Page 54 of If I Gave You My Heart
"It's Joy," he said before answering.
That settled my stomach a bit, but still, I was guarded as hell.
"Yeah, we're still coming," he said into the phone before turning to me and holding it in my direction. "Here."
"Huh?" I asked.
"Take the phone. Joy wanna talk to you."
"Um, okay," I took the phone from him. "Hello?" I said once it was to my ear.
"We need to speak when y'all get here."
I sat there silent for a while because Onyx's voice was just how I remembered, and it was one that I would never forget.
"Okay."
"See you soon, Snake Eyes."
I sat there with the phone in my hand after she had hung up on me.
"Get dressed," Adonis instructed once he took his phone out of my hand.
I was in no mood to get dressed, so I opted for a pair of black boyfriend jeans, a gray army fatigue Bape and Ape shirt, and a pair of gray Yeezy slides. One thing I loved about Adonis is that he loved to match. He had picked out all our outfits for this little vacation.
"Are you ready to sit down with your mom and your grandmother?" I asked, trying to get Adonis to rethink going to Joy's house.
Over the phone, I couldn't read Onyx's energy, and that worried me. I hoped that his nerves would have him back out.
"Yeah, we're leaving tomorrow, so this gotta get done. I need to get all this pain up off my chest so that I can move forward from all the bullshit."
"Okay, okay," was the only response I could offer.
I sat on the end of the bed as I waited for him to finish getting dressed. He held the hotel door open for me, and then we made our exit.
The ten-minute drive to Joy's house was too fast if you asked me. I could see Adonis' brother sitting on the front porch when we had driven past. My nerves were so damn bad when we parked over the gravel that covered the side driveway. Adonis had cut the engine and then walked around to open the door for me.
"Go ahead, I'm gonna follow you. I gotta get myself together."
He knew I hated being around awkward situations, and his family situation was one, and he knew it.
"Aight, don't take forever. I need you in there with me," Adonis replied before kissing my forehead.
I watched as he went into the back of the house, and once he was inside, I dashed to my trunk. I lifted the cover to where my spare tire was supposed to be. In that part of my car, I had a shitload of weapons. I didn't make it this far to get taken out, and if I was going to be, I was going out with a fight. I lifted my foot and placed it inside the back of the truck as I quickly lifted the left leg to my jeans. I strapped an ankle holder onto myself and then placed a silver .22 into the holster. I grabbed another gun and placed it into my back waistband. I grabbed my favorite hunter's knife and then tucked it into the holder I had on my calf. I was giving the concealed Tomb Raider look, but I didn't care. I walked up to the house and then let myself in.
Adonis
Nyoka walked into the house nervously, like this family drama was hers to bear. I patted the spot beside me on the couch so she could sit. Once she was seated beside me comfortably, I tossed my arm around her shoulders. Joy had us all sitting in the living room having a fucking family meeting. When I say everybody, I mean everybody. On the longest part of the sectional sat me, Nyoka, Adira, and Javier, and then Jolene was seated in the chair closest to the front door. Although so much shit had been revealed to us, we all had a certain amount of respect for Joy to stay seated while she conducted this meeting.
"Thank you for joining us, Nyoka," Joy said as she stood in the middle of the living room in front of us.
I saw how Jolene looked Nyoka's way with Joy's statement. I pulled her closer to me because I didn't know what the fuck she was looking at.
"Now I'm gonna speak, and all questions or comments will be saved until the very end." Joy had this teacher vibe to her for as long as I could remember.
"Come on, Joy, a nigga wanna go hoop at the park."
"Javier, you gone sit here and hear this too, so forget about that damn basketball. Now… I'm y'all grandmother. Y'all remember y'all mother." She pointed in Jolene's direction. "There is a reason I never said oh, I'm Nana."
