Page 31 of Give Me All Of You

“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 sawme 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 facewas 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.

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