Page 25 of Zeus: Love of a god

“Cory, don’t worry about it. I know you’ve never been about that life. You’re a play on your computer and video games type of boy. I’m not sure why I thought you would do anything.” I stood from the couch, walked over to the kitchen island where my purse sat, then walked toward the door. “I’ll talk to AJ. He’s the real protector of this family.”

The scurried movement behind me told me that I was about to get exactly what I wanted. “Ma, Ma, wait! Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.”

That night, Cory and I came up with a plan that I thought was foolproof. I heard a while ago that she messed with Zeus, but I didn’t think too much of it. The night of her studio’s grand opening, it was all over social media and the local news. Aaron must have recorded the footage because it felt like that was all that I saw him watching.

It was my fault that my baby was dead. How could I live with that? “My son is not a rapist! Aaron, you’re fussing at our sons for acting when you should have. You rather sit in your office to do only God knows what or sleep with your whores!”

Aaron pinched his nose again before he turned to face me. “What’s wrong, Jennifer? Are you mad because I prefer other hos over your ho ass? If I recall, there was a time when you had no problems being one of my whores.”

“Pops, come on, man,” Jason cut in. “All of that shit isn’t necessary. She’s still our mother.”

Aaron’s eyes pinballed between me and his sons. “You’re right. She still is your mother. As far as what I’ve been doing in my office, let me show you.”

We all stood there while we watched his back. He walked down the hallway toward his office.What the hell is he doing?A few minutes later, he came back. He stood in the center of the foyer where our sons still stood.

“I gave you two instructions because I had something in the works. While your mother, because she’s your mother, right? While she’s over there talking about y’all acting, y’all both put a fuckin’ target on your backs. I lost one son, and now I’m at risk of losing two more because they wanted to move recklessly. Did either of you think about that shit?” His tone was calm, too calm.

AJ shifted on his feet. “Pops, why didn’t you just tell us that you had something?—”

“I didn’t have to tell y’all shit until it was time to damn move. Too much information is the wrong information when it’s at the wrong damn time! I told y’all not to move until I said so! Now I have to make sure y’all stupid asses don’t get killed!” He was furious. His face flushed over.

He tilted his head over toward me. “As far as you and what I do in my office,” he reached behind him and pulled out a manila envelope, “this is for you,” he said before he handed me the envelope. “The eight hundred thousand dollars and the deed to this house is ready to be transferred to you upon signature. I’ll stay at my condo while my other house is being built.”

A heart attack! I was about to have a heart attack. I tore open the envelope and pulled out the contents.Oh God! They’re divorce papers!“Yo-you want a divorce?”

Our sons stood there with stoned faces. They didn’t look surprised. “Did y’all know about this? It seems like y’all knew about this shit!”

When Jason dropped his head, I knew the answer. They knew about this shit and didn’t say anything. This was why Cory was my favorite.

“Ma, come on. You’re not happy, he’s not happy. I don’t think either of you have ever been happy. We’re not kids anymore, so y’all don’t have to do this dumb shit,” AJ said.

I guffawed. There was no way that I was willing to lose my marriage after I’d already lost my son. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Maybe you’ll get the shit right when our daughter is born.”

Yep, I was pregnant with my fourth baby. There was never a right time to tell Aaron since he was barely at home. I didn’t care if he was here unhappily, as long as he was here.

Aaron smiled. “Congratulations, Jennifer. I’m sure you and whoever’s daughter will be beautiful.” He paused for effect. Hecertainly got a reaction. “See, there’s no way that your daughter is mine because I had a vasectomy while you were pregnant with Jason. I check yearly to make sure my shit is good. Yeah, see, a condom isn’t safe around you. I had to make sure I was covered.”

My body was stiff.Over the years, I’d had my fun here and there, but I’d always had one constant. I’d been fucking with him off and on for maybe ten or eleven years. Our affair worked because he was married too. My life was in shambles.

My sons looked at me like I was an alien. My tears fell. “You give me these not even a week after we bury our son. How insensitive can you be?”

“Says the woman trying to pin another man’s baby on me,” Aaron quipped. “Like I said, I’ll be at my condo.” He pointed at our sons. “You two idiots, meet me there in two hours.”

Like he didn’t just break my heart, he walked out of our front door. What hurt me worse was that my sons gave me looks of pity before they followed him. I’d lost everything.

A LITTLE TIME LATER…

The streets were a buzz.Like we knew it would, the “slaughter”, , hit the news hard. On the block, there were multiple businesses with cameras that caught the action. By design, all the businesses on the block were either directly owned or silently owned by a Mount O Rider. The only part of the video footage that was problematic was the end with the headshots. Tekhne was able to do her thing with the videos to make sure fault did not fall on us.

From the video footage, it was clear that it was an attack, and we were simply defending ourselves. When we were asked about the headshots given to all the fuckas on the ground,it was as simple as a group of people trained to protect themselves. All our firearms were legally carried. The mayor and chief of police came together with a statement about searching for the hooligans who would attack a group of people. The Mount Olympus Riders were known in the Charlotte community because of the service that we committed ourselves to. We also donated funds yearly to police organizations tohelp keep the streets safe.

“Mmm.” Jin moaned before she shifted on my lap. Last week, she fell asleep straddling my lap while we watched television. I made her straddle my lap to feed her. She still wasn’t eating like I wanted her to, but she was doing better. Now this was an every other day thing. She claimed she took her best naps on my lap.

I rubbed her back in a counterclockwise circle. I kissed her temple, then all over her face to rouse her awake. She’d been asleep for almost two hours. The movie we started watching together was almost over.

“I don’t want to,” she mumbled.

Lately, the only time that she turned her cochlear off was when she was with me. That was a far difference from when I first met her. She used to always have it off. My baby loved her loud silence, but now, not so much. Hestia suggested that we get her into some counseling.

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