Page 45 of Juice

“Bet. I’mma come get him from you when I’m done.”

“Nariah.” My mama called out. The beeping in my ear indicated that another call was coming through.

Pulling the phone down I glanced at the phone. “Give me a second I’mma call you right back.” Clicking over I sucked in a deep breath before answering. “What’s up?”

“Nariah, where you at?” The desperation in Julius’s voice let me know that he’d been made aware of the post circulating the internet.

Deciding to play like shit was all good I said “At Neiman’s with Shunta. We just finished eating.”

“Bae.”

“Why you sound like that?” I asked his ass. Handing my ticket to the valet I stood off to the side while he ran off to retrieve my truck.

“Like— “ He cleared his throat before recovering. “What I sound like?”

“Like you nervous or some shit.” I giggled to throw him off. “Thank you, sweetie.” I said to the valet after taking my keys out of his hand. After slipping him some money I hopped in my truck.

“Where you headed?”

“To the house so I can put all of this shit up. What time you hitting the stage?”

“Shit.” He dragged out. “In like fifteen minutes. Aye Nariah you good?”

“Yes.” I drawled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh okay.” He sighed. “No reason. I was just checking in with ya. Say Nari, you know I love you right.”

“I do. And I love you more.”

“I’m coming to the crib as soon as I’m done.”

“I’ll be waiting.” I lied.

Julius didn’t let me off the phone for another few minutes. He kept asking if I was okay and every time, he asked I lied. I knew the minute he finished his performance he was gone do the dash getting back to the house. Unlucky for him I would not be there.

The first time Julius cheated I purchased a three bedroom, three and a half bath condo in Buckhead. When I moved back in with him, I kept it. It’s where Lariah stayed anytime she came into town and didn’t feel like staying with my mama.

Julius knew about my condo, even tried to convince me to rent it out but I refused. Lucky enough for me I kept it furnished and move in ready. By the time Julius made it back to the house me nor Jude would be there to greet him.

When I made it to the house I shared with Julius I stripped out of the clothes I had on and threw on a set from Alo. I took my time packing up everything that I needed because I had no plans on coming back over this way. I had even went as far as removing my degrees from the wall as well as taking me and Jude’s birth certificates out of the safe.

In the event that I missed anything I had no doubt that Tito or one of the other guys would bring it to me. Once I had my truck packed down, I stopped by my condo and unloaded everything before going over to my mama house to get my baby. As soon as my feet hit the pavement my mama was standing in the doorway asking questions.

“Nariah, you sure you wanna leave?”

“As sure as I’ll ever be.” Kissing her on the cheek I stepped around her and entered the house with her trailing a few paces behind me. “Jude.” I called out.

When he ran from the back I smiled. “Hey baby. You have fun at your Meme house?”

“Yes ma’am.” He beamed.

Crouching down I wrapped my arms around him and pecked his forehead. “Good.”

“You ready to go home?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Alright.” I stood. “Ma, I’mma call you when we get settled.

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