Page 17 of The Love of Priest 2

Unlike Priest and Kaymen, who were both in typical relationships, J'Ru's relationship with Aja was far more complex and harder to understand.

Priest had witnessed the evolution of J'Ru and Aja since the two had always messed around since high school.

J'Ru married Aja during his senior year, right before Aja went to the army.

It was a senseless decision, but at the time, he was just thinking with his heart.

Unfortunately, Priest was locked up at the time, so he didn't get the chance to talk J'Ru’s irrational ass out of it.

Aja was never really the issue. She was a wonderful girl and even better woman.

She cared for J'Ru a lot, but their circumstances were just odd.

The two could go months without speaking to each other since they were both living two very different lives.

She was stationed out in Japan while he continued his life out here in New York.

The two had agreed on an open relationship, which was the logical thing to do since they went so long without contact.

The issue was that a while ago, Aja admitted that she no longer wanted an open relationship.

J'Ru agreed, but he never followed through.

How could he? Aja was stationed all the way in Japan.

Their contact was limited due to her deployment.

J'Ru truly loved Aja and everything about her, but she couldn't possibly think he could fight the temptation of being deep inside of a woman for so long.

"So, about Taylor…" Priest let out in a questioning manner, which caused J'Ru to cut his eyes at him.

Taylor had made herself available to J'Ru during his recovery after he was shot.

He appreciated Taylor for being the woman he needed during such a low time of his life while Aja simply couldn't. Long distance was troubling, and with the extra restrictions of Aja being in the army, it was far more troubling than any normal long-distance relationship.

J'Ru leaned back in his seat. "She'll get it," he shrugged. "Aja comes first."

Kaymen chuckled as he shook his head. "This nigga made a vow before God and talking about she come first like she ever had the chance to come second," Kaymen shamed J'Ru.

Kaymen took marriage extremely seriously, and it showed just by the way he conducted himself with Jadey and his own marriage.

He had warned J'Ru several times to stop playing this wicked game between Aja and Taylor, but he was hardheaded.

"Facts," Priest agreed with Kaymen. "The best thing you could do right now is be real with Aja."

J'Ru knew his friends weren't judging him, which was why he didn't get offended.

They were right, and now he had the obligation of making everything right with the use of their advice.

"It's her first time back since she got stationed in Japan.

She's happy to be home. I can't just ruin shit like that. " J'Ru sighed deeply.

"You rather spend this month she's here lying to her or being real?" Priest quizzed him with a raised brow.

J'Ru pursed his lips. It was a lot to think over. It didn't make it any better that Aja was at his brownstone waiting for him to return."I'll tell her tonight.”

Kaymen and Priest exchanged glances with each other as they both shook their heads.

"Not tonight. She's gonna be worried about you after this. Tell her tomorrow. Less emotions all over the place," Kaymen advised J'Ru.

"Bet," J'Ru agreed.

Eventually, Cyro pulled the car to a stop at the side of the City Hall building.

Civilians gathered before the building in a mass crowd waiting for Leila to take the podium and give her acceptance speech.

Priest, Kaymen and J'Ru climbed out of the darkly tinted SUV and into the windy weather.

Despite it being four in the afternoon, the sun didn't make much of an appearance from the sky.

With J'Ru and Kaymen striding behind him, Priest made his way toward the side entrance of the building.

Before they entered the building, Priest extracted a phone from the pocket of his classic grey Dior overcoat.

He turned the burner cell on, sending a text to the only number programmed into the device.

Arrived .

Once the text was delivered, Priest turned to face Kaymen who was awaiting him with this hand out.

Swiftly, Kaymen extracted the SIM card from the device, carelessly tossing it on the ground and stepping on it.

The tiny SIM card crumbled into smaller pieces that were unable to be used again.

Kaymen pulled the silk handkerchief from the inner breast pocket of his suit, wiping any traces of he and Priest's fingerprints from the device.

Wrapping the device in the silk handkerchief, Kaymen turned around to face Cyro.

"We'll be back here to meet you when it's done.

Switch cars and be ready," Kaymen instructed Cyro, who simply nodded his head in clear understanding before heading off to fulfill their orders while the men entered City Hall.

Upon entering the building, Kaymen and Priest waited for J'Ru to retrieve the leather duffle bag from where he stashed it. The three men chuckled as J'Ru began pulling the duffle bag from a nearby air vent. "Hidden in plain fucking sight," J'Ru joked as he pulled back the zipper of the duffle bag.

He, Priest and Kaymen surveyed the cash that filled the bag, sufficed with the sight of it."You counted all this yourself?" Kaymen teased J'Ru as he unzipped the bag’s inner pocket, placing the phone inside.

J'Ru laughed. "Yeah, with the help of your mother, bitch,” he retorted, causing Priest to laugh.

"You niggas are hell," Priest chuckled as he shook his head.

"Mention my mother again and I'm fucking you up," Kaymen warned J'Ru as he neatly slid the handkerchief back into the inner pocket of his suit.

J'Ru waved Kaymen off. "I'll meet you niggas out there," he told them as he took the exit with the duffle bag in hand.

Once the door shut behind J'Ru, Priest and Kaymen exhaled heavy breaths."This shit better work," Priest said before continuing to stride toward the stairs leading to the main floor of the building.

Navigating through the building went with ease for the two men since Priest was a very familiar face.

When Leila confirmed she was returning for another term of power as the mayor, she gave everyone in her office strict orders to treat Priest no differently than the way they treated him while he was in alliance with Bill.

Leila's office was closed off from anyone who didn’t have approval from her.

Kaymen and Priest stood before the guard awaiting entrance through the door.

Upon recognizing who they were, the guard stepped aside, allowing the two men to enter Leila's office.

The room was swarming with different members of Leila's campaign as they prepped her for her big speech. Priest’s dark orbs scanned the room, deeming everyone useless, despite them running around as if they were so incredibly busy.

Truth be told, the work he and the guys contributed was what brought Leila to power.

His money fueled her sunken campaign, bringing it back to stable waters, while Kaymen worked day and night to make sure that charitable work was being done in the community on Leila's behalf. She was so out of touch with the community that she didn’t realize that the minorities were who she needed the most.

Priest waded toward Leila, who was rereading her speech for the third time today. Of course, she didn't go through the labor of writing it herself, so she was trying hard to make it seem as though it had come straight from her heart.

"Mayor Leila Jenkins," Priest smirked as he applauded her.

Leila's attention averted from the well-written speech to Priest, who now stood before her with a smug smirk on his face. "I'm impressed," Priest nodded in an appeased manner. "I honestly didn't think you could pull this off.”

Leila cleared her throat as she smoothed down the front of her pant suit. "Well, I did," she stated confidently.

"With our help, of course," Priest gestured between himself and Kaymen. "None of this would be possible without us.”

Leila cleared her throat, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Now, Priest, it was a team effort."

Priest scoffed as he waved her off. "My $40,000 check says otherwise," he stated, causing Kaymen to chuckle. "But we're not here to take all the credit, Mayor."

Leila folded her arms across her chest in a defensive manner.

Whenever Priest and Kaymen were in her presence, it felt as if the Grim Reaper himself had come to visit her.

They knew how to kick her off her high horse and bring her back into reality to make it clear that she wouldn't have been able to pull this grand scheme off without them.

"Then what are you here for?" she asked.

Kaymen smirked. "To celebrate. All our hard work has paid off. Now we enjoy the fruits of our labor."

"Mayor Jenkins, you go on in five." The door cracked open, and Leila's assistant warned her of her time. Leila let out a deep breath as she nodded her head.

"Show time, Leila. Don't fuck this up," Priest taunted her as he held the door open for her to exit.

She cut her eyes at him before wading out the door.

The stampede of useless campaign workers followed behind her.

Priest and Kaymen both lingered behind her entourage.

As they made their way toward the front steps of City Hall, J'Ru managed to catch up to them.

He shot Priest and Kaymen a curt nod, indicating that the deed was done.

One after the other, they exited the heavy doors of City Hall, gathering on the top steps where they had a podium set up for Leila to deliver her speech. Security barricaded a nice divide between the podium and the audience gathered at the bottom of the steps.