“Do you remember anything about him? Any features or details you can think of?”
“Umm, he was tall. I remember him being the same color as me, with long locs pulled into a bun. He had a lot of tattoos on his arms and chest.” I tried my best to recall as much as I could. When I tried to search him up, I had nothing to go off of other than his last name. Without his first name, I had no way to know if I had the right person without a photo.
“Fuck,” he grumbled. My feelings were a little hurt by the way he was reacting, and I wished I had never said anything.
“Maybe we should drop the subject. I already have enough on my plate, so I’m not trying to open a can of worms right now.”
“I apologize. I promise, it’s not you. I have a lot going on, and it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day to address them all. I’m gonna get out of here so I can feed baby girl and drop her off. If you need me, call me. I need to talk to you about something after you get off.” Whenever Dreaux spoke, there was a sense of dominance that couldn’t be denied. He never asked for anything. Instead, he made his requests known and expected people to follow them.
“Okay. What’s the number for the daycare?”
“What do you need it for?” He shot back with a smirk on his face.
“Stop playing with me.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t let that one go. I’ll send you all of her information once I get baby girl settled.”
“Okay.” Dreaux kept his eyes on me for a while longer, but I looked away.
My stomach was in knots because I wasn’t sure what he needed to talk to me about. I assumed it was about my living arrangements, and it made me anxious. Judgement was the lastthing I needed because I had been trying my hardest to get back on my feet.
“You good?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I appreciate your help. I’m not sure how you got her to like you so fast. She usually has to warm up to people.” I pointed to my curly-haired diva, who had her head resting on his shoulder.
“What can I say? I’m a very likable guy.”
“Yeah, whatever. The jury is still out on that one.” I teased him. Dreaux smiled widely, revealing a diamond grill on his bottom row. Damn, the man was already a walking orgasm. The jewelry covering his perfectly straight teeth was a bonus. I tried not to drool over him for too long since he was my boss, but I would be lying if I said he wasn’t a beautiful work of art.
“I’ll win you over eventually. I always do. Tell your momma goodbye.”
“Bye, momma!” Promise blew me a kiss, then clung onto Dreaux’s arm as he walked out of the building. My mind was reeling from the events of the day, and I had a feeling that this would only be the beginning.
dreaux davis
. . .
“Doe! I have it?”Promise asked, holding up a small bag of crackers. We had been smashing all types of snacks for the last couple of days. I needed to slow down since I hadn’t been able to make it to the gym. Between my busy schedule and helping with Promise, there hadn’t been time to do much else.
“You can have it, pretty girl.”
“Tank you, Doe!”
“Yooo! Where yo’ buff ass at?” My homie, Loyal, shouted as he made his presence known. My best friend, his brother, Justice, trailed behind him with a grin on his face.
“Nigga, fuck you! Don’t be jealous because you still have the same bird chest from sixth grade. You need to bring your ass to the gym more often wit’ yo’ lazy ass.”
They both shook my hand before taking a seat on the couch across from me. Their eyes lingered on Promise, who sat next to me with her head resting against me as she watched her favorite princess movie. We had watched it three times in the last three days, but she sat there, eyes locked on it as if it were the first time. She would occasionally break her attention to offer mesome of her crackers or ask a random question that made me smile.
“Umm, when did you get a kid? One of those bitches finally caught you slippin’?” Loyal quizzed, glancing between promise and me to see if we shared any resemblance.
“Bruh, fuck you. I don’t have any damn kids, and I don’t want to have any. Hell, you and Messiah have been popping them out enough for everyone.” I shot back.
“Fuck!”
The three of us focused our attention on Promise as she repeated the word with the same enthusiasm.
“No, no, Promise. That’s a bad word. You can’t say that.” The last thing I needed was for Peace to think I was being a bad influence on her little girl, especially when I had to plead with her to let my sisters watch her.
