While I finished the last bit of paperwork I had left to enter, I looked at my phone and saw that Khia sent me a selfie with her top off revealing her breast. I chuckled and replied back 'don't start nothin you can't finish'

She hit me back with a sadface emoji and said, 'I don't know how I'm going to be able to sleep tonight'

I text her back and replied 'I'm coming home soon bae', and put the phone face down on my desk. Looking at the clock above me, it just hit 9:00 and I knew I was already over my shift. So I hurried up and was out by 9:22.

Driving to my house, I had Khia on my mind and I was just tryna think of possible scenarios as to why her family needed the government's help. Maybe I was reading too deep into it, I don't know. But i know one thing is for sure, Khia gotta open up to me more. I don't wanna be the nigga that's out here in the dark about her life. I unlock the door and sneaked in the house to get a change of clothes. I tried my best not to wake up my dad who was asleep on the couch. Opening my bedroom door, I grabbed my duffel bag that was sitting out front and packed it with the essentials I'll need for the night. I stuffed two outfits in there and my sleepwear. When I was done packing, I turned off my room light and made my way downstairs. I hopped in my car and I heard my phone ringing. It was Khia so I picked up hoping everything was okay.

"Yea baby I'm on my way."

"Change of plans, I'm not home. I'm walking to ebony house."

"What? Why?",i asked confused stopping at the red light.

"My dad came home."

"He did anything to you?",i said looking at the glove department in my car for my Hun that I always kept in there.

"No I sneaked out as soon as he turned the keys to get in the house."

"Your mom not there?"

"No she never came home. She told me she was gonna have to pull a double shift tonight."

"Damn ok. I'm on my way",I said and hung up. Shxt, I hated when she in danger like this. After 15 minutes of driving around her neighborhood tryna find her, I saw her dad smoking a blunt outside with someone and kept driving. Dude ain't even notice my car. I decided against shooting him cold right there and continued to drive. I finally found Khia sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with her phone in hand and what looked like a knife in her hand. I parked on the side and kept my headlights on. Hopping out the car, she got up and embraced me.

"You Okay?",i asked her.

"Yeah",she said. I took the knife out her hand and chuckled putting it in the glove department.

"We gone have to get you a actual gun",I said.

"I won't need it. This is just temporary."

I kissed her on her cheek and open the passenger door open for her. The plan was for me to spend the night at her house but looks like we both gonna have to spend the night out at a hotel or Somethin. Lately I haven't been bringing Khia to my spot cause of my father. He been actin out ever since Khia asked him for his permission for me to pose as a witness for her in the court case. I don't need the stress of my folks up on her on top of what she already gotta deal with. Driving to a nearby hotel, I parked my car and we entered the hotel.

"Hi how many rooms?",the receptionist asked.

"Just one room",I said giving her my card.

"I'm sorry I'm making you spend money on me right now",Khia said.

"Don't do that bae. You know you worth it",i said giving her a warm smile.

"Okay here you go. Should be on the Second floor. Enjoy your night",the lady said giving me a room key and my card back. I smiled and took Khia with me. Getting off the elevator, we walked a bit and reached our suite. As I opened the door, I was surprised at how nicely the room looked. A bottle of champagne was waiting for us in the middle of the bed with a card. I picked up the card and it read 'enjoy your stay.'

"Aww that's sweet",Khia said picking up the bottle.

"Yea. These people sure know how to make people enjoy it Alright",I said placing my keys on the dresser with the flat screen on it.

"You know we could've stayed at a motel down the street right?",Khia said.

"I don't sleep with rats and neither should you."

She laughed and said, "little do you know."

"Little do i know what?",I said tryna get her to talk about her past.

"I used to live in those dirty apartments downtown."

"Is that why y'all file a application to get food stamps?",i said eager to know what's the deal behind that.

"Who told you that?",she said surprised.

"I do social work bae."

"I know but it wasn't a real application though."

"What you mean?",i said raising a eyebrow.

"We didn't even go through with it. It shouldn't even been in the system to begin with."

"You sure about that?"

"It was a long time ago. Thought things like that disappear",she said crossing her arms.

"Nah. Once your in, your in."

"So how did you find out?"

"Boss sent me a stack of papers. Some i tossed and some I had to enter."

"So this information fell into your lap."

"Basically",i said unbuttoning the cuffs of my dress shirt. She sat on the bed and got on her phone. She usually gets on her phone when she's tryna avoid a serious convo with me.

"I can't be in the dark about the girl I'm dating",I said.

"I put myself out there for you. I told you everything about me. I even took you to my country and showed you where I used to live, where I was raised",I reminded her.

"Everything that's happening with you, why am I tryna play catch up with you. I just recently found out about your dad and his gang shxt",I continued.

"With time, everything will make sense",she said.

"Bae we've been going out for more than 6 months now. If your not gonna let me in, then why are we pursuing this? I'm not tryna fall in love with a stranger. Next you gone tell me you got locked up before."

"Relax, I'm not you",she said with a chuckle.

"At least you know I've been in jail."

"We was just going through tough times. My mom was still in school and didn't graduate yet and she had a side job and so did I. I used to work at Waffle House downtown",she said looking at me.

"So it was tough times huh."

"Yeah. We was in the struggle",she said smiling.

"So if y'all was in the struggle, why y'all was denied?"

"You wanna be a lawyer too or what? Cause your asking too many questions",she said giving me a look.

"Being a law major didn't catch my interest."

"Why y'all didn't give them what they needed?"

"My dad came through and gave us a bag of cash before He up and left again."

"What else I need to know?"

"I got family out there but I've never met them. But other than that, that's it."

I looked at her and couldn't read her that well to know if she was telling the truth or not.

"What? That's all I promise",she said taking my hand and bringing me close to her.

"Ight."

"But i don't want you spending money on me like this again",she said.

"It's not your fault. You ain't never

spoiled before",I said kissing her soft lips.

"Your right and I'm not gonna start now."

I looked into her eyes and I didn't know what I was gonna do with this girl. She had my heart and there's nothing I could do about it.

"We gotta get you a crib or something. You can't keep staying at your moms all scared and paranoid all the time babe."

"I'm only scared cause he's out of jail."

"Even when he's in jail, I have a feeling you still gonna have me coming to your crib to sleepover with you."

"So what exactly are you sayin?"

"We gotta get a nice apartment to stay in."

"We? As in living together?"

"Yeah."

"As nice as that sounds, we can't",she said pushing me away to go to the bathroom.

"Why not? We basically doing that now anyway."

"I can't leave my mom's house baby",she said tying her hair up with a scarf.

"I'm still not following."

"I can't leave her house until I'm married, it's a Haitian culture thing."

"You mean It's a biblical thing."

"Well that too but Haitian culture says that if your a girl living at your parent's house, you can't leave until your married to be with your husband."

"You believe in that sorta thing?"

"I mean shouldn't you? Since you said it's in the Bible."

She did have a valid point.

"I do but we in the 21st century. Don't nobody do that no more",I said shaking my head.

"I do. What's wrong? You don't wanna wife me?"

"Nah it's not that. I'm just not thinking about a actual wedding anytime soon."

"A wedding and marriage is two different things babe."

"I know but I ain't ready for either."

"That's fine. There's no rush but we can't move in together until that happens."

"Ight that's cool",I said.

"So where is it in the Bible? I thought it was a Haitian thing",she asked me.

I took my phone and pulled up the Bible app and let her read Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:5.

"Do you agree with everything in the Bible?"

"Nah I don't necessarily agree but I do understand that I gotta try to live a holy life and only way to do that is to read it."

"You follow everything in here?"

"Nah I try to. You know we all human so we fall sometimes but it's what we do afterwards that counts."

"What do you mean?"

"Ight lemme use an example. Say I was in the predicament to kill someone and I know the Bible says I shouldn't kill or render evil for evil but I pulled that trigger anyway. I already did the damage so I have two options, repent or go on about my day and not do anything."

"Okay whats a repent?"

"To confess. Confess your sins to God."

"Okay but aren't you automatically repenting by feeling that guilt inside?"

"Repentance isn't just a guilt you feel inside babe it's a 3 step process. You acknowledge what you did that was wrong, you accept it and you turn away from it. Lots of people like to do the 1st and 2nd step and skip over the 3rd. It's not just saying sorry to God, you gotta turn away and not do it again. It kinda goes with this proverb they like to say Actions speak louder than words."

"Oh okay. I get it now."

I loved seeing the excitement in her face when she learns something new. My heart melts when she asks me questions about the Bible. It helps me to be a better example for her so that means I gotta stop the cursing around her, and let the blunts go. Most importantly, I gotta stop the clubbing so she don't get confused on where I stand in the gospel. The blind can't lead the blind.