Book 3 [ The Untitled Series ]

Chapter Twelve

Ashley

Trying not to think about Leon throughout the day was almost impossible. I ran errands: first going to the bank, then around to Target to buy a few essentials for the girls at the club-I liked to keep deodrant, wipes, and mints in the locker room- before ending at the grocery store.

Four to five hours worth of errands and the entire time i couldn't keep that nigga off of my mind. I found myself checking my phone continuously throughout the day to see if he had texted or called at all. It got so bad that I eventually put my phone in the glove compartment in my car before vowing not to take it out again until work.

But that didn't work either.

After my grocery trip, i went home to put everything away and by that time it was time for me to pick Raegan up from school.

Pulling up to her school, everything was bustling as usually so i slid right at the end of the pickup lane and slowly inched up as everybody picked up their kids and pulled off. It took me ten minutes- the usual- to get to the front of the line and pick up Raegan.

She slid into the backseat and tossed her bookbag onto the floor next to her feet. I noticed right away that she was fidgeting and smiling an uncharacteristic amount.

" buckle up, baby." I waited for her to put on her seat belt before I pulled back onto the street and into traffic.

This was the very reason that I hated picking her up from school. With forty or fifty parents' cars and school buses all trying to pick up kids and leave, the next two blocks would normally take about fifteen minutes to get through. Most of that time was spent sitting behind a cross walk and watching kids dart back and forth across the street under the super vision of a school crossing guard.

I looked at Raegan in the rearview mirror. " how was school?"

" great." She chirped, still smiling and bouncing around.

" okay, tell me. What's going on?"

" grandma said that i can spend the night all weekend!"

" she said what?" I asked more to myself than to Raegan.

" yeah! We're gonna watch movies and make pizzas... and go shopping! She promised to buy me new shoes."

Seeing the excitement that she felt at spending time with my mother made me feel a bit jealous. Her and my mother had the best relationship, which I was grateful for considering the fact that they spent most of their nights together... but now my mother was taking the weekends too.

Weekends were pretty much the only time that i got to spend with Raegan.

" um..." I said quietly. " wouldn't you like to hang out with your mom instead? We can go get our nails done."

Her little face contorted in thought before i watched her shake her head 'no' decisively. " next weekend, promise!"

I felt kind of sad at that but I pushed those feelings away. It wasn't her fault that I was working all of the time and so she spent most of her time with my mom. It was my fault. " okay sweetheart."

What should have only been a ten minute drive to my mom's house was closer to thirty because of the traffic. I ended up having so much time to think and i didn't want it. My thoughts were just consumed with connecting to my child. And the idea of letting Carmen run my club full time was bugging me.

When we got to my mom's house, Raegan wasted no time grabbing her bag and throwing herself out of the car.

I left my car running but still exited it and followed Raegan up the pathway to the front door. I was only a few steps behind but by the time i reached it, Raegan had already knocked and been let inside.