Page 45 of You Deserve Good Things

I looked up at him, face red and wet. “But I can’t stop thinking . . .”

He wiped my tears with his thumbs, soft like lullabies. “Let it go. Let me go. I’m tired, Yaya. You gotta let me rest, lil’ bit.”

I inhaled sharply, my lip trembling. “I don’t know how.”

He smiled. “You already doin’ it. You just ain’t realized it yet.”

Then he pulled back, squinting at me like he was switching subjects.

“Now . . . let’s talk about this nigga Jacory.”

I laughed through my tears. “What about him?”

He grinned. “I been peeped that man was down bad for you since middle school. Do you remember when he used to follow you around the playground like a lost puppy with a grill?”

I blushed. “Oh my God, Silas.”

He smirked. “He loves you for real, though. That nigga been ready to risk it all since y’all were sixteen. I seen it for myself. That’s why I ain’t ever trip.”

I swallowed. “He still loves me.”

Silas nodded. “He always will.”

His face turned serious again. “That man gon’ give you the kind of love I used to pray you’d get. The kind of love that don’t break you—it builds you.”

I wept again, soft this time. Grateful.

“You still got work to do,” he murmured. “You gon’ help a lot of people, Yaya. Heal ’em. Uplift ’em. Save lives. But you can’t do that if you don’t let me rest.”

I gripped his hoodie like it was my lifeline. “I don’t wanna let go.”

He kissed my forehead. “You got to, baby girl. But I’ll always be right here.” He pointed to my heart.

Then just like that, he was gone.

I woke up gasping like I had surfaced from underwater, chest heaving, body trembling.

Tears poured down my face in heavy, hot rivers.

Jacory shot up beside me, his voice hoarse with sleep. “Baby? You crying? What’s wrong?”

I buried my face in his chest, sobbing hard.

“I saw him,” I choked out. “I saw Silas.”

Jacory stiffened slightly but kept holding me close, one hand rubbing my back in slow, soothing circles.

“What did he say, baby?”

I sniffled. “He told me . . . it wasn’t my fault. That I deserve to be happy. That . . . that he always knew you were the one.”

Jacory exhaled, deep and ragged, his voice vibrating against my ear. “He was right.”

I looked up at him, eyes shining. “He said you’d give me the world.”

He smirked. “Shit, I plan on proving him right every damn day.”

His hand cupped my face, thumb brushing my tears like he was erasing years of guilt with a single touch.

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