Chapter 133

FREDA WHITLOCK

“Mom, mom! ot’s go to the mall, Francisco excitedly exclaimed as we walkway from the ice cream truck that was parked close to the mall. I looked at Lyra to see if she was up for it. The mall was somewhat empty and I was not sure what the reason was, but I liked it. “Sure,” she said with a shrug.

“Yay,” Francisco exclaimed with a grin and ran off ahead of us. “Heyy, careful,” I called, apologizing to the young couple he almost ran into. “Come on!” He called in response and Lyra smirked at me before running off after him. I groaned, having no choice but to join them.

*** ***

Fifteen minutes later, we had maxed out Lyra’s card and we were currently on mine. We were getting a bunch of stuff we never realized we needed, along with an assortment of toys for Francisco. When we got into the mall, I only then realized that this was the first time in the three months since I brought Francisco to this pack that we were going shopping.

Different things had happened and they had all been so overwhelming that I forgot all about taking him out to have fun. Guilt nibbled at me, and that was why I got him every toy he asked for that was safe, even though I knew he would grow out of using them soon. When that happened, I would be glad to give them out to the younger kids in the pack.

A sudden thought hit me. Did I plan to stay that long? Surely, I didn’t. But then, I had not planned to stay as long as I already had.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair as Lyra and Francisco headed for the arcade in the gaming center. “I’ll go get some

Lyra and she nodded as Francisco pulled her

more stuff,” It away. She wa

one that was more into playing games with him and that was why he always wanted to go out with her.

Sometimes I got jealous, but then I thought about how much he liked discussing with me and asking me questions. Lyra did not have the patience to answer the questions that the kids asked.

“You!” I heard someone call out as I started walking up the stairs to the upper section of the mall where clothes and underwear were. I had a very silly phobia of escalators after I watched a video that haunted me.

“I’m talking to you!” The person’s voice was louder now and I recognized it. It was my sister’s. Not Lyra’s. It was Safiya.

I immediately turned around and looked in the direction her voice had come from, and I saw her glaring at me from the top of the stairs. How the hell had she even seen me?

People were already looking at her and the peace-loving, calm part of me immediately turned around and started heading down the stairs I had already gone halfway up to. I needed to find Lyra and Francisco so I could stay with them.

This was the only time I hated the fact that there was not a crowd that I could get lost in. Goddess, why did I have the worst of luck? Why?

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Chapter 133

“Get back here!” I heard her yell, and I started cringing from the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling on her behalf.

“Freda…” I heard Lyra’s voice and I could not have been more grateful. “Most of the fun games are out of order…” I heard Cisco say and Lyra looked me over, examining my body language. “What’s going on?” She asked me and I bit my lip.

“Let’s out of here,” I said, grabbing Francisco’s hand. “Wh Lyra was asking but she cut herself off when she looked behind me. “I’m talking to you, b**h,” I heard Safiya’s voice close behind me and I turned around.

“What the f**k?” Lyra fumed and glared at her. “Language!” I said, glancing at Francisco. He looked very confused and I started to feel bad for him.

“You want to tell me why you’re such a b**h?” Safiya said, glaring at me and I let out a sigh, feeling very unfortunate at the fact that she was going to make my day worse than it already was. “What do you want?” I asked quietly, looking around subtly at the people who were looking at us and the crowd that was slowly gathering.

“You made me waste my strength trying to get to you,” she said, and I glanced down at her baby bump, which was not very obvious. I did not know what to tell her so I pressed my lips together and looked at Lyra. She was clenching and unclenching her fist.

“Not only are you trying to take my husband from me, your b**h friend is trying to do that too?” She questioned, looking between us and I was filled with confusion.

“What?”

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