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“Bet.”

“Alright, we got to get out of here before we’re late,” Averie said.

“I’ll follow behind y’all.”

CHAPTER 3

RAYA NEWSOME

“Mommy,” Ryleigh tapped on my leg.

“Hol’ on, Ry,” I yelled as I switched shoulders for my phone.

I was running my mouth with my girl Kam. She wanted to know the rundown on the funeral, and I was telling her how I checked the fuck out of Kyenna for not calling me first.

“You know that bitch scary. She always pc’d up like a muthafucka so I can’t get my hands on her. Rah can’t save her ass now. And Shameek ain’t gon’ always be ‘round. I can’t wait to drag that hoe.”

“Mommy,” Ryleigh cried.

“Gawd damn! I said hol’on.”

Now with Rah gone, I didn’t even want to be a damn mama anymore. It wasn’t that the King’s wouldn’t take care of her. It was because I was no longer connected to Rah, and my connections to getting into certain places and doing certain things died with his stupid ass.

“Girl, tend to your daughter. I’ll call you back.”

“Aight, girl,” I said, hanging up.

“What is it, Ryleigh?”

“Can I have some of these?”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

She did all that for a bag of damn chips. I swear children didn’t give a fuck what you had going on. There were bills piled the fuck up on my countertop. Rah didn’t fuck with me, but he made sure where Ryleigh slept was taken care of. Some bills he paid himself; others he gave me the money for. I looked at the Chanel bag sitting on the sofa and shook my head. I was spending that money on designer shit. Now I was sitting here trying to figure out how I was going to pay these bills. Deep down, I knew I could tuck my tail and go to Shameek or Mr. Rod.

I didn’t have the energy to explain why I was behind on some of my bills, and Rah had only been in the ground a few days. Shit, I never thought his dumb ass was going to die this soon. I thought I had time to stack some money. Grabbing my phone, I opened my banking app. The minus sign in front of the number caved my chest in. I refreshed my screen because I had a check that should have deposited. Only to find the bitch was deposited but used to cover some of the balance. Kyenna came to mind. She was sitting her ass up in that house. Got all his cars in that garage, and I was over here in a condo that I was about to lose.

My phone chimed with an email. It was from a law firm letting me know that I had an appointment for the reading of the will of Rahmelo King. I smiled, just thinking that he made sure me and Ryleigh were straight by putting us in his will. Maybe he left us some money. If he did, I promise I was going to catch up on all my bills. This would be my second chance, and I wasn’t going to fuck it up. There was no way I could go back to working after having a rich nigga’s baby.

My mind drifted to the day before Rah died. He called and asked to talk to Ryleigh. He had fussed and thought that she needed her own phone just so he didn’t have to deal with me. I disagreed. Her three-year-old ass did not need a phone. After going back and forth, I gave her the phone and let them do their thing. Her behind would occasionally walk off, and I would be right behind her trying to see what they were talking about.

“Daddy, when you coming to get me?” Ryleigh asked him.

“I’ll come get you this weekend, princess. We gon’ get some ice cream and go build a bear.”

“You pwomise?”

“I promise.”

She handed me the phone with the biggest smile on her face and ran off.

“I swear you would think she doesn’t see you.”

“I kno’.”

There was a pause before he cleared his throat.

“Ray…”