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“I’m not keeping yo’ ass hostage, and I already told you that.” He set his fork down and looked at me. “I’m trying to protect you from that nigga David. You and me both know what could happen if he gets his hands on you.”

I looked down at my plate, not wanting to think about that shit. The thought of that man getting anywhere near me was enough to make my stomach turn.

“Exactly.” Cassian picked his fork back up. “Now, I’m gone give you your phone back, but if you pull that shit again, I’m gone fuck around and teach yo’ ass a hard fucking lesson.”

I turned toward him, raising an eyebrow. “And what kind of hard lesson you talking about?”

I was curious to know what the hell he meant by that.

“I ain’t gone tell you what it is, ma. I’m just gone do it.”

He smirked and went right back to eating like he hadn’t just said some crazy shit.

I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out whether he was serious or just fucking with me again. Knowing his ass, it could’ve been either one. Instead of asking anything else, I went back to eating my food.

Whatever that lesson was, I just hoped it didn’t have a damn thing to do with that room he’d locked me in last night.

༺ ♛ ༻

A week had passed since Cassian agreed to let me return to work, and I was finally starting to feel like I had some kind of normalcy back in my life. He’d given me my phone back, although I still had to deal with security on my ass like a motherfucker. That shit was awkward, especially with people looking at me like I was crazy. And Cassian didn’t give me some little dude either. He gave me a big backed ass nigga who looked like he could run through a whole football team by himself.

Other than having him watching my every move, things had been going pretty good. But that didn’t change how I felt about my pops and the fucked up shit he’d done to me. I honestly didn’t think I could ever forgive that man. I didn’t care what kind of situation he was in or how desperate he’d been. What he did was some real hoe shit, and I couldn’t understand how any parent could do something like that to their own child. If I ever had kids, I’d put myself in harm’s way before I even thought about sacrificing one of them to save my own ass.

I tried not to dwell on it as I finished my lunch, threw my trash away, and washed my hands before heading back to my section to prepare for the next patient. We weren’t as busy as we usually were, which was fine with me because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a whole bunch of people today. My stomach wasn’t up for dealing with too many funky ass breaths either.

“Aye, Kaylen, you never did tell me where the hell you went when you was out.”

I looked over to see Courtney, one of the guys who worked at the dental office, watching me as I walked into the room.

“I was sick,” I told him.

I damn sure wasn’t about to tell him my personal business because the moment he found out, everybody in the building would know about it. Courtney’s ass couldn’t hold water to save his life. He stayed telling everybody else’s business but his own.

“You been sick?” He raised an eyebrow, looking me over.

“Yeah.”

“Sick my ass.” He laughed, glancing toward Banks, who was standing against the wall. “If yo’ ass was sick, you wouldn’t have that big ass nigga over there watching you.”

“It’s a long story.”

“And I got all the time in the world, bitch.”

I shook my head. “Well, you ain’t getting the story from me.”

He laughed, but I wasn’t about to tell his ass shit. Instead, I went over to my section and started getting everything ready for my next patient. Once I finished setting up, I took a seat and waited for them to come back.

While I was sitting there, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and rolled my eyes when I saw Cassian’s name.

His ass had been calling the hell out of me ever since I’d been back at work. I didn’t know how he managed to run the whole security company and still find time to bother me throughout the day.

“What up, future baby mama?” he greeted me, laughing as soon as I answered.

I sucked my teeth. I didn’t know why he kept calling me that shit.

“Nigga, I’m not yo’ baby mama. Why the hell do you keep calling me that?”

“Because yo’ ass gone be my baby mama one day. You staying under my roof.”