Chapter 3
Juniper Weaver
A Week Later
For once in my life I was going to do what I was told and mind my damn business.
I’d been keeping my distance from both my parents.
Their toxic ass relationship wasn’t my problem, and like my daddy said, they were my parents, not the other way around.
For so many years, I’d been in the middle of my parents’ relationship, I started to believe the toxic shit they were doing was normal.
To the point I found myself in a relationship just like theirs.
Reflecting on my relationship with Troy, I saw all the similarities of my parents' relationship. Back then, you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t finna be with that nigga for the rest of my life.
He stood on business when it came to me, or that was what I told myself because for real, our entire relationship was hell.
The more I did soul searching, the more I started to see how I was becoming the one thing I didn’t want to be, my parents.
Despite how they were now, my mom–before me–used to be on her shit.
She was a nurse, had all her own, then she met my dad.
All hell broke loose after that. Daddy wasn’t the type of nigga to be a one-woman man.
Clive was a ladies’ man with the looks to match.
He could charm the panties off any female.
My daddy left a trail of broken hearts in his path.
Even now when my daddy wanted to, he could look ten years younger.
I remember in high school, all the girls would tell me how fine my daddy was.
I would shake my head at their young, dumb asses.
If they only knew that past the good looks was a slick-talking alcoholic.
My mama just so happened to fall hard and fast. Unlike the other women, she didn’t let go when my daddy got on his bullshit.
She refused to be like the other women who warned her about my daddy’s ways.
In the process, she lost Nancy, and I hated that she never found the power to find herself.
Looking at some of her old pictures, my mama was fine as hell.
It was easy to see how my mama had caught Clive’s attention.
What should have been him chasing her, the roles were reversed.
I think my dad was the one man that didn’t get stuck in my mama’s beauty, and it messed with her ego.
Not being able to handle Clive’s rejection after he was over his infatuation, she became obsessed in trying to prove everyone wrong.
She couldn’t see that she was the only one losing out.
That was what I feared more than anything.
I didn’t want to become so caught up in my parents’ mess that I ended up in a situation just like theirs.
It was best I put space between my parents and I.
I ain’t gon’ lie, I was scared thinking my parents would meet their demise if I wasn’t there to protect them.
It sounded crazy, but that was how I was feeling at first, especially having to ignore their drunken three a.m. calls because they didn’t want anything.
As the days went on, I found myself enjoying my peace more than worrying about my parents.
Now, I looked forward to getting to know who Juniper was and what she wanted for her future.
Even though it had only been a week, it felt like years.
I never fully got how much of a toll my parents’ dramas were on my life until I didn’t have to deal with it.
Tonight I had booked a little get away as a treat for myself since I was off for the next four days.
I booked me a room in Greensville. It wasn’t far from me and was in a bigger, nicer city than Beaumont, with hella stuff to do, and I wanted to make the most of my weekend off.
I was a loner, and it didn’t bother me that I didn’t have anyone to hang with me.
More time to enjoy myself. I wasn’t against having friends; it was just after Troy ended up married to my used-to-be best friend, Lorainna, I was cool on letting anyone be close to me.
I was far from being a dummy. Them ending up together wasn’t a coincidence like they tried to make it seem.
They’d fucked around while Troy and I were together.
Lorainna tried to swear up and down they bumped into each other and hit it off.
I looked at her like she was the slowest bitch on this planet.
To add insult to injury, their treacherous asses hid their relationship until they were engaged.
Then Lorainna thought the best way to tell me was asking me to be her bridesmaid.
I let her ass have it, then cut her off, and I hadn’t looked back since.
I learned my lesson in letting bitches play in my face.
With a smile on my face, I glided out my job to my car.
The only thing I hated about my job was the walk to the parking garage.
Once you were off the street, the parking garage barely had any lights, and you could barely see anything in front of you.
Normally, I would walk with Jamie, but she left early today claiming she was sick, leaving me to walk alone.
Regretting not waiting on another one of my co-workers, my heart dropped when I saw a long figure leaning on the hood of my Nissan Rogue.
Gripping the mace in my purse, I put on a brave face.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I have a gun in my purse, and I’m not afraid to use it,” I called out to the figure on my car, not walking any closer just in case I needed to run. I mean, my mace would only get me so far.
“Damn, why you tryna kill a nigga? I ain’t did shit to you… yet,” a familiar voice called to me, sounding amused.
“Faheem?” I asked, confused as his tall, skinny frame came into view with a sneaky grin on his handsome face.
“Let me find out you really wanna fuck with a nigga.” Faheem leisurely walked in my direction as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“No,” I smartly replied, releasing my grip on my mace and placing that hand on my hip. “Not even close.” I mean, I didn’t want to fuck with him like that.
Faheem’s entire aura screamed, I’ll fuck your world up if you let me.
I didn’t have time for a nigga like that.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t admire how fine he was and maybe do a little snooping on his IG page.
So, of course, I recognized his voice from the many videos I watched with him in them.
He didn’t post much, but that girlfriend of his did.
If she wasn’t shaking her ass, she was posting videos of Faheem.
I couldn’t see Faheem being with a girl like Mixie.
She seemed like she was for the streets.
I knew a ho when I saw a ho, but if the nigga liked hos, that ain’t have shit to do with me.
It was just the confirmation I needed that he wasn’t my type of nigga IF I was looking.
“Why you lookin’ at a nigga like that then?
” In the blink of an eye, Faheem had closed the distance between us.
Invading my personal space, I tried to step back away from him.
His hand on my lower back prevented me from moving.
“I make you nervous, Juniper?” The way my name rolled off his tongue made me go weak at the knees.
I fought tooth and nail to keep my composure together.
“Never… I’m tryna understand why you leaning on my car in this dark ass parking garage like you a deranged serial killer or some shit.” I attempted to mask my nervousness with my attitude.
Faheem chuckled at me. “That’s cute, but if I was a serial killer, wouldn’t it make more sense to run instead of standing here holding a conversation?” he asked with his brow raised.
“I told you I have a gun. If anything, you need to be scared of me,” I bluffed, darting my eyes over to my car, debating if I could out run Faheem and make it inside my car. With them long ass legs of his, I doubted I would make it far.
“Oh, yeah?” Faheem asked with amusement in his voice.
Using his hand, he gently pulled me by my chin, redirecting my attention to his onyx black eyes.
“The boogeyman isn’t scared of anything.
” His eerie, cold, emotionless tone told me two things.
One, Faheem wasn’t to be fucked with. Two, he wasn’t here because he wanted to ask me on a date.
Gulping hard as fear slowly began settling over my body, I began to understand the severity of my situation.
No, I had no idea who Faheem really was outside of his looks and a few IG posts.
Seeing him on my parents’ porch should have been a red flag for me.
My daddy had never had a legal job my entire life.
He’d always had money. I just never fully knew how he’d gotten it.
Let my dad tell it, he was a hustler, and he’d get it by any means.
Whatever the hell that meant. But seeing Faheem even associating with my dad meant he was into illegal shit like my dad.
Honestly, that was common sense when it came to Faheem, with his looks, demeanor, and all the money his girl showed on IG.
The difference between my dad and Faheem was simple; my dad was prey pretending to be the predator.
Faheem, though, he was the real deal, the predator…
the one people like my dad bowed down to.
Needless to say, I was scared shitless coming up with logical reasons Faheem was here looking for me.
With my head held high, I looked Faheem in the eyes, refusing to show him my fear. “I know you aren’t here because you missed me. What is it that you want?”
Faheem grinned at me widely. “I like this fire in you.” He flicked me on my chin, releasing me, and he stepped back, giving me a once over that made me uneasy for reasons I wasn’t ready to address. “You talked to yo’ pops?” He clasped his hands behind his back while giving me a menacing expression.
I shook my head “No” rapidly. My nerves were getting the best of me.