More than a month and a half had passed since Justice had been shot and Jay still hadn’t bothered to call his parents to find out whether he was living or dead. He had packed up his things and moved to Atlanta with Sasha within weeks of her suggesting that they do so. He had even been promoted to head of his own division within SecurCorp. They had sold Sasha’s condo and were in the process of purchasing a new one but were able to live in company housing until the deal was complete. Grip practically owned his neck of the woods and even though his criminal record was as wide as his smile, he was well connected with legitimate businessmen and city officials, so the two of them being related was a win-win situation for Jay. Grip had introduced him to all of the right people and taken him to all of the right places. Atlanta was looking like to right choice after all. Things in his career and social life had never come this easy back home.
Jay made sure to make a conscious effort not to think about the people he’d left behind, but there were many days he found it hard not to think of anything else. He still couldn’t believe how Justice had betrayed him by sleeping with Robin, but it was something that he had long suspected. He knew that Justice had been head over heals for Robin when he, himself, started pursuing her. Maybe if he would have just played a role in getting those two together then the relationship he and Justice had would still be in tact. He was still in love with Robin, though, and even though the lies he’d told to get with her may have hurt his cousin; he would still have done the same thing if given a second opportunity. He had done a lot of despicable things while in his relationship with Robin but he never intended to lose her or for her to do something as degrading as sleeping with a member of his family. As far as he was concerned, there was no coming back from a betrayal as painful as this one, so their marriage was dead in the water. She and Justice even had a baby together to remind him of their betrayal. His parents had just added fuel to the fire, by not taking his side in the whole ordeal. They had gone rushing up to the hospital and expected him to follow suit by coming to fain concern for the man who’d bedded his wife. To him Justice was dead before the bullet hit him.
It was harder for Jay to just do away with his love for Justine. He had been there from the first second of her life and she had been the first to do everything between his two daughters. She was the first to call him “da-da”. She was the first to roll over. She was the first to crawl. The first to walk and she had taken her first steps right into his arms. She was the one who ran to him when she had a boo boo and she was the one who blew raspberries on his face to make him smile. She was the daddy’s girl he’d always wanted, but now she was someone else’s and it was that thought that kept him up late night wanting to call and talk to her but his hate for her mother made that impossible. Plus, who was he to call and demand to talk to a child that wasn’t even his. He still had Cree, but she was definitely her mother’s daughter and treated him like a stranger most of the time.
Sasha had really been playing her part since they had moved to Atlanta as she attended to his every whim, but he just didn’t feel anything for her. She was a good girl and would make someone a good wife, but it wouldn’t be him. He’d stay with her and put off marriage as long as he possibly could, in order to raise their daughter but he wasn’t giving his last name to any other woman. He still hadn’t signed the divorce papers he’d gotten from Robin a week earlier; something that Sasha had been bugging him about as of late. She was still wearing the ring that he had pick out but charged to her credit card, but he had no intentions of going through with a wedding even though she was still planning one. She was a good mother but he still saw her as his personal whore and that’s the only way he would ever see her.
Jay gathered his mail from the box, surprised to find a letter from Nikki, as well as, a letter from a company he’d almost forgotten about. He was anxious to know what the contents of each said but feeling like he already knew what was in the other so he opened Nikki’s first. He didn’t want to admit it but he was itching to know what was going on back home.
He tore open Nikki’s letter, which read:
Jason,
Hope you are living the happy life that you think that you’ve created for yourself in Atlanta, complete with a new instant family. I almost feel bad that I have to be the sledgehammer that tears down that glass house that you have placed yourself so neatly in. I love men, because they almost never consider the source of their pain. In your case, the source of your pain starts with the same shoulder you used to cry on. When I first started to suspect Ricardo of cheating on me, I hired a private detective. Imagine my surprise when she brought me back not only pictures of him in compromising positions with Tia but with Sasha as well and just in case you don’t believe me, I’ve enclosed copies of the photos with her giving his “Lil Rico” special treatment. At first I couldn’t see why a woman who wanted a man to leave his wife for her would be sleeping with his best friend, but then it came to me…he was just a means to her end. She didn’t know your wife when she moved here but she knew Rico would and she knew just what to do to get the information she needed. After Rico gave her info on where Robin worked, shopped and what salon she frequented, she started going to those places hoping for a chance meeting. She even got the same hairdresser and changed her appointment every week until she just happened to run into Robin. She is a cunning little fox, isn’t she? Alas, she has claimed the prize of another woman’s dumb ass husband, but you’re better off right? Justine isn’t your baby, right? hmmm. Let’s put it this way. She’s not Justice’s baby! And by the way, he is doing fine since you haven’t had the decency to pick up the phone to call and ask. Something I hear that your parents will never forgive you for. You don’t turn your back on family. But it’s okay, I’ll be here to love him and help him heal his wounds. I bet you kind of wish that Ricardo hadn’t told you that Justice and Robin spent one measly night together in college. Especially, since he only told you because he was mad at Justice. Some best friend, sleep with your girlfriend, tried to sleep with your wife(but you probably didn’t know that) and withheld valuable information from you until it was of some value to him. Oh, and one more blow to your ego; Robin is pregnant with your second child but don't she has this gorgeous new doctor friend who’s apparently been in love with her for awhile and is more than willing to help her through this stressful time. I would invite you to Velle and Monique’s wedding but we want it to be a festive occasion and you there would just make it awkward. Yes, Jason you have burnt your bridges here to the ground like Grant did Atlanta; the only problem now is that you don't have a way to get back. Well, I’ve got to go and you’ve got a lot a groveling to do.
Happy to be the barer of bad news.
Nicollette Williams
P.S. I talked to Grip…you might want to take your other little girl and her mother on Maury. Don’t be surprised if they say “you are NOT the father”.
Nikki’s truth laced venom was slowly killing Jay. He didn’t want to believe any of what was in the letter but he knew Nikki too well for everything she said to have been a lie. His hands began to tremble as he reached inside and pulled out a stack of pictures. He shuffled through them almost unable to believe his eyes. Just like she said, there were Sasha and Ricardo. He didn’t want to think about that at that moment. The other letter would either confirm or deny the important points of Nikki’s letter. He tore through the manilla envelope almost tearing the letters inside. He scanned through the contents of the first letter to read:
In the case of Cree Jordan Harrison our lab test show our findings to be 99.99% positive that you are not the father of this child.
It was the contents of the second letter that would bring this grown man to his knees, crying on a quiet street of a gated community. In his heart of hearts he knew what the letter would say before he even saw them. Everything he wanted to be true wasn’t and everything he wanted not to be true was, so why would this be any different. He could feel that he was about to be left with nothing. No friends, no family and worst of all no children. He was about to lose every thing he loved because of the words on this paper regardless of what they said. Robin wouldn’t take him back. Justice would never forgive him and his father had said that if he didn’t come to the hospital to be with the family then to consider himself out of the family and he hadn’t gone. He had given up his job, sold his house and ended his marriage to be with a woman who would apparently be with anybody who had what she needed at the time. To top it off, the one person he had confided in had actually been pushing the knife slowly into his back the entire time. Nikki was right. He had burnt every bridge he could have ever crossed to get back home and now he was left alone standing on a stepping stone to a life of lies. He propped himself up against the mailbox as he read the contents of the last letter before yelling out in agony and tossing all of his mail into the street. The second letter read:
In the case of Justine Jordan Harrison our lab test show our findings to be 99.99% positive that you are the father of this child.
THE END
