Page 35 of Somebody Else Will

“Grandma, you want something? I think I’m gonna get a latte. Will is late, but I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, baby. I just want a regular coffee. I don’t need all that fancy stuff.”

Ezekiel chuckled. “I’ll take a regular one too, baby,” he said as he handed me a twenty-dollar bill.

He always wanted to pay for everything. I wasn’t mad at that shit either. After supporting Will’s broke ass for all that time, I was grateful that someone wanted to supportmefor a change. After placing our orders, I glanced around and saw Will walk in, looking paranoid as hell. That put me on edge. He kept looking over his shoulder. Since I was on the other side of the counter, waiting for our coffees, he didn’t see me.

When he walked toward the back, I realized he’d seen my grandmother. She smiled at him. I rolled my eyes. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body. I definitely didn’t inherit that from her. I wouldn’t piss on Will if his ass was on fire. I’d walk right by like I didn’t see him.

Once they set our drinks down and called my name, I grabbed a couple of packs of Splenda for my grandma and sugar for Ezekiel. I glanced over at them to see Will hadn’t sat down yet. I supposed he was waiting for me to get to the table. After grabbing hazelnut creamer for Ezekiel, I made my way to them.

When I set the tray of drinks down and sat, Will did so as well. He looked so fucking nervous. My grandmother patted his back as Ezekiel stared at him. He couldn’t have been that nervous about Ezekiel being here. Finally, I said, “Hello, Will.”

“Hey, Nishia. Once everyone gets their drinks situated, I’ll let you know what’s up.”

I nodded, then took a sip of my latte. My leg was bouncing uncontrollably. Ezekiel noticed. After he stirred his coffee and put the lid back on, he rested his hand on my thigh. His touch calmed me significantly. I stared into his eyes and said, “Thank you.”

He kissed my forehead as Will stared on.Punk ass.When Grandma finished, he fidgeted nervously. “So the day I came to your job… she threatened me before I could get to you. I was already there because I wanted to take you to lunch and apologize for not treating you the way I should. I wasn’t falling for her bullshit until she pointed a gun at me. Now that I know what I know, I would’ve known that she wasn’t going to use it.”

I frowned, trying to figure out what the fuck he was talking about. He needed to get to the point. Apparently, he caught the hint when I sighed loudly. “Her name is Sabrina Boswell. She’s your sister, Denishia.”

“My sister? What the hell?”

“She grew up with your father in her life and suffered by his presence. She’s jealous of you and your success. It seems him being in the wind was what was best for you.”

“How did you find this out?” Ezekiel asked him.

“She told me. She was having an angry rant when Denishia wouldn’t give me any money. Your dad molested her. Her life was hell growing up. He tortured her and her mother. Her mother was too afraid to leave him.”

My grandmother’s mouth had dropped open. I couldn’t believe this shit. All this because she was jealous that I had a good life? I hated that she went through what she did, but in no way was that my fault. This was beyond insane. She needed help.

“Is that why you keep looking over your shoulder? She’s following you?”

“She was the other day. I hadn’t seen her today, but I saw on the news what happened to Jamia. I knew I had to say something before someone got killed because of her foolishness.”

He slid his hand down his face. I was trying to cypher through the information I knew about Ray Boswell. “So she’syounger than me,” I said mostly to myself, but then looked up at him to confirm.

“Yeah. She’s thirty. He and your mom split up when you were three, if I’m remembering details correctly. I remembered, at one time, you longed for a relationship with him. Good thing you didn’t have one. There’s no telling where you would have ended up.”

I looked away from him, going over everything he’d said. Will only lied when it benefited him. This wouldn’t benefit him one way or the other. It wasn’t like I would take him back because of the information he gave me.

“I can’t believe this.” Suddenly, it felt like a ton of bricks fell down on me at once. “Did my mama know?”

“I think so, because she seemed to know who Miss Patsy was, like they’d met before. I think that was why she ended up having a massive heart attack. Apparently, that man was abusive to her too.”

I turned to my grandma with my eyebrows lifted, waiting for answers. “Your mama almost killed him for putting his hands on her. That was why he didn’t come around anymore after your fifth birthday party.”

My lips parted as I allowed her admission to take my breath away.

I couldn’t believeeverything I was hearing, and it seemed Denishia was having a hard time with it as well. I started rubbing her back in circular motions because she looked like she was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

“Your mama didn’t want me even mentioning his name around her or you. I didn’t have a problem with that because I couldn’t stand him. The man flipped the script on her. After you were born, he became someone else. It was like he truly had multiple personalities. It was to the point where I barely believed your mama when she would repeat some of the things he would say to her.”

She slowly shook her head. I reached for Denishia’s hand and felt the tremble go through it. I didn’t know if she was angry or nervous about something. I leaned over to her and said, “Baby, take deep breaths. You’re extremely tense, and I don’t want you to have a panic attack. Take deep breaths.”

She closed her eyes and began doing as I suggested. Her ex was staring at us. I could see him in my peripheral. When I looked at him, he averted his gaze. I started thinking back on the day I checked him for fucking with Denishia, and I remembered him getting in the car with a woman.

“So that was her you got in the car with that day?” I asked.

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