Page 50 of Feeling Blue

Her eyes diverted to the side some as she began biting the inside of her cheek.

“They have a baby together.”

“And you’re waiting on this nigga?”

“See, this why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you were going to get all judgy.”

“I ain’t judging you, but this some bullshit, Zurena.” His stern tone alerted her of his rising anger.

In efforts to calm him down before he got too far out of pocket, she snickered. “You be cussing like Auntie won’t whoop your ass.”

With not a smile in sight, he shrugged.

“Auntie know what’s going on,” he’d just finished speaking when Forever walked out.

She paused once, noticing they were in the middle of a conversation. Zurena wanted to not hate her, but she couldn’t help it. The way her brother fawned over her made Zurena envious, and when there was jealousy, there would undoubtedly be hate too. Unable to hide it, she rolled her eyes away from Forever and back to Blue.

His gaze was on his skinny ass love interest, staring like she’d disappear if he looked away. The stare he used for her was different from the one he used with everybody else. Zurena wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not, but he definitely switched that eye contact up for Little Miss Girl.

His eye contact held so much awe that Zurena had to momentarily look at Forever. She was indeed a pretty woman, unique, sophisticated and drop dead fucking gorgeous. Forever looked like the type of woman who would have a man in love and acting lucky to have her. She wasn’t ghetto or around the waylike Zurena and the rest of the women she knew. Forever was kept and looked factory made.

Judging by the way she stood confidently beneath her brother’s stare, she knew it too. Zurena sucked her teeth in annoyance because that right there was why she felt the way she did right then. Zurich was so smitten with her, Forever could probably do whatever she wanted to do to him, and he’d let her.

“Let me go back in the house and let y’all talk before Zurena decides to try to fight me,” Forever’s sarcasm hadn’t been missed and was duly noted by Zurena.

“Rena ain’t gon’ do no lame shit like that,” Blue held his hand out toward her.

Forever glanced Zurena’s way before taking Blue’s hand and sliding comfortably into his lap. He allowed her to move around until she was good before looking back at Zurena as if she was about to continue telling her business in front of Forever. With a subtle shake of her head, she let him know that was dead.

“Forever, what you plan on doing with my brother?”

Forever faced her, head on, unafraid. “What you mean?”

“What’s your plans with him? Are you just a good girl fulfilling your bad boy fantasy, or are you serious about him?”

“Do I appear to be faking?” she questioned while leaning casually against Blue’s chest, rubbing his head.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Well, I don’t have a bad boy fantasy or whatever it was you just said. Zurich is important to me, and I don’t want to lose him, so I’m going to make sure I never do anything to make that happen. Being with him is real to me.”

“And you don’t care that you’re some big shot lawyer and he’s a gang banger.”

“You act like that’s all he is,” Forever sassed. “And I’m no big shot, I just do my job well. I’m no better than he is, so stop insinuating that.”

“I’m not insinuating anything, I’m stating facts. You can live in whatever little bubble you’re accustomed to living in, but down here in the real world, he’s a felon and you’re a fucking lawyer. You can be however you want to be around us, because we’re his people and we love him, so we don’t judge you. But what happens when you take him around the people you deal with on a day-to-day basis? The people at your firm know you fucking your jailbird client?” Zurena sat up some, waiting for a response.

The look on Forever’s face was anything but comfortable, and that’s what Zurena liked. She could play nice and act all stuck up in front of Zurich, because he liked her, but she knew better. Forever’s true colors would show the moment somebody looked down on her for dating Zurich, and Zurena wouldn’t willfully have her brother anywhere he wasn’t wanted.

“Rena, chill bruh,” he spoke up since Forever was still sitting pretty, with her mouth closed.

“She’s good, Blue-Blue.”

“Yeah, Blue-Blue, I’m good. She’s a grown ass woman, remember?”

Forever’s head shook as she looked out past them in a daze before turning her glare on Zurena. “You know something, my sister and cousin was leery about letting me come down here by myself because I’m so easy going. I let things roll off me, even when people are rude, because I like to see the good in others. It’s the reason I went into criminal defense in the first place,” she took a deep breath as if her words were too heavy to unload. “I feel like everyone has some sort of good in them… some even deserve second chances. Although the world has made it theirjob to place judgement on others, it’s not our place to do that. It’s Gods. I wanted to represent the people that society looks down on. I have a heart for the unwanted people, or the jailbird felons, as you so eloquently put it.”

Forever turned in Blue’s lap so that she was fully facing Zurena.

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