Page 24 of Through Treacherous Weather
Trinity’s heart raced as an orgasm ripped through her body and left her breathless and speechless.
“Turn that ass over,” Grey commanded. They were in for a long night, and she wasn’t even mad.
Chapter Eleven
Wise pushedpast Justice with a scowl on his face. When he stepped into the living room, he saw a mess. There were toys scattered all over the floor. Snack wrappers on the couch and coffee table. A pair of children’s pajamas were on the floor, along with books and a bookbag.
“Son, I know you don’t have this house looking like this, with only four kids here that are all capable of cleaning up behind themselves.”
“Everybody isn’t the kid whisperer like you,” Justice mumbled and sat down on the couch.
Wise surveyed the room. “Where are the kids?”
Justice scrubbed one hand down his face. “In the backyard on the trampoline. Well Sky, Shiloh, and Truth are. Denim is at football practice.”
Wise’s brow hiked. “And you aren’t watching them?”
“Bruh,” Justice groaned. “The backyard is fenced in. They aren’t going anywhere. They’re old enough to know not to leave the yard. I just need a fucking break for ten minutes,” he grumbled.
Lauren had been gone for two days. Justice’s feelings were flip flopping between being worried and being pissed. She hadproven her damn point. He just needed her to come home and help with the kids. He got it. He’d been a little absent and selfish lately. His emotions were all over the place, and Justice felt he couldn’t help the fact that he was taking Calvin’s death so hard. He felt like a coward because even though he paid for the funeral, he couldn’t bring himself to attend it. Not only that, but Calvin’s mother had planned to sue the group home. Justice was so out of it, he wasn’t thinking clearly, so Wise stepped in and handled the situation. His lawyer talked Calvin’s mother into settling for $300,000.
“You done being dumb?” Wise questioned. Justice’s head snapped up, and he glowered at his father.
He had been dumb, but that didn’t mean Wise could call him out on his bullshit.
“I’m not babying yo’ ass. I don’t even baby Wisdom, and he’s an actual fucking baby. Calvin died, and that shit is fucked up. I’m going to find out who was responsible even if I have to put $100,000 on the table. Somebody is going to fucking talk. Until then, how long are you going to mope around this muhfucka like you haven’t been through worse shit than this? You had time to cry. Now man the fuck up.”
“Yo,” Justice’s jaw muscles flexed, but Wise wasn’t done.
“Yo my muhfuckin’ ass nigga. You think I wasn’t pissed when I had to give Lauren a pass for shooting me? You think I didn’t feel soft as shit when I gave Kadafi a pass for shooting me? Life changes nigga, and we have to grow the fuck up! You have a beautiful house, a beautiful woman helping you raise kids when most of them don’t even belong to her, and you don’t have to worry about the Feds kicking in your door. You’ve been sitting around pouting because what? You regret getting out the streets and being someone your kids can look up to? You need to get your shit together expeditiously. I’m taking the kids with me for a few hours. Get up and clean the fuck up or something.”
Wise was pissed. He walked off scowling, and Justice sat on the couch fuming. He stuck his middle finger in the air even though Wise couldn’t see him. His delivery had been harsh, but it was what he needed. Trinity, Loyal, Truce, his grandfather. They’d all tried to talk some sense into him while walking on eggshells. Wise came in talking shit and calling names. Justice didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he was going to take Trinity’s advice and try therapy. What could it hurt? He’d been smoking so much weed and drinking so much alcohol, that his throat was sore.
He was even starting to miss Lauren. He hadn’t meant to take shit out on her. She was the closest thing to him aside from his brothers and sisters. It was never his intentions to be mean to her. Shit, contrary to what she thought, he’d been mean to everyone. The woman she caught him smiling at was a female that Loyal had fucked back in the day. Loyal was tattooing her homegirl, and she’d reminded Justice of the time he was supposed to link with her cousin but when he got there, ole girl’s body odor wasn’t up to par. Justice cursed them all out and left the house mad as hell.
Life wasn’t easier back then, but her reminder brought back a sense of nostalgia for him and just for a second, for the first time in days, he’d smiled. And Lauren caught his ass. Justice had to chuckle as he reminisced on the cursing out she gave him. When she called him ugly, she said it with her entire chest. Wise came back inside with the kids. They didn’t have to pack an overnight bag because all his grandchildren had clothes, shoes, and toys at his house. They even had their own bathroom stocked with toothbrushes and everything they needed to be comfortable at his home.
The kids said their goodbyes to Justice. When he was all alone, he sat back and eyed the mess in the living room. His cleaning lady would be there in two days, but he didn’t want tolive in disarray for that long. With a sigh, he stood up and began working on the living room. Maybe he had been acting like a sucka. Calvin wasn’t the first person to die, and he wouldn’t be the last. There was a time when Justice snuck out of the group home that he lived in. Had he gotten killed that night it wouldn’t have been the owner of the group home’s fault. It would have been the fault of the person that killed him.
He hated the fact that they didn’t have a clue who shot at them that night, but he knew he had to be patient. Someone, somewhere was running their mouths. Niggas couldn’t hold water. There was a story or two out there floating, and it just had to make it into the ears of the right person. Between Wise, Chicago, the triplets, Kadafi, Jaiseem, and Esco, someone would hear something. The fact that there was a reward out for the information would only sweeten the deal. The niggas that were responsible probably had a few people out there trying to be loyal to them, but they would fold eventually. Even if it was indirectly. Someone was going to run their mouth to the wrong person.
Until then, he knew he had to do what Wise and everyone else was telling him to do and snap out of it. He had business to handle. When the living room was clean, Justice lit a blunt and went to start on the kitchen. Once the kitchen was spotless, he put a wax melt into the warmer. The master bathroom was next. Justice spent three hours cleaning and when he was done, he was tired as hell and glad that Denim’s coach had offered to bring him home from practice. Denim and the football coach’s son were best friends. They liked to hang out at one another’s houses, so Lauren and Justice had met his parents.
When he was done cleaning, he ordered food for him and Denim. Holding his phone in his hand, Justice contemplated calling Lauren. When he got home that evening and noticed she was gone, he called her, and it went straight to voicemail. Whenshe wasn’t home at midnight, he called again, and the same thing happened. Justice called Lauren ten times and was about to flip out when he reached out to Natalie, and she assured him that she’d talked to Lauren, and she was fine.
Justice was trying to give her space the same way she’d given it to him, but with each passing day, he became more unsettled. She was pregnant and needed to be at home. Even when he was checked out mentally, he still made it in every night. Sure, he had some ass kissing to do. He’d messed up, but it was fixable, right? It had to be. She wouldn’t leave him over that. There was no cheating involved. He didn’t put his hands on her or even call her out of her name. She just needed a few days to cool off, and all would be well. Or so he hoped.
With bated breath, he listened to the phone trill. At least it hadn’t gone to voicemail, but she still didn’t answer. Before he could figure out if he wanted to try again, Denim entered the house. “Lauren back?” he glanced around the clean home with hope in his eyes.
Pushing out a deep sigh, Justice shook his head. “Nope not yet. But she’s coming back.”
“How do you know?”
Justice frowned. “What you mean how do I know? I know because Lauren wouldn’t leave you all.”
“She wouldn’t leave them. I’m not her son.”
With hiked brows, Justice stared at Denim. “So you think that means she wouldn’t come back, or that she’d come back for them and not you.”
