Arranged

Ongoing

8 months later
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I walk around the room as chains rattle, gloves hitting punching bags, arrows being shot, and a thousand other things go on around me. Aleah crawls around in front of me, blabbering as she sits in front of me, reaching up for me to hold her. I pick her up and I sit her on my lap, smiling and bouncing her around as I play with her cheeks, making her laugh.

"You ready to see daddy?" I say, smiling at her.

"Dada!" she says back, putting her hands in the air.

"Yeah!" I say back. I start to play peek-a-boo with her and she laughs, making me laugh. She lies on my stomach and taps it.

"Bee-beeee!" she says, smiling.

"Yeah, your brother and sister are in there!" I say, sounding shocked. Suddenly, I hear laughing and talking and I smile. Amber and Riley walk in, as they hold their arms open to hug me.

"Kyla! You're about to pop!" Amber says.

"The twins are getting bigger by the hour, seems like." I say, laughing as she hugs me. They don't see me as much since they moved out. Zeno and Camara wanted to stay in the house with me, just to be sure I wouldn't.... go off the rails.

Riley gives me a hug and then I smell my favorite thing in the entire world. "You got me my favorite?" I say, poking my lip out.

"I knew you were probably starving so I got your favorite sub from Mikey's. Two. Thank me later." she says, handing them to me. The girls sit down next to me and as Amber plays with Aleah, me and Riley talk.

"So? How are you?" she asks.

"Same as yesterday. I'm just trying to take it hour after hour. I've been... trying to keep it together. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this though." I say, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. "It's hard. Dealing with Aleah growing up so fast and Vixen being locked up... I can't deal with this on my own, I knew I wouldn't be able to." I say, crying.

"Zeno and Camara aren't helping?" she asks.

"They are, but I just... I don't want them dealing with her. She's not their responsibility. I mean, Camara's already pregnant, I can't put stress on her."

"Yeah? Did you forget you're pregnant too? Kyla, Z and Cam said that they were willing to help you with Aleah the same exact day that Vixen left, and Vixen held them to it. They may not show it, but they're petrified of Vixen, so they can break that promise, especially when it regards to Leah. Yeah, Camara's pregnant, so he's gonna be the same way with her as Vixen was with you when you were pregnant with Aleah. He's not gonna stress her out nor put any kind of stress on her."

"But that's the problem, Riley. They shouldn't have to worry about a seven month old when they have a newborn on the way. They just shouldn't have to deal with that."

"They knew what they got into when they agreed to help you, Kyla. Take that help and stop overthinking about it. Zeno and Camara love you and this baby like their lives depend on it. You can even call me and Amber over to help because I know how bad your separation anxiety is. Plus, we love her too." she says, making me laugh.

She looks at me and smiles. "You have help everywhere you look. So take advantage of that. Use it." I smile and I hug her.

"Thank you, Riley." I say, wiping my tears.

"You still going to see him?" she asks.

"Yeah. Today, actually."

"Good, that's great. We'll let you get home then. Tell Z and Cam we said hi."

"Definitely. Let me eat first." she laughs at me and I playfully shoo her away. I give Aleah a piece of bread from my sandwich and she eats it next to me. When I finish eating, I put Leah in her stroller and I head for the door and I almost run King over with the stroller. "Sorry." I say.

"You're fine." he says, hugging me. "You doing okay?" he asks.

"I'm... surviving. One step at a time." I say back, smiling softly.

"That's great. You're supposed to be getting on the jet today, right?"

"Yeah, I was about to head to our airport."

"You need me?" he asks, playing with Aleah.

"Yes. Vixen would probably kill me for leaving by myself."

"He definitely would."

"And besides. She's a handful."

"Who could say no to a cute face like this one?" he says, playing with her, making her laugh. Before we walk out, King walks in and yells.

"Ayo! Listen!" he yells.

Everyone's heads turn to face him.

"Me and Mrs. Reed are leaving, so you motherfuckers are gonna be monitored by third in command, Tru, under Kyla's orders." he says, making everyone groan.

King nods his head in understanding. "Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up now." he says gesturing for them to settle down with his hands. "You sons of bitches, and our very lovely ladies, had better not give her a hard time, she's already hard on you all, so don't give her a reason to bitch slap you." he says, laughing as we walk out.

Hours later, we get on the jet and as I eat, King types harshly on his computer. "You sending a breakup text or something?" I say, laughing. His head shoots up and he laughs.

"Haha, no, this agent is being an ass. She's a fucking..." he says, not finishing his sentence. "a very lovely lady." he says sarcastically.

I laugh and I sit back and take a sip of my drink. "You're just like him. No wonder he wanted you to take his place." I say, smiling.

Aleah rests next to me in her little hammock that hangs from one seat to another, and I look at her, looking down at her face. Everything about her now, reminds me of him. Everything.

"So how are the twins?" King suddenly says, making my head shoot up, my thoughts interrupted.

"They're good. They've been up all day and they won't stop- woah!" I say, interrupted by one of them kicking. "Kicking me." I finish, laughing. "I think that was the boy."

"Why do you say that?"

"He stays on the same side his dad sleeps on." I say, smiling, remembering how warm I used to be with Vixen next to me.

When King asks me another question, I snap out of the thought and I fall asleep shortly after. I'm feeding Aleah before we land at the private airport, and when we finally do land, we leave our bags in the jet to get out and stretch and breathe some fresh air. After we're done, we get back in and we fly across another state. When we land, King wakes me up and I check the time. It's eight o'clock so I get up and I pick Aleah up, careful not to wake her up, and I put her in her car seat to get out of the jet.

King carries all our bags to the car and puts them in the trunk as I try to put Aleah in the backseat. "I've got her." King says, grabbing her seat. I smile at him and I back away, letting him help.

"Thanks." I say, getting in the passenger seat.