11. Jin’jer #2
He took the time to let his family fawn over him with congratulations.
He soaked in all the love. We were in the midst of taking a hundred and one pictures when the feeling of nutting up consumed me.
David, Evelyn, Dedra, and a fucking news camera crew were walking toward us.
“I know muthafuckin well these bitches…”
Hades engulfed me in his arms from behind with his lips near my ear. “I need you to calm down. Handle this shit like a queen because they’re expecting you to be this hoodrat, ghetto, teen mom. This whole media shit is for their gratification.”
“Congratulations, Dorian,” Evelyn said with the fakest smile that I’d ever seen. David’s and Dedra’s smiles matched. I was positive that my fuck ass parents paid Dedra for this stunt. Based on the clothing she wore, they dressed her too.
Evelyn walked over with open arms to hug him. She was stopped by Dorian’s hand. “Please don’t touch me.”
Embarrassment dressed her face. The reporter behind her snickered lowly. Evelyn recovered quickly. “Dorian, my husband and I wanted to come here to congratulate you on your big day. This is a major accomplishment. We are so proud.”
I know Hades said to handle this like a queen, but was this bitch serious? My laughter had a mind of its own. “You can’t be serious right now. Please tell me this is a joke.”
Before Evelyn or David could respond, the reporter was in my face with a microphone.
I wasn’t sure what my parents thought bringing a news crew would do.
The news crew must have made some kind of agreement to sway the storyline in their favor.
To have a chance at an exclusive with all parties involved, who wouldn’t?
When the reporter came to me first, something in my mother’s expression told me that was not the plan.
“Miss Copeland, how do you feel about your parents showing up to show support to your son, Dorian? We know that there has been a lot of coverage around speculations of them telling you that your child died at childbirth.”
There was so much attention on us from others in the stadium because of the stupid camera and reporter. Dorian stepped forward. “I think that I should be the one to answer that question since it is my graduation.”
“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” The reporter stumbled over her words.
“Dorian, how does it feel to have the support of not only your grandparents, but your birth and adoptive mother?” She looked behind us at the Basils standing there with scowls on their faces.
I swear, even the kids wore them. “My, it looks like you have a lot of support today.”
Dorian glanced at me with a smile. “I am blessed to have my birth mother here to support me with the Basil family. Since I met my birth mother, she has been there for me one hundred percent. In the short time that I’ve known her, she’s been more supportive and motherly than my adoptive mother.
” His eyes slid over to Dedra whose smile fell.
“Are you saying that your adoptive mother neglected you? Did she abuse you in some way?” The reporter was on her job today.
Dorian shook his head. “No, she didn’t abuse me, and neglect is a very subjective term.
As the media and blogs have reported, I was adopted at four to be a cash cow.
She was paid a stipend from my grandparents of five thousand dollars to stay away from them for years.
Dedra always made sure I had a roof over my head and clothes on my back.
When it comes to the food, after she used the food stamps that she received for us to stock her boyfriend’s house, she was gracious enough to leave me what was left. ”
The reporter turned her attention to Dedra. “Ms. Vinson, would you like to respond to his allegations. Have you been neglectful?” Well, I guess the reporter has deemed her actions as neglectful based on what Dorian told her.
Dedra looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Um, um, I’ve taken care of Dorian since he was four. His grandparents giving me five thousand dollars a month was their way of taking care of their grandson when his birth mother wouldn’t.” There is no way she rehearsed that dumb ass answer.
This reporter wasn’t a dumb bitch because the bridge of her nose scrunched. Her head ping ponged between me and Dedra. “You said that Dorian’s birth mother wouldn’t take care of him. How was she supposed to take care of a child that she was told had died during childbirth?”
“Exactly!” Dorian blurted. “Why would the very people that said that they should have abandoned me at a fire station to save money want to make sure that I was taken care of? That sounds crazy. I wonder how much you were paid to be here today, Dedra.”
Evelyn and David looked on as this interview went left fast. As smart as they were, they were dumb. From the glances that the person standing next to the camera man threw David and Evelyn’s way, there was never any intention to allow a false narrative to be given.
David stepped forward and waved his hands.
He had to get this interview back on track and quickly.
“We are not here for any of that.” He turned his attention to Dorian.
“Dorian, we wanted to come here today to let you know that my wife and I are going to pay for your college education.” The bright smile that he thought was believable didn’t reach his eyes.
Dorian laughed. “Nah, you two can save your money this time. My college is paid for with grants and scholarships. I’m sure you two don’t know since Dedra never took a real interest in my education, but I’m third in my graduating class.
” When he was asked where he would be attending college, he looked at me with a smile.
“I’ll be attending Johnson and Wales, Charlotte. ”
My hand went to my chest, and I gasped. My head snapped in Hades’s direction.
The smile on his face told me that he already knew.
Every time I asked Dorian what his plans were after high school, he told me that he hadn’t made any decision yet about whether he wanted to go to college.
The reporter praised my son for his accomplishments.
She then asked another question, but Hades wasn’t having it. “That’s enough.” He cut her off. We’re here to celebrate my son’s graduation, not have interviews.” He leaned to put his eyes on David and Evelyn. “Your little feigned attempt to make you look good certainly backfired, stupids.”
When he grabbed my hand, I reached mine out to Dorian. After he put his hand into mine, we turned our backs on the news crew, my fuck ass parents, and Dedra. The Basils surrounded us with their praise and love for Dorian.
I took a moment to stop and look over my shoulder.
My parents and Dedra tried to get away from the very people that they invited to be there.
It was a damn shame what people would do to look good in front of the public and for money.
At no time during any of my parents’ publicity tours did they simply apologize for their actions.
They attempted to deny the video and say it was a deepfake which was debunked.
After that, they tried to justify their action and even pass the blame off to the program that I was in. An apology was just too much for them.
“What you doing?” Hades asked. He took me in his arms and kissed my neck from behind. “I know you not worried about those fuck ass people over there.”
I turned in his arms to face him, then wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m not worried about their asses. I just wanted to see how far I’ve come from the bullshit. By all accounts I should be a fucked up mess, but I’m not. Those people took me to hell and back.”
“I feel you. You have been through bullshit, but you were determined not to be what they said you were. Now, you’re a successful nurse with a fine ass, successful man who loves every chromosome of yours.
I can’t wait to put mine with yours to give Dorian a little brother or sister,” he said with a sexy smirk.
“You have your son now and a big ass family that loves you.”
I thought about everything he said. I did have all of that. I was blessed more than I could ever imagine that I would be. Yeah, I might have been through hell and back, but it brought me to Hades.
Our lips locked. Soon, we felt a presence next to us. I turned my head to see Dorian there with his nose turned up. “So, y’all just gonna stand in the middle of the stadium and make out like teenagers? Ma, really.”
Hades burst into laughter. “Damn, Son. You don’t have to call us out like that. I’ll remember that shit.”
We all laughed as we walked toward our family. When we caught up with them, Mama Verne faced us with her arms crossed. “Now I done told Hades about being mannish. Let me find out that I have to tell you about being womanish. Come on, Dorian, ’cause ya mama and daddy nasty.”
Now all of the Basil children and spouses were in stitches from laughter. Mama Verne did the most, but I loved it. With my arm interlocked with Hades, I only had one thought: I would go to hell and back again, if it meant that it would bring me to Hades.