For the first time in weeks, she felt lighter. There wasn’t anxiety filling her chest and she wasn’t checking her phone every five minutes for a call that wouldn’t come. Nina felt like her age for once. She was enjoying the music, plus the good vibes made their talk seem easy. Maybe that was why she didn’t notice the cameras catching every second of the duo and boy, were they capturing it all. Kobie leaning close when she talked. Her eyes glimmering as she laughed and he whispered something in her ear for only her to hear. The soft and subtle way his hand brieflytouched the small of her back, leading her from one VIP room to the other. All of it was captured, uploaded, and posted. The whole social media craze thing was new, and Nina wasn’t too hip just yet. It’ll be her fuckin’ luck that one of the first few thousand people to see it was the one that she hoped it never came to his attention.
η
Jio stared at the phone in silence. He was higher than a kite, which resulted in his eyes being low. But he could clearly see everything he was staring at. Nina had some fuckin’ nerve. The people that he was with were in good spirits, which was the complete opposite of how he was feeling. He wanted to kill. Specifically, a New York Giants player. The music was loud but he didn’t know what was playing cus he wasn’t mentally present anymore. Dice slammed against the table but he didn’t hear that shit either. Money was being counted as bets were won but everything slowly faded into the background. His eyes grew tired of staying locked in on the screen. This whole social media shit was crazy. Niggas now needed to be careful of how they moved, because now, in the blink of an eye, you could easily be caught in a lie due to your whereabouts being made public. Jio didn’t want to be on there, but the homies had hyped it up and curiosity always killed the cat.
“New York’s It Girl Spotted Cozy With Star Quarterback…Are They An Item?”was the header on the blogs. Nina was looking good enough to eat from the back. He missed his baby but he didn’t have time for love right now; he was handling business and it required all of his attention.
She was out laughing, drinking, and having a good ole time without him.
Bad girl…he hissed.
Nina was his, whether she wanted to be or not. Yeah, he had been neglecting her lately but he had to lock in for a minute. If anyone should understand, he expected her to. She’d been doing the same and he’d been nothing but supportive. Jio needed that same patience, grace, and support in return right now. It was going to pay off in the end, he could promise that. His days had been long but his nights were even longer. Sleep was the last thing on his mind. Jio was hustling like he had a point to prove. He parked his whips and cashed out on two old beater cars to move around in. They were old and raggedy, which was perfect to keep him off the radar of the cops. Jio tucked his gun, stashed his jewelry, and went real D-boy. He hadn’t had a haircut in God knows when, but the girls at the strip club swore they were digging the scruffy look. He wondered if his baby would like it. Her opinion was all that mattered.
He was annoyed with the fact that she wasn’t at home waiting for him to magically pop up. Jio was crazy and he didn’t care that his way of thinking wasn’t normal.
Kobie touching all on what belonged to him made his trigger finger itch.
Boo you know better. You’re off limits….
Across the room, Kadeer saw that Jio was brewing.
“That’s your angry face,” he said playfully.
Jio didn’t think that shit was funny. “Do I look like a ten-year-old to you? Nigga fuck outta here.”
He was in a shitty mood.
“What’s wrong?”
He wasn’t going to tell him that he’d fucked up. Jio hadn’t been doing right by Nina, so ultimately, what did he expect? Well, the baby narcissist that lived in him didn’t give a fuck what he wasn’t doing. Nina was supposed to sit tight until daddy came home. Any other bitch that he’d dealt with would’ve done it, sowhat made Nina think that she was different? Because she was and she knew it too.
“Aye, that Marcelle hoe is BAD!” One of the young niggas that they’d started slowly allowing to hang around said out of nowhere while scrolling on his phone.
Jio looked up slowly and the room instantly quieted because only a few knew and the ones that did, knew that the lil’ boy had fucked up royally.
He swallowed hard. “I’m just sayin—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jio hollered.
“My bad big homie….”
It was his first and last time being invited to kick it with the bosses.
Jio finally stood.
“Where she at?”
One of the security guys answered quickly. “Party wrapping up now.”
Jio looked at him sharply.
“Y’all let her stay there that long?”
The man hesitated. “You told us not to interfere unless—”
“I know what the fuck I said but she’s not a bird! Hanging out with niggas until the lights cut on is ghetto.” He openly insulted every hoe that was currently doing the same thing. Jio loved him a homebody, but specifically, he loved him some Nina.
He was on the verge of crashing out and this version of Jio wasn’t common to be around.
