Maya's knee bounced up and down as she waited for the doctor to come back out of the room.

Tears partially clouded her vision, but she could still see Bri and Hakeem sitting across, and a few chairs down from her. She didn't know why Hakeem brought Bri, and she'd been annoyed since they walked in.

The reasoning behind him bringing her was simple, he wasn't doing anything wrong and didn't have anything to hide. He did what he said he would and told Brielle this morning that Maya had called him.

"Who?" Bri asked, thinking she'd heard him say the wrong name.

Hakeem chose his words carefully, making sure to mention Jayden, "Maya and the lil boy."

"That's what you was doing last night?"

He nodded his head, taking a step away from her so that he wasn't within her reach if she decided to hit him. Bri had never hit him before, but she always threatened to and this would be a good a time as any.

Brielle wasn't going to hit him, she was more concerned with finding out why she had to wait an hour for a bitch he wasn't even supposed to be talking to, then listen to Hakeem calmly tell her about it, "You bold as hell."

"How? It wasn't nothing like that."

"I asked you not to- you know what?" Bri asked, turning to look at him, "You know what the fuck I meant so I'm not repeating shit."

Hakeem's facial expression turned to shock, "You cursing me out and Ian even do shit bro."

Their first argument as a couple. The same day they'd become a couple.

Bri ignored him, resuming her task of smoothing down the front of her hair. It was pointless to her to explain to him again why she didn't want them talking. Besides the fact that they had a previous sexual history, Maya didn't like Brielle and she made no effort to hide it.

So Bri felt like why would Hakeem even want to talk to a bitch who didn't like her.

Standing quietly by the door, Hakeem tried to think of a way to explain to Bri that he wasn't trying to fuck with Maya in that way, or at all to be honest.

"The lil boy caught on fire Bri. I just met her at the hospital with my mama."

Jayden had found one of Maya's misplaced bobby pins on the floor and stuck it into the wall outlet. He was now in the hospital undergoing skin graft surgery for the 3rd-degree burns that were on his forearm.

For some reason, Maya thought Hakeem should be the one she called. She was right though since he asked Monica to help her, which is where they were last night.

"Who? Jayden?"

"Yeah. He had put his hand in the plug or some Ion know. She said she ain't have nobody else to call."

Bri scoffed but kept her comments to herself. What kind of person would she be if she got mad because Hakeem did what he thought was right by helping a young child?

He had a good heart, which was why he helped Brielle. She only wished his generosity was more selective, extending towards those who deserved it.

And Maya ass didn't deserve it.

Sensing that she was still upset about the situation, Hakeem went to stand behind her, placing his hands on her hips and placing his mouth by her ear, "On some real shit." Hakeem began, moving his lips down the nape of her neck, "I know what I want, and if I said don't worry about them hoes, then don't worry about them."

"I don't like the fact you tried to act like you didn't know what I meant.". Bri shook her head to rid her mind of the foggy feeling she got from the combination of him being so close to her and smelling his cologne.

He nodded against her skin, "I'm sorry baby."

One of the many apologies Hakeem would give.

Bri pretended not to notice the look Maya was giving her and once again asked Hakeem, "Why are we here again?"

"She wanna go take a shower or some and don't have nobody to sit at the hospital."

It sounded like a ploy for sympathy, and while Hakeem didn't see it, he was unknowingly preventing it from happening.

"I'm guessing she going after the doctor come back out." Hakeem continued looking at his phone, "You can go if you want to."

It wasn't Hakeem that Bri didn't trust, but rather Maya. They went hand in hand though, and she needed to take Hakeem's word for what he was saying until he gave her a reason not to.

Brielle reached for his keys, "I'll be back soon."

"Ain't no rush."

Of course he would believe that Bri thought with a smile as she leaned in the kiss him.

An internal smile formed as Maya watched Bri exit the doors.

• • •

There was a reason that schools work so closely with social services.

To protect the child, obviously. But also to resolve social, emotional and behavioral problems that the child may be exhibiting.

Brielle nervously cracked her knuckles as she tried to decipher which of those reasons social services had been called.

Mrs. Parsons refused to make eye contact with either of the children in the room as for the first time in her career, she felt bad for doing her job.

"You're the mother?" The social worker asked dubiously, looking for an indication that Bri was old enough to have a 7-year-old daughter.

"No. My mama-."

"I need to speak to her mother." She cut her off, "I'm sorry."

Kayla had become one with the chair, barely breathing and trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. She knew that she had really messed up this time.

"I usually go through Brielle for communication." Mrs. Parsons inserted, trying to help in some way.

As she said, she was only doing her job by alerting social services, putting the interests of Takayla first. Bri seemed nice enough, and Kayla was always telling her peers about her older sister who she wanted to be like.

It was Alisha that Mrs. Parsons wanted Kayla away from, and this was the only way to go about doing that.

"That may be the problem. Have you ever spoken to her actual mom?"

"She doesn't return my calls."

Brielle felt sick to her stomach. She didn't even know what Kayla had done but it must've been something bad for her teacher to call someone. To her knowledge, she and Mrs. Parsons had an understanding that while Kayla's home life wasn't that great, Bri was making the most of the hand they were dealt.

Standing up and letting out a sigh, the social worker looked down at Bri and extended a card, "Have your mom call me."

"I will." Bri lied. If anything, she'd call and pretend to be Alisha.

As soon as the door closed, Mrs. Parsons' gaze turned sympathetic, "I had to."

To her surprise, Brielle didn't seem all that angry, "I know."

The tone of her voice was defeated. Like she had finally accepted that this was how her life had to be.

"Takayla asked one of the fifth grade boys for a dollar." She continued, either ignoring or not noticing how Bri sounded, "In exchange for some sort of favor."

While that may not have been alarming to anyone else, Mrs. Parsons had seen the picture and was keeping a close eye on behaviors she found abnormal. Therefore, social services were called when Kayla was offering to kiss boys for a dollar.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Brielle drowned out everything that the teacher was saying. She'd heard everything that needed to be said, "Kayla come on."

Kayla jumped from the chair, nearly sprinting out of the room ahead of Brielle.

"Brielle I'm just trying to help." Mrs. Parsons explained.

"Calling them doesn't help us." Bri replied, "That shit just made it a thousand times harder to help her."

She left the office before a response was given, grabbing Kayla's hand and yanking her down the hall, "You stay doing stupid shit Kayla I swear."

"I wanted ice cream and you weren't there." She spoke tearfully, "Mama told me to ask somebody at school."

"Please stop talking to me."

"I'm sorry."

No matter how much she wanted to yell at Takayla, she felt that in that moment she would say something she didn't mean. Bri would never forget the words that Alisha spoke to her that made her feel worthless and less than.

She'd never repeat that cycle with any child.

"We'll fix it." Bri responded quietly, stopping to kneel in front of her, "It's okay. I'll fix it."

The drive home was plagued with thoughts of how to fix it. No matter how much terrible shit Alisha did, it still came as a surprise every time she pulled something like this.

Who would tell their child to go beg for money? Especially when Brielle knew Alisha had 4 quarters in that house.

She'd just told Kayla she would fix everything, but she was trying to calm her down. Bri hadn't the slightest clue what to do in this situation.

No court would give her custody of Kayla unless she could prove Alisha was unfit, and Brielle stupidly went to great lengths to hide that fact. She wanted Kayla to fit in with the other students.

They may consider giving her custody if Alisha was dead, but she was healthy, and didn't seem close to dying any time soon.

"I did what Darnishia did." Kayla whispered while looking down at her fingers, "In the journal that's what she did."

There it was again. The aforementioned journal that Brielle had yet to read. It was an extreme invasion of privacy because it sounded like the things in there were only what she spoke to her therapist about.

At this point, was there another option?

As Brielle and Kayla were closing their doors, a car pulled in front of the house, and an older man stepped out, walking around to open the door for a very happy Darnishia to climb out.

Brielle was too upset about the thwarting of her plans to notice Darnishia beaming as she briskly walked into the house.

She did, however, look up in time to see the man, who was now leaning against his car, staring unashamedly at her. He made no effort to look away, and Bri didn't either.

Only her reason was that he looked like someone that she couldn't place.

"Bri I gotta use it." Kayla complained in the background.

Breaking eye contact, Brielle turned around to go walk her sister in the house. Her eyes quickly found a new target though when they landed on the black bag Darnishia had in her hand, "Where you going?"

"I'll be back in the morning." She replied dismissively, "And I already paid mama to let me go so don't call on no messy stuff."

"You a grown ass woman. How you 'pay somebody' to let you go somewhere?"

Darnishia pushed past her sister, going outside to get back into the car, her smile reappearing.

There wasn't much, or anything for that matter, that Brielle could do about that. She sat the keys on the kitchen counter and went to her shared room with Darnishia, and into the closet where she reached for the loose floorboard.

Taking a deep breath she sat on the bed and began reading the horrific tales that were Darnishia's adolescent and young adult life.

• • •

"Calm down." Monica soothed Maya, patting her on the back, "Tell me what they said."

"That they may look into removing him from the home." She cried loudly.

Hakeem had his back to the scene, responding to Brielle's messages. She wouldn't tell him what was wrong, instead continuously asking if he was done because she needed to talk to him.

He let her to take his car because he got Josiah to come take him to get his other one. A decision he was now happy he made.

"I'm finna go." Hakeem interrupted, "Ma you need me to take Grace some food or some?"

Monica glared at him, "I need you to answer your phone if I call you tonight."

"You gotta text me. Ion be paying my phone no attention like that."

Because they never wanted anything.

Maya had yet to pull away from Monica, not because it was apart of her plan, but because she couldn't remember the last time she was enveloped in a loving embrace.

Once Hakeem left, Monica asked Maya, "Are you hungry?"

"Not really. My stomach won't let me eat."

"Soup." She patted her knee, "I'll be right back."

Monica wondered where Maya's mother was. It would've been rude to ask, and she figured if the woman wasn't here then it must've been for a good reason.

While she was gone, Maya took the opportunity to do something she'd been avoiding since she missed her last cycle. She made her way into the bathroom where she pulled the store-bought test from her bag.

She'd chosen to use the handicap stall, allowing herself ample space to set up a mock testing area. Sighing heavily, Maya thought of how she found herself in this predicament. Not the uncertain pregnancy, but the fact that her son was in the hospital seriously injured.

Maya thought of herself as a good mother. Young and guilty of making questionable decisions, but a good mother nonetheless. She was raising Jayden on her own and that wasn't easy at all.

After estimating that the time was up, Maya closed her eyes and counted down until she was prepared to take a look at the results she was sure she already knew the answer to.

Eventually, she opened her eyes to see two distinct lines on the pregnancy test, indicating that she was, in fact, carrying her second child.

• • •

Hakeem walked inside of his house, confusion weighing heavily on him as he looked for Brielle. He came straight here because he thought she was waiting on him, but he didn't see the car outside.

He pulled out his phone, going to Bri's contact to call her and stopping when he saw a message at the top of his screen from Brielle, telling him that she was in the room.

Confusion was exchanged with concern as Hakeem went looking for her.

Bri was where she told him she was, in his room hugging a pillow to her chest. Despite him still having on outside clothes, Hakeem quickly took off his shoes and got into the bed with her, "What's wrong?"

She shifted, rolling over to press her face into his shirt. He was giving her time to begin speaking when he realized she was crying. By that point, she was nearly inconsolable, crying for what felt like forever.

It was her fault that she was had so much to cry about seeing as she held so many emotions in until she mentally couldn't anymore.

"I'm so tired." She cried once she'd calmed down enough to form a sentence.

"What you need me to do?" Hakeem asked immediately.

Pushing her face deeper into his chest, Brielle tried to be transparent with the internal struggle she was currently facing, "I never wanted to get high so bad in my life."

That sentence was alarming to Hakeem, even if it shouldn't have been. He often forgot that Bri was a recovering addict, and now that addiction was looking as if it were trying to reappear.

"What you need me to do?" He repeated, his grip on her tightening.

Brielle thought about it, thinking of the person who had, in her mind, ruined and continued to ruin her life: Alisha. Alisha was the bane of Bri's existence, making her life unnecessarily hard at every turn. Bri knew she could only blame herself for some routes she took, but Alisha was still a terrible excuse for a mother.

So her answer to Hakeem's question came easily, "I want somebody to kill Alisha."

• • •

it's been a minute since i did a cliffhanger, yeah?

kill the mama huh? what y'all think?

hakeem must ain't give her a plan b 🥴 maybe it's not his. we'll see hehe.

a chapter full of mess 🥰 i love it here!