“What’s going on?” Emani asked, jumping up. She didn’t care what it was, the panic in his being alerted her. “I’ll go with you.”
Jahlil kissed her face. “Let me handle this. Stay, have fun. I’ll call you tonight. Okay?”
“Okay,” Emani agreed, as she watched him jog off.
“I’m getting my shit, and a car, go down there and call the lawyer. I’ll meet you there.”
24 /EMANI
“Doyou know what’s going on?” Emani asked Carson who was glaring at his phone screen.
“No, I don’t, but it’s one of the kids to make him run off like that,” Carson replied, before assuring. “We’ll hear something by tonight.”
Emani turned her direction from the crowd Jahlil disappeared into to Carson. She watched his shoulders hike while cursing lowly to himself before tightening his jaw. “What is going on? What do you know that I don’t?”
“Where’s your phone?” Carson quizzed and Emani’s shoulders bounced.
“After that last fight with Malik, I left it at the house. It’s probably dead. Why?” Emani quizzed in return.
There was laughter, grills going, music blasting and Carson’s being held everything but the fun and light-heartedness that he’d held the last couple of days. “You need to see this.”
Carson looked up and everyone’s eyes were on Emani. The laughter had died down, their eyes bounced from the phone to Emani’s reaction. Some even recorded. While she’d been suspended in the bubble of friendship and safety, the burst of it reminded her of who she was – E. Rose.
“Walk with me,” Carson spoke, wanting to protect her and her image. He took her hand in his and started off through the least congested area and somewhere quiet. “I knew the minute you and Jahlil started talking again that that wedding was good as done. But I still kept my word, had the prenup drafted and still looking into Malik and his bullshit. ShadyPalms posted this but that’s just a piece.”
Emani snatched the phone from his hand. “The dramatics, Carson, what is it?”
“Malik had four endorsement deals riding on your marriage next week. The nigga has gambled all of his earnings away and is looking for a quick come up.”
Emani heard him but she couldn’t get over the image of Joanna wrapped around him. Malik could go to hell but Joanna. If Joanna was on vacation with him that meant that Malachi was there too and her godson…
“No,” Emani muttered. The pain of Malik cheating wasn’t anything to break her heart. She’d gladly handed over herself to Jahlil. However, the fact that Joanna had been her friend years before she and Malik had even got together hurt differently. “Malachi…that’s his son?”
Carson offered her a remorseful expression.
Emani blinked rapidly trying to keep herself level but this type of betrayal could only be met one way. “You still have the app for the cameras at my house?”
“Of course,” Carson stated, taking his phone from her hands and pulling the cameras up. He could see the four of them gathered in the living room and feel the fire coming from Emani. “I forgot the password.”
Emani took the phone out of his grasp. “You didn’t forget shit. Get me a JoyRide.”
Carson took the phone back. “So you can do what?”
“You know what, Carson. I’m not going out like no pussy ass hoe,” Emani shot back grabbing the phone. “I’ll do it myself.”
She stomped away from him, requesting a pickup with Carson’s card. When the ride was confirmed, she handed it back to him sensing his presence.
“I’m going with you,” Carson stated.
“Don’t hold me back either. These niggas got me fucked up,” Emani muttered, feeling the years of muted anger bubble in her core. Trying to make herself forget what love felt like to appease him. Trying to fit herself into a box so she could be the best wife for him that she could. Letting the women she call friends play in her face and parade this child around her with the pretense that everyone was on the same type of loyalty she was on. No. The silence and the denying of herself didn’t work.
The entire ride to the house, she bounced her leg and peered out the window while the tears pricked her eyes. This hurt. Malik could’ve put his dick in anyone else – not the woman she championed. Not the woman she called friend. Not the woman she confided in. It could have been anyone but her. There wasn’t any room for tears right now, every last one of them were going to feel the pain they inflicted on her instead of keeping it real.
When the blacked-out JoyRide pulled up to the house, Emani hopped out before it could fully come to a stop. She punched in the code to the side door, eased up the stairs, traded out her heeled boots for flat rubber soles and Vaseline for her face.
For plausible deniability, Carson waited outside. He knew when Emani got in that mode there was no pulling her out of it. He sent Ashton and Donnée a text letting them know bail and a lawyer was going to be needed.
Back inside, Emani eased down the stairs, finding the vipers she’d been living with for three years. Janet spotted her first and was visibly startled but attempted to remain cool.
