Page 21 of Still Forever

Kenn

“Good morning, welcome to the Smoothie Bar, how may I help you?” The cashier said as she waited for me to review the menu and place my order.

“Good morning, may I have a strawberry banana smoothie and a banana nut muffin?” I kept my order simple. I had never been here before, and whenever I went to a new place, I always tried the basics.

She gave me a pleasant smile and nodded before keying in my order and waiting for me to pay. I tapped my card and then waited near the window for it to be made.

The door chimed again as I responded to a couple of emails from the day, and out of habit, I looked up to see who it was.

To my surprise, it was Zo and Jaxon’s fiancé.

I would be lying if I didn’t say that I didn’t feel the slightest bit of jealousy.

My heart tightened a bit. Here was this woman, engaged to my man, living my life, and now she had the protection of my detail.

He stood off to the side as she placed an order, and his eyes scanned the room before they rested on me.

We smiled at each other, and then he came over to the table where I was.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m great.” I gave him a half smile.

When she was done placing her order, she went to where she thought she had left him and then came over to where we were.

The beat of my heart sped a bit. Not that I was nervous or afraid, but I was wondering how this would play out.

Either she was going to be polite, or I was going to end up on the news.

“Hey,” she said softly, taking position beside him.

“Hi.”

“Can I have a seat?” she asked, taking a deep breath.

“Sure,” I raised an eyebrow, wondering what her motive was for wanting to sit at the table with me.

“Excuse me,” she said as she passed Zo. She placed her hand on his chest as she rounded him and took a seat across from me.

To the untrained eye, it was just a subtle gesture.

But I’m a woman, and the look that he gave her couldn’t have been missed.

I eyed him suspiciously. There was something more between the two, and I was willing to bet my life on it.

“I’m actually glad that we ran into each other here,” she said as she put her bag on the table and pushed her hair behind her ear nervously.

“Are you?” I was still confused. It was obviously something on her mind, and if she didn’t get it off soon, I was inclined to believe that she was about to come to me as a woman and tell me she’s in love with my man and hers. Then I was going to have to beat her ass.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m trying to find the words.

We’re bound by secrecy in the Mafia. There are only so many things that I can tell you.

Some things I can’t say. However, I was always hoping to reach out to you and tell you that Jaxon really loves you.

He’s really messed up about this…. arrangement. ” Her words trailed off.

Immediately, my shoulders fell, and my body relaxed. Her statement had confirmed everything that Jaxon had told me. It was something about her tone and her voice that made me feel her sincerity.

“Thank you, Remy, I actually appreciate that,” I admitted.

The cashier called out my order number, and I looked down at the ticket to confirm that it was mine.

“Zo, can you please grab that for me?” I called out across the empty shop. He nodded and walked toward the counter to grab my order.

“Jaxon has been like a brother to me. Judah calls me his wingman. I just don’t think that you should let go of the idea of you guys being together.” She reached down and grabbed the Danish that Zo had set in front of her and bit a piece of it.

I sat back and folded my arms before taking a sip of my drink. She obviously didn’t know that Jaxon had already given me this information, so I wasn’t going to tell her.

“If I’m being honest, hearing it from you puts my mind at ease. I thought Jaxon and I were done,” I gave a half-truth. Prior to this moment, I couldn’t say for sure that I believed Jaxon.

"He would literally die first." She chuckled, gathering her things and standing. "Jaxon is a great guy; you really lucked up. Don’t give up on him," she said lowly as Zo walked over to the door and held it open for her.

Just as she slid out of the chair, I said, “And so is Zo. He’s an amazing man.”

She froze and she looked at me, like she had been caught red-handed, and I knew that very moment that my suspicions were correct.

She blushed and cleared her throat, but didn’t respond directly to what I had said. “Ummm, nice meeting you, Kennedy. Hopefully, we see more of each other.” She said as she extended her hand.

I gave her a smile and took it. “Nice to meet you as well, and likewise,” I said with a double meaning that made her laugh.

I sipped my smoothie as I watched them walk out the door and to the truck at the curb. When they pulled off, a car was parked just across the street.

An older woman sat in the driver’s seat of a small black SUV.

I could see the smug look on her face as she didn’t even try to hide the fact that she had been looking at me.

Her long red nails gripped the steering wheel of the vehicle before she slowly let the window up, never taking her eyes off me.

Then the SUV slowly started to creep away from its spot and disappeared from my sight. It was the strangest encounter.

Opening my bag, I made sure that I had put my Ruger in when I changed purses, and I had. I didn’t want to send anyone’s Mema to heaven early, but if I had to, that’s exactly what I would do.

“Blade, please do not try to climb that tree!” Storm yelled as we walked the second lap of the day around the park. It was a sunny day, and we were pouring sweat, but we had committed to this nature walk, so we were going to see it through.

Storm was pushing my goddaughter in the stroller as we power walked along the trail. Sanchez and three other members of the team stood guard around the perimeter to ensure that nothing popped off.

Adjusting the fan on the stroller, I continued to try to keep up with Storm.

Unlike me, she always worked out with Trouble.

Especially after she had her kids, she wanted to make sure that she kept her figure.

On the other hand, I would go to the home gym with Jaxon while he worked out and distract him.

Our workouts would often end with me bent over in some unusual position across the equipment.

Just as we neared the marker signaling the end of lap two, Cupcake started screaming at the top of her lungs.

“It’s time for her to eat,” she said as we pivoted toward the bench. I turned back to BJ, who was on the swing, being pushed by one of the guards. I chuckled because no matter how tough you were, the babies always brought out the softer side of you.

We went over to the bench and sat down. Storm pulled out a blanket and clipped the small fan to her shirt before she positioned the baby for breastfeeding.

“Uh uh, you don’t have a bottle?” I questioned as I glared at her. “We just walked two miles, don’t give my baby that salty titty,” I screamed as she doubled over with laughter.

“Let me wash it off like we do the bottles,” she chuckled as she picked up another blanket and put it underneath her bra before starting to feed the baby.

While she nursed, I soaked in the view of the park.

It was summertime, the flowers were blooming, the birds were chirping, and it was a beautiful day to be outside.

I watched with a smile as BJ jumped off the swing mid-push and landed in the sand, laughing before he ran to the slide.

He was all of the Jennings men wrapped in one.

He had Trouble’s entire face, was tall as heck for a three-year-old, so I’d assume he would be tall like Jaxon, and Judah’s wild personality.

“Storm, there’s something I have to tell you; you know, no matter what, we don’t keep secrets from each other.” I sighed as I turned to her.

Her expression turned serious, then she looked at me through slits in her eyes.

“Did you fuck Taj?” She squealed, making me laugh.

“Hell no,” I said as I picked at my nails, then swore her to the same secrecy that I had been sworn to.

“Jaxon came to my house a couple of weeks ago, and we had a conversation.” As soon as I said that, she sat straight up, causing the baby to whine again. “Girl, focus and feed my baby,” I redirected her as we laughed.

I explained to her everything that he had told me.

She went through a wave of emotions, but as I knew she would, she still wanted to hear every single detail.

I even told her that I had spoken to Remy about how Taj had come to my house acting crazy, only for me not to hear from him again.

She was quiet and didn’t interrupt, only speaking when she wanted to rush me along.

“This is the part of the Mafia that I hate. That’s what I tried to escape.

Those mandates and doing things that are beneficial to the family.

I hope you don’t hold it against him, any of it, because as someone who comes from it myself, he honestly has no choice.

People will never understand the fact that you don’t have free will until you’ve lived it.

You do as you’re told or you die.” She said as her eyes saddened.

“I know Storm, and I’ve struggled with that aspect of it for the last year or so of our relationship.

But since we’ve been apart, I have had a lot of time to reflect on it.

I used to think that you were just used to it, so this life didn’t affect you as much.

But now it makes sense why you choose to travel with Trouble all the time.

I mean, I used to… before…” My words faded.

I always hated to speak out loud about what happened to my son.

For me, saying it out loud would make it feel more real.

“We don’t have to talk about it. But I’m glad you got the closure,” She took out her phone and looked at the date.

“You have six days left. But I know that Jaxon loves you, which is why I said there has to be more to the story than him disappearing and popping out with a random heifer. If you choose to take him back, he will have to make some adjustments, but give him some grace, Kenn. Jaxon is just like Jrue; they both hate it when people tell them what to do. So, every ‘yes’ he says is sparing your life or his. That’s just the Mafia way. ” She said like it was no big deal.

I guess it wasn’t for her. She has lived this life way longer than I have. I had firsthand knowledge of all the things that were stripped away from her because of the family she was born into. For the first time in a year, I felt bad about the pressure that I had put on Jaxon.

I let out a frustrated breath, “Storm, a bitch just wants an occasional FaceTime every now and again.”

“No, friend. Don’t mistake me. Your feelings are valid.

He’s going to have to do better with communication while he’s away.

But sometimes you’re going to have to be there.

I know you tried to remove yourself after my godson, but this is all a part of healing.

Supporting your partner is hard in this life, but it’s necessary. ”

She adjusted herself underneath the blanket and then brought Phoenix over her shoulder to burp her. I let her words sink in because I knew that she was right. It was apparent that I had my degree, and I still didn’t know everything.

“I’m so glad that he came and talked to you, though.

Maybe I could apologize and get my brother back.

Not having Jaxon around these last six months has been hard.

Every time I’m having a moment, I have to call Judah.

And you know what he does? Hypes me up and tells me to do whatever I want to.

He’s going to have me doing life in prison. ” She shook her head.

“Please don’t ever listen to Judah.” I held my side as I laughed.

Especially remembering how he told me at the party that if I wanted to beat Remy’s ass, nobody was going to fuck with me.

But that’s Judah for you. If he loved you, you could do no wrong.

Even if you said that you wanted to blow up a building, he was going to help you do it and get away with it.

And if for any reason you got caught, he’d tell you to sit tight because they have lawyers on deck and judges on payroll.

Then Storm pouted, “And poor Remy. I have been the biggest bitch to her, and you know I’m a girl’s girl. I need to mind my business from now on,” She laughed. Knowing full well the last part of that statement was a lie.

“I think she understands it,” I admitted.

Storm patted the baby’s back as if it were muscle memory before she put her back in the stroller, and we continued to walk around the park.

We did two more laps before I was panting like a hot, thirsty puppy.

By the time that we left, I had a new outlook on life and my relationship with Jaxon.

If we got a second chance at being together, I was going to be glued to his hip.

I would be right in Bolivia with my Google Translate app, brokering deals in Spanish with him if I had to.

But we’d never be separated again, not like this.