THUG WATERS (Edited)

|SEVEN|

•DANIELLE•
Dani

"And not to mention he's a grown ass man, a grown ass man giving you gifts! Are you crazy Danielle?!" My mom yelled. She paced the floor while I sat on the couch.

"It's not even like that, Khalil is a good guy mom. He's Cash's dad." I try and explain.

"And what is Cash's grown ass dad doing worrying about a seventeen year old girl in highschool for? Why can't Cash give you the gift?" The more she spoke the more stupid I felt. Why was he being so nice to me? But she didn't know about our conversations, she doesn't know about how great of a man Kade is. She only sees him as a predator.

"Mom it's not even like that-" she cut me off.

"Then what is it like? Huh? What is it like Danielle? Are you sleeping with this man?"

"Mom com'on now. Do not assume that for a man to give me a nice gift I have to be having sex with him, you don't even know him." I say attempting to stand up. She walked over placing her palm on my shoulder pushing me down.

"No Dani you don't even know him." I stared at her in confusion watching as she laid all the facts on me. "I mean you don't even know who this man is, if you think that he's just Cash's dad then your sadly mistaken. This man is a murderer Dani. He's a drug dealer, he's one of the biggest in the game. He's not even from here, he's from out of state in Louisiana," I stared at her in denial.

"You think he's some saint?"

"No." I shake my head. "T-that's not true." I stuttered. How couldn't I have known this? Now everything makes sense. Why everyone would stare at him like he's some type of celebrity. Why that boy today stared at him with fear in his eyes, why when I'd first met him nobody honked at him when he was blocking the road. It all made sense.

"He's killed people Dani, children, women, teenagers. He's a bad man Dani, what would a man like that want with you?" I stood up not wanting to hear any more of it.

"If he's so bad why did you give him the picture? Huh? He said that you liked him, that you were nice to him. Why be so nice if you knew what kind of person he was?" At this point I was thinking with my heart instead of my mind. Even though I'm hearing all of those bad things about him I can only think of how he is when he's around me. And that maybe..deep down inside that's all that matters.

He didn't seem like a monster, if anything he seems a little angry, like he holds a lot of things inside. But besides that I can't think of one thing that would make me think of him anything other than the way I've been thinking of him.

"I can't stop him from giving you a gift, you've been going through a lot and who would I be to stop something from cheering you up? I never said he wasn't a good man Dani. He's just not good for you. Their must be some good in him, Cash is a gentleman and he cares dearly about you. He respects women in a way that only a man who grew up with a father in his life could. So that must means he's doing something right, but that doesn't change who he is. He is a drug dealer Dani. What type of mom would I be to want you to be with him?"

"So you think he is good but not for me? Who are you to tell me who's good for me? You hardly even know me anymore." I snap.

"I'm your mom, I know you enough to know that a grown ass man isn't good for you." I stared at her in utter shock.

"You don't even know him. You don't know his personality or any of that. And for me? What the hell is that supposed to mean. If I get enough credits I just might be able to graduate ear-"

"That still doesn't change the fact that your seventeen. You still have to live with me Danielle."

"I don't have to do anything. God I can't believe this," I touch the bridge of my nose looking around. I can see the fury in my mother's face as she looked at me.