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Honestly if it wasn’t for my mama as well as Julius’s mom keeping our four-year-old son Jude while we were away on business, I probably would’ve dropped out.

Anytime Julius would be booked close to home he would let Jude travel with him.

Everybody pitched in because they knew how important it was for me to finish my degree.

Hell, anytime I mentioned taking a semester off Julius was on my ass.

In the beginning me finishing was for myself but after having Jude I was doing it for him.

Yes, his father was a successful rapper, but I wanted my son to know how important it was to have an education.

I didn’t want to be one of those parents who preached about stuff without having done it myself. I refused to be a hypocrite.

When one of the people directing the graduates motioned for us to stand, I glanced around the auditorium trying to see if I could spot my family.

Lariah must’ve known I was looking for them because she stood up and waved.

Stepping out of line I rushed over to the stands and held my arms out.

“Pass me my baby.” I said to no one in particular.

Julius swooped him up from the bleacher and held him over the railing. Once I had him in my arms I kissed his cheek. “Hey baby.”

“Hey mommy.” He smiled. Letting him down to the ground I grabbed his hand and took my place back in line.

When it was my turn to walk across Jude and I stepped up the stairs and made our way to the front where the deans were standing. Once my degree books were placed in my hand a wide smile broke out across my face. After taking a quick picture the two of us left the podium.

Instead of going back to my seat I meandered back over to the stands and walked Jude up to where my family was.

“We sliding?” Julius asked as he picked Jude up and sat him on the side of him.

“Nawl, I’mma wait until they dismiss us.”

“Bet.”

Leaning down I pecked him on the lips before turning and going back to my place.

At this point graduation was over with for me but I wanted to stick around so that I could get some pictures with my classmates.

We’d been through some trying times during this program and life was getting ready to separate us.

Unlike myself, the majority of them had already landed their full-time jobs in our field. My last hospital rotation was at the children’s hospital so as soon as I got cleared for graduation I applied for a PRN position there.

I had secured the degree but let’s keep it real, there wasn’t a job out there that was going to pay me what I made hosting. So, while I had no plans on using my degree full-time, I still planned to work here and there.

On top of that I had a swimwear line that was dropping in a few weeks that would keep me busy. Since being with Julius my plans of moving out of the state had changed for sure. With me being attached to him I’d been able to make enough money to take care of my whole family.

As soon as the ceremony commenced, I took pictures with my school friends and said my goodbyes. Before we parted, we made plans to link one last time before everyone left the city.

Julius had gotten a sprinter for everyone to ride in so once I was done, we left the auditorium and went back to the house for the party.

As soon as we made it home, I changed clothes, put Jude on his swim trunks, and started celebrating.

Julius had invited a shit load of people so there were folks running in and out of the house.

I’d been in and out of the pool playing with Jude for a minute and I was getting tired.

I decided to leave him out there with Julius while I took a break.

Locating my mama and my granny in the living room I ambled their way and plopped down on the couch.

“Congratulations, Riah.” My granny, Mariah beamed.

Leaning down I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, granny.”

“Now what kind of doctor are you? Cause you ain’t been in school that long and this the only graduation of yours I done been too.”

“Mama, Nariah got her bachelor’s and her PharmD at the same time.” My mama spoke up.

“Umph. How she do that?”

“It’s the program I went through granny.” I laughed.

“Oh, that must be nice.” She shrugged.

“Granny confused as hell.” My sister whispered.

“She is.” Sliding down I rested my legs on the coffee table. “Mama y’all taking Jude back home with y’all?”

“If I can pull his ass out of that pool I will. When y’all leaving again?”

“I think we fly out at like six. I gotta ask Julius to be sure.”

“How long you gon’ be gone sister?”

“Just the weekend. Hopefully you’re still here when I make it back.”

“I don’t know.” Lariah pouted.

Julius had gotten booked to perform in Miami, so we were flying down to spend the weekend there. Initially I wasn’t going to go but the event he was performing at was huge and I wanted to wear my swimsuit so the buzz about it could start.

What started out as a simple idea had morphed into a whole line.

I remember asking Julius if he thought I should take it serious, and he said he did.

There had been plenty of times where people would inbox me inquiring about what I had on.

So when I saw how much of an impact I had, I decided I might as well put that money in my own pocket.

My line Jurni was very precious to me. Julius and I had flown to Korea a few times so that I could meet with the designer. I had a feeling the first drop was going to go crazy, and I couldn’t wait.

“Nariah, where you at?” Julius asked.

“We’re in the living room.”

“Come out here real quick. I wanna show you something.”

Hopping off the couch I strolled to the front door. “What?” I queried as I neared him.

Julius wrapped his tatted arm around my waist and pulled me into him. “Congratulations baby. I’m so proud of you.” He smirked before kissing me on the lips.

I eyed him suspiciously. “Thank you.”

Grabbing a set of keys out of his pocket he held them up. “Here.”

“Julius.” I gasped. “You bought me a car?”

“Go check it out.” He tilted his head toward the door.

Stepping past him I walked out of the house and sure enough parked in the front was a white Lamborghini Urus with a pink bow sitting on the hood.

I could hear clapping behind me, but I was laser focused on my new truck.

Hitting the locks I opened the door and hopped in.

The interior had been custom done up in pink and black.

When it came to gifts Julius didn’t half ass shit, so I wasn’t surprised in the least. He’d already gifted me two Van Cleef bracelets when we first got here so I thought that was it. I already had three cars all purchased by him, so I definitely wasn’t expecting a fourth.

Standing in between the door he asked. “You like it?”

Propping my foot up on the door I adjusted my body and leaned against the middle console. “I do. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”

“Tell yo nigga he did good.” He smirked and bit down on his bottom lip.

Tucking my finger in the waistband of his Fendi swim trunks I pulled him closer. “You did good. Thank you, Julius.”

“Ain’t shit.” He waved me off. “On the real I’m very proud of you Nariah. For somebody that don’t slow down you really did that shit.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Nawl all I did was stay on yo ass. You did all of the hard work even on the days where yo ass was dog tired and begging me to let you skip. You still got up and did yo shit. I’m proud of you and I know Jude is too.”

Him saying that made me drop my chin and blush. Like I said the shit was hard as hell, but he was right, I’d done it. “Thank you.”

“We gone go up in Miami this weekend.”

“Hell yeah.” I sang. “Speaking of.” I sat up. “I need to go pack Jude’s bag so he can go to my mama house.”

“You do that while I go get his lil ass out the pool.”

“Who got him?” I asked and looked around.

“Tito.” He chuckled. “I promise he good.”

“He better be.” Julius’s friends played too rough with Jude, and I didn’t like that. He knew I would’ve lost my shit had he said he left him with Lucas or somebody.

Julius pecked me on the lips one final time before going to the back yard.

After shutting the door and locking my truck up I linked arms with my sister and strolled back inside.

The quicker I could get Jude packed and everybody out of the house—the quicker I could give my man a proper thank you for my new baby.