Page 6 of Pulse of True Soulmates

That was it right there. I hated that. I wanted to be able to move around without having to depend on people.

It was bad enough that I had to depend on rideshares if I wanted to go somewhere if my father or Fatima weren’t available.

“Fatima, thank you, but I work a full day tomorrow. Today is the best time to do it since I’ll be done with work by like ten. ”

Her face screwed up. “So, what you’re telling me is that you’re about to go out in the peak of the day when it’s the hottest instead of either waiting until the sun falls when it’s cooler or tomorrow evening? How does that make sense, Aeon?”

“I want to get it out of the way, Fatima.” She got on my nerves sometimes with her overbearing nature. I loved her for wanting to make sure I was healthy and safe, but sometimes, it was just too much. “I promise, I’m going to bring my water, fan, and make sure I sit down when I get overwhelmed.”

She stared at me for a moment before she put her empty coffee mug in the dishwasher.

Her hands went into her pockets as she walked in my direction.

“Alright. If you think Daddy Vernon is going to go apeshit if he gets a medical emergency call about you, I’m gonna be a gorilla to his chimpanzee.

” She kissed my cheek. “I’ll call you later to check on you. Bye, Midnite, nigga.”

I giggled as she sashayed out of my house.

Fatima was nothing to play with, and I loved it.

Her half step was better than some bitches’ overstep.

I glanced at the clock on the side table.

I had twenty minutes to get my life together and jump on this meeting.

It was a blessing that I worked from home.

“Midnite, today is going to be a day. Are you ready?”

Midnite climbed from the couch to go to his button. I smiled when he stood over the button he intended to press. He looked over his shoulder at me then pressed the button. “I stay ready.” Yes, he did.

“I’m cooking tonight, baby girl,” my father told me. He knew that would make me excited. My father cooked his ass off.

I wiggled in my seat that was in front of his desk. After my meeting, Midnite and I caught a rideshare to my father’s office. I saw him at least three days a week. He came to my house, or I went to his office or house. “What are you cooking? Please say seafood lasagna.”

“Well, what do you know. I’m cooking seafood lasagna. Make sure you tell greedy ass Fatima.” He laughed at his own words. My father treated Fatima like she was his daughter as well.

Her father was in prison serving a sixty-year sentence for murder, and her mother was serving twenty for being an accomplice to murder.

When she was twelve, her mother told her father that some dude raped her.

Her mother then set the man up, and Fatima’s father killed him.

When they were caught, it came out that the man did not rape her.

She was mad at the man because they were fucking around, and he told her that he didn’t want to mess with her anymore.

Initially, she had a second-degree murder charge, but she took a deal and flipped on Fatima’s father.

Fatima’s paternal auntie took her in and raised her.

I pulled out my phone. “I’m texting her right now. You know she’s gonna be right there.” My head popped up from my phone screen. “Um, are you making brownies too? I’ll get the stuff.”

“You don’t have to get nothing, lil girl. I already knew you were going to ask me.” He leaned over to look at the side of his desk where Midnite lay on his pillow. “Midnite, I got you something good to eat too.”

Midnite got up with a wagging tail. He had buttons in my father’s office, but not as many as we had at home. He pressed the button. “Thank you, Pop Pop.”

I loved the way my people loved my baby.

There were days that I didn’t feel well, so my father would make me come and stay in his office with him.

He had a very comfortable couch that pulled out into a bed.

That was the reason there were buttons in here for my baby.

I thought him having the couch-bed in his office would be a problem, but everyone was aware of my condition and how my father didn’t play about me.

Sometimes it felt weird when I was out and I saw firefighters because they’d tell me “hi” by name.

I didn’t know these people, well not all of them.

“Alright Daddy, let me get out of here. I have an errand to run, then I’m going home.” I’d already been here for over an hour. It was time for me to go.

When Vernon Blackwell tilted his head, I knew he was about to work my nerves like my best friend. “Aeon, there is nothing that important that you need to do right now in this heat. Take your ass home, lil girl.”

I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I pulled up the rideshare app on my phone to order my ride. There was one only five minutes away. Good! “Okay, Daddy. Come on, Midnite.”

My baby got up and came to my side. I said my final goodbye and walked out of his office, closing the door. I stopped at Susan’s desk to let her know what I planned to get from the store today. Her ass started to fuss too. I have to stop telling people about my moves.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the big box store.

The heat sweltered outside, so I moved faster than normal to get inside of the warehouse.

Maybe I should have listened to Fatima. I grabbed a cart to put what I needed inside.

About ten minutes into my shopping, Midnite started to lean away from me as we walked.

He did this when he wanted to help me be more stable while I walked or stood.

Halfway down an aisle, Midnite stopped walking and jumped up with his front paws on my thigh. He did it two more times before I addressed him. “Alright, baby. I’ll sit down.”

I pushed the cart a little further up, stepped back a few feet, then sat on the floor.

I took my messenger bag off me, opened it, then pulled out my bottle of water and my pulse oximeter.

Midnite watched me for a second. I knew he wanted to see if I would pull out my medication from my bag.

I intentionally didn’t so he would be prompted to get it.

I smiled when he dug in my bag with his snout then pulled out the pill bottle. “Thank you, baby.”

My pulse was 152 and my oxygen level was eighty-eight per my pulse oximeter.

I need to get my heart rate down and oxygen saturation up, or I’m going to pass out.

Midnite had already laid her head on my lap.

I hurriedly opened my medication and took it then placed the bottle back in my bag.

My blurred eyes let me know that my heart rate was not going down fast enough. “Midnite, I’m gonna lay down.”

He got up to give me room to lie down. Once I was flat on my back, I tapped my chest. Midnite used his body to lie across it.

I tried not to use deep pressure therapy in public because people became overly worried.

Lack of understanding caused them to immediately call emergency services, which was unnecessary most of the time.

The weight from Midnite on my chest helped regulate my blood flow faster than if I just sat there and waited for my heartrate to slow.

“Ma’am, are you alright? Do you need me to call emergency services?” a deep voice asked from my side. At least he asked instead of just calling them.

My eyes were closed as I spoke. “No, I’ll be fine.” I rubbed my baby’s back. “Midnite’s got me.”

He said something else to me, but I really wasn’t listening.

I prayed he took what I said and moved along.

I was annoyed because I knew that once I got it together to get up, I more than likely would have to leave what I’d gotten so far here to go straight home.

Fatima’s ass was going to curse me out, then when we got to my father’s house, he would curse me out.

I didn’t feel like any of that today. I should have damn listened. I could be stubborn as an ox sometimes.

“Hey, baby. I know you told my son that you were alright, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself.

Did you have a seizure?” Now it was a woman’s voice.

I took a deep breath. She said she was whoever the guy that spoke to me mother.

The guy’s deepness of his voice didn’t give a kid, so I assumed that this woman was older.

I opened my eyes then turned my head with a smile on my face.

“No ma’am, I’m not having a seizure. I have a condition called POTS.

Sometimes I get overworked, and my heart rate goes up too much, so I have to sit or lay down.

” I glanced down at my baby who minded his business with his head on my shoulder.

I rubbed Midnite’s head, then said, “My baby here is trained to warn me so I can sit or lay down so I don’t hurt myself. Thank you for asking.”

I saw the confusion in her eyes. My attention moved to the man that stood beside her.

Well, damn! This lady’s son was fine. He was dressed perfectly for the heat, with a pair of khaki shorts, a basketball jersey, and sneakers that complimented the colors in the jersey.

His locs were up in a bun on the top of his head.

You could tell that his lineup was fresh, and I appreciated the work of whoever did it.

I snapped out of my infatuation with this lady’s son when she said something I didn’t expect.

“Ok, well, I still don’t want to leave you here by yourself.

My son is going to stay with you until you feel well enough to get up.

” Wait, what! “Declan, stay here and help her when she’s ready to get up.

Give me the cart, and I’ll go get the stuff I need. I’ll be back.”

My eyes bucked as I watched this woman take the cart from her son, then walked off. What was really happening right now? My eyes shot back to her son whose name apparently was Declan. He looked uncomfortable as hell. “Um, so hi, Declan. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Aeon.”

He chuckled before he spread his legs a little, leaned back on the big shelf, then crossed his sexy, tatted arms across his chest. “What’s up, Aeon? Does this happen a lot?”

“Um, to this degree, no. Most of the time, all I have to do is just take a seat somewhere, but with the extremely hot weather and just moving around, I think I did too much,” I told him.

I lifted my arms up to put my pulse oximeter back on my finger.

My heartbeat is 101 and my oxygen level is 97.

“That’s more like it. Midnite, I’m okay, boy. ”

Like he was trained to do, he lifted his head and stayed on top of me for a moment to make sure I was alright. If he didn’t think so, he would have laid his head back down to let me know that he wasn’t satisfied yet with my heartrate. When he got off me, that was his okay for me to get up.

Declan took a step toward me. “Let me help you up.” He paused for a moment and glanced at Midnite. I understood the look of asking if my dog would react. After I told Midnite that it was alright to let Declan help me, he came to my side and extended his hand. “Come on.”

I grabbed his soft hands and let him pull me up.

Midnite was right next to me. My baby was trusting to a point, but not that damn trusting.

People often underestimated labradors because of their friendly nature.

I’d admit that most were overly friendly, but as my service dog, he would protect me at all costs.

Declan picked my bag up once I was on my feet.

“Thank you so much for helping me up and staying with me.”

“Shit, my mama would have beat my ass if I didn’t.” Although he said it jokingly, something told me that it was not a joke at all. He peeked over at my cart. “Do you want me to help you get the rest of whatever you need?”

Hm, his help would be great. “I mean, if you have the time, that would be great. I don’t want to put you out of your way.”

He looked at the very nice watch on his wrist. “Nah, my mother still has a good twenty minutes of getting the things on her list and getting stuff that’s not but adding it to the list like it always was.” There was absolutely no smile on his face. He was serious.

“Oh, I think I have to use that method.” It may not have been funny to him, but it was hilarious to me.

He pushed the cart while I walked beside him.

He smells so fucking good. Will it be weird if I ask him what cologne he’s wearing?

“Alright, I just need a few more things, then I can get my rideshare to get home.”

He stopped pushing the cart. His face tightened, and it was a sexy sight to see.

“Wait, rideshare? What the hell do you mean you’re going to call a rideshare?

Baby woman, your ass was laying on a damn floor in the store.

You really plan to pick up this heavy ass shit and put it in a rideshare, only to take it out and carry it in your house? You’re joking, right?”

“Um, no, I’m not. Unfortunately, I can’t drive because of my condition,” I told him. My right, upper lip was lifted with my eyebrow. “I’ll be fine. Baby woman? What is that?”

He gawked at me then shook his head. “You’re not a child, so I’m not going to call you baby girl, hence baby woman.

” He started to push the cart again. “You’re talkin’ about you’re going to be fine.

If you act like you’re going to pass out again, I’m going to pick your lil ass up and put you in this damn cart.

” He cut his eyes downward at my dog who must have felt him, because he looked up. “I’ll put your black ass in there too.”

I couldn’t help it. What was it about people talking to Midnite like he was a human. “You’re really going to put me and my baby in the cart?” I looked down at myself. “I am not little either.”