Page 23 of Ony If It's You
“But Mommy?—”
I cut him off. “Didn’t I say save it? Now, let’s go.”
Standing up straight, I extended a hand to each of them. When they accepted, the three of us began our walk toward the gaming store. Inside, I saw that there was quite a crowd and frowned. The plan was to bring them out for a little, go eat, dropthem off to their father, and go to work. I had a new shipment of materials coming in today, so I wanted to get a head start on whipping up some new skincare products.
On top of owning and operating Rejuvenate, I made my own skincare products. I got into making my own products when I first had the twins because they both had very sensitive skin. I couldn’t and still can’t use the typical stuff that most children could on them. Plus, when I started to research the lotions and soaps, I saw all of the chemicals that were in them, so it was an easy decision for me to make my own stuff for them, hence the reason I’d named it JoSi. It was only right that I named the product line after them when it originated because of my two little people.
The only exception I made was perfumes. I loved a good scent and couldn’t see myself giving it up, so I didn’t. I made most of my products with a scent, but I still couldn’t will myself to walk away from perfume altogether.
“Oh shit, Lani?”
My brows met in the middle of my forehead when I heard my name being called from behind me. We were at one of the cases looking through the glass for the specific game Messiah had asked for.
Spinning on the balls of my feet, I came face to face with none other than Dominique, Javyous’s cousin. What were the odds that I would run into him here. We’d obviously always lived in the same city, yet I’d never run into him before.
“Hey,” I replied dryly.
Dominique was an alright guy; I just wasn’t thrilled with running into him. Especially while I had my kids.
“What’s good, cuz in law.” He had a smug grin on his face. “Who do we have here?”
He knelt down to be level with the twins who rushed to introduce themselves.
“I’m Jocey.” She blushed turning from side to side.
“And I’m Si.” Messiah stepped up front with a scowl on his cute little face as he stood in front of his sister in a protective manner. “Who are you?”
“Relax, little homie.” Dominque tapped Si’s chest lightly with his fist. “I’m practically family, my name’s Dominique.”
“We’ve never met you. How are you family?”
Momentarily he looked up at me before giving his attention back to the kids.
“Yeah, that is wild that we never met, but check this out, we’ll be linking up soon and when we do, me and you can play that game you grabbing.” He pointed to the game that was in Si’s hand. “Matter of fact, let me get that and you take this one.”
When he handed Si the bag, I tried to stop him, but he waved me off.
“Wow, really?” Messiah asked in disbelief. “You’re letting me have this for free?”
“Yeah, that’s what family is for, right?” Dominique grinned as he reached into his pocket pulling a fifty-dollar bill out from it. “And this is for you, princess.”
Jocelyn accepted the bill then tossed her little arms around Dominique’s neck catching the both of us by surprise. Shortly after, he reciprocated the hug then dapped Messiah up before standing to his full length.
“Thank you, Dominique. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Naw, that ain’t shit. Tell your girl to answer that fucking phone. She doesn’t want me to have to find her and a nigga definitely can.”
“I—okay.” I nodded, stammering over my words before grabbing the twins’ hands. “Thank you again.”
I rushed out of the store after that because for some reason I started to feel like if he was here, his cousin wasn’t too far behind. Javyous had pissed me off, so I had no intentions onseeing him until it was time to go to court and get out of this fuck ass marriage.
After we left the mall, the three of us went to get something to eat before I dropped them off with their father. I had been avoiding talking to him since I’d gotten back from Vegas, but I could only do that for so long.
He had been blowing me up all week with calls and text messages, but I was screening them. I didn’t owe his ass an explanation in the first place.
When we pulled into the driveway of his home, the twins took turns kissing my cheek before hopping out and rushing to the door. I wanted to pull away while they were knocking, but I knew I couldn’t. Pharaoh might actually come and try to murder me.
“Ay, wait!” he shouted from the door after letting the kids in. Sighing, I put my car in park as I waited for him to walk over to me. “Fuck is this I’m hearing?”
