Lennox POV
"What Beckham?" I glanced over at him, he's been standing in the corner of the room watching me for an uncomfortable length of time now.
I don't know why. Maybe because he's expecting me to be happier today, and it's not that I'm unhappy. It's that I'm stressed the hell out. Today is Jayce's Gotcha Day party and because I got sick, I'm running behind schedule and nothing is set up. For those who do not know, Gotcha Day is a day for children who are adoptees celebrating the day they get placed with their forever families. I obviously did not celebrate when I received custody of Jayce-Lynn because I'm her sister. I'm her forever family irregardless , like duh. And it'd be weird to celebrate considering I only have custody of her because we're orphans.
Beckham however, has now legal adopted Jayce as of approximately 3 hours ago. After the months of interview, paperwork and overall stress the process entailed, I decided to commemorate this moment with a Gotcha Day party. Which seemed like a fantastic idea at the time. Now that I'm rushing to get everything set up before both of our families arrive; I'm not so sure about that.
Beck continued staring at me with the same emotionless expression. "Mmkay, Svetlana will finish decorating. Come here Len." Svetlana is his housekeeper and if I wanted her to decorate, I would have asked her to.
"No thanks."
"Lennox." Beckham called much sterner this time, causing me to let out an exasperated sigh as I made my way across the room over to him. "You've been so stressed Princess, you were already up all night with the baby."
This is true, unfortunately, in addition to everything else going on. Knox decided last night that he was not going to sleep, at all. He was successful in his mission. By the time I was finally able to get him down to sleep it was 6 AM.
"Let Svetlana finish decorating, babe. You need to go lay down."
"I have a party to host-"
"The party doesn't start for at least another hour, you're going to bed." Beck grabbed ahold of my hand, leading me down the long hallway towards our bedroom.
I didn't have it in me to keep going back and forth with him, it's just easier this way. Plus I would be lying if I said I wasn't tired. I am. But I'm always tired. That's nothing new and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Either way, I'm willing to push all of that to the side to ensure that Jayce has the most perfect and fantastic day. Or at least as close to it as humanly possible.
"You're difficult, you know that?" Beckham mused as he nodded towards our bed, indicating that I should lay down on it.
"No I'm not." I grumbled rolling my eyes as I climbed into our king sized bed.
It's not like I'm actually going to sleep. Beckham should know me better than that, if anything I will be catching up on Love Island. But far more likely I will be testing Brandt instructions to give to Svetlana to ensure that everything for the party is set up correctly and to my liking. He's good with stuff like that.
"Sure," Beckham rolled his eyes. "You get some rest. I'll be back to check on you in an hour."
I collapsed against the pillows, fumbling around for remote as Beckham left the room when my phone pinged for like the thousandth time today. I didn't bother checking it, I already knew who it was. Evander has been incessantly blowing up my phone since disclosing that we're "siblings". I'm five seconds away from blocking him. The only reason I haven't is because I feel bad....
While I don't respond to any of his messages, I do read them. I even turned on my read receipts so he knows I'm reading them. Apparently his parents are separating. His mother didn't have a clue that my sperm donor had abandoned his first family. It wasn't the fact that he had another child that she couldn't deal with, it was the fact that he had abandoned me and attempted to erase me from his memory. Not well enough though I've been told he would stalk my Instagram occasionally to ensure I was doing okay. The only reason any of it came out was because he allegedly became overwhelmed with guilt after hearing about what happened to me in LA.
It took his child almost being murdered by a cop for him to actually care. If I were Evander's Mom, I'd be filing for divorce too. That's some weak ass shit. That's some Tyler Perry ass shit. And as bad as I may feel for Evander, I don't have the energy to deal with any of it.
Unfortunately Beckham ended up being right. At some point during my spiral of overthinking, I found myself drifting off to sleep. I guess I was tired... He may not be wrong all the time.
Today is a very special day..." Xiomara gushed, she was adamant on making a toast.
I felt that was an unnecessary gesture at a five year old's party, as it will only bore Jayce. However, I could tell that it was important to her so I conceded. It's not like it will cause any harm.
"I have always wanted to be a grandmother. Since the day I became a mother, and I owe Lennoxita the world for giving me not one, but two grandbabies!"
The adults in the room broke into laughter at that statement. As Beckham wrapped his arms around my waist with the largest grin plastered on his face. "We did good, Princess." He whispered in my ear before placing a kiss on my temple.
"I've loved Jayce like one of my own since the moment I met her." This was true, "And I'm so happy that now it's official. Te amo, mi vida."
"Te amo Lita!" Jayce sing-songed in reply. That's the extent of her Spanish as that's all that Xiomara has taught her so far. She calls her Lita, short for Abuelita since she already refers to Ms. April as her grandma.
"Oohh, I wanna give a toast next!" Christian's hand shot up in the air with a little bit too much excitement for my liking. Absolutely not. He's spent a little too much time at the mimosa bar for me to trust his judgment in this moment.
I cut my eyes at him. Sending a very obvious message without having to verbalize what I'm thinking, of course, Christian is a little too buzzed to pick up on nuanced social cues.
So I did the next best thing, and announced that it was time for Jayce to open her presents. I did not request gifts because it's not her birthday, yet no one arrived empty-handed. I thought it was super sweet! I'm also concerned that she'll expect gifts every year now, which I wasn't really planning on doing. I'm sure Beckham will be more than happy to oblige her. Between him and Brandt she's set for the rest of her life.
As everyone made their way from the kitchen to the living room, I grabbed Beckham's arm letting him know to hang back for a second.
"What is it?" He raised an eyebrow, staring back at me intently.
"I wanted to thank you... Like seriously thank you."
"For adopting Jayce?"
I nodded my head, "It means a lot to me.. And I know she doesn't fully understand what's happening cause she's so young, but when she gets older she will. I know she's gonna be so grateful" I paused for a second when my voice cracked. We all know how I feel about crying.
"Len, Len. You don't need to thank me, baby. I love you and I love Jayce, I wanted to adopt her. I wouldn't have done it otherwise, it was my idea. Remember?"
I smiled softly letting out a small sigh of relief. I'm glad this isn't something that he did for me, but he did because of how much he loves Jayce-Lynn. I still am really grateful. She adores her Becky.
"I'm always gonna take care of my girls." Beckham quipped tapping my nose. He's so unserious, its a mess.
"I'm not your girl, De Loughrey." I rolled my eyes playfully."
"You're right, you're my wife."
He loves doing this. We weren't even engaged and he was running around calling me his fiancée. We sure as hell are not married and now he's calling me his wife. We're barely even engaged. I think he's trying to manifest it... He should try harder.
"On that note, Imma head out." I spun around on my heels heading towards the kitchen.
"Len, you live here." Beckham laughed shaking his head at me, "Where are you going?"
I continued down the hallway to the kitchen ignoring him though I could still hear his chuckles. It's not like he can't see where I'm going the penthouse is open-concept. Since I'm here, I may as well make myself busy.
"Len, I'm so proud of you baby." Ms April pulled me into a hug, as I was cleaning up in the kitchen.
Jayce's party was still very much in full swing. Though party is a strong word, more-so family gathering. The only people in attendance who weren't family were Ashton and Sophia because they're her best friends. But I wanted to get a head start of the cleaning because I'll be damned if after a day this long, I'm left with a dirty house to take care of.
"What do you mean?" I let out a small chuckle trying my best not to get any of the dish water on my hands on her outfit.
"You are a very impressive young woman, but that." She nodded her head in Jayce-Lynn's direction who was currently preoccupied with shoveling celebratory cake into her mouth. "That's your best work. She's gonna have all the things you never did."
I swear it took everything in me not to start bawling like a baby in that moment. "Yeah... She is." I smiled softly.
"You did good, sugar." She smiled widely.
That honestly meant a lot to me, especially coming from her. I remember I was so nervous to introduce Beckham to my family. Now he's one of Jayce's legal guardians, we have a son together. I honestly never expected any of this to happen. But I think I'm happy about the way that things have turned out.
"I—" I trailed off as my eyes wandered to the far corner of the room. "Sorry Ms. April, give me one second."
Beckham and Niall seemed to be engaged in a very heated conversation. I couldn't hear them but things looked tense, especially so when I saw them leave the room heading towards Beckham's office. Niall can be overbearing this isn't anything new. Unfortunately, I know how Beckham gets around his father. I have no problems with standing up to him because that nigga is no kin to me. But though he would never say it, Beckham is obviously scared of disappointing him.
Hell, he concocted that insane plan to marry me in order to appease his father. Naturally the only thing to do was follow after the two of them.
Once I started getting closer to Beckham's office I could vaguely make out what they were saying. Irregardless Niall sounds pissed. I can't imagine why on such a happy occasion. Maybe the stock market crashed or some shit like that.
I had barely turned the corner when I heard it.
"I don't why you can't see that this whore is obviously playing you! She's clearly only after your money." Niall seethed.
Those words stopped me in my tracks. Shit does Niall know about my past an escort? I felt like my heart was going beat out of my chest it was racing so fast.
Beckham locked eyes with me and it was like his heart broke into a million pieces. We both stood there frozen for a second, before Beckham's sadness turned to anger.
"She didn't know. It wasn't her idea it was mine, but I guess now we both know what you truly think of her."
I still don't know what the hell they're talking about.
"You really expect me to believe that." Niall scoffed shaking his head.
"I don't give a fuck what you believe. Get the hell out of my house. Now!"
At that moment I took a step back. I've never heard Beckham yell before, not like that. I know for a fact they heard him all the way out in the living room.
"Babe please. Please calm down." I know he's angry but the last thing I want is this day being ruined for Jayce. I couldn't give a fuck about Niall's dusty ass.
"That's how you are Beckham. Always having to learn your lesson the hard way, bloody idiot." Niall called over his shoulder, heading the warning to make his way towards the nearest exit.
What the fuck just happened?!