CHAPTER ELEVEN
JACKIE
Jackie really wished she would’ve smoked before leaving the house.
At least to calm her nerves and settle her mood. Because internally, she was on a hundred.
After the sadness passed, anger stood in its place.
Not to mention, she wanted all her wits about her when she told Dr. Nigel to shove that mandatory breakout session up his ass.
But it wasn’t just the mandatory session, it was what it represented.
Two weeks ago, she’d sat across from this man, and for once, felt seen.
He hadn’t talked down to her or treated her like a problem to diagnose.
He’d seemed different. Neutral. Not another suit looking for what was wrong with her kid or how she was raising him.
So, when that email came, it felt like a setup.
Like he had lured her into trusting him just to hit her with the same bullshit everybody else did.
Jackie was on board with getting Max help, especially since she could see how the separation from his brother was affecting him at school.
But she hadn’t signed up to be placed under a microscope.
They weren’t about to bully her into therapy or police her parenting.
Jackie didn’t need therapy. What she needed?
No one in that school could provide. Today was one of those cold damp autumn days she used to look forward to.
Proof that summer was really gone, and the season had officially changed.
Jackie stepped outside just as the rain began to fall.
Her body still ached from crying so hard.
The sobbing drained her physically and spiritually.
She tried to center herself with some breathing exercises she’d seen on TikTok.
When that didn’t work, she turned to aux cord therapy, blasting Taylor as loud as she could.
Normally, music could calm her nerves when she was on ten.
But even Taylor Swift couldn’t help how she felt today.
The tears came anyway, hot, and uninvited, slipping down her face like she had no control over them.
“Jackie, tighten the fuck up,” she muttered to herself as she rolled the window down and let the rain mist in.
Jackie would never admit it. And she would deny it if anyone ever asked.
But she was living proof hood bitches could be Swifties too.
Only her boys knew about her affinity for Taylor Swift’s catalog, and they never once clowned her for it.
Cruel Summer had been on repeat the entire way to the school, and it was a fitting title for the last few months of her life.
By the time she pulled up to the school, she had locked it all down again.
Face set. Shades on. Walls back in place.
The moment she opened the door, she saw him.
Cash. Leaning against the side of the building in an all-black Amiri Sweatsuit, hood pulled tight, sneakers too clean to be anything but designer.
He was mid-laugh, dimples deep, speaking to another brother, head tilted back like the world was funny and light.
Their eyes met, and Jackie’s stomach dropped.
She hadn’t seen Cash since the night of the wedding, and she was in no mood to see him now.
So instead of walking pass him, she adjusted her shades, made a sharp left, and tried to enter the school through the side entrance.
Of course, the shit was locked. So now she had to double back and walk right past him anyway.
Cash didn’t move, but his eyes didn’t leave her either.
Every step she made felt loud on the wet pavement.
Even though all she could hear was the drum of her own heartbeat.
Jackie walked like she didn’t feel his eyes on her, like she didn’t feel her insides tighten with every step that brought her closer to him.
Cash didn’t say a word. He just watched still and silent. It was in that silence everything around her felt amplified and louder somehow. The rustle of her jacket. The squish of wet gravel under her foot. The way her breath caught in her throat the second she got close enough to smell his cologne.
That Creed scent that had no business affecting her the way it still did. “You good?” he asked finally, his voice smooth but edged with something deeper. Concern, maybe. Or suspicion.
“I’m Gucci,” she said, breezing past him without slowing down.
Her voice held, but barely. He turned slightly, tracking her.
“That why you been crying?” She froze. Just for a second.
Then caught herself, before taking a deep breath, and turned back toward him.
“Excuse me?” She said as he stepped off the wall and moved closer, not crowding her, just stepping into her space like he belonged there.
His eyes dropped to her face, then to her glasses.
“Take them off,” he said softly. “Let me see your eyes.”
She didn’t move. “Jack,” he said again. And finally, she removed them slowly.
Like his voice carried invisible weight.
She slid the glasses off and met his gaze.
His expression shifted. Just a flicker, but she saw it.
His jaw clenched and that unreadable veneer cracked.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked. Anger radiating off him as he touched her face and examined it.
Her eyes were still puffy from crying, so she could only imagine what it looked like to him.
“Nothing happened.” Her voice sharpened.
She didn’t move. “Jack,” he said again. And finally, she removed them slowly.
Like his voice carried invisible weight.
She slid the glasses off and met his gaze.
His expression shifted. Just a flicker, but she saw it.
His jaw clenched and that unreadable veneer cracked.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked. Anger radiating off him as he touched her face and examined it.
Her eyes were still puffy from crying, so she could only imagine what it looked like to him.
“Nothing happened.” Her voice sharpened.
“I’m fine.” Cash tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing.
“Stop saying that when you’re not. You can barely open your fucking eyes.
You look like you ain’t slept in a week. ”
“I look like a woman who’s tired. That’s all.”
“That ain’t the fuck all, and you know it.”
There it was. The edge. The part of him that always saw too much when it came to her. She adjusted her posture, slid her glasses back on, and lifted her chin.
“Well, it’s not your business,” she said quietly.
“Never was.” Cash didn’t respond. Didn’t need to.
The silence between them said enough. “You coaching today?” she asked, shifting the conversation.
“Always,” he replied, his tone cooling in real time.
“Well, what’s the verdict? You gonna let my baby play on yall team or not? It’s all he’s been talking about.”
“It depends on what that behavior look like,” he said, his mouth twitching.
“He’s been on green every day for the past two weeks.”
“Good,” Cash said. “Tell him to keep it that way.” Jackie rolled her eyes. “So what that mean, yes or no? I need to know so I can put the money up for the fees.”
“Don’t worry about the money,” he said.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“Good thing I don’t need your permission,” he replied.
Their eyes met one last time, that old tension still there.
Jackie turned to leave before she did something stupid like kiss his smug ass.
“Try not to start too much shit in there,” he added.
“Try not to mind my fucking business,” she shot back without turning around.
The moment she stepped inside, her shades were back on, and her walls were up.
The door clicked shut behind her, cutting off the rain. She stood there for a second, back against the wall, breathing slow, forcing her heartbeat to settle. She adjusted her scarf, wiped her palms against her cargos, and told herself to hold it together before moving down the hall.
Jackie didn’t want to talk, unpack, affirm or anything else he had planned for their session. She was already regretting coming, but it was too late, and she was here now. Their first meeting had given her hope. But clearly, she had read the situation wrong. Again.
The secretary waved her in like they had been expecting her.
Jackie followed the older Muslim sister down a dark narrow hallway to a small office in the back.
The office itself was surrounded by stained glass panels and warm lighting.
A leather sofa and books were placed neatly along every shelf.
The décor was very therapist chic, and different from the room they met in initially.
Najee was already seated behind his desk, blazer draped over his chair, crisp white oxford on, sleeves rolled just enough.
He looked up and smiled. “Ms. Brown, I’m glad you could make it. ” Jackie didn’t even respond.
Instead, she walked in and dropped into the chair across from him with a loud, deliberate sigh, displaying just how much she didn’t want to be there. He let the silence sit.
“I appreciate you showing up,” he said. “Didn’t really have much of a choice, did I? It being mandatory in all.” she muttered, arms crossed. “Fair. But it was still you’re decision.”
“Barely.”
“Still a decision.” She said nothing. He studied her quietly.
“You want to take your sunglasses off?” he asked. “No.”
He nodded. “You seem guarded today.”
“Maybe I don’t feel like participating in the “process”,” she said sarcastically.
“Noted. But I’m still gonna ask you questions.” She rolled her eyes.
“You can roll them again if you need to,” he said lightly. “I’ll wait.”
That caught her off guard. Because who this pussy thought he was talking to?
Jackie adjusted her posture and sat up straighter. “Look, if you’re expecting me to cry and pour my heart out and tell you all my business, it’s not happening.”