Page 27 of To Hades & Back

David stepped forward and waved his hands. He had to get this interview back on track and quickly. “We are not here for any of that.” He turned his attention to Dorian. “Dorian, we wanted to come here today to let you know that my wife and I are going to pay for your college education.” The bright smile that he thought was believable didn’t reach his eyes.

Dorian laughed. “Nah, you two can save your money this time. My college is paid for with grants and scholarships. I’m sure you two don’t know since Dedra never took a real interest in my education, but I’m third in my graduating class.” When he was asked where he would be attending college, he looked at me with a smile. “I’ll be attending Johnson and Wales, Charlotte.”

My hand went to my chest, and I gasped. My head snapped in Hades’s direction. The smile on his face told me that he already knew. Every time I asked Dorian what his plans were after high school, he told me that he hadn’t made any decision yet about whether he wanted to go to college. The reporter praised my son for his accomplishments.

She then asked another question, but Hades wasn’t having it. “That’s enough.” He cut her off. We’re here to celebrate my son’s graduation, not have interviews.” He leaned to put his eyes on David and Evelyn. “Your little feigned attempt to make you look good certainly backfired, stupids.”

When he grabbed my hand, I reached mine out to Dorian. After he put his hand into mine, we turned our backs on the news crew, my fuck ass parents, and Dedra. The Basils surrounded us with their praise and love for Dorian.

I took a moment to stop and look over my shoulder. My parents and Dedra tried to get away from the very people that they invited to be there. It was a damn shame what people would do to look good in front of the public and for money. At no time during any of my parents’ publicity tours did they simply apologize for their actions. They attempted to deny the video and say it was a deepfake which was debunked. After that, they tried to justify their action and even pass the blame off to the program that I was in. An apology was just too much for them.

“What you doing?” Hades asked. He took me in his arms and kissed my neck from behind. “I know you not worried about those fuck ass people over there.”

I turned in his arms to face him, then wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m not worried about their asses. I just wanted to see how far I’ve come from the bullshit. By all accounts I should be a fucked up mess, but I’m not. Those people took me to hell and back.”

“I feel you. You have been through bullshit, but you were determined not to be what they said you were. Now, you’re a successful nurse with a fine ass, successful man who loves every chromosome of yours. I can’t wait to put mine with yours to give Dorian a little brother or sister,” he said with a sexy smirk. “You have your son now and a big ass family that loves you.”

I thought about everything he said. I did have all of that. I was blessed more than I could ever imagine that I would be. Yeah, I might have been through hell and back, but it brought me to Hades.

Our lips locked. Soon, we felt a presence next to us. I turned my head to see Dorian there with his nose turned up. “So, y’alljust gonna stand in the middle of the stadium and make out like teenagers? Ma, really.”

Hades burst into laughter. “Damn, Son. You don’t have to call us out like that. I’ll remember that shit.”

We all laughed as we walked toward our family. When we caught up with them, Mama Verne faced us with her arms crossed. “Now I done told Hades about being mannish. Let me find out that I have to tell you about being womanish. Come on, Dorian, ’cause ya mama and daddy nasty.”

Now all of the Basil children and spouses were in stitches from laughter. Mama Verne did the most, but I loved it. With my arm interlocked with Hades, I only had one thought:I would go to hell and back again, if it meant that it would bring me to Hades.

EPILOGUE

SOME TIME LATER…

Prom date my ass.Jin’jer sat on the lounger near the pool behind the family house on the Basil compound. Her eyes were on her son, Dorian, and his girlfriend, Jade. Jade was the same prom date that Dorian claimed was just a cool girl that he asked to prom because no one asked her. Well, that prom date led to Jade and Dorian committing to be in a relationship. Dorian graduated ahead of Jade which meant that their relationship would be long distance for some time. Jin’jer wasn’t sure if that was a good idea for a college freshman to be in a newly committed, long-distance relationship.

She wanted to save both of them from potential heartbreak. Hades knew that was a worry of Jin’jer’s, so he stepped in. He, Poseidon, and Zeus sat down with Dorian to explain to him the importance of loyalty and being faithful within a relationship. They let him know that while all relationships didn’t work out, a person shouldn’t do things that were deceitful to lead to destruction. Dorian took in everything that his pop and uncles told him. He stood ten toes down in his relationship with Jade.Jade’s parents thought Dorian was a good kid, so that was half the battle.

Dorian was now a rising junior at Johnson and Wales, Charlotte, while Jade was a freshman there. Yep, Jade followed her man to Charlotte. Both of them stayed on campus for the most part. Before Jade came to college, Jin’jer would take him to Boston to visit her, or Jade’s parents would bring her to Charlotte.

“They are so cute together,” Melody said from her seat beside Jin’jer where she breastfed her two-month-old daughter, Phoebe. “You over there mama bearing the hell out of them with your eyes.” She laughed at me.

Melody’s baby had given Jin’jer serious baby fever. Hades and she agreed to wait until their second year of marriage to try for a baby. They were a couple months shy of their one-year anniversary. Hades and Jin’jer were married on the same evening that he proposed. All the Basil women worked from Jin’jer’s Pinterest to plan her perfect wedding. There wasn’t a dry eye in the venue when Dorian walked her down the aisle.

“I mean, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a mama bear.” My left shoulder and ear tried to kiss each other. “I love Jade. She’s such a sweet girl. Most importantly, she’s on a five-year birth control.”

Hestia and Hera tittered. Jade came to Hestia for a doctor and birth control referrals. Jade didn’t want to go to Jin’jer because that would be admitting that Dorian and she were sexually active. That would be an uncomfortable conversation to have with your mother’s boyfriend. All that mattered to everyone involved was that there wasn’t going to be a new generation of Basils anytime soon. Dorian changed his last name to Basil after Hades and Jin’jer were married.

“Ma!” Dorian called out to his mother from the pool where him and Jade played pool basketball. The Basil men were onthe deck grilling and more than likely smoking. Once he had her attention, he gave her a wide smile. “Are you going riding with us later?”

“You already know I am. I think we all are going,” she informed him. She looked on both sides of her to get confirmation from the Basil women. Once it was given, she confirmed with Dorian that they were all going.

When Dorian arrived in Charlotte for college, Hades presented him with a brand-new Charger after he got his license. Jin’jer wasn’t sure about the Charger because she didn’t want him to be pulled over because of a presumed dope boy’s car. Her husband told her to let him handle all of that. It was the same speech when the uncles and Pop Kronos got together to buy Dorian his first motorcycle. Everyone took the time to teach him motorcycle safety and how to ride. He may not have been Hades’s biological son, but he somehow had become a carbon copy of his as far as behavior, mannerisms, and mindset. Positive male influences were pivotal in the life of young men.

“Baby,” Hades called out when he stepped beside his wife’s lounger. He lowered himself in a squat position to kiss her lips. “The food is almost ready. You want a lil bit of everything on your plate?”

Hades knew his greedy ass wife. She was what he called a sampler. She never wanted a lot of something. She’d rather have a little of everything. “Yes, please. Thank you, baby.”

“I got you.” He stood to his full height then remembered that he had other news for her. “Did Dorian tell you that Dedra sent him a letter to the PO Box?” When she told him that he hadn’t, he chuckled. “I can’t even call that bitch stupid because you have to have a brain to be stupid. I just know her mama wasn’t fully dilated when she had her. Ole conehead bitch left her brains in her mama coochie and it was delivered with the placenta.”

Hestia was the first to roar with laughter. “Hades, what the fuck! How does your mind even come up with the crazy ass shit you say?”

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