Page 28

CHAPTER 27

Jourdan

S tephon wasn’t himself, and I didn’t blame him. If my mother had thrown something on me like that at that age, I would be acting the same. At any age, really. Here I was, thinking she was a good ol’ Clair Huxtable, and Mama Rockwell was damn Jenny from the block, or I should say Adriana from the block. I was shocked to hear she’d been with both men, but I wasn’t mad at it. Even though I currently wanted him dead, it didn’t take away from the fact that Julius was fine, and from the pictures of Sean that I’ve seen spread around both of their homes, so was he. Then, there was the man from the Mayor’s Ball, Marshall Declan.

Damn! Ok Mama!

Stephon was currently in his home gym, lifting until failure on every set. He came in, went straight there, and hadn’t come out since.

I was sitting in the living room, watching him on an iPad that contained a feed from all his cameras. Every so often, he would stare off. For the last few minutes, he sat there hunched over, his elbows on his knees, and a towel thrown over his head. I wanted to help him. I needed to get back on my game and formulate a plan.

Sure, I wanted to know who killed my father, but it would have to wait. Stephon had been right; I needed to return to what my father had taught me. The first thing was that I needed Miller back in North Carolina. I could do one of two things.

First, I could call Pierre and tell him to pass along the information to Miller, telling him that Stephon wanted to meet. The problem was that Pierre didn’t know me and had no reason to trust my word. Second, I could call Tayla and put a hit in the system on him in New York. My concern was that he might not make it before I could get Stephon the answers he needed.

I stood to head into Stephon’s office. Once there, I plopped down on his oversized office chair and spun from side to side until I decided to do both. I opened Stephon’s computer and entered my birthdate. I still couldn’t believe he’d granted me access to his entire life. I pulled up the Bio Scan application and entered Miller’s face. The results revealed that he was still in New York.

I picked up my secure line and dialed Tayla. She answered on the third ring. I didn’t like to text like Stephon and my brother did. It didn’t work for me; I preferred calls.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hey girl, you busy?”

“No, I actually just came in from work.”

“Look, I need a favor.”

“Ok, I’m listening,” she hesitantly said .

“I need you to commission a hit.”

“JoJo, what is this all about? Does this have anything to do with your father?”

“Damnit, Tayla. Why does it always have to be the third degree? Why can’t you do this for me because I asked?” I yelled. I didn’t mean for it to come out so aggressively, but I was truly tired of the back-and-forth. This one time, I needed someone to have my back so that I could have Stephon’s in the ways he’d been doing for me.

“Fine, what’s the name?” she said exasperated. I could hear her rapidly tapping keyboard keys in the background.

“Julius Miller, make the bounty a half mil. Current location: New York. I just sent the photo.” She pecked away at the keys a few more times before confirming.

“Ok, it’s done.”

“Thank you, Tay. This means a lot. I love you.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Love you too, JoJo,” she said as she hung up the phone.

Next, I needed to pull up Stephon’s encrypted phone. It took me a few minutes, but I was able to locate Pierre’s contact information. From there, I texted him.

Contact Miller and inform him that we need to meet here in North Carolina. Also, let him know there’s a bounty on his head, and if he can make it out alive, you'll contact him with a meet-up. Do it now.

P

Yup

I sat back in the chair, gloating about my plan and hoping like hell that it worked. Then Stephon came waltzing in, holding up his burner phone. He looked tired. I could see the stress around his usually bright eyes.

“Come here,” I said as I stood and motioned for Stephon to sit where I just had so that I could sit in his lap.

“Jourdan, Baby, what are you in here doing?” he asked, still waving his phone around.

“First, how are you feeling?” I said, taking his face into my hands.

“I don’t fucking know. I do know that I need to call my mother and apologize. I have no right to judge her for the life she led before me when I’m still hiding my current one from her. I gotta have an end game, Baby. I’m getting too old for this shit. Even with everything that she told me tonight, I know with certainty that that nigga is not my fucking father and never will be, blood be damned. I’m a Rockwell through and through,” he said with confidence.

“So, are you ok with this, Marshall Declan, man she was with at the ball?” I asked

“That’s another thing. We just had this conversation not too long ago about me wanting her to date because she hasn’t since my father died. She was trying to get on me about not telling her I was dating, and she was doing the same thing. He’s Chanel’s father. Devin’s wife, Chanel.” I gasped.

“That man was her father. Damn! ”

“Jourdan, don’t end up back on punishment.”

“What? That man is fine,” I said, holding my hands, palm side up, shrugging.

“Tsk, go ahead on with that. Now tell me what you’ve been up to. I saw your message to P,” he said, effectively directing the conversation back to me.

“You were right, Steph. I wasn’t being the best version of myself. I want to be better, do better for you,” I said and sighed.

“Don’t do it for me, Jourdan. Do it for you because you’re the second best,” he deadpanned. I took my elbow and reared it into his stomach. His loud laugh filled the room, and I was happy he was smiling.

“Ok, so I put a hit out on Miller in New York, which will cause him to travel here. Then I texted P to tell him the information you read in the text. Miller will move cautiously with the hit, and with caution comes predictability. I want him to be afraid to leave his safe house. Once he’s there, we’ll ambush him wherever that is in Cypress. You get your answers then… We eliminate his ass,” I said, pointing my finger guns and then bringing them to my mouth to blow as if they were smoking.

“I’m sure that if I look at the Bio Scan right now, Miller will be in the air.” I pulled up the application, and as I suspected, the dot was speeding across Pennsylvania.

“You just have it all figured out, huh?”

“I’m not number one for nothing,” I said, winking. He let out another loud laugh, showing me his dimples. I ran my fingers through his beard and up his face until my fingers ran through his hair.

“Mmmh, I love you, Baby.” He groaned. It was the third time he’d said it, and just like the first, I was afraid to return the sentiment. He was the perfect man for me, and I couldn’t tell him I loved him. It was right on the tip of my tongue; I just couldn’t push it out.

What in the hell is wrong with me?

“Stephon, let’s go shower,” I said. He stood with me, his arms wrapped around my body.

“While we shower, we can discuss our plan.”

“Baby, right now, the last fucking thing I’m thinking about is a plan.”

“How about we talk about it after our shower, then?”

“How about we don’t talk at all?” He said as he adjusted me and threw me over his shoulder.

“But.” He gave me a hard smack to my ass that was in the air.

“No talking, Baby.”