Page 172 of The Love of Priest

Priest furrowed his brows. "Doing what?" he asked her.

She glanced over at him. Her eyes were already beginning to glisten with the tears she was fighting hard to hold back. "P, I miss her every second of every day," she broke down in tears. "I never cried. I never grieved. I never openly said I missed her. I simply acted as if it never happened.” "That's not okay," she cried out.

Priest wrapped his toned arms around her. Britain had fixed herself up so well that even she forgot she was broken once upon a time. She dismissed every thought and feeling of pain, not even acknowledging the fact that she had been through some tough shit. Even Priest couldn't stomach some of the stuff she had been through.

Britain was tough, but she wasn't that tough.

"How you chose to cope doesn't make you less of a person or a mother. You did what was best for you and your stability. Now, you've come to a point in life where you're comfortable with peeling those layers back," Priest preached to her in his raspy voice as his hands gently stroked through her hair. "You're one of the strongest, most passionate and most loving women I know. Don't crucify yourself for how you handled things prior to learning the right thing to do. As long as you made it through, the rest doesn't matter"

Britain laid her head on Priest’s chest, letting his strong heartbeat bring her to ease. Tears continued to cascade down her face. She was finally confronting her own emotions.

"Don't run from shit anymore. Let your emotions take you wherever they need to. That's how you heal." Priest kissed the top of her head lightly.

ChapterForty-Two

Figuringshit out was a process within itself. What was even harder was actually executing everything. Priest, Kaymen, and J'Ru definitely felt as though they had their work cut out for them, but right now… so far so good.

Priest leaned against the heavy oak table that decorated the back room of the showroom.He accepted the duffle bag from one of his many truck drivers. The weight of the bag was sufficient for now since he had yet to crack the bag open and count what was inside. As he sat the black duffle bag down on the polished wood table, it sounded off with a light thud. He unzipped the bag, revealing the multiple stacks of money that were rubber banded together.

The sight of the crisp blue bills brought a wave of contentment over him, J'Ru and Kaymen. "We might’ve just did something," J'Ru mumbled as he looked over Priest's shoulder at the profit they had just made.

After getting the strip mall in their possession and starting a legitimate outsourcing business and truck driving company, Priest and the guys had finally concluded their first route. Their international imports were now traveling all over the North in sheep's clothing. In their case, it happened to be furniture. They were about to force everyone who wasn't rocking with them into a drought. They had never been so hungry and willing before, but times had changed, and they were playing hard now.This was their first route, and the men were pleased to see everything panned out smoothly. There weren't any more complications or concerns. All they had left to do was stack bands and let the streets do the talking.

"Definitely taking over now," Kaymen added with a proud smirk.

J’Ru took a handful of money from the duffle to get to counting. Kaymen and Priest followed suit, retrieving an equal number of stacks and leaving the bag empty.They took seats at either side of the desk. They each had their individual money counters that were accurate and precise. In unison, they all started their count, being sure to sum up exactly how much they were taxing for their work.

The sound of the money counter breezing through the crisp blue bills brought joy to the men. They were hustling and making shit happen, and it was bigger business than they had ever done before.

Midway through the counting, the men were stopped by another knock on the door. Yet another truck driver had arrived, turning in a duffle bag with just as much bread the last one. Priest thanked him before sending him on his way.

"What's word with your trial?" Kaymen asked Priest, igniting conversation amongst them.

Priest let out a sigh as he wrapped the rubber band around the stack he had just finished counting. "Abraham pulled a few strings to get some of the charges dismissed. As for when it starts back up, still the same time," Priest explained to Kaymen. "That round should be it, so I'm not anticipating that shit as of right now."

"How Britain feeling?" J'Ru inquired. If shit went sour with Priest's trial, J'Ru knew his obligation to Priest would require him to look out for Britain. He didn't mind. She was a cool girl and seemed to have Priest’s interests.

Priest glanced at J'Ru. "She's aware and knows what she needs to do to move on," he shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to give too many details about their situation simply because he wasn't much of a fan of having people in his game room. He was sure however things worked out, Britain would be good on his watch.

After successfully counting four duffle bags and stashing their profit, Priest decided to call it a day. They had completed all operations for the day and would resume again later that week.

The following day was the day Jamari was to be laid to rest. It had been a full two weeks now, and things had finally aligned perfectly. Priest had an ill feeling about Jamari's funeral. He wasn't sure if his intuition was trying to tell him something or if he just hated the thought of laying someone he loved to rest. Either way, he wanted the feeling to be gone.

"Safety," the three men said to each other, wishing safe travels to wherever they were headed before getting into their respective cars.

Priest pulled his butterfly doors down as he pressed the button to start his vehicle. It felt odd to be heading in the direction of the penthouse around this time since he had grown accustomed to heading to Britain's apartment.

Britain agreed to stay at his place for a little while, and it was definitely an adjustment. Plus, it didn't help that Priest had to take care of business while she stayed behind. The size of the penthouse wasn't the issue. It was the matter of introducing her to Priest's staff whenever they came to do their job. The only people who were truly familiar with Britain were his chef Talia and his security detail.Everyone else seemed shocked to see a woman other than Jazzy and Sylvia in Priest's space. They accepted Britain anyway, treating her just as they would treat Jazzlyn, Priest, or Sylvia.

Priest decided to shoot a call to Britain to ensure she was fine. He had been checking on her periodically, and although her responses never changed, he still called. Britain answered the call mid-laughter.

"I'm fine," she assured Priest as her laughter subsided.

Priest furrowed his brows. "That's good to hear, but what's so funny if I ain't crack the joke?" he jested with some light laughter of his own.

Britain smacked her lips jokingly. "You're not that funny, especially not as funny as your sister," she told him.

Priest chuckled. "Oh, word? That’s how it is now, Gioia?"

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