Jio stood beside Nina silently as she accepted the plate.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
Finally, Nina looked at him.
“Future mother-in-law?”
His mouth curved faintly. “You heard me.”
“You’re insane.”
“Nah, that’s your folks!” he chuckled, pulling her in for a hug and a kiss to her forehead.
Nina looked away first because the truth was too dangerous to hold directly. She stood between two worlds with cake in her hand and her heart split clean down the middle. For the first time, she understood that loving Jio wasn’t just going to cost her peace, but it was going to cost her every fuckin’ thing. Literally.
EIGHT
“I’M THE REASON FOR THEM BLESSINGS. I’M THE REASON MY BITCH FLEXIN.” G HERBO
She should’ve known that some shit was going to go down as a result of her choosing Jio over her mother. In her eyes, that’s not technically what happened. Still, it was her word against her mother’s, and she knew without a doubt that her dad or older sister wouldn’t even consider listening to her version of what took place, so she didn’t bother calling to defend herself or her man and his “ghetto” family.
The morning after the bakery incident, Jio thought someone had died the way Nina’s phone never stopped ringing. He’d fucked her senseless, so his baby was out like a light. He didn’t want to wake her up, but he had to because literally, her phone was about to buzz its way off the nightstand and onto the floor.
Nina groaned as she grabbed it with one eye still shut.
“Who is calling meeeeee!” she whined.
She noticed that she had missed calls from her parents, Charis, four missed calls from Ephrem, and even two from her big brother Marcus, who never ever reached out unless he wanted to go out and decided to have her tag along.
Sarai called her a few times too and Shalon texted:Girl what the fuck is going on??? Auntie called my daddyasking did he have anyone to pow pow Jio. Call us back bitch!
The message jolted her from beneath the silk sheets as the sunlight spread across Jio’s bedroom ceiling. Her mother was clearly losing her mind.
But at the same time, her mama was dramatic as fuck, so of course she wanted her boyfriend killed after she was the one who came to his family’s establishment and pulled her gun out. Jio was asleep on his stomach, one arm stretched across the mattress toward where she had been sleeping. His face looked younger when he slept. He didn’t seem so guarded, and it irritated her how much she loved him.
“I feel you staring at me,” he croaked from under the cover.
Nina looked away before the thought could moderate her too much. “My mom is trying to put a hit out on you.”
She didn’t expect him to laugh, but he found that shit hilarious. “How you gon’ hit the hitter?” he questioned.
“You don’t know who she knows.”
“I’m not worried, baby girl,” he reassured her, pulling her back down to lie beside him. Jio nestled her close to his chest so he could kiss her.
“You’re not taking this seriously.”
“No need to. She’s just mad. Whoever she calling is going to either call me directly or get in touch with someone that knows how to get the word to me.” He wasn’t worried at all. Her mama was a funny bitch, but Jio would keep his true thoughts to himself. Granted, if it were anyone else, the situation at the bakery would’ve gone another way, but off the strength of Nina, Mrs. Marcelle's life was spared.
“But what if that’s not the case? I don’t know how much money she’s willing to put on your head or whatever…” This was all so absurd. Nina was shocked at her mama’s behavior.
Jio smooched her lips. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded.
“Alright, let’s talk about something else or nothing at all…” He poked her with his hard dick that she’d woken up.
“I love you, did you know that?” She asked a question that she already had the answer to.
