“You won’t be able to hide everything by keeping me under your thumb.”
“Nor do I plan to. Let me know when you’re ready to start your investigation, my love,” I said, reluctantly backing out of her personal space and letting her go past me.
“Hmph!” She huffed as she pushed past me to get to the door.
This damn girl. I shook my head when the door slammed behind her.Thankfully, I knew what kind of task was ahead of me. It was a good thing that I was the only man for the job.
229-467-0103:
See you Monday morning, my love.
Ihad been looking at Reed’s stupid ass message for days. Infuriating, that was the only way to describe him. I was convinced that the boy didn’t have good sense.
“Ain’t no use in you looking at that phone all day long. You go up there and do your job and leave it at that. If you want to get you some dick on the side, that’s your right!”
“Granny.” I gasped at my grandma’s logic, but I didn’t know why I was surprised. She was the worst.
“Don’t act like you ain’t never fucked before. You want me to think you so innocent, gal. You think I don’t know where babiescome from? I know how you got this one,” she said, kissing the top of Jada’s head before releasing her to let her come to the table.
“I’m just saying you don’t have to say it like that.”
“What? Dick? If y’all would get out of my business sometimes, I would get me some too,”my grandma added.
“Come on now, Nana. You go too far sometimes,” Hope complained.
“You ain’t lying. I’m trying to eat over here,” Grace added.
“Faith, don’t listen to those heifers. If you feel like you want to fuck, you fuck. I’m tired of you walking around with your head in a book or that damn computer instead of trying to find you somebody. I know that boy hurt you, but that don’t mean you had to give up altogether.”
“I didn’t give up, Nana.”
“Well, why you ain’t got no man around here?”
“What about Jas–”
I shot my sister Hope a look, cutting her off before she could finish her statement. The last thing I needed was for my grandma trying to play matchmaker between me and my neighbor Jasper. I liked things the way they were. I had enough baggage of my own without adding anyone else’s problems.
“You know I don’t like bringing any and everyone around Jada.”
“Who said anything about having someone around that baby, gal? I’m talking about letting someone screw that attitude out of you.”
“What attitude?” I asked, stretching my eyes.
“Girl, please. You know exactly what she’s talking about.” Hope chimed in unsolicited.
“I wasnottalking to your bighead ass.”
“Mommy, you said a bad word,” Jada sang, never looking up from where she was coloring.
“I’m sorry, baby. Auntie Hope made mommy mad, but that’s no excuse,” I told my daughter.
If it weren’t for Jada, I would not be going through with this damn assignment. I wanted to show my daughter how resilient she could be. I wanted to show her that even when someone thinks they are breaking you, they are just making you stronger.
Reed might have hurt me in the past, but I would get the last laugh. It was stupid of me to mention to Cassidy that I knew Reed and Nicholas in the past. I knew how thirsty she was about finding her next big story. Either way, my big mouth had written me a check that my ass couldn’t cash.
It was even dumber that a small part of me hoped like hell that Reed was innocent. Some miniscule part of me wanted him to still be the man I fell in love with. That was the part of me that still believed in fairy tales. Like I said, it was microscopic. So instead of wishing on a shooting star for a miracle, I stood from the table and walked over to where my daughter was.
“I’m about to go to work,” I said, stooping to kiss the top of her head.
