Page 52 of What You Do To Me
Just like that he was gone as quick as he came. I stood over the sink still crying and hyperventilating, trying to get my mind and my appearance together. Jawan’s pounding on the door and calling my name brought me out my head and made me put some pep in my step. I grabbed some paper towels and cleaned my hands and face, then went to open the door before he knocked it off the hinges.
“The fuck is you in here doing?” an irate Jawan asked as soon as I opened the door. I tried to avoid eye contact with him, so I looked down at my feet when I answered.
“My stomach was a little upset, let’s just go. I’m not really feeling too good.”
“Aye, Tiomi,” he reached for me, but I moved out of his reach.
“I said I’m ready to go, Jawan.”
This time I didn’t wait for him to respond. I made my way to the table to take my baby from Dirk and head to the car to wait on Jawan.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Jawan
“Baby,” I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. “You ready to tell me what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” she responded without looking at me. That shit pissed me off, so I let out a low frustrated chuckle.
“Well, now I’m not asking.”
I saw her shoulders slump. I knew something was wrong when she stayed in the restroom longer than the time limit I gave her. Tio knows me and she knew I woulda cut the fuck in there for her going against what I said.
“Can we talk about it when we get home?”
I’d give her that. I turned the music up and headed in the direction of our house. I occasionally glanced at my wife and in the backseat at my girls. My conscious was telling me that I wasn’t going to like whatever it was that Tiomi had to tell me.
As soon as we pulled up to the house Tiomi jumped out of the car. I didn’t know what her problem was, but she better tighten that shit up. Shit kinda got me tight that she left our kids in the car. Pushing my feelings to the side, I got out to let the girls out and we headed inside. I got them settled in their rooms thenwent to find my wife who was sitting in our room on the foot of the bed. Before I could even say anything, she started talking.
“He was there,” she whispered and looked at me with tear filled eyes. My chest tightened at the sight and the news.
“Who is he?”
“The guy that shot you I’m assuming. H-h-he said that if you didn’t back down, he-he was going to kill all of us. Jawan he threatened our kids.”
I pulled her off the bed into my arms. I rested my chin on the top of her head and rubbed her back while she cried. How the fuck I keep letting this muhfucka get close to me and my family? He was fucking following me. Pulling Tio’s arms from around me, I grabbed her face into both of my hands and made her look at me.
“Baby. You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you and our girls. I’ll die before I let anybody touch a hair on y’all heads.”
“Ja—"
“Jawan nothing,” I cut her off. “That’s our reality. That nigga won’t ever get that close to you ever again. Give me a few days, I had something in the works for your birthday, but we just gone have to move faster than that.”
“I want you to let this lifestyle go,” Tiomi said after I let her go. I was heading in the bathroom to run her a bath, but I froze when she said that. That wasn’t happening. Not right now at least.
“Tiomi, baby?—”
“No, Jawan. If you want us, you’ll decide right now. I don’t want me and my kids caught up in this shit. We didn’t ask for this, we don’t deserve this. Our kids deserve their father. We have more than enough money. I’m not going to sit around and wait for them to tell me you’re dead.”
“Nobody’s going to die, Tiomi, aight?”
“You can’t promise me that, Jawan.”
“I just promised you, didn’t I? Have I ever lied to you before?” I asked her and she shook her head. “Aight then. Come on man, let me get you in the tub so you can relax.”
I was done with the conversation. I would never let anything happen to Tio and I damn sure won’t allow anyone to get closed to my kids. This is one of the main reasons I told her that she wasn’t puttin’ them in no fuckin’ daycare.
