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“He’s gonna cuss my ass out if he comes through.”
“Whenhe comes through,” she chastised me. “Aunt Rose knows what she’s doing. Plus, she’s been in her meditation room a lot. We think it means she’s working overtime, talking to the ancestors in their corner of her bedroom.”
“I ‘on’t even know what that mean,” I groaned, covering my face with my hand.
“It means you’ve gotta have faith. Juggy’s going to be just fine. Give it a few more days. If Aunt Rose doesn’t feel she can help, she’ll tell you.”
“You’ve seen her do that shit before?”
“Only for a racist police officer from a town over. Everybody knows about our family…about Rose. He came with an infection in his mouth that spread fast and was deadly. Rose told him at the main house’s door there was nothing she could do for him.”
“That’s the example you got?” I scoffed. “A racist cop she turned away?”
Ashira shrugged with a gorgeous and exhausted smile. “Yup. Because she’s never failed a patient yet. I think she sensed something was off. Like something would bring me down here.”
“How?”
“Because of a text she had Betty send me about picking up oils from her.”
“What oils?”
“Something I’ve never picked up unless I was in town. She had Betty deliver the message as though Rose and I had spoken previously about it—or as though I lived around the corner. She was expecting me. While we were on the jet on Thursday and you got the call about Juggy from Jos-Renee, Betty texted me again. She wanted to know if I’d gotten the first message. Rose had her text me again.” Her eyes narrowed. “And what’s funny is Rose hasn’t said much of anything to me over these past three days.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. She may not have known anything about Juggy, but she ‘saw’ me here, which is why I have faith. Juggy’s going to be fine. And you…” She poked my belly with the tips of her coffin-shaped nails. “…need time away from me.”
“From you?” That was the last thing I needed. “Of course, you would say that right after fucking the life out of me.”
Her body trembled from a silent chuckle. “That’s exactly why you need your space from me. All I want to do is jump your bones.”
“I ain’t protesting.” My dick twitched as a I rubbed her head so close to it.
“Yeah, but we’ve caused a mess with Josie because of my bone-jumping predilection.” Her head rocked left to right. “That’s not your character. You’ve never been a two-timer. You have your vision for your lifestyle, and I don’t want to derail you any further.”
“You saying I should be with Josie?”
“No.” She lifted from my stomach, eyes falling as she scoffed, “Hell no. That’s not something I’m advocating for. What I’m saying is I’m going to give you room to decide. You and I have an unfair advantage over Josie. We’re complicated and clearly tied together forever. You deserve the time and space to decide what’s best for Ojasvi Lamont Sinclair.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Where do you fit in while I figure it all out?”
“I’ll be here.” She stared dead into my eyes. “I’ve got a lot of baggage needing sorting through. I’ll be right here doing that. There’s my father.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s been calling for Chi-Chi and me since Thursday. I guess he was allowing us our family time. I can tell there’s something amiss with him and my mother.” She smiled sadly. “See? My cluttered baggage. I’ll be busy, but you’ll find me hereifyou need me.” She winked, patting my chest over my heart. “I promise.”
There was comfort and sadness in that assessment, but all I could do was take her at her word.
ChapterTwenty-One
Part III
July | Three Years Later
Inside my walk-in closet, I tossed another bathing suit into a pile of colored clothes.
“Oh!” Peach, sitting on the floor, leaning into the doorway, chirped. “You did buy that one fromBloomy’s!”
