Page 44 of He Snatched My Soul

“Yes. My parents are from Africa. I moved to Paris after college. Now that I have my career where I need it to be, I came back to reclaim the love of my life. With her and I back together, Jamian and I can have the future we both talked about before I left for college,” she beamed.

My heart dropped hearing her mention the name Jamian. It could be a coincidence, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t. She had to be the ex he had told me about. It had to be. Not to mention, she just openly admitted that they have been making plans to be together. If it were true, this nigga had lied to my face.

“My name is Anastasia.” She introduced herself, confirming my suspicions.

“Modesty.” I gave her a fake smile.

I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough and sent Jamian lying ass a text. All that shit he said back at my office was a straight game.

Me: I should have known you were just spitting lies! What? Your plan is to have both of us? LOSE MY NUMBER NIGGA!

Immediately, the three dots popped up, and Jamian was texting me back, but I blocked his number. Fuck him!

Juicy: I should have known you were just spitting lies! What? Your plan is to have both of us? LOSE MY NUMBER NIGGA!

I’ve must have read Modesty’s message over ten times, and a nigga is still confused. What the hell did she mean by this shit? I thought things were cool with us. Then she sends me this fuckin’ text? And she blocked me. Modesty got me all the way fucked up. I went by her job, and her secretary said she had left for the day. I tried going by her crib and that fuckin’ rented cop said she wasn’t home. I see Modesty was going to make a nigga show his ass, which was something I didn’t mind doing whenever it came to her. She got a nigga out on some stalking shit, looking for her like she owed a nigga money or some shit. I was even pushing back appointments for work.

About an hour in, I gave up and made my way to my brother's crib. I couldn’t even think straight and needed my bro to get meback on track. Twenty minutes later, I pulled up to his house and made my way inside. I knew he would be pissed that I used my emergency key to get in, but I didn’t care. He would be aight. It was quiet. I knew this nigga wasn’t sleeping at three in the afternoon. Today, he was working from home, so I went to check and see if he was in his home office and he wasn’t.

Man, where is this dude at? Got me looking all over for him in this big ass house.When I got to his bedroom, the door was halfway open, so I walked in, and this nigga was banging some bitch from the back in his bed.

“Yo, get your nut and meet me downstairs, fool.” I chuckled and pulled the door closed. I knew my brother was about to flip his shit. Julius was a very private person, so I was surprised to see he had a bitch in his crib.

Twenty minutes later, Julius came walking into the living room where I was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV.

“Aye, you do know that key is for emergencies only? Now, what are you doing at my spot?”

“Nigga, who you think you are? Gianni Versace?” Ignoring him, I observed his attire. He was dressed in a black silk robe and some Versace house shoes. “I hope you washed your ass,” I said before I stood to go get me a bottle of water from the fridge. I came back and reclaimed my seat on the couch, and this nigga was still pissed.

“Why aren’t you at work?”

“I came to holla at you about something. Yo, who's shorty?” I was being nosy.

“None of your business. Now… speak, so I can get back to my business.” He leaned back in his seat and looked at me.

“I need you to hit up your tech dude to find out where Modesty’s mama lives? I think that’s where she’s at.” I was desperate to get my lady back.

“You are really feeling Modesty like that.”

“Yeah, man. I don’t know what it is about her that makes me crazy. I ain’t never met a bitch that had me thinking about her when I wake up in the morning and right before I close my eyes at night. I think I’m trippin’, for real.”

“You know what that means, right?”

“Nah, what?”

“You are in love, my boy.”

I paused from drinking my water and looked at him.“You think so? Nah. That can’t be. It took me a minute to have these feelings for Anastasia. Hell, it took me longer than that to tell her that I loved her. Ain’t no way this shit is love, Ju.” I shook my head, thinking my brother had to be wrong.

“Jamian, you just answered your own question, stupid ass. Look. It’s understandable for you to have these feelings so soon. Love doesn’t have a time frame, bro.”

“Yeah, but I might have fucked up on that chance.” I pulled out my phone and showed him the text Modesty sent me.

“I’m confused. This here sounds like she heard some shit.” He handed me back my phone.

“I thought the same thing. But how? It’s not like Modesty and Anastasia know each other.”

“The advice I got for you is, do what you gotta do to get your woman. You might have to step your game up on this one. Some expensive-ass flowers ain’t gonna work. But first, go see Anastasia and close that door before you walk into another.”

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