Page 74 of Buy Back My Love

Van looked at me for a second longer. He didn’t walk away, but he didn’t push either. He moved off to the side, close enough that I knew he was there, and I turned back to JB.

“His name Jabari?”

JB dragged a hand over his mouth. “Yeah.”

For a second, I couldn’t breathe. “You named him after our son?”

“Lee, listen-”

“You named another baby after my son?”

“It ain’t like that.”

“Then what the fuck is it like, JB?” My voice cracked. “Because I laid in that prison thinking about our baby every day, and you had another little boy out here walking around with his name.”

JJ’s face crumpled, and Hannah immediately pulled him closer to her side. Seeing him standing there scared made me lower my voice, but it didn’t do shit to stop my hands from shaking. The caramel apple stick dug into my palm where I still had it clenched in my fist.

I looked back at JB. “How old is he?”

JB hesitated, and that hesitation did something to me.

“How old is your son?” I repeated.

“Three.”

Three.

My stomach dropped as my mind started doing the math before I wanted it to. Three meant I had been locked up. Three meant he had made a baby with her while I was sitting in that prison waiting on him, believing we were still us.

“You fucked her while I was in prison?”

“Lee-”

“You fucked Hannah while I was in prison?”

JB looked at me, and when he finally answered, his voice was low. “Yeah.”

I stared at him. That little yeah hurt worse than all the shit I had already figured out on my own.

I looked at Hannah, then back at him. “While I was doing time for you?”

“Lee, let me explain.”

“Explain what?” Tears blurred my vision. “What the fuck can you possibly say to me right now?”

I could feel Van getting closer without even looking at him.

“Lee,” he said quietly.

“I’m good.”

“You’re not.”

I turned on him. “Van, please.”

He held my eyes for a second, then nodded. “All right.”

But he stayed close.