Page 88 of The Love of Priest

Priest shrugged as he leaned back in his seat. "If you look at life so black and white, you'll be dead before you even get the chance to live. You gotta find the silver lining and just live in the gray a little," he wisely preached.

Jazzy screwed her face up in a questioning and confused manner as both J'Ru and Priest laughed at how his words went right over her head. "You would get it if you weren’t out in France drinking with your underdeveloped brain,"J’Ru poked fun at Jazzy, playfully shaming her.

Jazzy rolled her eyes before waving him off. "Shut up."

Once the laughter died down between Priest and J’Ru, the three caught each other up on their lives. "Priest is never around. He's always busy with the new woman in his life," Jazzy pettily let out with a laugh.

Priest cut his eyes at her jokingly. Of course, she was just going off an assumption. Priest never mentioned anything about Britain to Jazzy, but he was sure J'Ru wasn't denying a thing whenever Jazzy drilled him about it.

"Chill. I'm here now." He gestured around the table to allude to the fact that he was with family.

"So, when am I gonna meet her?" Jazzy fluttered her lashes in an innocent manner.

Priest chuckled. "I'm not hiding nothing." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright, then. Can I get a name, a picture, something?" his sister pried, attempting to subdue her own constant curiosity.

Priest took a drink from his glass, a smirk playing out on his face at the thought of Britain. "Her name is Britain."

J'Ru laughed at the screwed-up expression that panned out on Jazzy's face. "She's a cool girl," he vouched.

Jazzy waved him off. "Same shit you said about Paula, and look how that turned out," she reminded him, causing Priest to laugh.

"Nah, he's right about this one," Priest agreed. "She's cool. Her career is questionable to J'Ru, but she's cool nonetheless.” He was glad J'Ru didn't just start off with the fact that he didn't like Britain's occupation. He wanted Jazzy to get a feel for Britain for herself.

Jazzy raised a brow. "She's a stripper? Ain't nothing wrong with shaking some ass for some cash. If I had to, I would." Jazzy shrugged her shoulders, causing both J'Ru and Priest’s eyes to sear into her. "I'm playing!" She waved them off as she let out a timid laugh.

"She's not a stripper," Priest clarified.

"She writes forThe New York Times," J'Ru informed Jazzy. "She's actually the lead reporter on your brother's case now."

Jazzy shifted her shocked expression from J'Ru to Priest who had a laid-back smug look on his face. "Again," she prompted. "What type of fucking paradox are you trapped in? I'm really trying to be as reckless and laid back as you when I grow up." Jazzy shook her head.

Priest chuckled. "It's not that serious," he shrugged. "We have an understanding."

"Two steps ahead?" Jazzy raised her brow, asking her brother.

Priest confirmed with a nod of his head. "Always two steps ahead."

"So, what's been going on with you, little one?" J'Ru averted the conversation from Priest onto Jazzy. Jazzy shifted in her seat nervously as she used her fork to pick at her pasta. "Uh, I'm good."

"What about school? Why you been dying for a break?" Priest chimed in and asked. As far as he knew, Jazzy enjoyed Paris. She was always sending him pictures and videos of her and her friends doing different things and having a blast. Priest could agree that he could be a bit more involved with her schooling and check in periodically with her grades, but he never wanted to seem as though he was hovering over her. She was nineteen and schooling abroad, away from parents. She had freedom, and he wanted her to enjoy that.

"School," she stretched out while scratching the back of her neck. "Uh, I mean it's cool— if I still went, of course." She tried her best to play off what she had just said with a shrug of her shoulder.

J'Ru and Priest both dropped their eating utensils and darted their eyes over to Jazzy who had a frightened look on her face. She knew she was about to get pressed by not only Priest, but by J'Ru too. "Yo, what you meanif you still went?" J'Ru asked as he pushed his plate away from him.

Jazzy’s eyes trailed down to her hands and freshly done manicure. "I dropped out," she admitted.

"Son, I really wanna knock this girl whole head off." J'Ru shook his head in disbelief. "You don't got nothing to say about this, P?"

Priest shrugged. "You can take a cool little break now, but as for you quitting, that's out the fucking window. I worked my ass off to put you in the position to follow your dreams. You have shit easy, Jazzy. The fact that you’re even comfortable enough to sit here and tell me and Ru some shit like this after all we done for you is just a slap in the fucking face," Priest shamed her. Fussing about it wouldn't do much for Jazzy. Once she made up her mind, that was it, and it was over. However, Priest wasn't going for any of that.

"You guys can't keep shipping me off so y'all can maneuver however y'all want without me here. I'm tired of Paris. I'm deprived of being home in New York so you guys can have one less thing to worry about. I picked Paris because I was stupid and just wanted a thrill. I thought it would be all glitz and glam because that’s what the little girl in me wanted. We were touching new money, and you offered, so I jumped at the opportunity. My life isn't something you two can just toss aside. You can’t just pamper me until I shut up," Jazzy groaned in frustration. Priest was a damn good father figure, but the way he was setting her life up made Jazzlyn feel forgotten.He made sure to give her a say in things, but it just wasn't enough for her. She didn't understand why he was so hell bent on her staying out in Paris when her heart was no longer there.

"Alright, if you don't want Paris, pick somewhere else," J'Ru suggested, hoping to reach a compromise. "But you're going back to school."

"No, I'm not," she gritted firmly.

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