𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑜𝑢

sixteen

I go upstairs into the guest bedroom where Nile was crying in his bouncy seat. He reaches out for me and I pick him up. "Whatchu crying for bebe" I ask and flood his forehead with kisses.

My dad didn't want Nile to go to foster care when the government found out about our arrangement, so he adopted him.

Nile stops crying and grasps my hair, a new skill he recently loved doing. "Boy stop" I whine, trying to detach his hand.

"Aaa" he babbles and I smile. "So cute. Now let go of my hair" I straight face him and he lets go of my hair.

I put him in his crib for a nap and go back to my room to finish my homework.

I wake up the next day, nervous as hell to see Jah.

"Hey bitch" Destiny says, coming into my room and getting into my bed. "How the fuck did you get in here" I facepalm, throwing the blanket over my head.

"Your dad gave me a key so I can babysit Nile" she flips me off and I roll my eyes. "We gotta be there in an hour. Get up" she says. "I'm not going anymore" I mumble and she looks at me with a crazy look.

"I'll be damned. Get up" Des rips the blanket off me. "Fuck youuu" I whine, waddling to the bathroom to take a shower.

I get ready and we take separate cars to downtown.

"You think you're ready?" she asks when we both stop at the juvenile detention building. "Fuck it" I shrug and walk in.

We sit down on one of the benches and wait for him to come in. "Can you stop shaking your fucking leg" Destiny straight faces me.

"I'm nervous" I bite the inside of my lip and the door opens.

Jah had a much darker look in his eyes, and since the court trial, he always looked tired.

I noticed his sleeves were pulled up and I could see a rose forearm tattoo that was not there two months ago. "Whaddup" he nods at me and I nod back. "Hi Jah" I say dryly.

"Hey baby sis" he gives Des a hug and sits next to me. "Whatchu doin here?" he asks me. "I wanted to see you?" I question.

He just hums in response. The three of us talk for thirty minutes until Des leaves to give us some privacy.

"When did you get this?" I ask, running my fingers over his tattoo. "Couple days ago" he responds. "It hurt" I ask and he shakes his head.

"I missed you" he mumbles and puts his head on my shoulder. "I missed you too, Jah" I put my hand in his hair and kiss his forehead.

"How's Nile?" he asks. "He seven months now. The mothafucka big ass hell" I laugh and he laughs with me.

"I'm out soon" he mumbles and I nod. "I know. I'm excited" I smile at him. "Why ain't you come see me before?" he asks, sitting up from my shoulder.

"Why ain't you call me" I ask back and he shakes his finger at me while laughing a little. "You got a point there" he shrugs and I nod.

"Lemme get a kiss" he smiles at me and I roll my eyes. "You irritating" I laugh and kiss him twice.

"You have five minutes left. Say your goodbyes" the guard says. "Before I forget, Kooda said that Hammer's back" I tell him and he raise his eyebrows.