Page 40 of Certified Pressure 2

St. Mercy General Hospital

S eeing Pressure walk away hurt me in ways I couldn’t even describe.

He had just left the hospital, and I was still sitting in this small room, trying to focus on Zurie, but my mind kept pulling me right back to him.

It was crazy because he’d been here through everything.

He sent me forty thousand dollars like it was nothing, and then dropped everything to sit by my side while Zurie was in surgery.

He held me, kissed me, kept me close the whole time, but even through all of that I felt this space between us.

His voice wasn’t the same. The way he used to talk to me wasn’t there anymore.

He didn’t ask me to come with him, didn’t even try to act like he wanted me in that way, and that part cut me more than I wanted to admit.

I watched my little sister’s chest rise and fall as she slept, the machines around her soft, and I told myself to focus on her.

She was the reason I was even still standing.

She was the reason I could put one foot in front of the other when everything else in my life felt like it was falling apart.

But the truth was, I couldn’t stop thinking about Pressure.

I couldn’t shake the way he turned me down when I tried to give myself to him, and the way he held back even when his hands were still on me.

It had me asking myself questions I didn’t want to ask. Had I pushed him away so many times that he finally stopped wanting me? Was he finally seeing me as somebody who wasn’t worth his time? The thought of that alone had me sick.

I pulled my phone out my bag and stared at the black screen for a long time before I unlocked it.

My uncle Lionel was the only person I could think to call.

I couldn’t let Zurie go back to that apartment after what happened.

My father had already shown me who he was and there was no way I was risking her being in his reach again.

The phone rang twice before he answered, his voice groggy like I’d pulled him out of sleep.

“Unc, it’s me. I need to ask you for something important,” I said, my throat tight but my words clear.

“Talk to me,” he said.

I explained everything, telling him how Zurie had just come out of surgery and that I needed somebody I could trust to be here for her.

I didn’t want to sound like I was running, and I didn’t want to make it seem like she wasn’t my first priority, but I had something heavy on me that I had to deal with.

“Can you or Aunt Dee come up here and be with her? And when they discharge her, can you take her home with y’all? At least for a while?”

There was a pause on the line. My uncle was a man who thought before he spoke, and for a second I was scared he was going to tell me no.

“I’ll take her back in,” he said finally. “But Dee will have to come sit with her for now until she’s discharged. I can’t make it up there tonight.”

Relief washed over me and I closed my eyes for a second. “Thank you, Unc. That means everything.”

“You know we got her,” he said. “Don’t worry about nothing.”

I thanked him again before hanging up. My chest loosened a little because at least now I knew Zurie wasn’t going back to that chaos.

I sat in the stiff hospital chair with my phone in my hand and opened a browser.

My fingers hovered before I typed “Jungle Estate.” I didn’t even know what I expected to see, but when the address popped up, my heart sank and jumped at the same time.

It was real. It wasn’t just some place only I knew about. I sat there staring at the directions.

Next, I searched flights. The soonest I felt I needed to leave was tomorrow afternoon. The cheapest flight was five hundred dollars. I still had money left after paying for Zurie’s surgery, so that part wasn’t the problem. The problem was me admitting to myself why I was even doing this.

I had spent so much time shutting Pressure out, telling myself that I couldn’t mix my life with his, that I didn’t deserve somebody like him, that I needed to protect Zurie before I thought about myself.

And through all of that, he was the one dropping everything to be there for me.

He was the one carrying me when I felt like I couldn’t move.

And all I kept doing was pushing him further away.

If I didn’t show him now that I was willing to fight for him, then I was going to lose him completely, and that thought hurt worse than anything.

Hours slipped by while I sat in the chair, going back and forth in my mind.

The lights outside the hospital windows dimmed and the soft beeping of machines never changed.

Finally, the door opened and Aunt Deanne walked in.

She smelled like she always did, a mix of lavender lotion and fresh laundry.

She hugged me tight and then walked straight over to Zurie’s bed, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“She’s still beautiful,” Deanne said with a soft smile.

I nodded, watching the way my aunt instantly brought this calm energy into the room. It was exactly what Zurie needed.

“Aunt Dee,” I said quietly. “I don’t think it’s safe for her to go back home. Things with my parents got bad, worse than they ever have been. I don’t want her there.”

Aunt Deanne’s eyes softened, but she didn’t look surprised. “Lionel told me. We’ll take her. Don’t even worry about it.”

I swallowed hard, grateful. “I’ll be back soon. I just… I have to go out of town for a while.”

She didn’t press me for details. She just nodded like she understood more than I was saying. That was one of the things I loved about her—she never judged, she just listened and supported.

I leaned down and kissed Zurie’s forehead, then whispered in her ear, “I’ll be back for you.“

Leaving that room broke something in me, but I knew what I had to do.

I ordered an Uber and rode back to the hotel.

The whole ride I stared out the window, thinking about everything that had happened.

When I stepped into the room, the first thing that hit me was Pressure’s cologne.

It lingered like he was still here. I stood in the middle of the room for a moment, clutching my shirt in my hand and frowning because the scent made me miss him even more.

His presence was still strong in this space, but so was the emptiness he left behind.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled my phone back out.

My finger hovered over the confirm button for the flight, and for a second, I thought about all the reasons I shouldn’t do it.

I thought about the women at his house, the drama, the way he didn’t even ask me to come with him.

But then I thought about all the reasons I needed to.

He was always the one coming to me. He was always the one showing up even when I didn’t ask. Maybe it was my turn now. Maybe it was time for me to stop running from love and face it head-on.

I pressed the button and booked the flight.

Tomorrow I was going back to Pressure… Back to the Jungle Estate, and back to fight for what was mine, no matter who else was standing in the way.

The following morning…

I hadn’t gotten much sleep, and when my alarm went off, I felt the weight of everything sitting on me at once.

Still, I pulled myself up, got myself together then grabbed my bag, and forced myself to move like I had somewhere to be, because I did.

I was about to get on a flight and go see the man who had turned my whole world upside down without even trying.

My stomach was tight with nerves and my chest felt full of something I couldn’t name, but under all of that was this excitement I couldn’t hide.

I took one last look around the hotel room, the sheets still a little messy from when me and Pressure had been here together. I pulled the door shut behind me, my hand lingering on the handle longer than it should have, like I was saying goodbye to a memory.

The lobby was quiet when I walked through, the sound of an ice machine in the corner and the soft voice of the clerk greeting me as I dropped the card at the counter. I smiled politely but didn’t stop to talk. My Uber was already pulling up outside.

The ride to the airport felt longer than it should have, and I sat pressed against the window, watching buildings slide by without really seeing them. My thoughts were wrapped around Zurie. I pulled my phone out and dialed the hospital, needing to hear her name, and needing to know she was okay.

A nurse picked up, her tone professional but gentle.

She told me Zurie had woken up a little groggy this morning but was responsive, and that she was keeping down the fluids they were giving her.

Her vitals looked good, and she would be monitored for another day before they started talking about discharging her.

Hearing that calmed something inside me.

“Thank you,” I whispered into the phone, and when I hung up, I immediately called my aunt.

She answered on the second ring, her voice warm like it always was. She told me she had been with Zurie all morning and that everything the nurse said was true. Zurie had smiled when she saw her and even asked about me. That part made my chest ache in a different way.

“She’s okay, Pluto,” my aunt said softly. “You focus on what you need to do. I got her.”

I closed my eyes for a second, nodding even though she couldn’t see me. “Thank you, Aunt Dee. I’ll be back soon.”

We hung up and I slipped my phone into my lap, my hand resting on it as the Uber rolled down the highway. For the first time since all this started, I felt a little peace. Knowing Zurie was in good hands made it easier for me to lean into what I was doing now.

When we finally pulled into the airport, I took a deep breath and got out.

The air felt different here, filled with the sound of rolling suitcases, voices blending together, and the occasional honk of cars pulling up to drop passengers off.

I grabbed my bag from the seat beside me, thanked the driver, and headed inside.

The automatic doors whooshed open, letting me into a space that smelled like coffee and faint disinfectant. People were moving in every direction, some rushing, some dragging their feet. I followed the signs for departures until I reached the check-in counters.

I pulled up my reservation on my phone and scanned the code at the kiosk, the machine spitting out my boarding pass with a low whir. Sliding my ID back into my bag, I adjusted the strap on my shoulder and walked toward security.

The TSA line wasn’t too long, but standing there gave me plenty of time to think. My heart raced the closer I got to the checkpoint. I kept running over what I was about to do, wondering how it would feel to finally show up for Pressure, not just in words but in action.

When it was my turn, I handed the agent my ID and boarding pass.

He glanced at them, gave me a quick nod, and waved me through.

I slipped off my shoes, dropped my bag and laptop into the gray plastic bins, and pushed them onto the conveyor belt.

Walking barefoot through the scanner felt like the most vulnerable part of the whole process, but I lifted my arms and did it anyway.

Once I collected my things and slid my shoes back on, I made my way toward my gate.

The walk took me past little shops selling snacks, neck pillows, and overpriced headphones.

But I didn’t stop. My mind wasn’t on any of that.

My mind was on Pressure, and how in just a few hours I’d be boarding a plane that would take me back to him.

The terminal was half full when I got there, people scattered in chairs with their bags at their feet. I found a seat near the window, set my bag beside me, and pulled out my phone again. I had two hours until boarding, and until I was one step closer to standing in front of Pressure again.

I stared out at the runway, watching planes lift into the sky, their engines roaring. I wished I felt certain about what I was walking into, but all I had was this mix of fear and hope twisting inside me.

I thought about the look on Pressure’s face the last time he saw me. He didn’t ask me to come. He didn’t even hint at it. But I couldn’t let that be the reason I stayed away. I knew what I felt. I knew what I wanted. I was done running, and making excuses.

My phone buzzed in my hand with a text from Aunt Dee: Zurie is resting. Don’t worry about her. Just focus on where you’re going.

I exhaled and typed back, I will. Love you.

Leaning back in the chair, I let the noise of the airport wrap around me.

People’s conversations floated through the air, some about vacations, others about business trips.

Nobody knew the war going on in my chest. Nobody knew how much I was risking by chasing after love that might not want me back the way I wanted it.

But none of that mattered.

I was on my way to get my man, and prayed he would accept me.