Page 27 of Mister Jeweler

Supreme sucked his teeth. “You’re my baby brother. I’d give up everything for you.”

Elite felt the same way about him. For all their lives, all they really had was each other until the other got married. Since he knew Supreme’s stubbornness wouldn’t allow him to accept the money, Elite made up in his mind to go and get the cash and drop it off with sister-in-law Nicole when he was in his own car.

“I ’preciate that,” Elite mumbled, looking out of the window. He had so many thoughts running through his mind that it eventually went blank.

“I can’t believe Jah would try to set you up like this. You want me to let Nicole pay her ass a visit?”

“Nah.” His head shook as he looked over at Supreme briefly. “She would probably just call the law on sis too at this point. I wanna figure out what her end game is, but I feel like we’re beyond talking at this point.”

“Have you tried to call her?” Elite’s head shook. “Call her. See if she answers.”

Elite exhaled deeply and pulled his phone out of his pocket. His battery was low since he’d cut it off before he was processed, but it had enough juice for him to call her—a call Elite was sure she’d ignore if she hadn’t blocked his number. To his surprise, the call went through. And shocking him even more was the fact that Jacintha answered.

“What, Elite?”

“You must be outcho mothafuc—”

“Woah!” Supreme grabbed the phone quickly. “You ain’t gon’ get no answers talking to ’er like that.”

Brows burrowed and teeth gritted, Elite tried to calm himself as his heart palpitated. He knew he couldn’t handle seeing her in person, but he didn’t think hearing her voice would cause him to react like that. Snatching the phone back, Elite huffed and closed his eyes as he tried to compose himself.

“Can you explain to me what the hell you’re up to?” he asked as calmly as he possibly could.

“What you mean, what I’m up to?”

“Bitch, you got me arrested. You know damn well I didn’t put them bruises on you!”

“You did!” She sobbed, angering him more. “You’re responsible for what happened to me! Even if you didn’t physically do this to me, it happened because of you!”

Elite sat up some in his seat. “Who put their hands on you?”

Jacintha chuckled before sniffling. “Don’t act like you care, Elite.”

The laugh he released wasn’t one of amusement. “Here you go, trying to play the victim when all of this is your fault.Youcheated.Yougot pregnant.Yougot your ass whupped. Now if a nigga put his hands on you, I’ll handle that, but you gon’ have to drop them charges and give me a divorce.”

She was silent for a while. “I lost my baby because of you. Now you want to divorce me. Even if I did drop the charges and told you who beat me, what would I get out of that?” Jacintha sniffled, and for the first time, Elite’s heart softened toward her. “I don’t have anything anymore, Elite.”

Massaging his temple, Elite tried to reason with her. “Look, I can’t lie and act like I want to be with you anymore. You’ve done a lot of fucked up shit. You didn’t just violate our vows; you got me arrested, Jacintha. You sent the law to my brother’s home. You sent the law where a black man lays his head at. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking you had to pay! I—I told him about our marriage ending and that you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore and we could finally be together, and he got mad at me! He’d been playing me all along, just like you! He told me he didn’t want to be a father, just like you!”

“I never said that, Jah. It was a matter of timing…”

“It doesn’t matter anymore! He literally beat my baby out of me, and it’s because of you. Fuck the both of you! I hope your ass rots in prison and you think about what you did to me every day of your fucking life!”

When she disconnected the call, Elite had to keep himself from punching the dashboard. Yes, his wife was a drama queen. Yes, she had a hard time taking responsibility. Yes, she was self-centered, but none of those things made it easier for Elite to believe she would allow him to take the blame for some shit she knew he didn’t do.

Elite was unsure if he’d let this shit ride or try to convince her to drop the charges before his next court date. Either way, Jacintha was hurting and angry and taking that shit out on him in the worst way. She wanted to destroy him, and Elite refused to let that happen…

??????

Elite’s eyes stayed glued to Jacintha’s father sitting on the front porch. He was a man of faith, but that didn’t stop him from holding a pistol while he awaited Elite’s arrival. There hadn’t ever been an ounce of fear in Elite’s blood, so he grabbed his Glock from under the seat and stepped out of his pickup truck. Running his hand down his sweater, Elite reminded himself that this was for the best. He’d made a promise to Baxter the day he made Jacintha his wife… one that he intended to keep, until now.

“You got a lot of nerve showing your face here,” Baxter said as Elite stepped onto the porch.

“If you planned to shoot, you would’ve done it by now.”

“The only reason I haven’t is because Jah told me there was more to the story than what she put on her Facebook page. You care to explain what the hell is going on?”

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