Page 2 of Only You

“I think the fuck not. We’re not doing this shit again where you run off into the damn darkness, and I have to save your ass. Yeah, nah, especially not with you carrying my child. Have a damn seat,” he said. Jourdan quickly sat down, and I was utterly shocked for several reasons.

I had no clue what was going on. Jourdan had just told me that Tayla was involved in my father’s death. The expert marksman she was had missed her shot, which meant she had intentionally missed her target. She also quickly followed a command with no argument, and I thought I heard Steph say she was pregnant. Steph walked over to give me a brotherly dap and hug before he returned, lifted Jourdan, and sat her in his lap, placing his hand protectively over her stomach.

“Somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on,” I said as I sat back down on the edge of the couch. I hadn’t moved except to stand as the whole ordeal went down. Jourdan took a picture from her cargo pants and brought it to me before quickly sitting back down. I took note of the small pudge that had formed around her middle.

I studied the picture. It was of Nina Nine and Tayla with a man I’d never seen before. She was an infant in the photo, but I’d seen nearly all of her baby pictures that would confirm it was her, except for this one. They were in a hospital, most likely on the day that she was born.

“Who is this nigga in the picture?” I asked.

“That’s Julius Miller, Tayla’s long-lost father, whom I was just talking about. He was never lost; he was just hidden. I don’t know the particulars. He and Nina have something going on between them. Well, he had something going on because he’s dead. We handled his ass. He was the one who had our father killed, and Tayla’s street-loving ass mother pulled the trigger at his command. Oh, and get this, Julius was Stephon’s father, too, by blood anyway. So Tay is his sister,” she rattled off as if she was reading me an article from a gossip site.

“Whew! What in the fuck,” I slowly belted out in a voice full of confusion that I didn’t recognize.

Tayla had always told me that she never knew her father. I wondered if that were true now. Also, JoJo said that Tayla was Stephon’s sister. The fact that he was about to let my sister end her bothered me, and I wanted to know why. I would drop anymotherfucker without a second thought if they even thought of bringing harm to my sister.

Maybe that’s why he stopped her from chasing her.

I sat back on the couch and closed my eyes. When I opened them, they zeroed in on the big-ass diamond ring and wedding band that was sitting on Jourdan’s ring finger. Stephon wore a matching band on his. Fresh ink also sprawled across his neck, bearing Jourdan’s name.

Ahh, there it is. The invisible leash wrapped around both their necks.

“When in the hell were you two going to tell me that you’re married?” I asked, completely bypassing everything with Tayla to focus on something that I could rationalize.

“Awww, shit!” I heard Steph say under his breath when I looked over to him.

“Nigga don’t ask me. She strong-armed my ass down to the courthouse on a Wednesday. Can you believe that shit? A damn Wednesday,” he said dramatically, like he was coerced. Steph’s ass didn’t do a damn thing he didn’t want to do.

“Yeah, ok,” I said, nodding my head up and down.

“Brice, I was going to tell you. I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Jourdan, I don’t want to hear that shit. You’re married and pregnant. And you didn’t think that I’d want to be there or hear that I was about to be a damn uncle.”

“Well, it’s not like it wasn’t your damn idea,” she said with attitude. I couldn’t argue with that, and she looked happy. Even now, she was looking at Steph with stars in her eyes.

“So, you were just going to sit here and let her trigger-happy ass do your blood?” I asked Steph, finally returning to the other question that had been on my mind.

“Man, honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around all this shit, even four months later. I do know with one hundred percent certainty that motherfucker was not my father. With Tayla, man, I don’t know,” he said, sighing. I could tell he was stressed and still grappling with accepting it all more than he was letting on, even with his demeanor still appearing calm.

“Fuck” I belted out.

“I might finally take you up on your offer, Sis. I’m tired. I need to reset. I might be on that plane with y’all back to NC.”

“No, your ass isn’t. Jourdan is getting her beautiful ass on that plane, and we’re going to Fiji to celebrate our honeymoon,” Steph said.

“Let me catch y’all on the way back then,” I said.

“Your ass is cheap as hell, Brice. I’ll call you when we’re on the way back.” Jourdan said.

Looks like I’m moving to North Carolina. What in the hell else do I have here?

CHAPTER 1

Tayla Young

Eight Months Later

This was the second time we’d walked around the two-story building. I’d done an initial tour before I started my interview. Mrs. Haven was trying to get a better feel for who I was. For now, I hope that my act was enough to get me this job. I didn’t have my life all figured out, and I was hoping she didn’t see through the façade. Aside from my qualifications, there were several aspects of myself that I needed to conceal.

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