Across town in their new bachelor pad, Ricardo and Jay were entertaining a guest in their cramped two-bedroom apartment. Their guest Justice, Jay’s cousin, had become a regular at their place ever since Jay and Robin officially split, coming from out of town every other weekend to supposedly make sure his cousin was handling the separation well. He would listen intently to every word Jay said about his fail marriage and the situation he now found himself in. He even tried to offer some insight as to how Robin may be feeling, along with suggestions on how to get her back. He came to lend an empathetic ear and shoulder to lean on for someone who had been more like a brother than a cousin to him while growing up. Even though he didn’t approve of him having an outside child with this woman Sasha, he tried not to judge Jay for the mistakes he had made.
Justice was still an hour away at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on his third year of law school, so when he was there, most of his weekend visits were spent studying or composing papers. He did always make sure to save a few minutes to go over to talk to Robin alone, in hopes of helping her reconcile with Jay or at least that was the reason he gave for continually going to see his cousin’s wife every time he visited. He would usually arrive on a Friday evening and leave late Sunday night and sometimes he would stay longer depending on how his visit was going.
Justice was only eight when his idea of family and what it should be was changed forever. His father, Charles Harrison, had been killed during a convenience store robbery while waiting in line to purchase a pack of cigarettes. The teenage boy who had shot him was afraid that he would have been a good witness for the police, but in the end it was the store surveillance camera that was the prosecutor’s best eyewitness. Not too long after his father’s murder, his mother neatly packed his things and took him for what he thought was a visit to his Uncle Reece and Aunt Simone’s house. It turned out that grief over her husband’s death was causing his mother to feel as if she were losing her mind, so she left him with is relatives while she checked herself into a state mental hospital, where she later hanged herself.
His aunt and uncle had taken him in and raised him as their son, which made Jay seem more like his bother than his cousin. They were the same age, so they were in the same grade and went to the same schools, playing the same sports on the same team. They slept in the same room until they were twelve and even then they would take turns sleeping in each other’s room until they graduated high school. Jay’s parents tried their best to treat them equally making sure whatever they got for Jay they got for Justice also. His uncle felt that it was his duty to care for his brother’s son in the manner his brother would have himself had he not been murdered.
Visually the cousins looked just alike but their personalities were extremely different. People often mistook the two for brothers, often mistaking them for one another. Even though they looked alike their over all attitudes made it easy for people to tell them apart. Jay was very outgoing, sociable and craved being the center of attention, which had always made him just that. Justice was more reserved and somewhat shy which made him reluctant to talk to people he didn’t know especially women. The only friends Justice had he met through way of Jay including the few girls he’d ever slept with.
“So what’s the deal with you and Tia, Rico?” Justice asked while shoving his weekend bag in a small hall closet. He continued saying, “I saw her at the gas station on my way in and she’s big as a house. She looks like she’s about to pop any day now?”
“I don’t know anything about her or her baby.” Ricardo replied as if the child didn’t share half of his DNA.
“She said she’s having a boy.” Justice said as he made his way into the living room and had a seat in the loveseat across from Ricardo.
“What? You talked to her?” Jay asked before Ricardo had a chance to make his next statement.
“She didn’t say anything to me about having a boy. She told me she didn’t know what she was having.” Ricardo added intrigued by this new information he had been provided. He always wanted a son with Nikki, but hadn’t gotten the chance to conceive one but now to know that Tia was possibly carrying the son he always wanted made the whole situation more attractive.
“Didn’t I just say that I saw her at the gas station?” Justice smartly replied to Jay's comment.
“Ha, ha, ha.” Jay replied a little annoyed with his cousin’s tone. He continued, “You just said you saw her. You didn’t say anything about talking to her.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forget what you talking about. I’m trying to find out about this son situation.” Ricardo interrupted ready for more information.
“She just told me that she was having a boy and he was due any day now. She also told me that she lost her shop.” Justice said, not wanting to tell Ricardo exactly what Tia had said about her not wanting him to have anything to do with her baby. She had also gone into an anger fuel rant about how Nikki had stolen away her best stylist causing her to lose her shop and how Ricardo had basically abandoned her throughout her entire pregnancy. She had even started crying right there at the gas pump causing Justice to feel compelled to stand there and console her. Justice didn’t care much for Ricardo and couldn’t for the life of him, see what his cousin saw in him. Over the past five years, if there were a problem in Jay’s life Ricardo was somehow involved. Most times Justice would rather had punched Ricardo in the face than to speak to him but he had always tried to remain cordial for his cousin’s sake.
Apparently he had given Ricardo some good news because he grabbed the cordless phone from the coffee table and went into in his room closing the door behind him. Justice breathed a sigh of relief relieved that he wouldn’t have to go into any more detail about the conversation he had with Tia. He was more interested in hearing the updates on his cousin’s relationship status. “How are things coming along with you and Robin?” he asked propping his feet on the coffee table.
“Man,” Jay sighed, “I’m just about ready to give up on Robin. She’s just acting childish. She doesn’t want to let me see Jordan. Mama said she’ll only let her see her if she comes over to the house. I told her, that she needs to stop acting stupid and let my family see Jordan. I mean she is my daughter too. She had the nerve to say ‘Why don’t you go see your other baby. Her name is Jordan too. You know since they look just alike. It shouldn’t be too hard for to just pretend that it’s Justine. Then she had the nerve to tell me not to call my own daughter by the name Jordan. Talking about, ‘her name is Justine not Jordan. I don’t want you to get her confused with the other Jordan.”
“Really! I can’t imagine Robin saying something like that.” Justice said pretending to be surprised. The truth was that he’d already talked to Robin and she had already told him about her conversations with Jay. He continued, “Especially to you. She always went along with everything you said.” He paused for a second then said, “You two will be back together in no time.”
Jay seemed somewhat defeated when he said, “I don’t know about that. This guy from work told me he saw her out on a date with some dude. When I asked her about it she was like ‘It’s none of your business who I go out with. Stop trying to check up on me. Go check up on your baby’s mama.’ Man, I’m so tired of her throwing that shit up in my face that I don’t know what to do.”
Secretly Justice was on Robin’s side and he found Jay’s take on her treatment of him quite comical. He did want to know with whom she had gone a date though. He suppressed his urge to smile asking, “Well, what about Sasha? Are you two still sleeping together or are you really committed to getting Robin back?”
“Well, yeah Sasha and I are still seeing each other on a physical level but nothing more than that.” Jay responded. Upon seeing the look of disdain on Justice’s face she continued, “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve got to understand that Sasha and I have an indescribable sexual attraction for one another. You can’t just turn that kind of stuff off.”
“Really.” Justice replied rolling his eyes as he had heard this same excuse from Jay many times before, “and how do you think your wife is going to feel about that?” Jay just shrugged as if that were not even an issue he had considered. Justice continued, “You’ve got to know that Sasha is telling Robin every single time you two have sex which is probably why Robin is always pissed when she talks to you. Maybe you should just give this thing up with Robin and see where things go with Sasha. She seems to be willing to have a relationship with you. I can try to talk to Robin about letting you and Aunt Simone see Justine. She probably just needs some time without you pressuring her to get back together and then she’ll come around.”
“Please, I don’t want to have any kind of relationship with Sasha. At least, I don’t want any real kind of relationship with her.” Jay replied staring off into space, “I don’t know maybe I do need to try to make it work with Sasha instead of wasting time with Robin.”
“I love it that you get to decide which woman you want. I can’t even get a date and here you are with two women who both want to be with you whether they admit it or not and two beautiful daughters.”
“Trust me it ain’t as good as it sounds.” Jay said, “Two women who want to kill me. One of them doesn’t even want me and the other one I don’t want…I think. I have two babies one I want to see but can’t and the other one’s whose mom I have to promise stuff that I don’t plan to do every time I want to see her.”
Justice paused for a second thinking over his cousin’s predicament before saying, “On second thought, I take that back.”
Later that night long after Jay had falling asleep on the couch from drinking too many beers, Justice found himself tapping on the front door of his cousin’s old residence. The place Jay’s estranged wife was currently calling home. The nagging sound of his morality was being silenced by his desire to see this woman whom served as the root of all of Jay’s misery. At this point in time, his cousin’s feelings were the farthest thing from his mind, as he stood on the front stoop anticipating the mere sight of his cousin’s wife. He could hear her footsteps approaching the door, which caused a twinge in his belly. His heartbeat quickened and he could feel himself breathing heavily as he wringed his hands together before wiping the sweat from them on the side of his jeans.
The night air was crisp and cold, but the thought of seeing Robin was enough to cause his temperature to rise so when she opened the door wearing a nightgown that covered next to nothing, the coldness of the surrounding atmosphere disappeared completely. She welcomed him in with passionate kiss before leaping into his arms, stealthily wrapping her legs around his waist. He wanted her so badly that he couldn’t carry her inside fast enough to suit his desires. Once inside he pushed the door closed with his foot without breaking the rhythm of their sensuous kiss. Time seemed to stop as he stood in her foyer with her arms flung around neck, her thoroughbred legs wrapped invitingly around him and her voluptuous rump resting securely in his hands. He had dreamt this scenario night after night for so long that it was hard to tell whether he was awake or caught up in his greatest fantasy.
It was Robin who pulled away from their embrace but only to say, “Baby, I missed you so much.” Her voice was soft, bated and delicately seductive, as if she were sending him some coded more provocative message. Her eyes seemed to search his soul for the words she desperately needed to hear and words he desperately wanted to say.
“Not as much as I missed you.” He replied coyly biting his bottom lip. Her eyes were filled with such longing that he couldn’t resist giving her lips the kiss that her body begged for. She moaned softly as he started to trail kisses slowly from her lips down her neck connecting each kiss with light traces of his tongue over her exposed skin. Her moans increased in intensity with each touch of his lips, so much so that Justice couldn’t resist nibbling on her neck, which caused her to tighten her grip around his neck and waist. Softly in his ear, she started moaning her pleasure at his touch in the form of his name. The scent of her was more than enough to send shivers throughout his body.
“Justice…Justice…Justice,” the sound of her arousing voice sang to him as he closed his eyes and reveled in the moment, but then the tone of her voice slowly began to deepen as she continued saying, “Justice…Justice…JUSTICE! JUSTICE, MAN WAKE YOUR ASS UP!” The sound of Jay’s raspy morning voice accompanied by violent shaking shocked Justice right out of his sexual wonderland. Justice was so disappointed to find out that he had been dreaming that he lie still for a couple of moments hoping that his dream had turn into a nightmare and that he would awake to find Robin lying beside him.
As Justice adjusted his eyes to the morning light shining through the half opened vertical blinds of the his cousin’s living room, he heard Jay say, “Man, you need to find yourself a woman and quick, so you can stop having all of these wet dreams. You are way to old to be having wet dreams. You were in here moaning all night.” Justice just smirked, pulled his blanket over his head and closed his eyes thinking that his cousin was right. He did need a woman unfortunately the only one he wanted was the one he couldn’t have.
Later that day, Justice sat waiting in the living room of what was once his cousin’s home. He was there to play his usual role of peacemaker between Robin and Jay, even though this time he wished he could just stay out of their mess. He didn’t feel like trying to convince a woman he cared for to reconcile with a man who really didn’t care for her, even if the man was like a brother to him. Jay had promised him that he had gotten all of his wild oats sewn before he had asked Robin to marry him. Jay had even stood up on one of the tables at his bachelor’s party professing his eternal love for Robin to all within earshot. He had seemed almost in tears as he talked about having found the woman meant just for him and how he was giving up his player’s card for a woman more precious than any stone on God’s green Earth. Justice had believed every promise of fidelity that his cousin had proclaimed; however, there he sat again, trying to find the perfect words to say with just the right tone to convince Robin to give her sham of a marriage another chance.
“Sorry we took so long, Just.” Robin said as she entered the room with a very bubbly Justine on her hip. Justice felt his heart melt as Robin handed the gorgeous little girl over to him. Justine became immediately elated upon seeing her honorary uncle and nearly leapt from her mother’s arms in an attempt to get to him.
To Justine, Justice was the definition of fun. He tickled her ribcage and played piggy with her toes. He would toss her up high over his head and catch her securely in his arms, before lowering her down across his knees to blow raspberries on her tummy. Yes, Justice was the most fun a little girl could have or at least Justine seemed to think so.
Robin just watched the two of them together quietly for a moment before feelings of regret and betrayal started to seep into the peaceful places of her mind. She took a seat next to Justice on the couch saying “We had an accident, so we had to change our outfit. Didn’t we?” She grabbed Justine’s bare foot and gave it a little shake before looking at Justice. He was as handsome as ever and he just exuded sex appeal without even trying, which made him that much more irresistible to her wandering eyes. Justine giggled as her mother tugged on her tiny foot before returning her attention to the best playmate ever.
“That’s okay,” Justice said before covering his mouth with Justine’s little hand. He then blew another raspberry on her tummy before continuing, “So, have you given any thought to giving your marriage another chance?”
“Why are you cussing at me like that? I thought we were friends.” Robin responded giving Justice a look of utter disgust, at him having asked her a question like that.
“Okay, I’ll take that as a no,” he replied while placing Justine on a mat in the middle of the floor. “Well, Jay really misses you and I think-“
“Before you even start, Just, I know he’s still bangin’ ole girl, so don’t even to there.” Robin interrupted in no mood to listen to Justice beg for forgiveness for someone else. Jay had always sent Justice in to clean up after the messes he had made. She could tell her last remark made him uncomfortable so she said, “ Besides, I rather hear about what’s going on with you. Are you dating anybody now or what?”
Justice wanted to answer her question but he had a more pressing one of his own. He shook his head, figuring that now was as good a time as any to ask her a question that had been heavy on his mind lately. He looked her straight in the eye and asked, “Is Justine my daughter?”
