Page 99 of The Love of Priest

Priest chuckled, finding Jazzy's little attitude amusing. "If you say so."

On the drive to the penthouse, there was a tension-filled silence, mostly on Jazzy's part. From the parking garage of the penthouse, Jazzy, J'Ru and Priest made their way up. As the thick steel door glided open, Jazzy attempted to race out of the elevator to lock herself in her bedroom so she wouldn't have to talk to either of the men.

"Not so fast." Priest snatched her up before sitting her down in the couch.

"I really don't want to talk to either of you. I'm just gonna pack a new bag and head to Taylor's," Jazzy informed them as she attempted to stand up, only for Priest and J'Ru to push her back down.

"Check this out," J'Ru began. "As a collective," he motioned his finger between him and Priest. "PJ and I decided that it's cool if you don't go back to Paris," J'Ru informed her, causing her eyes to immediately beam with some brightness.

"But," Priest quickly brought her down to earth. "You got a month to grind and show us you're on something or we’re shipping your ass right back," he warned her.

Jazzy smacked her lips. "You're not shipping me nowhere," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"I'll have your ass on the first thing smoking tonight if you keep the attitude up," Priest warned her with a scolding look.

Jazzy shifted her eyes between J'Ru and Priest. She was extremely grateful to have the two in her life, but sometimes they could just get on her last nerve. "Are we done here?" Jazzy asked.

J'Ru chuckled. Jazzy's attitude amused him most of the time. She knew all the right ways to tick Priest off, which made it even more comical for J'Ru. "Yeah, we done," he concluded. "What's next for you, little one?"

Jazzy sighed as she got up from the couch. "I guess I'm taking Taylor up on her offer." She shrugged her shoulders. A month definitely was a lot shorter than she thought Priest would give her, but she obviously wasn't going to tell him that. She wanted him to think she was confident and wasn't worried about a thing.

J'Ru and Priest's brows both rose as they eyed Jazzy. "What offer?" they asked in unison with an ample amount of hostility in their tones.

"I'm gonna make some pieces for the girls backstage at the club. I know how to work a sewing machine pretty well, so I might as well put it to use." She shrugged.

Jazzy definitely wasn't thrilled to be diving into the club scene with Taylor, but it was a good opportunity for right now. The dancers were always within arm’s reach of money-making niggas, and with that came a ton of superficial bitches who wouldn't mind getting pieces custom made by Jazzy. Fashion school had taught her enough technique, and Priest had taught her enough about hustling. She was going to secure a bag by any means necessary.

Priest smirked, kind of liking the way Jazzy used her resources wisely. "I fuck with it." He nodded his head in approval. "I'll have security with you whenever you're out there," he assured her.

"Whatever helps you sleep better at night," Jazzy shrugged before she turned on her heels and began wading toward her bedroom.

Priest turned to J'Ru. "You happy now?" Priest raised a brow, wondering if J'Ru was at ease now that Jazzy was home. J'Ru flipped him the middle finger, extracting a chuckle out of Priest.

Priest felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Only a few people called him since everyone knew he preferred to text over holding a conversation over the phone. Britain's name flashed across the screen, causing a light smile to display on his face.

"Hey, you good?" Priest greeted her.

Priest could hear Britain sniffling back the tears, which caused the faint smile on his face to diminish. "Can you just come over when you can?" she asked, trying her best to keep her composure.

"I'm on my way," he told her with no hesitation.

"Thank you," she said before ending the call.

Priest dropped his phone into his pocket before grabbing his keys. "Yo, I gotta head out. You need me to take you back to your place?" Priest asked J'Ru as he pressed the button for the elevator.

J'Ru shook his head. "I'll get car service to take me back. Handle whatever you gotta handle, bro," J'Ru sent him off.

Priest nodded to J'Ru before stepping into the elevator to be taken down to the parking garage. The elevator ride was short, and once he got down to the ground level, he found his vehicle with ease. Priest arrived at Britain's apartment in a matter of minutes. Her car was parked crookedly in her parking space, which let him know she was in some sort of distress. Britain was a perfectionist, especially when it came to things like parking her car.

Priest was glad he had grabbed her some comfort food prior to her call. With the chips in hand, Priest made his way to the door. He skipped out on knocking and used the spare key instead. The apartment was dark, and in the distance, Priest could hear the television on in the bedroom.

"Gioia!" he called out for her as he slipped out of his sneakers.

"I'm in bed!" she called out weakly.

Priest sighed as he navigated to her bedroom. He stood at the threshold of the door eyeing her as she lay in the center of the bed with a fun-sized bag of candy to the right of her and a collection of empty wrappers in a small pile to her left. "Rough day?" he asked while handing her the chips to add to her spread of comfort food.

Britain glanced from the television and nodded her head slowly before thanking him. She watched him as he stripped out of his hoodie and his crisp white tee. He remained in his sweats as he made his way over to the bed. He thanked Britain as she cleared a side for him.

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