Chapter Thirteen

JaRue

sometime later…

Things between me and Hassan have been going great. We've been on a few more dates, had a lot more sex and even had playdates with the girls. It was refreshing to be dating someone who seems to have a genuine interest in you. We haven't established a relationship yet, and I will not pressure him into one. Hopefully, he will be able to let me know sooner rather than later what we are, and what we're doing.

I left the premises today to get lunch. When I came back, I was surprised to see Hassan's truck parked out front. I knew he had business with The RCF, but he usually calls or texts when he's coming by. Maybe they had an impromptu meeting or something. Grabbing my purse, I walked inside and saw Hassan sitting in the chair closet to my desk with an enormous arrangement of purple roses. As I was nearing my desk, he stood with a smile on his handsome face. Before handing me the flowers, he pulled me into a hug and kissed my neck.

"These are for you, beautiful." He handed me the roses, and I blushed at how thoughtful he was.

"Thank you," I simpered. "What are you doing here, though? Did you have a meeting?" I asked as I sat the roses on the counter behind my desk.

"Nah. I came to lay eyes on my girl because I missed her." He smiled.

His revelation caught me off guard.

"Why you looking like that?" he asked.

"You said I was your girl. When was that established?" I asked for my own knowledge.

"It was established the moment I slurped that pretty little pussy up like a hot pocket, then again when I let my dick get acquainted with it. If you need some reassurance, you can go tell Knas that you're leaving for the rest of the day," he asserted.

"Nigga, I told you don't come in here trying to run shit and I hear you trying to make my receptionist leave work early." Knasim came from out of his office with a smirk on his face, embarrassing the hell out of me.

"I'm sorry, Knasim. I won't be leaving early. I can assure you," I declared.

"Damn, baby. You're going to choose this nigga over me?" Hassan asked.

Before I could respond, he smiled and leaned down to kiss my lips.

"I'm just playing. I got some shit to handle with this nigga, but I'll hit you up later, aight?" He kissed my lips again.

"Okay," I simpered.

"Rue, things might be a little slow. I'll be out of pocket for the rest of the day. You can leave within the next hour if you want. I'll still pay you for the whole day," Knasim offered.

"Thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"He got it, baby. Don't turn that shit down." Hassan kissed me one last time before he left with Knasim.

Things were indeed slow, so I took Knasim up on his offer to leave early. I went to the grocery store before going to pick Infiniti up from daycare, so that I could have all that out of the way. By the time I was done, it was only an hour left for her to be there, so I went and picked her up before going on home. When I arrived at the daycare, I went straight to the room that Infiniti was in. I saw her in the corner playing with some blocks with another baby. Stephanie saw me enter and the look on her face put me on high alert.

"What's wrong?" I asked as soon as we were close.

"I didn't want to upset you at work, but Keith stopped here today to take Infiniti with him. Of course, I didn't let him, and he got mad and said that he would report my business. I tried telling him that his name wasn't on her paperwork, and I couldn't just release her. He then called the police, but once they got here, they told him the same thing." I wanted to go find this bastard and peel all his damn skin off. He hadn't contacted my daughter in over a month but thought it was a good idea to take her from daycare without my permission. He had lost every bit of his gah damn mind.

"I'm sorry Stephanie. I hate he dragged our mess to your place of business. If you want me to find another dayc-" she cut me off.

"I wish you would take my baby anywhere else but here. I'm not worried about Keith. He can make whatever claims he wants. My business is legit and anything that he might say won't hold a candle in court. By any chance that it goes that far, he'll find out that I have a husband that doesn't play about me." She winked and smirked at me, and I was relieved.

"I'm so sick of him. Thanks for the heads up because I'm pretty sure that he's just getting started with his bullshit. He saw me on a date about a month ago and I haven't heard from him since. I should've known it was too good to be true," I vented.

"Wait a minute, Miss Thang. You went on a date? With whom?" she pried.

"It's a guy that I met at the gas station, but he's associated with my bosses." I blushed.

"Oooh okay. He's one of them?"

I nodded.

"That's where that glow came from. I ain't mad honey. Live your life. I kept telling you that you were too young to be living the life of a senior citizen. It didn't matter that you had a child. Mothers need to learn how to separate the two, and doing so doesn't make you a terrible mother."

She was right. She was another person in my life that kept telling me to get out the house. She's even kept Infiniti occasionally when my parents couldn't or if I didn't want to bother them.

"You're right and I get it now. I guess it took the right man to come along to help me put it into perspective."

"Amongst other things." She smirked.

"Give me my baby so I can go."

We shared a laugh before she went to get Infiniti. When she saw me, she started wiggling to get out of Stephanie's arms and into mine.

"Hey bookie butt," I cooed.

We told Stephanie goodbye and were on our way. When I got home, I put Infiniti in her playpen and got the groceries out of the car and inside. While I put the groceries up, I received a FaceTime call from Hassan. The smile that formed on my face was inevitable. When I answered, he was already staring into the phone.

"Hey," I simpered.

"Wassup, shorty? You just getting home?" he asked.

"You got a tracker on me or something?" I joked. His only response was a smirk.

"Haze," I called his name.

"Nah, that name ain't for you. What you do after you left work?" He avoided my previous question.

Sighing, I decided to just fill him in on the events that happened after I left work.

"You want me to handle it?" he asked.

"Handle it? No. I don't want you worrying yourself with my problems. I can handle Keith," I countered.

"But as your man, you don't have to handle any nigga as long as I'm around. That's what I'm here for," he uttered.

That was the second time that he referred to himself as my man.

"That's the second time you've called yourself my man."

"And it won't be the last."

I blushed.

"You said you went shopping. You cooking for your man tonight?" he asked.

"Maybe if he asked nicely, I will." I smirked.

"Baby, you going to cook for daddy then let me slurp that pretty little pussy up for dessert?" he asked, showing all of his teeth. It was something about that bottom grill that drove me insane.

"I guess, since you asked so nicely."

He laughed.

"Bet. I see you later."

"Okay."

We ended the call, and I finished putting my groceries up. I already took some chicken out before I left the house this morning. I would make some oven baked smothered chicken with some cabbage, rice and honey cornbread. I usually fixed enough for four people since I didn't cook every day and most days Journei was here with us when she wasn't home or with Rakeem.

As I prepared dinner, I smiled at the thought of seeing my man later. My man. That sounded weird as hell, but I would take it as long as he gave it. While I was cutting up the cabbage, there was a knock on my door. Quickly drying my hands, I went to the door and opened it. On the other side was a man dressed in a suit. He probably was a Jehovah's Witness.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Are you JaRue Malone?" he responded.

"I am."

Handing me an envelope, he said, "you've been served," and walked off.

Snatching the envelope open, I saw Keith was suing me for full custody on the grounds that I had no actual income to take care of her properly. It also states that I work for a known cartel, and he fears for his daughter's life.

I was hyperventilating at this point because I couldn't believe this muthafucka was trying to take my baby from me. A baby that he gave zero fucks about. I was seeing red. Slamming the door, I went back into the house and searched for my phone. I found it on the counter where I left it and dialed Keith's number so fast. I don't even think the phone rang, since he answered so fast.

"What is it, JaRue?" he answered snidely.

"How dare you take me to court for custody when you don't even take care of your daughter? Have you lost your fucking mind!" I yelled.

"It doesn't matter if I take care of her. The moment you called yourself fucking the next nigga after I broke that pussy in for me was the day that you sealed your fate. All you had to do was follow the rules, Rue, and we wouldn't be going through these problems."

Rearing my head back to stare at the phone because I couldn't believe the audacity of this nigga had. I didn't even respond. I hung up in his face. Looking over at my baby playing, my heart shattered at the thought of her being snatched away from me. Without hesitation, I grabbed my baby, my phone, purse, and keys and headed out of my house. After strapping Infiniti in her seat, I got in and headed straight to my parent's house. When I got there, my father was just getting in. He worked at as a bank manager while my mom was a high school English teacher, so she's been home for a little while.

"Hey baby," my mother greeted when I walked in. She immediately noticed the tears in my eyes and called my father back downstairs.

"Rueben!" she called for my father as she ushered me and Infiniti to the couch to sit down.

"What's wrong?" my father asked as soon as he made it back downstairs.

I ran the whole story down to them. This was the first time that I really let them know everything about Keith. I never told them his actual age. They only saw him a few times in passing. I lied and told them he did the bare minimum when he, in fact, did nothing.

"That nigga got me fucked up if he thinks he's going to take my grandbaby. I owe his perverted ass a beat down anyway for preying on my baby girl. Where does this nigga live?"

One thing about Rueben Malone was he may wear a suit and tie and had a professional job, but my daddy was from the Eastside of The Heights, and he never hesitated to show you, especially when it came to me, my mother and now Infiniti.

"Daddy, I don't need you getting in any trouble behind Keith. He already threatened the daycare provider because she wouldn't release Infiniti to him."

"Well, you're staying here tonight," my mother insisted.

"No, I can't do that. I'm not scared of Keith and he's not about to come around. He knows I have a boyfriend now, and that's why he's doing this."

"Boyfriend?" my parents said at the same time.

Shit.

"Ugh…I…uhm. I have this guy that I've been seeing for a little over a month," I revealed.

"When were you going to tell us?" my mother asked.

"When we made things official. That literally happened today."

I looked between my mother and father, waiting for them to scold me.

"Is he older than you?" my father asked.

"Yes, but only by a few years. He's still in his twenties," I revealed.

"He works?" my mother asked next.

"Yes. His family owns the freight yards."

"Ashby?" my father said.

I gave him a look, wondering how he knew that.

"Yes. You know of them?"

"I do, and Jay, she's in good hands. Both of those boys are good young men," my father said, shocking the shit out of me.

"I want to have y'all over for dinner soon so I can meet him," my mother voiced.

I nodded.

Even though I was supposed to cook tonight, I stayed and ate with my parents. By the time I got back home, I washed Infiniti and laid her down. Once I did that and showered myself, I called Journei and grabbed a bottle of wine and vented to my best friend. I might be taking her up on her offer to beat his ass sooner than later.