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“Aight, I’mma holla at y’all,” Jaasir said smoothly, extending a closed fist to JV. He met it with his and then glanced at me once more before addressing Jaah again.
“Make sure you do and if you need anything, you already know what it is. We got you.”
“Bet, but I’m straight. ’Preciate you, fam. Y’all be easy.”
As soon as JV was gone, Jaasir leaned into me. “You’ve been to one of his fights?”
“No, I’ve seen one on TV. I’m not a big boxing fan, but Val is. Why, are you jealous?”
He grinned, clipping my chin, pressing a kiss to my mouth, and then speaking against it. “Nah, I meant what I said. I’m not worried about anybody when it comes to you.” I was granted a few more soft kisses. “But I should be the way you were blushing and grinning while he was over here.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed him away only for him to be back at my side again. “I wasn’t grinning and blushing. I was being polite. He lives out here?”
“Yeah, they just built a house not too long ago. Those are his wife’s kids Jocey and Messiah and then Legend is their son together.”
“Blended family.”
I glanced at them and then back at Gracie who was still in her element on the playground.
“You trying to decide what that will look like for us.”
“No.” I narrowed my eyes at him and he laughed.
“What? I’m just saying we can be one happy little family too. Hell I might even get your pretty ass pregnant if you act right.”
“I’m not going to travel down that road with you.”This is temporary. My brain kept processing the reality of things but my heart wasn’t cooperating. The longer I was here, the harder it was going to be for me to leave when things were all said and done. “But I do want to thank you for today. She needed this.”
We both had eyes on Gracie whose smile stretched across her entire face as she moved around the play area with the other kids.
“I told you, I got you for whatever you need. You just have to let me do what I do.”
I was about to protest that his doing was just as extra as his friend was being called out for but Jaasir received a call that had him lifting from the bench. “This is Drew, I need to take this.”
I nodded, turning away from him to keep my eyes on Gracie while he walked away to gain some privacy. After noting what was going on with my baby for a few minutes, I searched for the security he’d hired to keep an eye on things.
I was sure that was mostly about putting me at ease but I appreciated the extra effort. I then found the small lake where JV and his son were in one paddle boat with his other son sitting in his lap, while his wife was in a paddle boat beside them with their daughter.
They were in the middle of the lake seemingly at peace and happy. Their life seemed so simple and mine was…
Complicated.
I jerked my chin over my shoulder where I found Jaah a good distance away so I couldn’t hear his conversation but his body language was tense while his face was angled down like he was looking at the ground.
I could see the tightness of his jaw as the muscles flexed when he spoke. His visible tension created some in me and I didn’t settle even after he’d ended the call and was next to me again.
“Everything okay?”
He kissed my cheek and dropped his arm around my shoulder. “Yeah, everything’s cool.”
“You sure, you seem upset.”
His eyes remained on Gracie when he responded. “I said everything’s cool. Stop stressing.”
Everything wasn’t cool. I could feel the tension emitting from his body in waves. He was worried about something but didn’t want me to worry.
Eventually he would tell me but for now, there was no point in ruining a perfectly good afternoon. I wasn’t sure how many more of these I would be blessed with, at least ones that included him, so I let it go…
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