HER (COMPLETED)

Chapter Four

India's POV

I was on my way home after the crazy day I just had at work when I looked at my phone to see it was almost 7:30pm. I walked into the complex heading towards Mrs. Pearls house to go pick the kids up to take them home.

I walked up towards Mrs. Pearl apartment and knocked on her door. It didn't take her long before the door swung open and Mrs. Pearl opened it with Brayden in her arms.

"Oh hey honey I was just putting the kids stuff on, come on in it'll only take a minute" I walked in to see the girls tying up their shoes and grabbing their book bags. I grabbed Brayden diaper bag when Mrs. Pearl walked over to me with a plastic bag.

"Okay here you go honey, I made some smothered pork chops with mashed potatoes n' gravy so you don't go eating no non sense for dinner tonight"

" Thank you so much Mrs. Pearl I don't know what I would do with out you, you just don't understand" I gave her a tight hug before letting go and grabbing Brayden out her arms. I wanted to cry so badly, today has just been overwhelming for me and the support Mrs. Pearl gave us was much more than what I could ever asked of her.

" Oh honey hush, you know y'all the only family I got, I love y'all like y'all blood"

I laughed and hugged her again before kissing her head goodbye and yelling for the girls to come on. They both kissed her goodbye before we headed out to walk across to our apartment not to far from hers.

On days I worked the late shift like today Mrs. Pearl always grabbed the girls off the bus and cooked dinner for them so I wouldn't have to when I got off late. The twins usually stayed at the after school program Monday-Thursday so they usually don't get home until after after 5:30, but it helps me because usually they've already finished there homework.

I grabbed my key and unlocked the door and let the girls walk in first before locking it behind me. They both went to our room to grab there night clothes so that they could shower and while they did that I laid Brayden in his car seat because he still hadn't woken up from his nap. I went to my moms room to check and see if she was here and saw that her bed was still untouched. It was better this way though. I preferred for her to be gone on her long hoe expeditions, than to disturb our peace so I just walked away closing her door behind me and walked back towards the kitchen. I was starving so I opened up the food that Mrs. Pearl had cooked and began chowing it down as fast as I could so I could give Brayden a bath and get an early start and go to bed. Brayden usually woke up a few times throughout the night and when he did it usually took me a while to fall back asleep.

I noticed the mail I brought in yesterday and dreaded opening them. I knew they were all mainly bills. My main priorities when it came to the bills were the rent, food,  gas, heat, and electricity. See my mom didn't work and with the little income I did bring in, it really only help to cover just those 3 bills.

My mom took out a credit card under my name the minute I turned 18 and maxed it out the same day. Now I'm stuck paying the bill on it because if I don't then my credits gonna look worse than it already does. I know your wondering well if she's 19 why not just take the kids and leave. Well it's not that simple, see my mom use to have sex with the mayor of the city until she got pregnant, and I'm assuming thats who Braydens father is, he stopped sleeping with her though when she told him. But she has so much dirt against him that she threatened me to get the kids put into foster care if I ever thought of leaving her and taking them with me.

I took Brayden in the room with me as I sat on the bed. I laid him down before I began taking my shoes off and followed behind it by untying my apron. I pulled the apron over my head and before I knew it a large wad of cash came flying out all over my bed and floor from one of the deep pockets in the apron. I instantly thought back to that guy King from the grocery store.

"When did he put that in there?" I said aloud. Then remembered back to when he grabbed the bags while I counted his money. He must've slipped it in then. I know your wondering damn how didn't you feel that but I keep so much stuff in my apron and the pockets are so deep, that I wouldn't notice a wad of money taking up weight in my pockets. I hurriedly picked up the money because I didn't want the girls to see it. If you know like I know you know kids like to talk and talking can easily get you robbed where I live. As soon as i through the money back into my apron both girls came running in with their PJs on, trying to play their Nintendo's before it was time for them to lay down to go to sleep.

I quickly bathed Brayden and fed him a bottle and before I knew it he was fast asleep. I told the girls to keep an ear out for Brayden as I put him at the furthest end of the bed near the wall and grabbed my apron and ran inside the bathroom. I closed the door and quickly began counting the money.

"100, 200, 300....$4900, oh my god" I sat there and looked at the money. Why had he given it to me? No body gives you that much money and not expect something in return. And considering how dangerous he seemed I knew I wanted nothing to do with him. As I excited as I was about all the things I could I use this money for, I wrapped it back into a wad and placed in inside the ceiling of the bathroom. The next time I see this man I'll just return it to him. Simple. I showered myself and jumped in bed with Brayden seeing the girls had already put themselves to sleep.