8

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Nina

The courtroom was freezing, and it made me all the more drowsier. I rubbed my temples, worried about the trial, and listened back to two women talking about Jay behind me.

"Oh my God, Flo you think somethin' wrong?" I definitely did. No way he'd be over thirty minutes late over something that had to with Correy. If anything, he'd be here when the courthouse opened.

"Calmate, mi vida. Call him one more time." The second lady picked up her phone again, but Jay didn't answer.

"See, somethin' wrong."

I turned around in my seat, unable to resist joining in their conversation.

"He's not answering me either. I think I'mma go to his place. and see if everything good."

"And who are you?" The second lady asked, eyebrows furrowed. She looked like she wanted to beat the fuck outta me.

"Oh my bad, I'm Nina. I'm a friend of Jay's." I decided to leave it at that, cause I didn't know what we were, nor did I want to give it a label when we hadn't talked about it yet.

Her eyebrows lifted and then she smirked. "Oh, you're that 'friend'."

"What that mean?"

"Baby, Jay don't have regular friends in his life. And it's only one person he's mentioned to me lately, and I'm assuming it's you. Anywhore, I'm Wren, his cousin, and this is my girlfriend, Flora."

I blushed, thinking about the fact that he told them about me. A little girl sitting to the right of them chimed in. "Mommy, you forgot me! Hi, Nina. I'm Harley Jones, nice to meet you!"

I smiled at her and waved. "Hey Harley."

Wren reached behind Flora and playfully yanked Harley's ear. "Little girl you too friendly, giving yo government to strangers. But back to Jay, I'm coming wit' you to his place."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You know him... he doesn't like being ambushed. How's he gonna feel when your loud ass pulls up and starts raising hell?" Flora commented.

Wren started scratching her head. "That's valid. But we don't know miss?"

"Nina," I finished.

"Miss Nina. We don't know her enough. What if she go over there and kill him? What then?"

"Wrenden! She's sitting right there. Hush!" Flora turned back towards me. "You got his address?" I nodded. "Clearly they're close enough if she's been over there. Here, take my number. Text me when you get there and let us know if he's okay."

Wren crossed her arms. "Man I still wanna go over there. Cause first thing I'mma do is whoop his ass for being late. Secondly--"

"See. This exactly why you don't need to go. Alright, Nina. Drive safe."

"I will, thank you." I waved to Harley and went outside to my car. Anxiety filled my chest, and I really was praying that everything was okay.

The ride is usually 30 minutes, but I made it over there in 15. It's only cause of God that I didn't get pulled over.

I walked up the steps to his place and knocked on the door. No response. After knocking and yelling through the door, I twisted the knob to find it was unlocked.

The living room was empty, but there were a few empty bottles of liquor on the table. I checked the kitchen, hallway, and Correy's room, nothing. The whole apartment was quiet, but I heard movement coming from behind the double doors of Jay's room.

The sheets were all the way off the bed, and I stepped over more empty bottles. I started to call out his name when I heard a loud thud coming from the connecting bathroom.

I swung the door open to find him sitting on the ground with a half empty bottle of Henny in his hand. His eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed, making it look as though he had been crying.

"N-Nina? What you doing here?" He tried standing but landed flat on his ass. He shook his head, put the bottle down, and ran his hands over his face.

"Jay, you know what time it is? You had trial today. 'Member how I told you I was gon come to support you?" Recognition flashed across his face, then his eyes went wide. He struggled to get up again, resulting in another failed attempt.

"Oh God, Correy--" I put my hand on his chest and reminded him to breathe while I pulled out my phone and called Flora.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, this is Nina from the courthouse. I'm with Jay."

"The judge rescheduled because over an hour passed. Is he okay? What happened?" I opened my mouth to speak, unsure of how to explain the situation. Jay shook his head at me, and I muted myself.

"Tell them I'm straight."

"But clearly you not."

"I'll call them later, but I'on want them to worry about me. Please, Nina."

"Hello?" Flo asked, making sure I was still on the line. "Y-yeah. He's okay, he said he'd call you later."

"Nah, put his ass on the phone--" Wren cut in.

"Tell him we're coming by. Thanks for calling, Nina." Flora ended the call.

I turned back towards Jay, whose eyes were watering as he slid the bottle away from him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, not really." I understood that. He was never the most vocal when it came to how he felt, so I wasn't gon push it. But I didn't wanna leave him, either.

"I'll sit wit' you." I took off my heels and sat next to him, leaning back on the tub for support.

It was silent, except for the sound of his occasional sniffle. I didn't have to look over to see that he was crying. His back was facing me and he held his head in his hands. I ain't know what to do at all, so I just rubbed his back and let him know I was there.

"Jay, baby. Turn around, look at me," I begged. He shook his head, and it sounded like more sobs where getting caught in his throat. I sat up on my knees and pulled him closer to my chest. I could feel him relax under me as he gripped my arm and just let it all out. He cried so much that at times he was losing air and hiccupping.  It broke my heart to see him in so much pain, especially when I didn't know what was causing it.

The cries faded away until it was just the sound of us breathing.

"I'm losing my mind, Nina." He whispered. I wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't so quiet.

"I'm seeing shit... I'm seeing her. A-and she, she's dead. She not here n-no more so why am I, why the fuck am I seeing her?"

I scrunched up my eyebrows, confused. "Who's dead, Jay? Whatchu talmbout?"

For the first time since I came he looked up at me and into my eyes. I wiped away the stray tears falling from his red ones and rested my hands on his cheek. "Talk to me, please."

"I lost someone real important to me, and I'on think I've been okay since. I think I just been tryna go along and pretend I'm good when I'm not. And now I think I've seen her twice, which ain't possible 'cause she six feet under," he said, letting out a bitter laugh. "Looks like I'm going insane. I guess Correy's better off wit' his mama."

"I don't ever wanna hear you say that again, cause you don't mean it. Correy belongs wit' you. And you gotta keep fighting for him, no matter what. When you feeling better we calling your lawyer and figuring out what to do next."

He nodded, and I continued. "But help me understand why this is all coming up now. Did you see her again?"

From there he told me all about this girl. He told me about how gentle she was, how much she cared about him, how her family fucked her up. And finally, how she had died. The way his face softened when he described her, I knew he loved her; it was like he was seeing her again, touching and holding her. That's the purest type of love, and he wasn't able to express it to her.

"I came back and there she was. Never seen that much blood before. I called 911 but she was almost gone by the time they started coming to my house. She just kept telling me not to leave her, to stay wit' her while she died. I stayed, I kept my promise and didn't leave. But that shit really broke me." He talked, despite the tears falling down his cheeks.

In that moment I felt his sadness and how heavy it made the room. He was truly suffering, carrying all of this baggage with him and having no one to talk to about it.

"When Nique died and Correy was born later on that year, I knew I wanted him to know who she was. Shit, I named the lil nigga Correy, like Corré, her middle name. I woulda left it the same spelling but Sierra ain't like it. Swear D woulda been so hyped to meet him." He laughed a bit. "That's also why I took him back to Monroe wit me to visit her grave. Wasn't no type of kidnapping involved, I just wanted him to know he had an angel looking out for him."

"Then I thought I saw her at the cemetery. And yesterday, I swear to God she walked into my shop."

I raised my eyebrows. "You saw her at Bizzy?"

"Yeah, we was finna close and she walked in. I would never forget her face, it was her. I wasn't tripping, and that's the problem. She was insisting that she wasn't Domonique and that I was crazy and she ran out. I couldn't handle how frustrated and confused it was making me."

"And everything you suppressed came out." I finished. He nodded, wiping some snot from his nose.

What was the probability that Domonique was still alive, even after five years? Not likely at all. If he watched them burry her, she couldn't have still been alive. It was probably true that he was experiencing some kind of mental break, but we would deal wit that later. I made a mental note to start looking for good therapists in the area so he could have a professional help him. As much as I wanted to take his pain away, he needed real help. 

"I'm sorry, I ain't want you to see me like this. All sad and shit."

"Don't apologize. I'm here for you, always. I don't ever want you to feel like you gotta bottle up all your emotions or that there's no one you can depend on."

"You think I'm crazy?"

"No, I think you're still grieving. I think you don't give yourself enough credit for going through allat and still being a good father to your son. I think you need to take a break from work to focus on yourself. Look at me," I brought his face up by his chin. "I care about you, so much Jay. Don't ever feel like you can't come to me."

"Thank you. I needed to hear that."

I finally got him to stand up. I left him in the bathroom so he could shower real quick while I checked my phone and fixed him a plate in the kitchen.

iMessage

momma❤️
Janina why are you not answering your phone young lady?

sorry momma, jay's kinda going through something right now. i promise i'll call you when i get home

momma❤️
Okay, you better. I'll be waiting. And I need to meet this Jay character. Because why is he stopping me from talking to my child.

Keisha you so dramatic!! i'm gonna call you i swear

momma❤️
Little girl I told you to stop calling me by that name! You are not too old for an ass whooping, don't play with me child. And don't be swearing in front me either.

yes ma'am 😂 i love you

momma❤️
Mhm. I love you too baby and make sure you call me!

I looked up after hearing Jay call my name.

"Nina!"

There was steam everywhere as he came out the bathroom. He was wearing a wife beater and some grey shorts, chains dangling from his neck. This was classic hoe attire, and he looked the fuck good. I felt my cheeks heat up just looking at him.

"Mhm?"

"Come lay wit me." He plopped down on the bed and stretched out. I twisted my mouth to the side. "Uh uh, don't look like that. I know you got work to do but come here, I don't want you to leave yet."

Yes, the assignments were piling up. But I couldn't say no, and he knew that. Once he saw me moving towards the bed, he started cheesing hard.

"Don't start feeling yo'self. You ain't allat," I chuckled.

"I'm not allat but you coming to lay wimme?"

"Shut up."


My eyes slowly opened as I heard voices coming from the cracked open door. I didn't feel Jay behind me, which put me on edge a little bit. I yawned and stretched, then grabbed my phone and rolled out of bed.

"Wren, stop you loud as fuck! My baby in there sleeping, let her be." My baby had my heart fluttering. I stayed at the door to hear what they was talking about.

"Mhm, 'yo baby' is a stranger. How come we don't know her?"

"Because it's new and I don't want you to expose me."

I stepped out of the room, rubbing my eyes. "What is there to expose?"

"Nothin', come here." He opened his arms for me to sit close to him. Flora and Wren sat across from us while Harley was asleep on the couch next to them.

"Y'all let me know, is it something I should be concerned about?"

"No, he's a good guy. Let me know if he fucks up though, I'll handle his ass!" Wren said, making me laugh.

"Bet, I'll remember that. Are y'all hungry? Jay did you offer them food?" I started getting up to go to the kitchen, but he pulled me back down.

"They good, don't worry about them."

"Oh she's definitely a keeper. She got better manners than you," Flora added. "But we're okay, we just came back from a restaurant. As you can see, Harley got the itis." I watched as the little girl drooled all over the couch in her sleep.

We talked into the evening, the both of them getting to know me better. If these two were his only family, he was in good hands. Wren was the more bold one who always had something to say, but it came from a good place. She stayed making us laugh while tormenting Flora as much as she could. Don't get it twisted, though. If Flora needed to check her girlfriend, she would. And just like that, Wren would hush up. It wasn't apparent who wore the pants in the relationship, but their dynamic was cute nonetheless.

The night went on and I could tell he felt better by the way the tension released in his shoulders. I know this was only temporary, and tomorrow held another set of problems he needed to face. But at least for tonight, he could take a moment to breathe.

Flora and Wren were arguing over something when he leaned his head down on mine, sighing deeply. "You leaving soon?"

"Mhm. Forreal this time."

"You'll come back?"

"Of course."











a/n: okayyy y'all been on my ass about this update so here you go LMAO. i got a lil busy these past few weeks but im tryna get more stuff out to y'all. also don't be going on my other books commenting about this one😭 if you got time to comment you got time to read so gon head 😌 Bangin' is like 20 chapters it's gon keep you occupied while you waiting on I Will. updates 😘 until next time, vote + comment for me.

-ColeWoorld

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net