Page 18 of Steel

“Bye, Nayelli. Have a good day.”

She waved as her aunt ushered her out the front door. Something about this shit didn’t sit right with me.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the kids, I went back to my office and finished up some paperwork. Once I was done, I made a beeline for Jaeda’s to get my baby and talk to her. WhenI walked into the house, KJ was rolling around on the floor with Quaid, squealing loud as hell.

“Look at your overgrown ass,” I said, chuckling.

Quaid took his eyes off KJ for a second, and my boy snatched those glasses right off his face.

I laughed. “I told you not to wear them around him. My boy got hands.”

He grinned as he pried them from KJ’s tight little grip. “I keep a spare.”

“Blind ass.”

He chuckled as he climbed to his feet with KJ in his arms. “Whatever, man. He had a good time with his favorite uncle.”

I kissed my teeth. “Give me my son, nigga.”

He handed KJ to me as he was kicking his feet and grinning.

“Hey, Fat Man,” I said, kissing his cheeks. “Daddy missed you, dude.”

He laid his head on my shoulder as he fidgeted with my ears. I smiled to myself. He would never know how much I loved him.

“I think he missed you too,” Quaid said as he cleaned up the toys all over the floor. “You good?”

“I don’t know, man. Some shit is bothering me. I need my sister.”

“She’s back there working. Y’all got an assignment today.”

“Shit. Okay.”

I headed down the hall to Jaeda’s office. After knocking on the door, I walked in. She was seated at her desk, typing a mile a minute.

“Hey, Jae.”

“Hey.”

“I need your help.”

“What is it? I’m kinda in the middle of something.”

“I need you to look someone up for me.”

“Who?’

“Neha Malone.”

Jaeda stopped typing and looked back at me. “Why? After all this time, now you want to know where she is?”

“I saw her.”

“Here?”

“When I dropped Jaiden off a couple days ago. She damn near backed into me.”

“Wait. What was she doing at the school? Does she have a kid? Is she married?”