-"

"Nope. Don't you worry your pretty little head. When you get back I'll fill you in. Everything is going great here now you make sure you can say the same thing about there." She said.

"You're snappy." I rolled my eyes.

She shrugged, "what can I say?"

"Where's OJ?"

"Still sleeping.. i have to go wake him up and get him ready." She replied, "Listen, if there's ANYTHING you still needa talk about.. Don't hesitate to call."

"Alright I won't. "

"I'll give OJ a hug and a kiss for you." She blew me a kiss.

"Okay thanks. Bye love you babe" I returned the motion.

"Love you too." She called back before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Aubrey's mom asked, scaring the shit out of me.

"A.. friend." I stuttered, "my uh.. business partner, Lydia."

"You guys must be awfully close," she raised an eyebrow at me.

"I should.. uh-" I started gathering my things.

"You're gonna be staying here for another few days, you can't honestly think you'll be able to avoid me constantly.. and with the same excuse." She folded her arms.

"Watch me try." I winked, the first confident sentence I've managed to say to her since I got here.

I walked upstairs and found Aubrey lying awake.

"You know I was under the impression that we were going to stay at your place while we were here.. and just visit your parents." I collapsed on the bed beside him.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing, I was just wondering.. thats all." I lied.

"What did she say to you?"

"She di- what makes you think your father didn't do anything?"

"Its only 8, he's still asleep." He explained. "And to answer your question, I wanted to see how long it took for her to drive you crazy as well."

"I don't think she trusts me and Lydia's friendship." I stared up at the ceiling.

"Why not?"

"She overheard our facetime.. and then she started interrogating me as if I did something wrong." I vented.

"Can you blame her?" He put an arm around me.

"So does that mean we can go to your house now?" I asked.

"Now is that a 'no' as far as our child having grandparents?" He asked.

"I love how neither of us are answering eachother's questions." I smiled sarcastically.

He rolled me over on top of him, "Our child will still have more than enough love and attention with or without grandparents."

"You think so?"

"They'll have me, an amazing mother, a sassy big sister, an adorable big brother, and even a crazy aunt Lydia." He assured me.

"You're okay with Lydia being apart of our child's life?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I mean, she's gonna be around anyways, as far as you and OJ are concerned, and for the business.. and she does a pretty good job as a co-parent and her relationship with Liyah..."

"I thought you hated her.. or distrusted her.. or whatever" I scrunched my nose.

"We have a love-hate relationship." He shrugged, "Now, we can go to my house tonight.. but I'll have you know, its not nearly as big as your house."

"Well.. thats a game changer, I mean I was okay with your parents house being small but.." I shook my head slowly as I spoke.

"Wait Nic really?" He sat us up.

I started laughing, "No, I don't care how big your house is."

"I thought we had a rule against your little tricks?" He rolled over on top of me and pinned me down.

Still laughing, I shook my head, "nooo.. you said no teasing."

He planted a kiss on my lips. For a split second, my reaction was to try to get away but I managed to coax myself into staying put.

"I see you're getting better each day." He smiled.

"There's a very small part of me, screaming inside.." I told him.

"And the rest of you?"

"Wishing you would pin me down more often." I bit my lip.

"You're effortlessly seducing me Onika." He exhaled.

"So.. is your house big enough to conceive a child in?" I toyed.

He got off me, "I'm going downstairs."

"Okay okay I'm sorry." I sat up and wrapped my arms around him.

"Come on" he stood and grabbed my hand to help me up. "Breakfast should be ready by now."

"Despite all of the advances my business has went through, my greatest accomplishment this year was choosing you." I smiled before we left the room.

QOTD: Any Charmed fans? (Ik i prolly asked this before)

AOTD: Charmed is and always has been an obsession of mine.. and after rewatching the entire series from beginning to end I have created a Charmed continuation book "Charmed Ever After" this book is A LOT more pressure for me personally to write because of how well established the characters are, as well as the incorporation of magic, both good and bad.. so please read it and give a shit load of feedback.. maybe even some ideas for later chapters would be great.