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I exhaled. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I need to find a house out there, so… I’ll be staying with Serenity and Cree until I do.”

The smile disappeared from her face. “Excuse me?”

“It’s temporary.”

Her eyes darkened. “Creed, no.”

“Jai—”

“No, Creed.” She got up, crossing her arms. “You’re about to live with your ex? The one you still got unfinished business with?”

I exhaled sharply. “Jailah, she’s the mother of my child. That’s it. There is no unfinished business.” It was a lie, a lot remained unfinished between Serenity and me; but Jailah didn’t need to know that.

“And I’m your girlfriend,” she snapped. “So, what am I supposed to do? Just sit here while you’re playing house with your baby mama?”

I rubbed my temples. I never had to navigate no shit like this. With Gianna and Serenity, Serenity was always understanding of my decisions when it came to Gianna as far as our son was concerned. She knew we would see her often, have to deal with her, and not to say she was okay with it, but she tolerated a lot of shit.

I didn’t understand Jai’s beef with Serenity, seemed like she had one since the beginning of our relationship; often talking about her, wanting to know stuff about it. If I didn’t know any better, I would think she was more obsessed with Serenity then I was. She didn’t even question Gianna like that. But Serenity, it seemed the beef was too personal.

“Ain’t nobody playing house. I need a place to stay, she has one. And, I need to be there for my daughter.”

Jailah let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, this is crazy. You got me so fucked up.”

I clenched my jaw. “I told you from day one—Cree comes first. Always.”

“And what about Gio?” she threw at me. “What if Gianna says the same thing?”

That’s when my stomach dropped.

I hadn’t told her yet.

Two days ago, I got the call that changed everything. Gianna had been caught at the border smuggling drugs. I thought it was a prank call when the call came through. Somebody had to be messing with me. There was no way, Gianna, the mother of my child was in jail for some bullshit like that. Now, she was facing serious time, and I had to step up. I had to get Gio out of Dallas.

When I visited her in jail, she was a mess—her hair disheveled, her eyes swollen from crying.

I sat across from her, my jaw tight. “Why, Gi? What was the fucking reason behind doing some dumbass shit like this?”

She sniffled, looking down at her hands. “It was good money and I needed it.”

“Needed it for what? I pay you, really good money every single month to more than take care of you and my son.”

“I just needed it.”

“You got a son,” I snapped. “You think being locked up is helping him? Or did that fuckin bird brain of yours not think that far ahead? You had to know you would get caught.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I fucked up.”

“Who you was doing this for?” she glanced up at me, her mouth opened but no words coming out before finally—“Nate.”

“Nate who?” I asked my eyes widened in shock.

“The only Nate we both know.”

“Naseem’s brother Nate?” she gave a short head nod. “Fuck.” I stood up from my seat and paced the small space we were allowed. “How long has that been going on?” she didn’tnow that I knew about her involvement of Nate, I was just trying to see if she would lie.

“Not long, just the last year.”

Liar…