Page 16 of Still Forever
“Hi, Jaxon. I’m Remy.” She finally spoke, as she pushed her hair behind her ear and looked away.
“What’s up?” I said flat. When I took her in, I couldn’t deny the fact that she was pretty. But regardless of how she looked, she wasn’t Kennedy.
“Nice to meet you,” she said as she extended her hand. I leaned up and shook it, then fell back and watched her. She shifted in her seat, and I could tell that she was uncomfortable. I just sat there; I didn’t really have much to say. Not anything that she would want to hear. I held my tongue because, how I had been feeling, I knew if I spoke, I’d probably say some shit she didn’t even deserve. Meena would kill me if she knew I was out here disrespecting women.
“You’re not much of a talker, are you? This is awkward.” She chuckled nervously as she looked around the back yard likeshe hadn’t seen it before. Doing anything to keep her eyes from meeting mine.
“This is a fucked up situation, Shorty, and no disrespect, but I don’t want any part of it,” I admitted. I had to let her know that whatever she had been told, this was not that. She sighed, and I could see her trying to find the right words to say before she spoke.
“Jaxon, I never expected a love connection. I’m not looking for a happy ending from this. My dad told me you were engaged before this arrangement. That sucks because I love, love. I want a man to go this hard for me. But myownperson. Maybe we could be cordial. We’ll be living together soon and getting married, but I don’t want any of the extras,” She admitted.
I nodded. “I appreciate that,” I said honestly.
“Cool, it was nice to meet you. Take care.”
She got up from the table, and I threw my head in the direction of the truck to let Trouble know that we could go. I didn’t want to be here a second longer than we had to be. When we got back inside, I was zoned out again. All this talk of moving in together, marriage, everything was coming one after the other.
When KD told me that she was leaving, the whole way to Italy, I regretted the decision not to propose to her the night before. But now I knew that it was for the best. Had I proposed to KD, and they pulled some shit like this, she would have killed me herself. And if she let me live, then we probably wouldn’t have been able to shake back from it.
Now, I had to think of a way to get my woman back quick, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to do it.
The outside of the aquarium was decorated nice as fuck with balloons that were formed to look like a pirate ship. The name on the outside of the building had been changed to Captain Blade’s Treasure Cove. And I knew this had Storm’s name all over it.
I entered, weaved through a crowd of families, and dapped up some of the workers. Trouble brought the entire organization and their children out today. Some I never knew had children. But that was the way that it was supposed to be. In this life, it’s best to keep your families hidden because as soon as you let your guard down or cross the wrong person, they become targets. The only exception was on one occasion, when the boss called you for a function; you didn’t tell him no.
In front of the shark tank, I saw Trouble standing with Blade. Storm sat on the bench nearby, feeding my niece. I went over to them and picked BJ up, causing Trouble to turn around. I shook his hand, and we embraced as I held my nephew with the other arm.
“Unca Jax!” He said as he grabbed me around my neck and damn near choked the shit out of me. Nothing in the world would make me believe he didn’t mean to do that shit either. Lil nigga was bad, but he called me twenty times a day. We were locked in like that.
“What’s up, BJ? You having fun?” I questioned and kissed his forehead before Trouble cut me off and cleared his throat. He nodded toward Storm, who was looking at me like she wanted to kill me and was fumbling with her diaper bag, trying to hurry over and make it across the exhibit. I chuckled because I already knew that it was about to be a problem.
As soon as she made it over to me, I stretched out my arms to hug her, and she took a step back. She wasn’t fucking with me at all and hadn’t spoken to me since me and KD broke up. Storm wasn’t just Trouble’s wife; that was my nigga. Now, when BJ called me, she’d be in the background, quiet as hell. But I understand. She was riding for her friend, and I fucked with that.
“Jaxon Jennings, are you playing with me right now? Be so for real,” she snapped.
“What’s up, sis?” I chuckled.
“Don’t what’s up me! Who are you bringing with you to my son’s party? Are you playing with my friend? She’s got to leave!” She grilled.
“Baby-” Trouble warned as he stepped in.
“Don’t baby me, Jrue! So, you knew about this? I got my purse today, and I brought my mace. Don’t you be the one to-” She was fire hot. I laughed at her.
“Chill,” I groaned, cutting her off. I turned back toward Remy, who was pretending to look around, and waved her over. She came from her position and slowly walked to join us.
“Remy, this is my favorite person. Trouble’s wife,” I said as Trouble chuckled.
“Hey, you are gorgeous. I’m Remy.” She said as she extended her hand.
“Storm. Thank you, so are you. I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t care if I am. I don’t know how much of what Jaxon has told-” She started before she was interrupted.
“Heyyyyy baby! Happy birthday!” I heard Kennedy screech as she held her arm out to take BJ from me. He jumped out of my arms in half a second, almost knocking her over. “Hi, beautiful, hi brother.” Kennedy sang, she embraced Storm. Then Trouble gave her the same look Storm had given me as he pulled her in for a hug.
Storm’s mouth was on the floor as her eyes shot to the circle around us. Kennedy showed up to my family’s event, and she brought that nigga from brunch with her.
“Storm, this is Taj. Taj, this is my best friend and her husband, Trouble. Her children are my God children.” Trouble didn’t even speak. Shit made me struggle to hold my composure when Storm grabbed the hand that he had extended toward Trouble and shook it herself. When his eyes shot to her, she let it go just as quickly, too.
“Nice to meet you,” Storm gave a fake smile, and I could see that she was eating the words she had just said to me.
