“What? Daddy’s lips are clean girl,” Jax laughed.
“What’s up with your cousin?” Marisa asked Jax as she nodded in Mario’s direction.
Jax turned his head to see Mario hugged up with Cassie, his latest girl. He just shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to look at Marisa.
“What’s up with your girl?” Jax threw back at her.
“Don’t even go there Jamil. You know exactly what’s up with her. He could have at least left his girl toy at home. He knew this was her graduation also.” Marisa fussed.
She had no problem with Mario, but she wasn’t feeling this shit he was trying to pull. She understood that people move on, but to bring your new chick to the girl you claim to have loved so much graduation was just foul.
“I’m not in it and neither should you be. That’s not our business. Let them figure it out. Plus it don’t look like she’s too worried,” Jax said.
In his eyes, Nadia was too busy being hugged up with her ex to be worried about what Mario had going on. He hated that the two of them didn’t work out, but he couldn’t worry about their situation. He had enough problems of his own to worry about.
-23-
Jax was lying back on Marisa’s bed as he waited for her to get out of the shower. Today they were supposed to be kicking back and chilling in the house together. He noticed her phone vibrating on the nightstand. He looked over to see it was Nadia texting her, so he was going to ignore it until something in the text caught his attention. Since she didn’t have a lock on her phone, he picked it up to read the message.
He shook his head at what he saw. Reading that one message caused him to read the whole thread.
Marisa: How you feeling?
Nadia: I’m happy, I still have my bad days, but the good outweighs the bad.
Marisa: That’s what I like to hear. I told you it would get better with time. You did what you thought was best.
Nadia: I know, but I didn’t think I would still feel like this months later. The physical pain in gone but the emotional pain is still there. Sometimes I feel like I should have never got the abortion. But it seems as if keeping it wouldn’t have been a good idea, especially since Mario has a new girl already.
Jax sat there with the phone in his hand shocked. He heard the bathroom door open, so he held the phone up and looked at Marisa.
“Nadia texted you back,” he said.
Marisa stood there with a guilty look on her face. She knew he most likely read the messages and found out about Nadia’s abortion.
“Jax you can’t say anything,” Marisa told him.
“What the hell you mean I can’t say anything? She killed my cousin’s seed, and you expect me not to say anything?” He yelled.
“If she wanted him to know, she would have told him herself, Jamil! Remember what you told me? You’re not in it so therefore it’s not your business to tell.”
“How long ago did she get it?” Jax asked, ignoring everything she had just said.
“Get what?” She asked, playing dumb.
“Don’t play with me, how long ago did she get the abortion, Marisa?” He yelled.
“Four months ago,” she answered.
“What? Hell naw! I’m telling him. This is some bullshit, and you know it,” Jax said as he jumped up and threw her phone on the bed.
“Jax you can’t do that!” She yelled.
“Watch me,” he said as he left out of the room.
Marisa ran to her phone and tried to dial Nadia’s number. She paced back and forth impatiently as she waited for her to answer.
“Hello?”
“Jaron, where’s Nadi?”
“Right here hold on,” Jaron said as he handed Nadia the phone.
“Yes girl, what’s up?” Nadia asked.
“Nadi, Jax went through my phone and saw our messages. He’s on his way to tell Mario. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen to me.” Marisa said in one breath.
“Oh God,” Nadia groaned. “Alright, thanks for telling me.”
Marisa hung up the phone and shook her head. She couldn’t understand how Jax wanted her to stay out of Nadia and Mario’s situation, but he was quick to tell his cousin something or stick up for him whenever he felt as if Nadia was in the wrong.
Marisa wasn’t going to try to act as if Nadia wasn’t wrong for not telling Mario about the baby since it was his baby too, but what’s done was done and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Just like Jax was riding with his cousin whether he was right or wrong, Marisa was riding with her best friend and god sister just as hard.
___
Mario paced his floor back and forth feeling a mixture of hurt and rage. He didn’t want to believe what his cousin was telling him, but he knew Jax had no reason to lie to him, especially about something this important.
“So you’re telling me, she was pregnant with my shorty, got an abortion and didn’t say shit?” Mario asked in disbelief.
“That’s exactly what happened, yo.”
“And all this happened four months ago and she still ain’t tell me shit?”
Jax just nodded his head in response. He didn’t know how to feel because he had never been put in this situation. He knew he would have probably had a damn fit if Jessica would have aborted Jamila.
“Payback is definitely a bitch,” Mario laughed menacingly.
“What you talking about bro?” Jax asked.
“This ain’t shit, but payback for me making Tasha’s trifling ass get that abortion years ago. I mean damn, I know we wasn’t on good terms and shit, but to go as far as to kill my seed and not tell me shit?” Mario asked.
“I would say she probably got rid of it because it wasn’t yours, but I know that’s not the case because Nadia don’t get down like that,” Jax said.
“Nah, she don’t, plus she had to get pregnant around the time we took that trip to the Bahamas,” Mario said.
Just thinking about this shit had him ready to find her and choke the shit out of her ass. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone out. Her ass was going to give him some answers today. The phone rang twice before she answered.
“Mario look, I know Jax told you, but I’m not in the mood to argue about this right now,” Nadia said before he could even utter a hello.
“Fuck you mean Nadia? I don’t give a fuck what type of mood you’re in! Why the fuck did you abort my seed? That’s all I need to know!” Mario bellowed.
Nadia sighed into the phone. “Mario, I got the abortion because that was the best thing for me to do. I have plans and things I want to accomplish so I did what I had to do. Besides we weren’t even on good-”
“Yo! So you killed my shorty because you wanted to live your life? So having a child would have just ended your fucking life, huh?”
“See, you’re always twisting shit around Mario! I got that abortion because I had to! Do I feel bad about it now? Yes, of course, I do, but what’s done is done. I can’t take it back, and there is nothing you or I can do about it,” Nadia yelled before hanging up the phone.
Mario stood there with the phone still pressed to his ear with a crazy look on his face. He couldn’t believe that Nadia had just given him some lame ass excuse as to why she wouldn’t have his baby. None of what she was said justified her getting an abortion.
-24-
Nadia stood in front of everyone with the piece of mail in her hand that she had been too scared to open. In her hand, she held the envelope that held her fate on if she was going to one of her dream colleges or not. She invited Jason, Jaron, Marisa, and her godmother over to share this moment with her as well as her brothers.
“Nemo can you open it for me?” She asked.
“No doubt,” Neeman said as he took the envelope from his sister.
He tore it open before reading it to himself. He looked up at his sister before looking back at the paper.
“Boy stop playing with us and tell us what it says,” Raelynn fussed.
“My baby s
ister is going to Clark Atlanta!” He said with a big smile on his face.
Nadia stood there with a small smile on her face has everyone rejoiced in happiness.
“Hold up,” Jaron said. “Why you don‘t seem happy?” He asked her.
“I‘m having mixed emotions. I mean I‘m happy, don‘t get me wrong, but Atlanta is pretty far, and I‘ve never been away from my family before,” she said. “No, I can‘t do it. I‘m staying here.”
“No, the hell you‘re not!” Neeman said. “Do you know how long you‘ve wanted to go to college down there? Nadia, you are the first one in our family to go to college. Mama had to put her dreams of going to college on hold because she had me young. Pops didn‘t get a chance to go, so he went to the army. I fucked up, so there was no way I was going. You‘re doing something we never got a chance to do.” He explained.
Nadia stood there with her hands on her head. It wasn‘t that she didn‘t want to go, she just didn‘t know how to be on her own. It had always been her, her mom, and her brothers. Even when she lost her mother, she still had Neeman and Nyzir.
“I‘m scared y‘all. I‘m going to be in a whole new city, a whole new state with nobody I know. Nemo, who’s going to be here to make sure you stay out of trouble? I’m going to miss the start of Nyzir’s sophomore year of high school, my best friend is here. I…I don’t know.”
“Nadia, look at me,” Raelynn spoke up. “Ever since you found out that Nicole had HIV you took on the role of trying to be everyone’s savior. You took on a big responsibility to take care of her as well as Nyzir, and there is nothing wrong with that. But since then you have been taking care of and worrying about other people, now it’s time for you to worry about you.”
“She’s right Nadi, don’t worry about Zir he’s good. You know I would never let nothing happen to him. You damn sure don’t need to worry about me because I’m good. I told you before that I’m not going back to jail. I made a promise to mama, and that’s a promise that I plan on keeping,” Neeman told her.
“Nadi, we just want what’s best for you. You have always wanted to go Atlanta, so you finally have your chance. No matter where you go or what you do, you’re always going to be my sister. Besides that will be reason enough for me to come there and show out,” Marisa laughed.
Nadia just smiled as she shook her head. “You guys are right, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
She was so grateful that she had been blessed with such a great support system. Her brother was right, she was the first one in their family that would be going to college so she was going to put her fears aside and do what she knew her mother would have wanted get to do. Atlanta, here I come.
-25-
Jax pulled up to his house and sighed. His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he ignored it already knowing who it was.
“So you’re going to act like you don’t hear that loud ass vibration in your pocket Jamil? If I can hear it, I know damn well you can feel it.”
Jax groaned as he threw his head back on the headrest and ran his hands over his face. He wasn’t in the mood to be putting up with any bullshit today, but he knew that was all he was going to get. He looked over in his passenger’s seat with his face scrunched up.
“Don’t worry about all that. Just come on so you can get yourself together to see your daughter,” he told Jessica.
Jessica didn’t say anything else as she got out of the car. She followed behind Jax as he led her to the front door. When he opened the door and walked in, he got the shock of his life. Marisa was walking out of the kitchen with nothing, but one of his button ups on with her phone glued to her ear. When she looked in his direction, he could tell that she wasn’t looking at him, she was looking past him. Oh shit, he thought to himself.
“Nadia let me call you back. Some shit just came up,” Marisa said as she pulled the phone away from her ear while never taking her eyes off of the female that was standing behind Jax.
“Who are you?” Jessica asked.
Marisa looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she bit down on her bottom lip, something she did when she was trying not to get mad. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions or show her ass just yet so she counted to ten in her head before addressing Jax.
“What is this?” Marisa asked, pointing at him and the female.
“Jamil who the fuck is this bitch and why is she in my house?” Jessica asked.
“Bitch?” Marisa asked more to herself than Jessica.
“Aye, y’all just chill the fuck out!” Jax yelled.
He knew how Jessica could be, and he knew Marisa had no problems popping off and beating some ass. He was dealing with two crazy ass females in his presence, and he needed to get control of the situation before it got crazy.
“Jess go do what I said while I talk to Marisa,” he ordered.
“I wish the hell I would. You knew I was coming home for months so why the hell you didn’t send this bitch on her way then?” Jessica asked.
“You got one more time to call me a bitch,” Marisa warned her.
“Bitch,” Jessica smirked.
Marisa took off so fast that Jax didn’t even have time to stop her or catch her. Marisa punched Jessica dead in her mouth before Jax grabbed her by her waist and carried her to the kitchen.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” He yelled.
Marisa stood up straight and looked at him sideways. “Are you serious right now? I come here to be with your simple ass, but I find you walking into the house with the next bitch. You let her call me out of my name then have the nerve to ask me what’s wrong with me?” Marisa yelled back.
“Bitch, I’m going to kill your ass!” Jessica yelled as she rushed into the kitchen.
Marisa stood there unfazed as Jax grabbed Jessica and drug her out of the kitchen by her arm. She heard them arguing from the living room and what she heard caught her attention.
“So you mean to tell me I get locked up behind your ass, but instead of holding me down like you’re supposed to, you play house with someone else? You better not have had my daughter around her ass,” Jessica fussed. She should have known she couldn’t count on Jax to be a real man and hold her down. He was the main reason she was locked up because he didn’t know how to be faithful. Then he turned around and played her to the left while she was locked up. She was more hurt than anything.
“Wait, I thought you said Jamila’s mother abandoned her, and you didn’t know where she was at,” Marisa said.
Jax sighed and closed his eyes as he turned to face Marisa. She stood there glaring at him with a blank expression on her face.
“No honey, never would I have abandoned my child. I don’t know what kind of lies this nigga has been telling you, but I’ve been locked up for the past two years because me and one of his many bitches got into a fight, and she got hurt real bad. Jax has always been a pathological liar. I guess that’s one thing that will never change,” Jessica said.
Jax couldn’t even say anything because he was caught up. He felt like shit as the look on Marisa’s face turned to one of pure disgust. She just shook her head before running up the stairs. He turned to look at Jessica with fire in his eyes.
“Didn’t I tell you to let me talk to her? You’re ass always doing some extra shit!” He yelled.
Not even giving her room to respond, he headed for the stairs to talk to Marisa. By the time he had made it to his room, she already had her dress on and was putting her shoes on. Marisa didn’t even bother to look up when she heard him come in the room.
“Marisa,” he said.
She just threw his shirt on the bed and tried to walk past him and out of the room, but he tried to grab her arm. She snatched her arm away and slapped him with all her might. Jax couldn’t even get mad because he knew he deserved it. He was going to let her cool off for a few days and then try to talk to her again.
___
Marisa used her key to let herself in Nadia’s house. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she bro
ke down crying. She didn’t even notice Jason, Jaron, Neeman, and Nyzir sitting in the living room playing the game. When Neeman heard her walking in crying, he jumped up.
“Reese Cup, what’s wrong?” He asked.
Marisa was crying so hard that she couldn’t even talk. Nadia heard the commotion and ran down the stairs to see what was wrong with her best friend. When Marisa saw Nadia, she ran into her arms and cried.
“What’s wrong?” Nadia asked as she looked around.
Everyone just shrugged their shoulders as they waited for some answers.
“Okay, take a deep breath and talk to me,” she told Marisa.
Doing as she was told, Marisa took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she tried to speak.
“He lied. Jax had a girlfriend the whole time. I told you I was going to call you back because he walked in the house with her. Come to find out that’s Jamila’s mother and she was locked up.” Marisa explained through the tears.
Neeman shook his head. Once again, one of his little sisters had gotten caught up in her feelings behind a nigga that wasn’t shit and ended up getting hurt in the end.
“Come on upstairs,” Nadia told her.
When they got upstairs, the two best friends laid on the bed together, and Nadia held Marisa while she cried. This was all new to Nadia because Marisa was usually the one comforting her and being there for her. She could tell that Marisa really loved Jax because crying wasn’t her thing, especially over a nigga.
“I asked him plenty of times was there something he wanted to tell me. He looked me in my face and lied like it wasn’t nothing. Then to have to hear it from her mouth instead of his was just another slap in my face. He was trying to play the loving boyfriend role knowing the whole time he already had a girl. This is my fault. I should have left him alone when I felt he was hiding something,” Marisa cried.
“I see it as his loss. If he couldn’t be man enough to keep it real with you, then you don’t need him. He should have had enough respect for you to tell you about her from day one. I understand that you’re hurt, and you have every reason to be, but don’t blame yourself. How were you to know that he was hiding that? Just take it as a lesson that you have to start listening to your gut feeling, it will never steer you wrong,” Nadia told her.
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