Chapter 26 Emani
This was going to be her only time to cry.
Alone in a holding cell, stinging face and a heavy heart.
Once she got out of here there wasn’t going to be any room or space to bawl her eyes out.
How Joanna could pierce her heart more than Malik was insane to her.
What added to it was that this little plan they cooked up was sick.
If her time with her college friends had proved nothing else it proved that there were only a hand full of people who loved her for her and wanted nothing in return.
Sure there were millions of fans who loved her and cheered her name but they didn’t really love her.
One misstep and they would pick her apart.
She scrubbed her face angry with herself that she was going to settle for the bullshit and tie herself to the madness. “You deserve so much more than what you’ve given yourself,” she whispered to no one else but herself. “Worked too damn hard to be right here alone and crying.”
Emani pulled in a steadying breath and allowed herself another thirty minutes of tears before wiping her face and rubbing her bruised wrists. And then she remembered those two words that nailed the coffin shut. I’m pregnant.
The disrespect was bold and if she opened her eyes and took her head off of her work the signs had always been there.
The subtle conversation and comfortability.
The random gifts Joanna passed off as items left over from photoshoots.
The biggest indicator she never paid attention to was Malachi stopped coming around after he was one and a half.
Now Emani could only assume that was because Malik’s features had finally start to show through.
All of the talks about her relationship only for Joanna to be the one behind the tension.
Emani scratched her head through her hair.
They’d stolen enough, whenever she got out of here, she was going to bounce back in the best way possible.
Using the flat set of pillows and wool blanket she was given by the correctional officer, Emani laid down on the thin mattress and closed her eyes.
What was a jail cell when she was forged in fire?
She drifted into an uncomfortable sleep for what felt like agonizing hours until the officer returned.
“You’re going home,” the woman announced. She watched how Emani slowly sat her sore body up and stretched.
Emani offered her a slacked smile of appreciation. “Thank you for the pillows.”
“Don’t mention it. Do me a favor and don’t come back. Don’t ever let no bitch ass nigga make you throw away everything you worked for.”
Emani nodded. “Thanks.”
She was ushered down a long hall to a private corridor and out a door, free of possible exposure. Carson and Donnée waited next to the SUV. Donnée signed paperwork and collected items, while Carson stopped short of her to examine her face.
“Jahlil is going to lose his shit,” Carson muttered.
Emani gently moved his hand away. “He won’t because he won’t know. Right?”
Carson said nothing.
“Carson,” Emani whined before climbing inside. Donnée followed and Carson got in the driver’s seat. “Who told him?”
“We didn’t have to tell him. The shit hit the news and blogs at the same time and I’ve been going back and forth with the label. You want the good or bad news?” Donnée posed.
Emani grumbled. “Nothing is going to sound good right now, so just hit me with it all.”
“Good news, Joanna and Sandi refuse to give a statement. Malik hasn’t uttered a word but Janet is singing.
Right now, the charge is assault high and aggravated but they have no camera proof.
I’m not sure how the footage from your security system got erased but it did,” Donnée spoke as Emani looked at Carson in the rearview.
“Bad news is, we can’t get in the house to get any of your stuff. ”
Emani shrugged. “I don’t care about the stuff. I can get more. I’ll stay in the condo until I figure out what’s next.”
Donnée winced. “Yeah, that’s out the question. Jahlil cussed both of us out because we didn’t call him and tell him you were arrested. It was either he came and got you or we did and take you to his house.”
“What? No! That man has kids and I’m not walking in there like this,” Emani protested. “Do you see my face? That nigga punched the shit out of me.”
“That was the only hit he got, right?” Donnée posed.
Emani cut her a look. “I fucked all of them up. Except Janet but I’m not jeopardizing my heavenly seat by splitting my elder into two.”
“God forgives,” Donnée stated. “She knew that little boy was her son’s and just walked around like it was nothing.”
Emani shrugged. “And she’s pregnant again. So it’s probably a great thing all of this happened today. I was already taking care of one of Malik’s kids from another bitch, I wasn’t going to be taking care of two.”
Emani sank into the seat. “Can I hold your phone? I’ll tell Jah I need a minute. I can’t be around them like this.”
“Considering the day they’re having, seeing you might turn it around,” Donnée shared.
“What happened?” Emani’s concern went back to Jahlil.
“Andrew got arrested on some bullshit while we were tailgating,” Carson stated.
“See, another reason for me not to be in his space right now,” Emani stated.
“He needs you and you need him,” Donnée finalized. “So breathe ‘cause your man isn’t letting you spend the night wallowing at your condo.”
Emani didn’t say anything, she accepted that when Jahlil laid his eyes on her he was going to turn ten different shades of red underneath his brown skin.
Almost an hour later, Carson stopped his car at the front door of a mansion that put the house she leased with Malik to shame.
She scoffed at that thought. A leased mansion where she paid the rent, utilities, and upkeep and she couldn’t go back in to get her things because the bitch ass nigga inside was upset for being found out.
“I’ll be back in the morning to talk about what’s next, but for tonight, I need you to rest,” Donnée shared.
“I’ll work on getting your name off of the lease and your property back. Even if that means his ass is on the curb,” Carson stated before Jahlil walked out of the house and opened the door.
With intense eyes, he peered down at her, taking in the red blotch on her face. “Outside of this, you hurt anywhere else?”
Emani’s lips quivered and the tears she swore were done came out in a flood and she allowed every guard she had to fall. Jahlil pulled her into his arms and sighed, feeling his own guard fall.
“I swear I’m not crying over him,” Emani muttered into his chest.
“I know,” he assured, kissing the top of her head. “You’re good here, Rose.”
He rubbed her back, hoping to ease some of the pain of betrayal. He knew that hurt more than her face. “You’re home. I got you.”
Emani pulled away and wiped her face. “I can’t go in there like this.”
“Sanaa is knocked out. Drew is probably sleep too from his day of fuckery.”
Emani caught the aggravation in his tone. “Want to talk about it?”
Jahlil subtly nodded. “You gon’ rub my shoulders?”
“I can do that.”
“Aight, after you soak. If you look like this, I can only imagine what they look like,” Jahlil joked. “You fuck him up?”
“Yeah.”
“Good ‘cause I’m going to do it again,” Jahlil assured. “Come on.”
Emani started toward the house and Jahlil said something she couldn’t make out to Carson. Judging by the tension in their shoulders and the looks on their faces, they were going to handle the business of Malik.