This is a sneak peek from my novel, Flirting With Danger, coming July 31st, 2023!
Chapter 1
I’m sick of this shit.
River reached over and slapped the button on the top of his alarm clock, silencing the screaming beep he endured at five every morning.
It’s too early, he told himself. It was always too early. There wasn’t a single morning he was awakened by the alarm clock that he didn’t contemplate saying fuck it all, rolling over, and going back to sleep. What he couldn’t justify in his mind was letting his job go when he had two little mouths wide open in his nest, waiting to be fed and insatiably hungry at all times.
Rolling over onto his back, he threw his right arm over his face and groaned loudly, wishing he could skip work to sleep in just once.
I can do this. I can do this, he willed himself. All I have to do is just get out the bed, and everything else will be a breeze.
Gasping back awake, River sat straight up in the bed and glanced at the clock again, immediately becoming frustrated with himself when he realized he had dozed back off for twenty minutes.
“Fuck!” he shouted as he tossed the covers back and leapt out the bed. “How the fuck did I do that? Shit!”
Snatching his pajama pants off the floor, he glanced back at the bed, annoyed he had once again woken up alone in his bedroom. For the second time, he told himself, I’m sick of this shit, and then stormed out his bedroom door toward the living room.
“Lay-Lay! Lay! Lay!” he called out to his girlfriend of nine years and the mother of his three-year-old twins, Cyan and Sienna. Receiving no answer, he stormed down the hallway to the living room where she usually passed out when she came home drunk after a late night of partying. “Alayzia!” he called. “Why didn’t you wake me back up? I’mma be late for work!”
When he entered the living room, he stopped dead in his tracks. He glanced left to right, from the entryway to the kitchen to the wall behind the front door. There was no one there. His confusion morphed to a solemn resolve as he turned around and retreated back down the hallway to his daughter’s room.
“Sienna,” he called in a sing-song voice to the sleeping toddler after cracking her door open. “Sie,” he called again and she stirred awake, rubbing her eyes and yawning widely.
“Good morning, Daddy,” she squeaked as she batted her eyes open.
“Good morning, princess,” he greeted her with a smile. “Did you sleep well?”
“Um-hmm,” she mumbled with a nod.
“Good. I need you to be a big girl for Daddy and go up wake your brother for me. Okay?”
“Yes, sir,” she gladly agreed as she hopped out her toddler-sized bed and took off running to her brother’s room next door to wake him.
“I need y’all to find something to wear for school today while Daddy gets dressed. Okay?” River shouted as he returned to his bedroom and pulled a clean uniform from a hanger in the closet. Cyan’s tiny but deep voice traveled down the hall with his sister’s as they both agreed, and the pitter-patter of Sienna’s tiny feet across the carpeted floor alerted River of her return to her room.
“I’m not going to be late today. It’s Monday. I fucking refuse to be late again fucking with her,” River grumbled as he stepped into his uniform pants, tucked his t-shirt inside, and then pulled on his vest. Frustration written across his face, River stuck his head out the bedroom door to listen for the sounds of his children getting dressed before plopping down on the bed, sliding on a pair of socks, and stepping into his boots.
“Are y’all getting dressed?” he shouted as he stood up and went into the master bathroom hoping they found something appropriate for the late-September crisp early-morning air.
“Yes!” they both shouted back.
“Look, Daddy!” came Cyan’s voice behind him as he stood at the sink brushing his teeth. “I’m a cowboy!” River spun around to see Cyan standing in the bathroom doorway dressed in a full cowboy costume.
“Yeah, G, it’s really cute, son, but you can’t be a cowboy today. I need you to go put on some real clothes for me so I can take you to school,” River instructed him with his toothbrush hanging from his mouth.
“But I wanna wear my cowboy hat and boots. I wanna bring my gun like you,” he pouted.
“You can’t wear the costume to school, son. It’s not Halloween, and you can’t take the gun to school because Daddy will get in trouble if the teachers think it’s real,” he explained to the toddler after spitting in the sink. “Go take that off and put on something else, some real clothes so we can get ready to go. Can you do that for me, my G?”
“Yeah, Daddy,” Cyan agreed and dropped his head in disappointment.
“That’s my guy. Gimme some, G.” River smiled and held out his fist for Cyan to dap up. Cyan perked up and bumped his fist with his father’s before running off to his room to change clothes. “Sie, how’s it coming in there?” he shouted as he finished in the bathroom and returned the bedroom to grab his shirt from the bed.
“I dressed, Daddy,” her tiny voice announced from the hallway. She entered River’s bedroom carrying a bright-eyed doll with plastic skin the color of chocolate and glittery gold hair. River’s eyes scanned the outfit she picked out, a white t-shirt with ruffled sleeves and a pink mermaid on the front, blue jeans, and the glittery pink Bubble Guppies tennis shoes she had insisted they buy her during their last trip to Walmart.
“Good job, princess,” he cooed as he buckled his belt and snapped his gun into its holster. “Let’s get those teeth brushed and that face washed. Shall we?”
“Yes, sir,” she chirped with a sweet smile and led her father down the hall to the bathroom.
“How’s it coming in there, G? You about done?” he checked on his son as he passed by his room.
“I’m putting on my shoes. Can you tie them for me?” Cyan asked as River handed Sienna her toothbrush with her squirt of toothpaste on top.
“Of course. Come brush your teeth, and I’ll tie your shoes when you finish.”
Cyan strutted out his room wearing a blue and white Nike jogging suit and white Air Force Ones with his silver pop gun tucked in the waistband of his pants, the handle sticking out over his jacket.
“You got a shirt on under that jacket, G?” River inquired with a raised brow, amused at his son’s appearance.
“Yes, sir,” Cyan confirmed with a nod.
“Alright. Let’s get you set up in the bathroom,” he told him as he lifted him off the hallway floor and onto the blue step stool next to his sister’s pink one in front of the bathroom sink. He wet Cyan’s toothbrush, squirted the same bubble gum flavored toothpaste on it, and then handed it to him. River then gave the two afro puffs in Sienna’s hair a once-over before returning to his bedroom to grab the rest of his equipment.
Dropping his backpack, hand-held radio, and cell phone on the living room sofa, River returned to the bathroom to check on his kids’ progress.
“I done, Daddy,” Sienna announced.
“Great job! Come on down.” River offered her his hand to hold as she stepped down the stool’s two steps. “You done, too, G?”
“Yep! Done!” Cyan cheered and then jumped off the stool.
“Alright, you two. Hop up on the couch for a second for me.”
They raced to the couch and climbed up together to sit next to each other in their identical honey-toned skin to wait for River as he walked through the house checking the bedrooms and turning off lights. When he returned to the living room, he squatted in front of Cyan on the couch and tied his shoes for him.
“You can’t take this toy gun to school, G,” River repeated as he gently slid the pop gun out the waistband of Cyan’s pants. “I know you like playing with it. I know it’s not real, and I know you want to be just like Daddy, but Daddy can get in big trouble if you take something like this to school, so you’ve got to keep it here at the house. Okay?”
“Can I take something else? Sienna always takes her doll. I wanna take something.”
“You can take something else. You just can’t take this gun. Come on. We’ll find something for you to take, and then we’ve got to go so Daddy won’t be late for work,” River told him and then picked him up off the couch and carried him to his bedroom to find a toy. Turning the light on in his room, River placed Cyan on his feet and stood in the doorway while watching his son search his toy box for a suitable toy.
“This?” Cyan questioned, holding up a toy Woody doll.
“That’s fine. Is that what you want to take? You good?”
“Yep! I take Woody!”
“Alright. Come on. Let’s go,” River told him. He turned off the light in the bedroom and then followed his son back to the living room where Sienna was struggling to put on a pink jacket. He chuckled as he helped her into her jacket and then the toddlers both grabbed their backpacks from the hooks by the door as he threw his own backpack over his shoulder, clipped his radio into his belt, and grabbed his phone and keys before following the kids through the kitchen to the garage door. He glanced behind himself one last time as he disarmed the alarm, and then he opened the door and they all stepped out into the garage together.
He opened the shining rear passenger door of his black Yukon Denali and held it open for the kids.
“Daddy say ladies first, Sienna,” Cyan told his sister.
“That’s right,” River confirmed as he lifted Sienna into the truck and she clamored over to her booster seat and hopped in, placing her backpack on the seat next to her between the two car seats. River then lifted Cyan into his seat and buckled him in while Cyan placed his backpack on the seat as well and then began playing with his Woody doll.
Once Cyan was secured, River closed the door, opened the front passenger door, and put his backpack on the seat. He paused for a moment and stared at the empty space next to his truck in the garage where Alayzia’s red Dodge Charger was supposed to be before closing the door and walking around to Sienna’s side to buckle her in as well. He then hopped in the driver’s seat, cranked the truck, and opened the garage with the truck’s built-in button. He backed out the garage and then placed the truck in park in the driveway as he pulled up the app on his phone to set the alarm as he waited for the garage door to close.
With a heavy sigh, he watched the door close on the now empty garage and then backed out the driveway and pulled off, headed to drop the twins off at day care. His mind wandered as Ella Mai sang DFMU through the truck’s sound system. River was 25-years-old. He had adorable three-year-old twins who were well-behaved and mild-mannered. He had graduated from the police academy fresh out of college with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, and he had been an active Memphis police officer for three years. He was so close to having a 700 credit score he could reach out and touch it, and his truck was nearly paid off. Everything in his life was going perfectly… except his relationship with the love of his life and mother of his kids.
River and Alayzia were high school sweethearts. They both grew up in North Memphis and attended KIPP Memphis Collegiate High School. River lived in the Saint Court Apartments with his mom, Raynelle, and his younger brother, Miles, until he graduated high school. Their father, Marshall, was married and lived in Chicago with his new wife. He and his wife requested pictures of their grandkids for every birthday and sent gifts and money every Christmas.
Alayzia lived in the Goodwill Village Apartments with her mother, Anisha, and her two older sisters, A’Kenzie and Aytiana. They had three different fathers, and none of them had been seen in years.
They were from a rough neighborhood known for drug use and sales and lots of it. The evidence of it was strewn all along the streets and in the yellowed eyes of the men and women walking down them in zombie-like states. The gangs and the drug dealers, which were often one in the same, ruled the streets and ran the neighborhood. The toxic environment sucked in everyone born or tossed into its fire, and it was nearly impossible to escape. Yet, somehow, River had managed to do just that, and he pulled his girlfriend out the trenches with him.
Motivated and driven to make a better life for himself and his family than the one his mother was able to provide for him, River was determined to go to college and make something of himself. He kept his grades high in high school and graduated with a full scholarship to University of Memphis waiting for him. Meanwhile, Alayzia swore off school when she graduated high school, and instead, hopped from one dead-end job to the next, helping River with the bills as much as she could after making sure her hair and nails were always on point and her cup was always full.
River worked a full-time job as a security guard at night while in college. When he finally joined the police department, his income increased so drastically, he and Alayzia were able to move out of their one-bedroom apartment in the same neighborhood they grew up in and into a four-bedroom house in the more affluent neighborhood of Raleigh. While he worked hard and achieved goals in his career, Alayzia was busy out living her best life, drinking and partying. Every weekend was an occasion, and every summer was a Hot Girl Summer for Alayzia, so much so that she had forgotten to get a refill on her birth control pills three summers before, and Cyan and Sienna resulted from one of the nights she stumbled into the house and onto River’s lap.
River was annoyed. He was no stranger to waking up in bed alone, but lately, it had become a more common occurrence. Alayzia had been spending more time with her sisters who now had their own Section 8 apartments in the Goodwill Village and three kids a piece as well. Usually, he would be awakened in the middle of the night by a drunk version of his girlfriend and her indecipherable ramblings. She’d sit on the edge of their bed and talk in a language he couldn’t understand until she reached the curse words in every sentence, and after an hour, she’d stumble to the living room and pass out on the couch. Those instances had turned into her not even making it home at least once a week over the past several months, causing River to be forced to scramble to get their kids dressed and off to day care before he headed to the precinct to report for duty. He’d been late more than once. Luckily his lieutenant appreciated his hard work and dedication and allowed him to make it up by reporting to work early the next day. However, River feared his luck would eventually run out. With the new round of testing in the department that would result in multiple promotions, he knew he could possibly have a new supervisor soon, one who wasn’t as lenient or as understanding.
He shook off his frustration as he pulled up at Bright Minds Day Care and parked near the door. He got out and walked around to Cyan’s door, opening it to find Cyan making Woody cut cartwheels across his lap. Unbuckling him, he helped him out the truck before handing him his backpack and walking him around the truck to the driver’s side. Sienna had dozed off in her seat, so River unbuckled her, grabbed her backpack, and carried her inside while holding Cyan’s hand and walking him alongside them.
Upon entering the day care, River signed the children in at the front desk and then laid Sienna on a cot along the wall in their classroom, a procedure he was all too familiar with.
“I’ll be back to get y’all when I get off this evening. Okay?” he assured Cyan as he hung Sienna’s backpack on the hook in her cubby which was next to Cyan’s.
“We be okay, Daddy,” his son promised.
“That’s my guy. Come here, man,” River cooed as he squatted and hugged his son. “I love you, man. Be good today. They’ll feed y’all breakfast in a bit.”
“Okay. Have a good day, Daddy.”
River stood up and waved goodbye at Cyan who took off running for the building blocks. He gazed at Sienna one last time before heading out the door, hopping back in his truck, and pulling off.
Now alone in the truck, he dialed Alayzia’s number. The phone’s trilling poured through the truck’s speakers as he impatiently tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. When her voicemail picked up, he disconnected without leaving a message. River pulled into the drive-thru at the Burger King down the street from the day care, deciding to grab breakfast so he could eat while on the expressway, and texted Alayzia while waiting in line.
The kids are at day care. I’m headed to work. Where are you? Call me.