"I think the kid's innocent. He has nothing to lose, so why lie?" Reed continued to vouch for our prime suspect that we had in custody.
"I don't even care at this point. There's a five year old girl still missing, so he staying here until we get answers. I don't believe he's clueless about everything. He's too close to the situation."
Reed sighed and went over to sit at his desk across from mine. "That's valid, but I gotta feeling."
"Take it from me rook, your gut isn't always the go-to move on this job. You learn that the hard way," I told him before looking down at a report that I had to fill out.
"Note taken..."
Since becoming partners, over time I've learned to deal with Jared and he's a solid dude. He's a pretty good cop for a rookie and he has his shit in order. Win, win situation.
"Wallace! My office, now!" I was taken aback when hearing Captain Frazier's tone. Seeing the look on his face as he stuck his head out of the side of his door was one that I was accustomed to over the years. It's must've meant that I was in deep shit.
"Ooooh, you in trouble."
I narrowed my eyes at Jared before rising up from my desk and walking to his office.
"Sup, Cap't?"
"Why are you playing with me, Brandon?"
I arched my brows out of confusion in this situation. "You lost me..."
Captain Frazier shook his head and sighed. "Okay, well maybe I should job your memory. Why haven't you been to see Dr. Hubert recently?"
I smacked teeth and shrugged. I felt that the entire thing was pointless, so I stopped going. Dr. Hubert is nice woman, but she don't know me or the shit I'm going through.
"Too busy..." I casually lied to his face.
Cap't nodded his head with a frown. "Too busy, eh? Maybe I should put you on desk duty so that you can have all the time you need to finish your evaluations."
"Come on now, Cap't. It's not that serious."
"Actually, it's very serious. I can't have one of my best men not in their right mind on the job. That puts both you and me in a bind."
I mentally rolled my eyes at him trying to lecture me about this again. "I'm perfectly fine."
I'm so tired of people trying to get in my head and see what's up. If it's not happening work, it's at home. Shit's getting annoying.
"Great, now find your way to those sessions before I take you off the job and I'm not joking. Now, get out I have work to finish."
I strolled on out his office with my thoughts scrambling around. Too much was on my mind these days.
"Aye, you have a visitor," Reed signaled with a headnod over to my desk. I looked over to see Lauren sitting there in my chair with her phone in her face. My brows arched as I walked over.
"What you doing here? Is everything cool?" I asked with concern in my eyes, observing to make sure that she no bruises or anything.
She looked up from her phone with a small smile as I rested my behind on the edge of the desk.
"Dang, I can't get a hello or nothing? Why something gotta be wrong?"
"Just a habit. Plus, you're at my job."
Lauren shrugged me off and placed a fake grin on her face. I already knew she was about to try to finesse me to do something.
"You come to my job all the time, so what's the difference?"
"That's different, very different."
Lauren ignored me and pulled out a food storage container with a brown substance inside. "Anyway, I brought you lunch."
"Oh, word?"
I took the container from her and opened it to see what it was. A small smile may have graced my face before a frown followed.
"Okay, preciate' it. Why you trying to bribe me with mashed potatoes and beef stew?"
"I can't be nice..."
I chuckled softly and shook my head. "Nah, not to me. What's the deal?"
"Shut up, I'm the nicest person you know. Anyway, soooo remember last week when we saw Ky and I suggested that we have dinner at--"
"No," I quickly interrupted her knowing where she was going with this. That bitch made nigga or his lady were not stepping inside my house. I'm not having it.
"C'mon now, Bam."
"Lauren, I'm not doing it. I'm not letting that nig--dude in my house. Period." She sighed deeply and pouted sullenly at my reply.
I shook my head at how she was trying to convince me to give in. I handed her the container back, so that she knew I wasn't playing games. Lauren quickly placed her hand out to reject getting the food back.
"Please...plus, I kind of already invited them for dinner tonight."
I stared her down, trying to contain my anger in front of my co-workers and this is the last place to go off on somebody at. "Well, uninvite them."
She gave me an uneven look and I could tell that she was disappointed. I hated when she would look at me like that. "How long are you going to hold this hatred you have for him?"
I didn't even wanna go into this conversation with her right now, so I let it go. I mentally cursed myself because I knew that I would regret this decision later.
"Laurie, can we not do this here...please. Have the damn dinner."
She rose up from behind my desk with a smirk and her arms opened out wide. "Yay. Now, come give me a hug."
"Nah, I'm good. I'll see you later."
Lauren rolled her eyes at me and wrapped her arms around neck anyway as I was still sitting my desk's edge. She squeezed my neck tightly when I did not reciprocate.
"Chill out. You holding it too tight."
Lauren let out a cackle before speaking. "Mhm, be nice and give me a hug back. You know you want too, ol' soft ass."
I cracked a smile and put my arms around her to embrace back. "Who you calling soft?"
"You, old man..." she said as she pulled back from our hug. "Anyway, let me go. Gloria waiting for me outside."
"Ah, I see. Tell her I say what's up."
Lauren arched her brows. "So, you can say hi to her, but couldn't even say hey when you saw me. Nice," she joked.
"Salty?"
She playfully rolled her eyes and picked up her purse to leave. "Bye, Brandon. Dinner's at 7. Try not to be late."
I watched Lauren walk out of the district before slouching down in my chair behind my desk. I looked up to see Reed looking at me with a smile. "What you smiling at me for Jared?"
"You and your girl are lowkey cute bruh."
I busted out laughing and furiously shook my head. "Funny, but she's not my girl."
"Could've fooled me, but that ain't my business."
"Nigga, shut up," I said before opening the food container up again and grabbing a fork from my drawer to eat.
I walked to my loft door, rethinking whether I should even go inside for this dinner shit. My hand rambled through my pocket to get to my last pill that I had. I sighed and decided to keep it in my pocket until I really need it.
When putting the key in the lock, I took a deep breath. I turned it and push it in. Before I could even walk in myself, the door swung open.
"Get in here fool," Lauren said, pulling me by my shirt sleeve. "The man of the house is here, so we can eat now."
I looked up to see Kyle and a very pregnant woman who I've never seen before sitting at my kitchen table. I'm guessing that she was the wife, the girl that had Skylar crying her eyes out to me years back.
She and him both stood up with smiles on their faces. The woman had her hand out waiting for me to shake it.
"Hey, I'm Nyah. Ky's told me so much about you."
I simply nodded and took her hand to shake. "Pleasure..."
Kyle gave me a headnod and I looked passed him, glancing over to Lauren. She was narrowing her eyes at me, but I shrugged her off before going into the kitchen to wash my hands.
"Laurie, where the lil' homie? He not eating..."
"Nasir is at my dad's house. Now hurry up, so we can eat slow poke. I'm hungry."
I smacked my teeth as I walked from the kitchen. "Chill on me," I uttered as I poked Lauren's neck before sitting beside her.
"Awh, lil' Nas gotta be atleast 10 now, right?"
Lauren cracked a smile as she started to gnaw on the porkchops she fried. "Yeah, he just turned 10 not too long ago. He think he grown now."
The couple chuckled as they took bites of their foods. I sat there quietly not trying to engage in any of the conversation. The topics ranged from careers to tv shows.
I was so busy eating my food that I didn't realize somebody was talking to me until Lauren nudged me. "What?"
"Nyah's talking to you," she mumbled. I looked up at the woman with a questioning look.
"My fault. What'd you say?"
"I was saying that Kyle always tell me stories about you and him being the best of friends coming up. How was this fool back then because he loves to make himself sound like the coolest dude around?"
Kyle shook his head and chuckled a bit. It sounded like he was skeptical of what I would say. I wiped my mouth with my napkin before speaking.
"Uh, he was--something." I kept it short, leaving a awkward silence in the room.
"Sooo, Ky. What are you guys thinking about naming the baby?" The two looked at each other with a smile before answering the question.
I was sitting here thinking about how unfair this was. This nigga screwed me over in the worse way possible. Yet, he's the one that gets to sleep with peace at night and a fucking wife at home.
"We've argued about this a few times, but we came to an agreement. Kaelynn Nicole Womack." His wife beamed as he spoke about it.
"I'm so excited because we already have my bonus baby boy, BJ, and now our baby girl. It's like the perfect little family," Nyah coo'ed about their family.
"Aww, so cute." Laurie was enjoying the convo.
"Perfect? Considering how you got him, I wouldn't say that. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised Kyle's a scum like that."
"Bam!" Lauren called out with a stern look.
His wife was caught in a daze by my response, but she didn't say a word. She simply stood up from the table to leave.
"Yo, I understand we got beef but don't disrespect my wife!"
I dismissed what he had to say and stood up as well. "Can't get respect unless you give it. You the same nigga that got my ex-girl pregnant and had me out here looking stupid. I ought to beat your ass again for old times sake."
Lauren grabbed my hand for me to calm down. I'm guessing that she thought I was going to attack, but I wouldn't do him like that with his pregnant girl here.
Kyle took a step toward me with a tense look. "You wanna talk about me? If I recall correctly, you slept with Sky after we broke up. I could've came at you, but I didn't."
I laughed bitterly. "Maaannn, fuck out of my house with the bullshit. You and your dusty ass wife."
I got up and left out of the dining room to go shower. I was done with this for the night. I went in my pocket and popped my pill before hopping in the shower.
Once getting out, I heard arguing. The voices weren't the ones that I had heard earlier. I quickly dressed myself and bursted out from the bathroom to see Lauren going ape shit.
The closer I walked to the front door, the clearer the face was. "Christian, leave! I'm not going to ask you again."
"Lauren, I'm not about to play with you."
I got to the door to see the man standing on crutches and I stared him down.
"Can we help you?" I questioned, standing behind Lauren letting her know that I had her back.
Please enjoy. Don't forget to vote, comment, and whatever else. Thanx! ;)
Do y'all agree with what Jared said about the two looking like a couple?
Can Brandon survive without being able to get anymore prescribed pills?
Lastly, how'd y'all like the dinner scene? How about that tea with Sky and Brandon? Do we believe they slept together?
S/N: Go check my other book that is also ongoing titled, "Missy Attitude" ...please & thanks☺