Chapter Fourteen

Hassan

When I left JaRue's job earlier, Knasim and I went to the freight yard so that he could look over the arsenal that they had just gotten in. While he had his workers load up their truck, he followed me inside of my office. Once we were inside, I poured us both a drink and sat down.

"So, have you thought about what I said?" he asked.

Taking a sip from my glass, I sat it down on my desk before I answered his question.

"Not really. I don't even know where to start with the shit. I had a chick I was dealing with before Rue, and she was definitely out of the question. I'm feeling Rue, but I don't want to seem like some weird or desperate nigga by asking her to marry me and we've only been dating a month." I took the rest of my drink down without even blinking. This shit was stressful as hell and I'm already a little over thirty days in.

"Look, I get it." He sat his drink down. "My pops pushed that shit on me, too. I was hell bent against it, but I'd kill any nigga over my wife. That includes the nigga whose nut helped create her. I'm not trying to get too deep in your shit, but Rue is a good girl. I don't know too much about her baby daddy, but I'm pretty sure you're better than that nigga." From what he was saying, he didn't know too much about who JaRue's baby daddy was and that wasn't my place to fill him in. "Plus, she works for us, sometimes after hours, so she knows all about this lifestyle. She even knows how me and my wife came together. I say present the idea to her and if she doesn't bite right away, I'll prolong your shit. Take that shit as a onetime courtesy because you won't get it again, and not with another bitch. I'm doing this shit because Rue is like family." He looked me square in the eyes and spoke and I respected it, but I was going to let him know that he still didn't run shit.

"Yeah, I'll see what's up with her."

"Haze! Why haven't you been returning my calls?" Kari barged into my office, barking like she ran some shit.

"I know you lost every brain cell you process walking in this muthafucka like you got that kind of right." I snarled.

She looked between me and Knas and rolled her eyes before she turned her attention back to me. Knas cut whatever she was about to say short, though.

"Aye, roll them muthafuckas again and you gon' be holding 'em." He stood. "I'm out. I told my wife I would work on my attitude, but this bitch came in here with her negative energy. Handle that and I'll holla at you later." He dapped me up and let his self out. Kari was still standing on the other side of my desk with her arms folded and a scowl on her face.

"Why are you still here?" I asked.

"Where have you been?"

"With my girl," I said.

"Your girl? Since when? I thought I was your girl?" she pouted.

"Since when?"

Silence.

"Why would you think you're my girl, Kay?"

"We've been messing around for almost three years now," she explained.

"And that's all we've done. What's my favorite color?"

"Uhm."

"My favorite food?"

"Piz-" I cut her off because the shit was wrong.

"Do you even know if my glasses are prescription or not?" I asked.

"I know they're not prescription. I've seen you without them before," she sassed.

"That's because I had on contacts. How could you not know none of this stuff and be my girl?" I cocked my head to the side.

"I hope you know your little girlfriend is no more than a gold digging whore and home-wrecker who uses her baby as a pawn against my brother." She smirked like she just told me some shit that I actually gave a fuck about.

"I'on know about all that, but I know your brother is a pedophilic, manipulative piece of shit who preyed on an innocent girl, got her pregnant and does absolutely nothing for his daughter. It's alright though. She has a new daddy. So does her mama." It was my turn to smirk.

Just like I knew she would, she marched her mad ass right on out of my face. If she knew what was good for her, she would stay the fuck away from me. I wasn't over sealing her ass in one of my containers and shipping her off to the middle of no-fuckin-where.

After Kari left, I finished looking over the files for the families that needed our help. It was also a few people that were looking to get loans. I'd decide on that shit after looking into their books and shit. If the shit looked legit, I'd let Rock handle that shit. I finished up at the office a few hours later and it was going on seven o'clock. I was hungry as fuck, but Rue said she was going to cook for a nigga so I wouldn't pick shit up. I still had to run by my parents' house before I headed home to shower and then made it back to Rue. She wanted me to limit my time around her daughter, and I respected it. Once I shut my computer down, I grabbed up my phone and keys and headed out. It took almost an hour to get to my parents' house from the yard since they decided they wanted to work on the fucking roads. When I got there, I let myself like I always did and found both of my parents in the living room with my niece.

"Uncle Hazie!" she squealed like she always did when she saw me.

"Wassup, Pea?" I picked her up and kissed her cheek. She had my braids in each of her hands, swinging back and forth.

"Hey, baby," my mother greeted. Leaning down, I kissed her temple before taking a seat in the vacant seat adjacent to them.

"How are things going, son?" my father asked.

"Everything straight." I kept it short because I knew he was trying to figure out where my head was with this whole marriage thing.

"And the proposition? How's that going?"

"I'm handling it," I countered.

He gave me a look that let me know he wasn't pleased with my response, and I didn't give a fuck.

"You need to be making a deci-"

I cut his ass off.

"Aye, I'm out. I didn't come over here for this." I stood to leave, and my father pinned me with an angry glare, and I gave him one right back.

"You're not staying to eat?" my mother asked.

"Nah, I have plans for dinner."

Kissing my mother and niece, I left my parents' house just as fast as I came. When I got in the car, I called Rue. I was about to hang up and just pop up on her ass because she was taking too long to answer.

"Hello?" she answered, somberly. That shit immediately pissed me off because the only reason she could be sounding like that is because of her bitch ass baby daddy.

"I'm on my way," was all I said. There was no need for her protest because I wasn't going for the shit no way. She'd realize sooner than later that she's dealing with a real nigga. I'm not waiting for her to tell me what the problem is. It's my job to sense where there is one and offer to fix it in any way that I can.

Since my parents lived in The Estates too, it took me another hour to get back to The Heights and pull up on Rue. When she opened the door for me, I could tell that she was crying and that immediately had me seeing red.

"Wassup, shorty?" What's wrong? I asked, pulling her into my lap.

"Keith, is what's wrong," she started. "He won't leave well enough alone and leave me and my baby alone." She cried.

I tried not to snap out because I wanted her to tell me what was wrong, but the shit was hard while looking at her cry.

"Tell me what happened."

I listened to her run down the events that took place after I left her earlier. This nigga was a piece of shit, and I couldn't wait to ship his ass off. The part that pissed me off most was he was only doing this because she wasn't allowing him to fuck on her anymore. From what she told me, she hadn't had sex with him since baby girl was like four months old. This nigga was a whole bitch, and it showed.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't afford a lawyer and if he takes this shit to court, I'll lose my baby. I can't lose my baby, Hassan." She buried her face in my chest and cried. I tried my best to soothe her, but I knew this shit was heavy. When her cries faded out, she looked up at me with red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"I don't know what I can do at this point. It's like my back is against the wall."

Lifting her chin, I kissed her lips and said, "marry me."