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any nigga that did was gay.
    “Bitch you finally got a damn babysitter! I was starting to think you was turning into Molly the Maid or some shit!” Constance joked.
    I looked at her and rolled my eyes. She was trying to sneak diss, and if she knew what was best she’d shut the fuck up.
    “A sitter ain’t the problem. Bitch I got a nigga and a baby to tend to, so this shit is irrelevant. I’d rather stay at home and chill with them than to be out here looking for the next come up,” I said, shooting her a knowing look as Jasmine and Lauren looked on, trying to figure out what I was talking about. Constance opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. She knew better than to try me when I had so much shit I could hang over her head after I beat her ass.
    Instead of waiting for a response, I went searching for Bird. Constance had rubbed me the wrong way, and I knew what had started out as a good night wouldn’t be the same at all. When I finally found him, he was standing near the wall talking to his boy Stevie. I walked up to him with my arms crossed, lips twisted, and my hip sticking out. He held his finger up and continued his conversation. I smacked my lips and stood waiting. About five minutes later, my phone was ringing.
    “Hello?” I said, placing my free hand against ear as I searched for a quieter location.
    “Journee! Where the hell are you?” my mother yelled. “What the hell is wrong with you leaving that child at home alone! If your neighbor Ms. Taylor hadn’t heard him crying and called 911, he would have fucking suffocated!”
    Tears fell from eyes as I digested what she had just said. “Where is he?”
    “They’ve just released him from Lakeland into my care.”
    “I’m on my way to come and get him ma–”
    She rudely cut me off “Don’t bother, Journee. I’d be a damn fool to give this baby back to you. You already messed your life up, you won’t fuck up his.”
    She hung the phone up, and my world came crashing down. How dare she try to keep my baby from me? I stomped back over to Bird, and he was still talking.
    “Bird, we have to go.”
    “I just need a few more minutes, baby.” He gritted his teeth, and I knew that he was pissed but I didn’t give a fuck at that moment.
    “This can’t wait a few more minutes.” He finally looked at me and noticed the tears in my eyes. He shook hands with Stevie and promised to hit him up later. He filled the small space between us and pulled me close to him.
    “What’s wrong, Journee?”
    “Justin. He um...he was rushed to the hospital. Ms. Taylor heard him screaming and when she finally got the police to open the door, he had almost suffocated.”
    Without saying anything, he grabbed my hand and we rushed to his car. I don’t know how we made it back to Benton Harbor without being pulled over, but the forty-five minute ride had quickly turned into a twenty-minute one.
    “Go to my mom’s,” I said once we got off the exit.
    “Your mom’s? I thought you said he was at the hospital.”
    “They released him to her. She’s talking like she ain’t gon’ give him back.”
    Anger flashed in his eyes as he turned away from me and focused on the road. We finally pulled into my mother’s driveway five minutes later. Bird turned the car lights off and sat back in his seat. I got out and made my way up the three steps that served as a porch. I rang the doorbell, and waited for someone to come. Not even a minute later, the door swung open.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I came for Justin, mama. Please, it’s late and I’m not for your games.”
    “Games? You left a six-month-old at home so you could run behind a nigga and you think I’m playing?” she grunted. “You need to leave my house before I call the police. According to the social worker that came to the hospital, you ain’t to be around him until we go to court anyway.”
    My mouth went dry and a lump formed in my throat. “Court?”
    “Did you think they would