SIX #3
“I went somewhere today,” she said, trying to shift the energy. “I stopped by this random art showing and I met a really nice stranger.” It’d been awhile since she’d had a joyful night.
Jio’s mouth twitched. “A nigga or a bitch?” His mouth could be so guttural at times.
Just like that, the soft and broken version of Jio disappeared and the Big Mad Made Man had returned.
The same nigga who had just cried into her stomach like he was terrified of himself, turned right around and questioned her like she was the one that belonged under interrogation. “Female,” she said dryly.
“What’s her name?”
“Danyelle.”
“You know her?”
“I just said I met her today.”
He nodded but his face remained unreadable. “Why you always got an attitude?”
She leaned against the counter. “You don’t have to inspect every person I come in contact with.”
“I do when you moving like you forgot people use you to get close to me.”
“Everybody is not thinking about you, Jio.” She rolled her eyes.
His eyes darkened. “You’d be surprised.”
Nina was already exhausted with the conversation.
He came into the kitchen.
“I’m serious,” he said. “You gotta be careful.”
“I was at an art gallery,” Nina said every word slowly, in hopes that it clicked in his head that he was being paranoid for no reason.
“To remind you, it wasn’t even a month ago that you were at a hospital visiting another nigga.”
Nina’s head snapped up. She should’ve known the truth would slip out eventually. The man was jealous and he just couldn’t help himself.
“So that’s what this is about?”
Jio’s jaw tightened. “I wasn’t going to bring it up.”
“But you did.”
“Because you keep acting like I’m crazy.”
“You are acting crazy!” she retorted.
His eyes flashed but Nina kept going because she was tired of swallowing everything just because his pain had finally walked into the room.
“I took him flowers, Jio. He got injured. It was a kind thing to do.”
“A kind thing,” he repeated flatly.
“Yes.”
“For a nigga who wants you.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“It became your problem when you entertained it,” he informed her.
“I didn’t entertain anything.” She was quick on her feet with the clap backs and it annoyed him.
Jio stepped closer. “Your ass shouldn’t have went in the first place.”
“But I wanted to and I can do what I want.” She had the courage to say to his face.
“See….that’s the part that’s fucking me up,” he slammed his hand on the counter.
Nina stared at him, looking quite incredulous. “So I can’t have compassion?”
“No, you can not so stop playing with me.”
She laughed but he didn’t find anything funny. “Do you hear yourself?”
“I hear myself clearly and you better start doing the same.” Jio was sick of her for real.
“No, you don’t. Because one minute you’re standing here telling me you don’t want to be like your father, and the next minute you’re trying to control my every move.”
Jio went still. According to the look on his face, her words hit him and she saw it too.
His voice lowered. “Don’t compare me to that nigga.”
“Then stop sounding like him!” she spat. Nina knew she had crossed into dangerous territory but she meant every single word.
Jio stared at her until his cold facial expression made her stomach tighten.
When he spoke, his voice was low and scary. “If I find out you ever visiting another nigga that’s not me again,” he said, “I promise you not gon’ like what I do to him next time.”
Nina’s heart almost fell out of her chest. Two things were wrong but she would only address one for now. Since deep down she knew that he had something to do with Kobie’s injury, she just wished he didn’t. This was the side of Jio that she loathed and kept trying to love out of him.
“Why do you keep threatening me?” she wanted to know.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m telling you what’s gonna happen if you keep playing with me.”
Her eyes widened.
“You starting to take my kindness for weakness.”
Nina stared at him like she didn’t recognize him, even though she did. She noticed every version of him. The good. The bad and the downright ugly.
The boy crying into her stomach.
The man trying to be better.
The gangster making promises that he intended on keeping.
The lover that he desired to be.
“Or maybe it’s the other way around,” she said quietly.
Jio frowned. “What?”
“You’re taking my kindness for weakness.”
Nina pushed off the counter, emotion rising hot in her chest now.
“Maybe because I love you, you think I’m supposed to accept everything. Maybe because I forgive you, you think I don’t see what you do. Or is it because I keep letting you back in? You think I don’t know how sick this is sometimes?”
Jio’s nostrils flared.
“Nina.”
“No!” Her voice cracked, but she didn’t care. “You don’t get to cry to me about wanting to be better and then punish me for expecting better from you.” Fuck did he think this was? she thought.
His expression hardened again, but she saw something drop beneath it, and she knew exactly what it was. Shame and a whole lot of fear.
“I love you,” he said it as if that should explain everything, yet it told her nothing at all. He loved her. Ok, and what?
“I know…” Nina breathed deeply. She wanted more for them, but he had to want it too.
“Then act like it.”
Nina nodded slowly before laughing in utter disbelief at the man she’d given her heart to.
“You don’t understand what love really means, but I don’t blame you at all.”
They were raised totally different, and it showed up in the simplest ways.
Jio’s face went blank, which told her that her words had wounded him, but that’s because he knew it was true. Nina didn’t wait to find out though.
She walked past him toward her bedroom.
“Where you going?”
“To decompress. It’s been a long night…” she said over her shoulder.
She stepped into the bathroom and shut the door hard enough for the sound to echo through the walls.
For a while, she just stood there with her head lowered and her hands on the counter.
Her breathing was erratic. When she glanced into the mirror, her reflection stared back at her, but she didn’t like what she saw.
Physically, she was stunning. Internally, she felt broken.
Jio’s spirit was heavy today and it lingered.
She secretly wished he would just leave her be, but the other foolish half of her wanted him to stay and make love to her until the sun came up.
Nina turned on the shower and let the water run until steam began to rise before ridding her body of today’s attire.
She stayed in the bathroom longer than she needed to.
Part of her was expecting him to knock. She envisioned Jio coming in, apologizing, and fuckin’ the shit out of her.
It’d been so long since they’d been intimate.
She wondered if he missed her in that way or had someone else been draining his balls.
When she finally opened the door, the house was quiet.
It wasn’t the kind of silence that hinted at tension, but the peaceful stillness that came with having the place all to herself.
Nina walked out slowly. Her body still damp and wrapped in a terry cloth towel.
The living room lights were on now. The city glittered beyond the windows. Her coat still hung over the chair where she had left it. Everything looked exactly the same except for the fact that her man was gone.
No tap on the door… or at least she didn’t hear it. No goodbye. No apology. No kiss to the forehead. No dick. Jio was just gone with the wind.
Nina stared at the space where he had been just an hour prior.
Because what was new? Jio always left before she could decide whether she wanted him to stay.
Nina made the mature decision to call down to the concierge.
“Hi, I need to submit a maintenance request to have my locks changed and Jiorgio Gotti removed from my visitor list please.”