Checkmate 2: Let the Games Begin by Tiece Page A

too?” She asked as if she was more interested in the magazine now that he was there. She hadn’t even looked up at him.
    “I came by to see what you needed to talk to me about. It sounded important and I didn’t want to wait.” Mona sat the magazine on the end table next to her and looked at Monty. She smiled a little.
    “Well, what’s up?” he asked. He was anxious to know. “You got that smile on your face like it’s something good. I hope so or your ugly ass owes me some gas money.”
    “Whatever,” Mona laughed out loud. “I have some news to tell you.”
    Monty interrupted her. “I hope you ain’t quitting school, because I’ve paid all that.” He was cut off in mid sentence.
    “Oh, shut the hell up!” Mona said quickly. “Ain’t nobody quitting school.”
    “Oh, well… I’m glad to hear that.” Monty responded. He felt a little bad that he’d jump to that conclusion.
    “I just wanted you to hear this first before it began to show.” She said.
    “Don’t keep me waiting here. Just tell me.”
    “I’m pregnant.” Mona dropped her head. She was almost afraid of Monty’s reaction. He sat there quietly as the words of her being pregnant played over and over in his head. She slowly raised her head to look at him and he was just sitting there. He was thinking of what to say to her.
    “You’re pregnant, but you’re staying in school, right?” he curiously asked.
    “Yep,” Mona responded. Monty was looking down as if he was the one that couldn’t quite look in her face.
    “What are your plans on raising this baby?” he questioned.
    “I’m going to give my baby so much love and be the best Mother to him or her that I can be. We’ll take things one day at a time and it’ll all work out.” Mona said.
    “We, huh?” He said in a low tone still not able to look up.
    “Yep,” Mona said as she was wondering what Monty was thinking.
    “Well, I know that Mama and I will be here for you, but what about the baby’s daddy?” He asked.
    “What about him? He’s involved with us and will continue to be; ain’t no doubt about that.” Mona explained. Monty began to think back about Rico’s conversation earlier. No wonder he and Mona were deciding to be together. He thought.
    “So, I’m guessing that Rico is the baby’s daddy.” Monty said looking over at Mona for the first time since the conversation started.
    “It’s Rico.” She clearly stated. “Who did you think it was?”
    “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking.” He paused. “Oh, so he knows about this with his sneaky ass. No wonder he was talking like that today when he was saying that you wanted to talk with me. Hell, I didn’t realize that y’all were still messing around like that. I mean I knew he had a thang for you, but I didn’t know it was like that.” Monty grinned. He felt a little better, but quickly thought about Monica being pregnant by him also. Damn, he thought. He only wanted his sister to be happy and with Monica in the picture that may not be possible.
    “So, you’re cool with this?” She asked.
    “Yeah, I’m cool with it. Hell, I got a baby with Candy. I was a little shocked at first, but I can’t stop you from doing what you do and as long as you respect yourself and handle your business then what can I say? You’re grown and I respect that. I’m happy to be an uncle.” Monty smiled at Mona while pushing her a little on the arm. “Now you gotta watch how you talk about people or that big head baby gonna look just like ’um.”
    She laughed. “Shut up, boy and leave my baby outta this,” she said. As Monty sat there, he couldn’t resist trying to find out how much his little sister knew about Monica. It was still in his nature to protect her from getting in too deep and possibly getting hurt in the long run.
    “Well, Sis… I heard about you and Rico having a serious conversation, because he told me about some it. He just conveniently left out the part about you being pregnant, of