Five

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Victoria's POV

"You hungry?"

I looked away from the window and to my left where Kareem was driving. Kareem's left hand was on the wheel. His right elbow rested on the armrest between the two is us, and his head rested on his fist.

"Yes I am. And can I-"

Kareem glanced over at me and smiled a little before speaking, "No you can't have your phone back."

He'd taken my phone and put it in his pocket the minute that we got in his truck; which was about 15 minutes ago.

I was kinda having a withdrawal because I'm used to having my phone in my hand from sun up to sun down.

"Why not," I questioned him.

"Because you with your man and I'm your main concern for the next few hours."

"You funny."

"How?"

"I know anything about you besides that you have a daughter and that you're 27 years old."

"Well you are about to get to know me, and I'm about to get to know you. Just relax."

*

"Why am I just recently meeting you? Did you do Kai's hair yourself?"

The two of us were at the beach sitting in the trunk of his truck with the door lifted. On the way here we'd stopped and got a bunch of junk food from Walmart and stopped at Wendy's to get something too.

It was simple and chill, and that's what I liked.

For the past forty five minutes we had been talking about me.

Countless amounts of times, I'd tried to get to know more about Kareem, but he just said "I wanna know more about you, beautiful. Keep going," each time.

The conversation wasn't too personal or anything. I actually appreciated him being so interested in me because that doesn't happen often. I just don't like to be the center of attention for too long because it makes me uncomfortable and I'm a person that likes to be in the background analyzing the people around me.

"I actually just moved back down here recently. Some stuff with Kai's momma popped off."

Go figure. Baby momma drama.

I figured that it was a little too early to ask if they were still screwing around so I just said, "Okay, you're doing what's  best for your daughter. That's good."

Brownie points for Mr. Kareem.

Many people like to believe that black fathers are dead-beats and are not there for their children. But majority of the black fathers are out here doing the most for their kids, and it's the mothers don't give a damn.

I like to give credit when it's due, even when it's something as simple as taking care of your kids.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave in the first place?"

"To expand my drug business," he spoke in a nonchalant tone like that was something that I hear everyday.

"And I'm guessing that she wouldn't let you see her because of your business?"

He smirked at me before speaking again, "That isn't why. She wouldn't let me see my daughter because I didn't wanna be with her anymore. And before you ask, there were never any incidents where I put them in harms way, so you don't have to worry."

"I wasn't gonna ask that."

Lie again.

Honestly, I didn't know if I wanted to be affiliated with someone of his profession, again.

My ex did the same thing, and as you can see, we did not work out for obvious reasons. My brother was a victim of the streets. A couple of months after he started dealing, his life was taken during a drive by shooting, 2 years ago.

I did not want to allow myself to get all attached and then be disrespected and degraded, or even lose another person to the streets.

Sure, the dirty money is plentiful and it can make everything seem nice and easy. But, nobody really knows what is going on behind closed doors.

The abuse.

The lies.

The deceit.

The infidelity.

And don't forget the abuse. Verbal and Physical.

I had to learn the hard way that just because someone says that they love you, doesn't mean that they do and no matter how much you love someone does not mean that you should allow them to treat you like shit.

But that chapter in my life has already been read, and I won't be going back to re-read.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"You're scared of my life ain't you?"

I looked up from playing with my fingers to Kareem who was staring at me and biting the inside of his left cheek.

"How do you know?"

"I'm not stupid Victoria," he stated, still staring at me.

"I didn't say you were. I'm just not ready to put myself in that situation again."

It was silent before he spoke again, "You ready to go?"

Climbing out from the back of the truck, Kareem followed me to the passenger side. He made sure that I was in the truck safely before closing the door and walking around to his side.

The ride back to the shop was silent.

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