Chapter 18

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Angel and my father lived in West Cacka-Lacka, or Eureka, which was a well-to-do city in the county of St. Louis. In walking distance of Six Flags Over Mid-America in fact. When I stayed summers there, my daddy bought me and my sister season passes and we would walk there and have so much fun. I never get bored of that place.

Angel hated the place. Outside of taking us a few times when I was younger, she never wanted to go with me anymore. Dad would go on occasion, but he was no fun. Maybe I could take AJ, but he was too little to ride anything.

I loved the feel of pulling up to the house, or mini-mansion as I called it. It used to be Angel's parent's house, but she bought it from them when they retired and moved away. It was five bedrooms, an excessive amount considering it was only Angel and her sister growing up. Even now, I had my own room, Symone had her own room, and AJ had his own room. With a baby on the way, someone was giving up their room.

It might be me.

Or the baby could share with AJ.

It was only a little after five when I pulled up, and I knew that meant Angel was still at work, and so was my father. My dad became super busy when he opened a second car repair shop. He liked to split his time between the two.

I used my key to enter the home, quickly deactivating the alarm system, hoping they did not change it since I was gone.

Then I dropped my things off in my room before heading downstairs to the basement and lounging on the sofa, remote in one hand, phone in another. Netflix on, I looked at my phone and texted King.

Made it home safe and comfy

Let me see

I took a picture of myself laying on the sofa, sticking out my tongue, and sent it to him.

Cute

Are you lonely already?

There are a few people here you know. So no

hope you have fun...all alone. Don't miss me too much

Fresh, I did a lot of things before you

Hurt. Sad face

Then I heard someone coming into the house and I knew it was Angel and AJ.

Gotta go! My baby bro and step mummy are home!

I jumped up fast from the couch so I could run up the stairs and greet them. Angel had already made her way into the kitchen with AJ behind her.

"He-ey!" I threw my arms up, excited to see them, then grabbed my baby brother up in a bear hug, kissing all over his face. "You miss me, AJ?"

"No! Stop it!" He wiped my kisses from his face.

"Now that's mean! You haven't seen me in weeks and this is how you are?"

"Bad Rave! Why you leave and not call me? Mommy said you're a big girl and go away now."

I chuckled at him. This three-year-old and his vocabulary. Already a talker. "I am a big girl. You're a big boy too, right?"

"Un-huh! I wear big boy pants and big boy shoes...like Daddy. I go to big boy school."

A talker, like Symone, that's for sure.

"Can I go to big boy school with you?"

"AJ, we already had that discussion before," Angel said to him, pulling out food to start dinner.

"But whyyyy?" AJ whined, wiggling in my arms.

AJ was spoiled rotten and not that I could help it. He was born rich. Angel was rich, have I mentioned that before? Since opening her store Upscale Designs, first online, and now with a brick-and-mortar location, she racked in lots of money. Women loved to shop so clothes for women would never go out of style.

Plus, her store offered so much more than just a shopping experience. It was an excursion, There were no simple dressing rooms, it was as if you were getting ready for a runway show. And there was a runway.

When I first began working there, I told her to get into the modeling your clothes aspect of the store and include make-up and hair. She ran with my little idea and hired specialists on hand that did makeovers for a fee. Of course, Angel was such a creative, she also added getting your pictures taken as well. And included that in the sale of the clothes.

She was rich, rich. Her online business still outshone the in-store, but I wanted to work the online side of things. Her base of shoppers was older, like thirty-plus, but if she wanted to get us Gen Zers, she had to find new creative ways that even Angel did not know about.

Plus, AJ had something she did not have nor Symone. Both parents are at home, in a loving relationship. That mattered to a young kid. My father never lived with me. Not having that, I know it affects how I am with boys and building relationships with them. Again, I digress.

Back to AJ. Angel's parents were rich, rich too. Both criminal attorneys. They spoiled him from day one. I had never seen a baby with more things to fill up two bedrooms and plenty of space in the basement. He had everything ever invented for a baby, two times over. My father even spoiled him, being the first...maybe only son. Got his name, his whole face, and my father was going to be there for the whole experience of his childhood.

My father ran the streets when I was AJ's age. Locked up before I turned four. So yes, I feel some kind of way.

Sorry, I'm venting my childhood trauma to my baby brother. Yes, I get a little jealous seeing him treated how he is. I feel like the bald-headed stepchild. I know my daddy loves me. I know Angel loves me. It's just not the same.

I didn't grow up the way AJ will. Nice house, nice things, two great parents.

See, I didn't want this to be about my mother, but it all leads to her.

Angel made baked chicken wings and rice with store-bought gravy, which was a lot better than how she used to cook. And a large side salad. My father did not get home till nearly nine at night. It was a Friday.

"Did I see my baby girl's car out in the driveway?" I smiled as my daddy grabbed me in a hug. "Baby girl! Why didn't you tell me you were coming home this weekend?"

"I told Angel to keep it a surprise."

"Look at you!" He looked me over, and I blushed at my father looking me over. Since he was young when he had me, he still was quite young. My daddy was cute. Dimples like mine, a lighter complexion than mine, and eyes with long eyelashes that looked fake.

He had lots of tattoos all over his arms, and he was wearing a sleeveless shirt showing them off. When I asked him about them before, when I was younger, he said every tattoo on him represented a part of his life. Then he showed me where my name was tatted on his chest, near his heart. And Symone's. Then he showed me when he added Angel and AJ.

The other tattoos meant something as well, his life in and out of jail, about him hustling on the streets, and even a few newer ones representing his life now.

But when I asked him if I could get a tattoo when I turned sixteen he nearly flipped out.

"You know your gran would love to see you. She's still mad you didn't let her throw you a going-away party. She's so proud of you." My father kissed my cheek and hugged me again.

Long story, but my grandmother, my father's mother, is not actually his mother, but his aunt. Long story there, and I will have to think about dissecting that one.

"I'll stop by and see her this weekend."

My dad sat at the dining room table with a plate of Angel's food in front of him. He did not complain that the gravy was not completely from scratch like he would have made, he simply kissed her cheek when she sat it in front of him and dug into it. I sat at the table with him so I could spend some time with him. My daddy was my world for years. My everything.

"School's good? How are your grades?"

I rolled my eyes and got up from the table and walked away. I did not want to get into that. Why did parents think grades were the only thing to ask about? What about my mental health? Ask me about the stress of attending a school like Mizzou and if depression had set in yet.

"Hey, don't walk away from me little girl. Get back over here!"

My father's voice raised an octave and I knew that meant he was going to give me strife about my grades. I wasn't doing bad, but I wasn't doing good either. I came back over to the table but I did not sit down.

"Daddy, it's still early in the year, why do you care about-"

"Little girl, I'm not sending you there to party and follow some little boys around."

"Boys?" I scoffed at him. "When have I ever followed boys around like that, Dad? Don't you even know me? Angel, you're going to let him say that about me?"

"Hook, you raised a very bright, smart, sensible girl. Let her figure out everything on her own," Angel said in my defense.

"And so her grades are unimportant?"

"I did not say that," Angel said.

"Forget it, Angel, he thinks I'm still a kid and can't do anything on my own. Dad, I'm not you! I didn't have a baby at fifteen and locked up in jail at nineteen!"

After I said that, I stormed off to my room and slammed the door. I did not mean to blow up at my father like that, but I meant every word that I said.


A/N: Rayvn has every right to feel that way. Understand Hook's life turned out better, after his wild teens, but he needs to be more lax with his parenting.

FYI: I'm the Hook type of parent, I harped on my kids' grades when there were other things to focus on. Parents, we're just learning how to do things right.


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