Magic City Mondays

chapter veintitrés

I laugh as Zaire tickles me. "Stop!" He continues and I hear my phone ringing. He reaches over and answers. "Hello?" He hands the phone to me. "Hello?" I shift so I can look over at Xariah. "Hey girl. Aidon and I talked about that suggestion." I try to think of what's she's talking about.

"The home invasion?" Zaire looks at me. "Yea we want to go through with it." I take the phone from my ear to put it on speaker. "Well we can talk about it now. How do you want it done?" Zaire leans closer to listen. "Well I don't want Rico to be there so you would have to do it during the day while he's at school."

I hand the phone to Zaire so he can figure it out. I stand up and walk over to Xariah's swing. She's now awake and wiping her eyes. I unbuckle her and put her on her feet so she can walk. She holds onto my leg and looks around. I glance at my watch as she starts walking to Zaire. It's already 2pm so Matthew and Stephen will be getting out of school soon. Zaire hangs up and hands me my phone.

"Ride with me to go get the boys." I nod and head into the fridge. I grab one of Xariah's fruit shakes and her bag. I follow behind Zai out the house as he carries her. He buckles her in the Tahoe and moves over so I can throw her bag in the back next to her. I take the cap off her shake and hand it to her. I close her door and walk around to the passenger side.

"What's going on with you and Dante?" He asks once I sit down. I buckle my seat belt and look at him. "Nothing. We're just friends. He has a girlfriend anyway." I'm halfway lying but it's not a big deal. "Mmhm Zaree." I look at him. "What?" He shakes his head and continues staring at the road. "Just don't want you to get caught up again." I open my mouth to say something but decide to keep quiet.

"Ma." I turn around and look at Xariah. She sticks the empty tube out for me to grab. I take it from her and sit it in my lap to dispose of later. "Do you think I'm doing a good job of raising her?" I ask him as we pull into the car rider lane of their school. "Of course. Why are you asking?" I shrug. "I feel like I'm not giving her enough attention and I've been thinking about it."

I look out the window as Stephen and Matthew walk towards the car with a woman behind them. She opens the back door and helps them both in. "Good afternoon Mr. Smith. Are you his wife? Oh this must be your daughter." I turn around to look at her and laugh. "I'm his sister. That's my daughter right there." She smiles.

"She's adorable. Have a nice day." She walks off and I turn back around. "Y'all buckled in?" Zaire asks them. They both nod. Stephen is sitting in the third row since he and Matthew need to be separated at all times. Zaire pulls off and we stop at Chic-Fil-A to get food. "When is the invasion scheduled for?" I whisper to him after biting into a fry. "We're doing it tonight."

"You're still getting out?" He nods. "I'm already basically out. I just called some old partners." I stare at him for a second before looking out the window. We pull up to the house and I hop out. He grabs all the kids and I carry the two bags of food. He unlocks the door and I go into the kitchen to set the food down. My phone starts ringing so I pull it out my pocket. Seeing Dante's name, I hesitantly answer it.

"Hello?" I step out the kitchen and start walking up the steps. "Are you somewhere private?" I head into my room. "Yea wassup?" I close my door softly and sit on my bed. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I wanna take you out tonight. Is that alright?" I think about it. I'm not working and I do need to get out the house a little. "Umm yea sure, I can come."

"Alright good." He sounds relieved and I smile a little. "Just come to my house and I'll drive." I nod like he can see me. "Alright I'll see you later." We hang up and I start jumping around my room happy. "Zaree! What the fuck you doin' up there?" I stop and bust out laughing. I head out my room and back down the steps. "My bad Zai. Dante called and we're going out tonight. Something happened yesterday so we were just kinda having an awkward time."