SEVEN #2
She nodded. “He crossed lines thinking that he couldn’t be touched and he got a lot of innocent people caught in the crossfire.”
His mother's eyes closed briefly. He knew that she was probably having some flashbacks. Their relationship was traumatic. That’s the only word that he would use to describe whatever his parents shared.
He was glad when his mama finally stopped running behind him.
She wasn’t a perfect woman but no one deserved to be treated the way he did her.
“Damn.”
His chest felt tight as if chains had been wrapped tightly around his ribs. He couldn’t ignore the feeling in his gut. His dad was up to some bullshit. He just hoped that he wasn’t trying to take him out.
“You know what pisses me off?”
His mother remained quiet, knowing it was a rhetorical question.
“I don't want to believe any of it.” His voice cracked with frustration.
Jio sighed deeply as he stroked his beard. “I don’t man… that’s my daddy. I’m supposed to look up to him.”
The little boy who never got to express his feelings was crying today.
Jio swore he was going to be the best father in the world.
He was looking at his dad sideways lately but didn’t want to discredit what he did do right.
He credited him a tad for shaping him into the man he was now, but his grandfather for sure did the majority of the work.
His daddy taught him how to throw a baseball, he showed him how to put a condom on and how to work a stick.
He was also the first person he ever got some pussy with and had his first blunt.
His dad showed him how to clean, shoot, and hide a gun if needed.
He’d spent his whole life trying to make him proud but those days were over with.
“I keep telling myself everybody has enemies and if you don’t have haters, you not doing something right, but then the nigga started moving weird and talking strange, and now what I’m supposed to think?
” He leaned forward. His eyes were misty.
He wasn’t expecting to feel like this, which told him that his dad’s behavior was affecting him more than he recognized.
“He's locked up and I still feel like he's manipulating everything.”
Disloyalty was unacceptable.
His mother inhaled slowly. “Jio...”
It wasn’t much she could say to him that he hadn’t heard before.
“I'm trying so hard not to hate him.”
His mother's eyes immediately filled and he looked away because the words hurt to say although he’d meant every word.
His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “But every day it gets harder.”
The kitchen fell silent.
His mama reached across the table and grabbed his hand. She wasn’t considered nurturing but she could hold space for him when he needed it.
When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible. “Your father is many things.”
Jio lifted his eyes.
“He has done shit that I know for a fact that nigga is going straight to hell for and nowhere else, but he is also your father and he loves you. Jio, you’ve always been his greatest accomplishment. You’re his pride and joy. He would never do anything to hurt you,” she promised.
A tear slipped down her cheek as she squeezed his hand.
“Prison has given him something he never had before.”
“What's that?” he questioned.
His mother looked toward the window. “Time.”
“Your daddy ain’t never sat still this long. He’s bored and messy. You don't have to become him.”
Those words hit harder than anything else she'd said. She’d brought life to his biggest fear. He didn’t want to be him at all. Jio was his own man.
“You hear me?”
Jio nodded.
“You don't have to carry every mistake your father ever made.”
His mother squeezed his hand one final time. “You only have to answer for the man you choose to be.”
η
One thing his mama was going to do was call him back-to-back like it was the biggest emergency ever. He often asked her, “Does it ever cross your mind that maybe I’m busy handling business?”
To which she would respond with the rolling of her big ole eyes and in a raspy voice she would say, “Nothing’s more important than ya mother. Some people wish Heaven had a phone.”
She never gave a fuck about what he had going on. When she called, she expected an answer. It was pretty simple in her eyes.
He’d been ignoring her calls for the past two days, knowing that she didn’t want shit for real because if she did, she would’ve just sent him a text message. If it was an emergency, his brothers or sisters would’ve gotten in touch with him.
The phone buzzed violently against the kitchen island as the morning sunlight spilled across his new penthouse in soft gold streaks.
The vibration was non-stop to the point where it echoed through the massive open concept kitchen every thirty seconds like a warning.
Jio had purchased her dream place in the city and she couldn’t be told otherwise that it was their place.
He’d given her his AMEX to have free rein to decorate his abode to her liking and she’d taken full advantage.
Nina loved interior design and was happy to have a new canvas to paint and have fun with.
She sat curled into one of the oversized chairs in the living room that had just been delivered.
Her bare legs tucked beneath her, wearing one of Jio’s black hoodies that swallowed her whole.
Her hair was pinned messily on top of her head and her face still showed signs from the good sleep she’d been catching up on.
She was on her second cup of coffee and Jio was on his third mug of hot tea.
Across from her, Jio stood shirtless in gray sweatpants, his chain resting against his chest, his back turned as he adjusted the espresso machine like the phone wasn’t threatening to vibrate itself straight off the counter.
Buzz.
Nina peered over the book that had her attention since she left the bed. Jio didn’t seem bothered at all by the phone constantly vibrating.
Buzz.
He didn’t move or react to the sound but that’s because he was used to it. It seemed as if all his phone ever did was ring, ring, ring.
Buzz.
“Babe.”
“It’s cool. Ignore it,” he said, reading her mind because he knew her better than she knew herself.
“You don’t even know what I’m about to say.”
“I do…you about to tell me to answer my phone,” he chuckled.
“Why are you ignoring whoever is clearly trying to get in contact with you?”
“It’s my mama and she don’t want shit.”
As if on cue, the phone buzzed again.
Nina leaned back and studied the one class she was desperate to get an A in. Jiorgio Gotti 101 was an advanced class for honor students, but surprisingly, she kept failing. She withdrew last semester but was determined to do her best this time around.
It was funny… the things she noticed about him when he wasn’t trying to be intimidating.
The tiny muscle in his jaw that flexed every time his mother’s name appeared on the screen and how he rolled his shoulders like the call itself was a physical burden.
Down to how he pretended not to care but never reached to silence it.
However, that was her man and she was rolling with him regardless.
Jio would ignore a person just to prove a point because some part of him still wanted to be needed… especially by his family.
“Do you think she’s ever going to stop calling?” she wondered aloud.
“She will eventually.”
“Has she ever?”
Jio glanced over his shoulder, annoyed that she had a point.
Nina gave him a look that caused his eyes to narrow. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything,” she taunted him.
Jio blew her a kiss.
“I think I may have finally figured out how to save a hundred dollars a week by making your expensive ass lattes at home.”
Nina wasn’t interested. It was something about going to a coffee shop that she loved more than the coffee itself.
“I appreciate the effort, babe,” she made sure to say.
Ever since the night he cried into her stomach, they’d been thick as thieves.
Jio came home every night and held her tight until the sun came up.
They were overly communicating throughout the day and going on dates again like they used to.
This was the man she craved and adored. Their relationship was delicate but in the most precious way.
She honored him and valued the quality time that they got to spend together and vice versa.
Nina was beginning to understand that loving Jio wasn’t going to be easy like the men she read about in her Romance novels.
Loving Jio would be more like an emotional rollercoaster that came with many turns and hills, but she was determined to stay buckled in.
Nina wasn’t giving up on him or their relationship.
The phone buzzed again.“Oh my god,” Nina muttered. “Answer it.”
Jio snatched the phone up with irritation.
“What?”
Nina shook her head.
No hello.
No good morning.
Just hostility.
His mother’s voice came through loud enough for Nina to hear pieces of it.
“You finally answer your damn phone? I been calling you since—”
“What you want, Ma?”
“Don’t ‘what you want’ me. You talk to me so crazy like your Father!” she fussed.
“Not true. What’s up? I’m busy.”
“You not too busy to chase behind that girl.”
Jio’s eyes cut toward Nina.
Nina lifted her eyebrows.
That girl? Interesting… she thought.
Jio turned and lowered his voice. “Relax.”
“Everybody saying you been losing your mind behind her.”
Nina pretended to go back to reading her book but he knew her nosey ass was listening.
Jio rubbed a hand across his mouth. “Ma, what’s up?” His tone told her to change the subject and fast.
“Oh, she must be there?”
Jio didn’t confirm nor deny her accusation, but it was in her best interest to get to talking and fast. He and his baby didn’t get many shared days together and he was taking full advantage of having her all to himself with minimal distractions.
“Anyway,” his mother said sharply, “Your cousin is here.”
“What cousin?”
“Cairo.”
Jio paused.
The irritation didn’t leave his face, but something in him shifted.
“From North Carolina?”