REDEMPTION

SEVENTEEN

Thinking about where I've gone
Where I'm going
And I wouldn't change it for the world
Thinking about where I'm from
If I belong here
______

"When the last time you spoke to Mama?" Baby's sister Reign asked. Of all her siblings, she was closest to Reign, and they spoke on a regular basis. Although she knew that she could call on any of her brothers and sisters if she needed them, Reign was the one that she'd bonded with the most being that they were closest in age.

"She called me some days back, but it was a quick conversation." She sighed and sat back in her recliner as she thumbed through some papers that needed to be graded.

Wearing sweats with her legs kicked up and a glass of red wine nearby, this was easily her favorite part of the day. Working with kids was fulfilling to her, but she could never lie and say it was easy. She was a teacher and the only adult in a classroom of over twenty students, the majority of them being little rambunctious boys who seemed to spend all night thinking of ways they could make her day difficult the following morning.

"Quick conversation, hmm? Sounds to me like what you're saying is that you rushed her off the phone again." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Baby could just about hear Reign's eye roll through the phone.

"She wants to talk to me about Rihmeek. She wants to know if I knew about his illegal activities and ask all these questions that I'm not ready to answer,"

"Of course she does, Baby! She's your mother, and that's what mothers do when they are at their child's wedding and their son-in-law-to-be is arrested and drug out the church by the Feds with drug charges!"

Well, saying it that way makes perfect sense, Baby admitted in her thoughts but still pursed her lips.

"I'll speak to her in person. I have to go home some time soon, and we will talk then."

In the distance, she thought that she heard a door slam shut, which caused her heart fluttered. It had to be Beyoncé. After falling asleep beside her, she woke up the next morning in her own bed and wondered if it had all been a dream. But every part of her body remembered how it felt to be wrapped in her arms and to feel her lips pressed against hers, so it had to have been real.

She squeezed her eyes closed to push away the thoughts of that moment, but the images then flooded her mind's eye. She couldn't escape the effect Beyoncé had on her. It was the sweetest type of torture. She wanted to rid herself of it, but then again, she didn't.

"Um, I need to tell you something," she started, running her tongue over her bottom lip as she wondered whether or not she should keep her thoughts to herself. She needed someone to vent to, and Reign was the next closest person to her outside of Lauren.

"A couple days ago, Lauren moved out. She said she wasn't happy with Beyoncé and wanted to find herself or something." She was intentionally vague because Reign didn't like Lauren at all and had always been very vocal about it.

"Find herself, huh? More like find a new dick to ride on."

"Reign!" Baby shouted, but she couldn't resist falling into a fit of giggles at her sister's cold honesty.

"What?" She sucked her teeth. "Baby, be real about this, please. Since when have you ever known Lauren to leave anyone just to be alone? Especially someone she had, who is highly paid and giving her everything that her little selfish ass heart desires. Don't tell me you actually fell for that lie she tossed you."

Reign had a way of saying things that made her look at situations differently from how she had initially, and now Baby couldn't help thinking that her sister was definitely right. Not once in life had Lauren ever left one unless it was for another. She craved the attention of people in a way that Baby had never understood, and would endure being mistreated by one rather than to leave and be alone.