All of Me

Thirteen

One month later, beginning of April

"RoRo, daddy will be by to get you in the morning. Okay, mama?"

"Okay daddy," she nodded while rubbing her eyes, lips pouted per usual. It was almost noon so Ro's actions made sense; nap time was approaching and she took her naps very seriously. Without them, the usually chill RoRo turned into a terrorizing cry baby.

"Don't be messin' with my child," Kaine joked to Riah when she took the phone back, causing Riah to roll her eyes.

"Don't nobody be messing with this spoiled ass child. She just don't like to be told that she can't have seafood right now. You can deal with it Kaine, but I'm not doing the spoiling," Riah finished and Kaine nodded his head.

Of the two, Riah was more of the disciplinary although Kaine could put his foot down sometimes. He knew that although her mom was less likely to give in to her every desire, Royal loved her nonetheless because she was still a great mother. Riah came from a bit of a wild family, so she knew setting those boundaries with Royal from an early age would benefit her child in the long run.

"That's fine. Ima give my baby what she want."

Kaine watched intently and proudly when Riah flipped the FaceTime camera to show Royal climbing into her kid bed and pulling the covers over herself. Royal was at a point where she wanted do everything without assistance and it was a sight to see as a first time parent. Even if it was 100% wrong, Ro didn't want help unless she asked for it.

Once Royal was done, Riah flipped the camera back. "You do that then. Text me when you getting ready to be on the away."

"Aight, gotchu," Kaine responded and the two said their goodbyes before getting off of the phone.

"Smoke sumn' bitch," Kaine mumbled along with Bun B as Get Throwed began blasting through the speakers of his car, simultaneously lighting a blunt. Kaine handled his business for the day— tattooing clients and checking in on his tattoo shop location's renovations— so he was about to get throwed for the second half.

The difference now-a-days was that Kaine wasn't smoking weed to numb anything. Therapy was working for him, and Kaine was doing much better with coming to terms with his past, focusing on the present, and letting the future be what it would be— something he couldn't 100% map out no matter how much he tried and overthought.

That progress was showing in his co-parenting relationship with Riah, his fathering of Royal, his relationships with his family, and also his friendship with Chloe— the woman he's been back and forth with although the feelings have been there without a doubt.

Twenty-five minutes later Kaine was backing into a parking spot, locking his car, and carrying a late lunch to Chloe's front door. He'd gotten them some soul food from one of the family's restaurants instead of Chipotle the that Chloe loved.

The plans for the day were to eat and then finish up another painting before planning artwork for the new shop, but something on the agenda didn't go as planned. Upon finishing their artwork and smoking another blunt together with the tunes of Mint Condition's "U Send Me Swingin'" playing softly in the background, Kaine and Chloe found themselves lost in each other's presence.

"Don't do no shit you gone regret tomorrow," Kaine mumbled, noticing how Chloe was looking at him. Instead of responding, Chloe just kept her gaze on Kaine.

The way she looked at him with low eyes was making his dick hard in his sweats. The man-spread position he was in as well as the compression underwear he wore concealed the print to some extent, fortunate for him. Chloe wouldn't have minded the sight, though.