Chapter 13
I knew something was off when Jonay didn’t answer my text that morning.
Her replies were clipped, mechanical—just dry-ass “okays” and “we’ll talk laters”, like she was reading from a damn script written in detachment.
No voice notes. No little eye-roll emojis she usually sent when I’d say some off-the-wall shit just to hear her laugh. Just cold air through a phone.
That wasn’t my baby. That was a woman trying to make a clean break before she bled on somebody she loved.
I should’ve known.
Jonay had the kind of heart that would feed everybody else’s hunger until she was starving, then apologize for not being full.
She had the kind of soul that thought protection meant sacrifice, thinking she was sparing EJ and me by backing away, when all she was really doing was digging a ditch for herself with a dull-ass spoon.
And me, I loved her for it.
But I wasn’t having that shit.
There was no way I was coming up off her. She had to be crazy as hell. I’d already lost one woman to violence; I’d be damned if I let a selfless, stubborn, sexy-as-hell storm like Jonay walk away from the only peace either one of us had felt in a long-ass time.
Not because she thought she was protecting me. Not because she was scared. And sure as hell not because that Brokeback Mountain bitch-ass nigga Kam still thought he had a say. That man didn’t just smell like desperation. He wore it like cologne.
I sat in that stiff-ass precinct chair, rocking a tension in my chest that hadn’t been right since Jonay tried to pull away from me.
IA had just cleared my name, but that didn’t ease the thunderstorm boiling in my blood.
They told me I was good, no write-up, no suspension.
They said the video evidence backed my role as a bystander during Kam’s restraining order hearing.
But I wasn’t just a bystander. I was her man. Her protector. Her peace. And hearing her call herself a liability to me and EJ?
Yeah… that messed me up.
Nah, messed up wasn’t even the word. That shit cracked something in me open. She really thought I’d let her distance herself out of love, like love was supposed to mean letting go.
Hell no.
That woman was silk and steel in one body, the kind of beauty that would soften your soul and snatch your breath in the same damn sentence.
The way she walked into a room made the world shift.
She didn’t even try, and that was the problem.
She didn’t see the way her light bent to people.
She didn’t see how powerful her presence was, because she’d been dimmed too many times by people who couldn’t handle her shine.
She really tried to give me a soft exit, talking about how she didn’t want to bring mess to my door. Talking about how she was a liability. I wanted to scream: Baby, you are my blessing, not a burden.
EJ, my boy, already claimed her. He had his Spider-Man pajamas folded next to her Spider-Man hoodie. He’d been asking where’s his Miss Pretty when she didn’t answer the phone fast enough.
There was no way in hell I was letting her leave us because of her ex-dude who couldn’t let go and move on because he fumbled God’s gift.
My phone buzzed and jarred me from my thoughts. Jonell’s name lit up the screen. Sis was supposed to be on her little trip, feet kicked up somewhere warm, drink in hand, but her voice came through tight, urgent. “Elias, please tell me you’re close to my sister.”
I frowned. “No, I’m at the station right now. What’s up?”
She let out a shaky breath. “It’s Kam. I just got word from a friend. One of his boys has been running his mouth in the group chat. He’s out, he’s drunk, and he’s talking about pulling up on Jonay. I swear to God, Eli, that man is the devil with a key.”
My jaw clenched, my whole chest tightening like somebody cinched a belt around it.
“Why the fuck is he even still walking free?” I muttered, voice low and dangerous.
“That’s what I called to tell you,” Jonell rushed.
“His uncle, a federal judge, has been sweeping his dirt under the rug for years. Yeah, Kam pissed dirty in the academy, but he should’ve been locked down after the bar fights, after he beat up that girl in Fifth Ward, after the sodomy charges with that young couple, after all that petty shit that keeps disappearing. His uncle stays saving him.”
The phone crackled as she sniffled, her voice wobbling between rage and shame.
“And me, I hate this. Of all the times to be stuck on this damn law retreat, it had to be now. They got me tied up in workshops and networking dinners from sunup to sundown, and the whole time, my mind’s back home with y’all.
I feel guilty as hell that I’m missing everything she’s going through.
She’s my twin, half of me, and not being there to ride this wave with her feels wrong.
“I don’t ever want her thinking distance means I’m not tapped in, though.
I’m still praying over y’all, still checking in every chance I get, and the second I touch back down, I’m pulling up to hold space for her in real time.
I love my twin, but I haven’t had the strength to watch her drown while she pushes everybody away.
But you? You’re different. She listens to you.
Don’t let her run, Eli. Don’t let Kam near her. Please.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, sucking in a sharp breath. “Sis, listen to me. I’m not going nowhere. You hear me? That fine-ass twin of yours? She is mine to protect now. And I’ll die behind her if it comes to it.”
Jonell gave a half-choked laugh through the phone. “You better not die and break my sister’s heart. I’m rooting for y’all. And, Elias, please don’t let her stubborn ass scare you off. She does that little mean-mug when she’s scared, but I know my sister. She’s in deep. And she’s safe with you.”
I smirked, shaking my head even in the tension. “I got you, sis. Ain’t no man touching her while I still got breath.”
Click. The line went dead.
“Edmonds!”
Chambers barged in like always, loud, extra, and chewing gum like he had a personal beef with it.
“Kam done lost his mind, bruh. Dispatch just radioed. His dumb ass was caught trying to break into Jonay’s place. The motion cam you set up caught him on the back porch with gloves and a crowbar!”
I was already on my feet before he finished.
“Say less.” I growled, snatching my keys.
By the time I pulled up, patrol cars were already flooding the street.
Red and blue lights painted Jonay’s house like a crime scene straight off an episode of First 48, and I damn near left the truck door open when I jumped out.
I saw her wrapped up in her daddy’s arms, Leila standing beside them, attempting to hold back Jason, who had his fists balled up, jaw clenched, ready to go to war behind his baby sister like me.
But my focus zeroed in on Kam sitting cuffed on the curb like the coward he was. Shirt wrinkled. Lip split. Still trying to talk slick while two officers kept him pinned like he mattered.
I stepped forward. Calm. Composed. Dangerous.
My badge swung around my neck, but it wasn’t what kept people back. It was the storm in my eyes.
“You really wanted to die today, huh?” I asked, voice low, laced with venom and Sunday prayer.
Kam laughed, dry, cracked, desperate. “She got you that whipped, huh? Grown ass man crying over some bitch—”
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t move fast. I didn’t even blink hard. But every officer on that block paused because they knew that tone. That was the tone of a man who’d bury you respectfully and still make it to his kid’s parent-teacher conference on time.
I knelt just enough so Kam could see me eye to eye.
“Let me make one thing real clear to you, since you must’ve missed the memo when you were trying to be a man but lacked the credentials.
Jonay Jacobson ain’t no bitch. She’s a woman.
A queen. And I’m not her savior. She saved her damn self.
I’m just the one blessed enough to love her through the aftermath. ”
Kam smirked. “You acting like you won something.”
I tilted my head. “Nah. I earned something. Peace. Joy. And the kind of love you’ll never understand ’cause you’re too busy swinging fists instead of healing wounds.”
I stood, adjusted my jacket, and turned to the officers. “Y’all got what y’all need? He can go now. ’Cause I got a woman over there who needs to be reminded of what safety feels like.”
I crossed the yard like my feet were answering an altar call.
Jonay was crying that silent cry, where her shoulders shook, but her lips didn’t move. Her daddy looked at me, nodded, and stepped back. Leila wiped her face and mumbled something about going to get water. Jason nodded at me, like he was tagging me in.
I opened my arms. She walked into them like home
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to pull away. I just… I didn’t want to bring this to your front door.”
“You are my front door, baby,” I said, pulling her closer. “My porch. My welcome mat. My damn house key.”
She chuckled wetly into my chest.
“I mean it,” I continued. “You think I’d rather live in peace without you than fight in chaos beside you? You know me better than that, mama.”
She looked up at me, eyes puffy, lip quivering.
“But what if I lose my job? What if Internal Affairs comes after you again?”
I kissed her forehead. Intentional. Worshipful.
“Then we both clock in at Crème & Chill, scooping ice cream and raising EJ off tips and grace. Fuck you mean, baby?”
She laughed again, harder this time.
I cupped her face and kissed her tears.
“Don’t ever distance yourself to protect me again,” I whispered. “That’s not your job. That’s mine. And you already do enough.”
She nodded. “I love you.”
I smiled. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
“One more time.”
“I love you, baby… so much.”
“That’s all I needed.”
Later that night, as I held her on the couch while EJ slept, I realized this storm wasn’t over. But it didn’t need to be.