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“Sie B? That’s your mother?”

“Yeah,” Serenity said meekly, “That’s my mom.”

My mama’s face twisted up real quick. She didn’t say much after that. But I could tell she wasn’t happy. And I was satisfied knowing she couldn’t find a damn thing wrong with my girl.

When the waiter came and took our orders, I was thankful for the distraction. I thought the line of questioning was over until my mama opened her mouth and dropped the bomb.

"So, is her money why you’re with her?"

The table went dead silent. My stomach sank as my face burned with embarrassment. I turned to my mama, my jaw clenching.

"What the hell kind of question is that?"

"A reasonable one," she said, her tone sharp. "I mean, you’re living at her penthouse apartment, she’s treating you to fancy dinners. You know how that looks, right?"

Pops sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Tasha, you’ bein’ rude."

But before I could go off, Serenity cut in, cool as ever.

"It’s fine," she said, picking up her glass of water again. "I get it. People assume things when money is involved."

I hated how unbothered she was acting—because I knew she wasn’t. I could see it in the way her fingers lightly tapped the base of her glass, in the way her shoulders tensed just slightly. She was bothered as hell. But she wasn’t going to let my mama see it.

I rubbed my temples, exhaling. "Mama, I don’t need her money. I’m about to go first round in the damn draft. What the hell would I be using her for?"

"I don’t know, Creed. But women with money… they come with expectations."

"And what kind of expectations would those be?" Serenity asked, raising an eyebrow.

Oh, shit.

I turned to her, but she just took a small sip of her water, eyes locked on my mama.

Before my mama had a chance to reply, Serenity continued.

“I don’t put any expectations on Creed. Hell, nine times out of ten he doesn’t let me pay for anything. I had to talk him into letting me do this. I’m not a bad person Mrs. Langston, nor do I believe your son is using me for my money.”

That shut my mama up real quick.

My Pops chuckled, nodding in approval. "Now shut up, Tasha."

Nasseem, clearly wanting to shift the conversation, turned to Serenity and smiled.

"By the way, I never got to thank you in person for what you did for me. It means a lot," he said.

Serenity smiled warmly. "I’m just glad my dad was able to help. He actually thinks you’re a serious contender."

"Yeah?" Nas grinned. "Shit, I appreciate that. I been working my ass off."

“He told me you had a fight a few weeks back and won. Congrats on that.”

“Appreciate it.”

The rest of the dinner went by in an awkward blur. While my mama didn’t say much else for the rest of the night, her consistent eye rolls whenever Serenity spoke to Pops or Nas was getting on my nerves and I was glad when it was time to leave.

The second we walked through the door of the apartment I knew something was off. Serenity had been quiet the entire ride back, her usual confidence dimmed just slightly. The moment the elevator doors closed behind us I turned to her, frowning.

"You okay?"