"I'm finna go, Kaari." Ja kneeled down. "Come gimme hug."
Kaari ran into Ja's arm. "Where you going, Daddy?"
"Goin' to see a friend." He told her, carrying her with him down the stairs of KK's house. "Niya and Grandma gon' bring you to Daddy game tomorrow, aight?"
She chewed on the end of her finger, nodding along to his words. "Okay."
"Aight." Ja ruffled her curly hair, and kissed the side of her face. "Luh' you, Kaari."
"Bye, Daddy!"
Ja walked into the living area after seeing that Kaari got safely upstairs, seeing KK on her laptop. He sometimes wanted to choke the shit out of her because she was annoying but he also had more appreciation for her than he let on.
"Thanks for breakfast." She said, not bothering to look up from the TV. "Where are you going?"
Ja picked his keys up from the table. "Chillin' wit' a friend."
"Mmm. Okay."
Though he picked up on the small attitude, Ja went about his business. Sometimes they got along and other times they did not but at the end of it all, the only thing they needed to worry about was Kaari.
Today, Ja was going to see Malia who was calmly waiting on his call at her grandmothers house. They both lived in the Memphis area so the drive shouldn't be that far from where he was now.
"Hello?" Malia answered the phone after a few rings.
Ja sat forward in his seat, glancing over his shoulder as he pulled out into the road. "I'm headin' that way now."
"You can head this way when you greet me properly."
Ja chuckled, putting his dreads up as he stopped at a red light. "What's good, Malia?"
"Hi, Ja." She said. "I'm at my grandmas and I'm leaving right now. We should be there at the same time."
"Bet." Ja said, tapping the steering wheel as he waited for the light to turn green. "What you cooking for me today?"
Malia drove in her car as Ja did the same, using the uncrowded streets to her advantage. "You're helping me cook and you have to wait to see what it is. It's a secret."
"Aight." He said, deciding to let her lead the way of the hangout. "See you in a minute."
"Alrighty."
Malia and Ja were both speed demons so it didn't take very long for either one of them to arrive at Malia's apartment complex. They actually pulled in one behind another. Malia knew it was Ja seeing as though he owned the most expensive car in the parking lot.
"Hello." Malia greeted, giving him a side hug. "I see you ride in style fairly often."
Ja smirked, semi-cockily. "I gotta."
"Well, follow me." She led him into the apartment building that looked like a fancy hotel. "I live at the top."
He nodded his head, looking around. "This a fancy ass apartment building."
Malia let out a light laugh, leading Ja over to the elevator. She didn't need people seeing them together and taking pictures because she wasn't about to be a famous athletes rumored slam piece.
It didn't take long for the elevator to get the two to the seventh floor. Malia was talking Ja's ear off but he enjoyed it because he didn't really talk much.
Ja only noticed that she stopped talking when they got to the door. An envelope was in the door jam, and it was addressed to a Mali.
Malia's blood ran cold as she remembered how only one person called her that. That one person was Devon, so all of her suspicions of someone possibly dropping the roses outside her door on accident cleared her head. It was legit.
