Page 3 of F*ckin' With Me
It was time to walk to the stage to receive his degree. That was a moment he didn’t think he would see when he was younger. He caused a lot of hell. He was proud of himself, and what felt better was the pride his father had in his achievements. Not just his academic achievements, but his sport achievements as well. He was slated to enter the draft soon. There was no doubt from sports experts that he would be drafted to an amazing team.
Daylen Smith!
With his head held high, he walked toward the president of the university to shake his hand and accept his degree. There were a lot of joyous screams of celebration. Over all of it, he still heard his father and little sister. His grade point average wasn’t the highest, but it didn’t matter. It was high enough to keep his scholarship, play baseball, and secure his degree.
“I am so proud of you!” Declan cupped his son’s cheeks, pulled his forehead down, and kissed it. “I know your mother is in heaven, smiling down. God knows it was probably her chats with Him that made Him continuously look after your stubborn ass.”
That pulled a laugh out of Daylen. He pulled his sister into his arms when he noticed the hint of sadness that overtook her face. Over the years, guilt built on her chest. She felt she was the cause of her mother’s death. Declan told her time and time before that was not the case. It didn’t matter how many times she heard it; she would have to believe it for herself.
“This is gonna be you soon, Sis.” He hugged his sister tightly from the side. “Where you want to eat at?”
She looked up at her brother. “Why would I pick where we eat? It’s your graduation.”
With sincerity, Daylen responded. “When I win, so do you. Let’s go celebrate our win.”
Declan patted his son’s back. He loved how his children loved each other. On their way out of the auditorium, he saw Simonette by the door. It only felt right that he thanked her again.
“Hey, Simonette. I wanted to thank you again. I couldn’t have gotten here without your help. Oh, and I’m sorry about the other night.” He made her come to the party, so he felt he owed her an apology.
She gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s no need to apologize for another person’s behavior. You’re welcome. You worked hard for your success, so it was an honor to help.”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug. “I appreciate you. If you ever need anything, I got you.” He pulled away from her. “I’on care what it is.”
“Okay. Thank you, I guess.” Simonette wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d take it at face value and move on.
With a final smile, he moved past her. “Who was that?” Daylen’s sister asked. “She’s kind ofblah, but she’s super pretty.”
He lightly pushed her on the shoulder. “Shut up, Rissa.” He glanced over his shoulder at Simonette a final time. “She’s just my tutor.”
Many Years Later. . .
“Hey, Simonette.” My boss, Carlton, stepped next to my workstation in the lab. He didn’t continue until I removed my eye from the telescope. “You did an amazing job on that murder case last week. They were able to get a conviction because of your hard work and your expert testimony.”
My chest poked out just a little bit. “Thank you so much, Carlton. Yeah, I was happy that I was able to have the evidence retested and the right person convicted. There are too many black men and women in jail wrongfully convicted.”
I had my dream job as a forensic scientist in a crime lab. I also worked with organizations that took on cases of people who were wrongfully convicted. When I came to my boss about doingthe work, he didn’t hesitate to run it up the ladder to approve my request. My work helped my lab get more federal funding than normal.
Carlton smiled. “Thank God they have someone like you on their side. I’ll let you get back to work.”
It was the same lab I completed my internship at when I was in college. They offered me a full-time position before I graduated. I didn’t make a lot of money in my profession, but $74,000 a year was enough for a single woman without kids. I was also paid if I was needed for a disposition or a trial as an expert witness for either the prosecution or defense.
I got back to work on the sexual assault case that had taken up my time for the past few hours. When I wasn’t bombarded with cases, I made sure I worked on the back log of evidence from sexual assault cases. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) reported that there were over 450 backlogged sexual assault kits that needed to be tested. That sickened me, so I wanted to make an impact the only way I knew how.
After graduation, I decided to stay in my home state and city of Augusta, Georgia, although I did have offers from other labs in other states. I wanted to stay close to my family… well, my dad. My mother and little sister, not so much. My father, Robert, told me all the time that I didn’t have to stay in Georgia. He spent a lot of time traveling away from home because of his executive position at a pharmaceutical company.
Simone Brand, on the other hand, would never lift her finger to work at anyone’s job. It would be an insult to even suggest it. She was the epitome of a housewife. It was her job to take care of the house, the kids—oh, and judge them too. When she wasn’t doing that, she was brunching, shopping, and gossiping with her sorority sisters. She had me at twenty years old when she was in college, and she stayed in college long enough to join a sororitybefore she dropped out. My father was twenty-four when I was born and well on his way to success.
My alarm went off, letting me know I needed to wrap things up to go home. The alarm was Carlton’s idea. He knew, without it, I would work into the wee hours of the morning. I wouldn’t say I was an overachiever, but I also wouldn’t say I wasn’t.
I made sure I secured all the evidence that I worked on that day. Being a forensic scientist, there was no room for error. An error could determine how a person would spend the rest of their life.
Once everything was locked up, I grabbed my crossbody purse and was out of there. My smile was showcased when I got to my vehicle to see the doctor rubber ducky that rested in my door handle. I reached into my crossbody and took out a rubber glove. Once it was on, I picked up the ducky.You can never be too safe.After my door was unlocked, I climbed in and locked it. The rubber ducky went into a small container of disinfectant solution that I kept in my vehicle. I would take it out, rinse it off, and place it in its rightful place on my dashboard when I got home safely.
The lab was twenty minutes away from my house. Once I pulled into my garage and the door closed, I sat there for a moment. My house was my oasis. It was all mine. I took the time to do what I needed for my new ducky to sit on my dashboard.
Like I always did, I stripped out of my clothes when my foot stepped on my bedroom floor. Straight to the shower, I went. The ringing of my phone let me know that my shower would take longer than normal just to avoid the call. Thirty minutes later, I was out of the shower, and the phone rang for the fourth time. “Hello, Mother.”
“Simonette, I have been calling you for over an hour. Did you not see me calling?”My mother’s exaggeration annoyed me to no end.
