"I thought the love triangle was bad enough but her sleeping with multiple people didn't sit right with me. And it made me start questioning if she was sleeping with other people when we got back together," James sternly spoke.
"If she had AIDS, I don't think she would be comfortable having sex with people other than you since you knew the safe way to do it," Huey said.
"Bullshit, there's no telling what she was doing," James denied.
"If you were done with Jazmine by this time, how did you get the twin's DNA?" Huey asked.
"Freeman, when newborns are born, they are immediately taken in for testing to see if they have any medical issues. I know people who can get stuff done for me within just a snap of a finger. You have no idea how much power I have in the medical world," James explained.
"I'm guessing a lot," Huey said unphased.
"Anderson, how did you confront Jazmine?" Huey asked.
During the afternoon, Jazmine took time off from work to visit me. Since she was close to giving birth her boss was okay with her taking off. I told Jazmine to take off a while back so she could be ready but she wanted to do it as close as possible.
I figured if she was going to move to a different state with me she shouldn't be bothered with taking off. I honestly would rather her be in the hospital when she expects it's about to come rather than be around her coworkers who are not trained for the situation.
I would have been excited if Archy had not told me about Jazmine's sexual history. Although I knew she was selling herself, based on what she had told me, it did not seem as if she was doing anything.
The fact that we weren't together at the time didn't bother me, but afterward, when we were together, I found it bothersome. In other words, if she was messing around with these men behind Huey's back then, she was also doing the same to me. Apparently, according to Archy, Jazmine began to mess around with him while we were doing it.
Jazmine sleeping with Huey was not an issue for me at the time. The reason for this is that she told me upfront that she was still sleeping with him before we signed this agreement. Although I didn't like her sleeping with him, I understood because he was her boyfriend and she would, of course, do it with him. Due to the fact that I didn't think our relationship was that serious, I wasn't too concerned about it.
But this right here rubbed me the wrong way. I was pissed because it felt as if I was being lied to by her, again, and I didn't like that. It made me question if she really loved me or if was she just trying to use me again.
I was going to confront Jazmine about the situation because I couldn't hold this type of information in and continue to hurt myself. Plus we were planning to move to another state to start a new life together but that was soon going to be changing.
Right on time I heard a knock at my door. I already knew it was Jazmine and at that moment I push down everything I was feeling at the moment.
I went to go answer the door to be met with Jazmine who greeted me with a warm smile as she always did.
"Hey Jamie!" she said excitedly while reaching to give me a kiss on the lips. I thought it was cute when she called me Jamie. I wanted to kiss her back but something restricted me from it.
"Hey Jazz," I tiredly spoke.
"You okay?" she asked walking in as I shut the door behind her.
"Yeah," I lied.
"If so then why do you sound so down?" she asked not believing me.
"I don't know Jazmine I'm just tired! I didn't get enough sleep last night," I said partially telling the truth.
"Is something bothering you?" she asked as I sighed.
"A little," I lied.
"Is it the babies?" she tried to guess.
"I'm more excited than stressed about that," I said.
"Then what's bothering you?" she exclaimed.
"If you want to know the truth it's you!" I said giving her a little attitude.
"Me!" she said shocked.
"Yes, you have been stressing me out Jazmine," I said glaring at her.
"How have I been stressing you out?" she asked as I started to slightly laugh at it. I rubbed one of my hands through my hair out of nervousness. As much as it pained me to confront Jazmine, I had to, I couldn't hold this in any longer. I was going to be losing sleep over this and I couldn't do that to myself, not again.
"Do you remember the day we went to the store to go pick up your pills and we met a friend of you and Huey's?" I asked.
"No, I don't recall," she said trying to avoid the question.
"Jazmine...I'm being serious, I know you know who I'm talking about," I sternly spoke.
"Are you talking about Archy?" she sighed.
"Yes, whoever that guy was with the tattoos a couple of weeks ago," I said.
"Archy," she said looking down in disappointment.
"Yeah him...he informed me about some disturbing stuff regarding you, and I'm gonna give you a chance to explain yourself before I have to lash out," I calmly spoke.
"What kind of disturbing stuff?" she asked offended.
"Stuff that got you in jail and could have possibly risked your health," I said as she looked at me funny.
"Okay, but what did Archy say to you?" she asked wanting me to be specific.
"He told me that the two of you had sex behind Huey's back and that you also had multiple partners along the way," I said as she looked taken back.
"And you actually believed him?" she said a little upset.
"Well no offense Jazmine, I love you, but for one you have shown signs of lying, two you got arrested for prostitution, three Archy followed me from the store to across town at the bar to tell me what you did, and four you're trying to gaslight the whole conversation," I pointed out.
"James this is not easy to talk about right now," she said trying to catch her cool.
"What's not easy to talk about, the fact that he's right about almost everything he told me or the fact THAT YOU FUCKING SLEPT WITH OTHER MEN BEHIND MY BACK!" I snapped.
"James," she said getting scared.
"I asked only one thing, just one thing and that was, to be honest, but you failed to do that," I said laughing about it and she started to back away from me and go behind the counter.
"James," she said shaking a little.
"DON'T JAMES ME!" I said getting heated. "YOU FUCKING LIED TO ME ABOUT WHO THE FUCK YOU WERE SLEEPING WITH. I'M OVER HERE FEELING BAD ABOUT GIVING YOU THIS DISEASE WHEN YOU COULD HAVE ALREADY HAD IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I exclaimed.
"I told you about Huey," she exclaimed.
"Yeah, you told me about Huey," I emphasized, "Not Archy, or whoever else you let between your legs. I couldn't stand Huey but damn at least I knew he was one of the dudes you were fucking."
"Okay, at this point why are you making a big deal about something that happened almost a year ago? I will admit, I did sleep with a couple of people on the side, but it wasn't intentional, it just happened! I can't go back in time and change these things," she exclaimed as I started to laugh a little at this. She was pathetic!
"You don't get it," I said rubbing my fingers through my head out of stress. "Jazmine, you do realize I was planning to move to a whole different state with you and start a new life, right? That means I wanted us to be in an actual relationship and be faithful to one another and... bring out the best in each other...hell, I was even looking toward marriage along the way," I said feeling my voice crack a little.
"And we can still have that," she tried to assure me as I shook my head.
"No, no we can't!" I said feeling myself about to break down.
"James, I'm not the same person I use to be, I've changed. I struggled with my addiction at first but I've grown from it. I'm ready to take the next step in our relationship," she said as I looked at her funny. Addiction, what does she mean by that?
"No, Jazmine you're not ready," I denied.
"What makes you so sure? I understand I did some bad things James but I'm not the same person. Why does it matter at this point? I can see you getting upset with me last year about this, but we split apart and got to work on ourselves and I feel we've become better people, don't let Archy ruin this for us," she said tearing up.
"Jazmine, HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO IGNORE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, YOU EXPECT ME TO FORGET WHAT HE SAID ABOUT YOU AND THE DAMAGE YOU CAUSED ON HUEY AND ME?!" I exclaimed.
"I don't expect you to forget what he said, but I do want you to move on and grow from this," she said trying to be positive.
"Jazmine, Archy told me that Huey went through a mental breakdown when you left, that's why he's not going to tell him where you are. Two you not only hurt him you also hurt me," I said as she glared at me.
"I understand your feelings but have you forgotten you gave me a deadly disease, why are you sitting here playing the victim?" she angrily asked.
"Oh please I'm pretty sure you had it before I even gave it to you," I said in denial.
"You know what James, FUCK YOU, I should have known this was a mistake. Because if all you're going to do is dwell on the past and slut shame me, I don't think we should continue this relationship and move to Missouri," she cursed.
"What are you trying to say?" I asked with my hands out. She started making her way towards the door and she looked back, "I'm saying it's over, James. One thing I'm not fin to tolerate is going back and forth with you about things from the past. I love you but peace of mind is all I have and that's not going to be ruined by you again," she said about to leave.
"You know what, you're right, peace of mind is everything! I can't deal with you and your sex-addictive life," I slurred. "Before I move to Missouri, I'm going to wait till you give birth to the twins and I'm going to demand a DNA test and if one or both of them happen to mine, I'm taking full custody," I said shocking her.
"You wouldn't," she sternly spoke.
"Oh, I would, one thing I don't want my kid around is a mother who is about to die from a disease, two homosexual women, and a pornstar," I said as she glared at me. All of a sudden that glare went away when I heard water splatter on the floor.
Jazmine and I both looked down at the same time to see her water had broke.
"Oh my God...the babies are coming," she said scared.
I automatically put whatever we had between us behind and started to rush Jazmine to my car so I could drive her to the hospital. I was mad at her but I wasn't that mad to the point I didn't care about her.
"How did Tyrone get into the picture if you were with Jazmine when her water broke?" Huey asked.
"As a cover-up, I called the elementary school both Jazmine and Tyrone worked at and had whoever answered the phone informed Tyrone about Jazmine's water breaking," James answered.
"So that means you were with her the whole time," Huey said.
"Yes, but that was until Ebony and Nicole showed up," James sighed.
It was a miracle that I was able to get Jazmine to the hospital in time. It was all at once frightening, exciting, and upsetting for me. We were in one of the rooms awaiting Tyrone to get here before Ebony and Nicole showed up and started suspecting something.
I didn't want Jazmine to get caught in a lie so I made sure to cover it up as much as possible. Jazmine was laying in the bed with a nursing gown on, upset, with her arms crossed as she stared off into space. We sat in awkward silence for I don't know how long until she looked over at me in disappointment.
"So," she said with an odd tone.
"What is it?" I asked knowing we were fin to get into another argument.
"How did you find me?" she randomly asked.
"What do you mean how did I find you?" I asked getting confused as to what she was talking about.
"What I mean is, how did you know I was here from the beginning?" she said being specific.
"By that you mean?" I asked still playing dumb.
"Cut the act James...how did you know I was here in West Virginia in the first place if you couldn't track me down?" she asked once again.
Um, come on think of something fast and quick. I can't tell her that Tyrone was the reason I knew where she was. "It was because of your bank statements," I said as she cocked her eyebrow at me.
"My bank statements," she repeated as I nodded.
"You know you could pull those from the bank right?" I rhetorically asked.
"Yeah, if I spent anything from the bank, which I didn't," she said with her tone changing.
"I'm gonna ask you again James, how did you know I was in West Virginia? I know you couldn't pull anything on me because I never spent anything that was in my name and you're not allowed to go into any of my files without my permission, and I'm sure the nurses and doctors at the hospital I went to wasn't stupid enough to give you my information," she exclaimed.
"Jazmine," I softly spoke.
"Don't Jazmine me...you just got upset with me because I've supposedly been secretive lately about things that happened in the past and you find me untrustworthy of your love. I'm feeling guilty on the way here when I had to ask myself, how did you know I was here in the first place? You could have gone about your life without me in it and lived it stress-free and went to find yourself a new woman. But no, you decided you wanted to find me and bring me back into your life again," she emphasized. She was getting herself all worked up and that was not good for the babies.
"Jazmine you need to calm down, you're stressing yourself out," I calmly spoke.
"NO, don't tell me to fucking calm down, telling me I'm stressing myself out, YOU'RE the one who's stressing me out. You had me paranoid for months! I'm thinking you were watching me the whole time and I kept telling myself it was in my head when it was actually happening. Someone had to have told you where I was because I know you couldn't get ahold of my personal information when I left everything in Washington," she cried out.
"Jazmine I didn't-" I was about to say until she cut me off, "Who told you, James?"
"Who the FUCK told you I was in fucking goddamn West Virginia?" she sternly asked once again as she started to get tearful.
Right on time, Tyrone walked into the room out of breath.
"Did I make it in time?" he asked being met with both me and an angry Jazmine.
Tyrone looked at me all confused and asked, "James, what are you doing here?"
Son of a bitch!
Jazmine looked over in shock and she looked as if she started to connect things together right on the spot.
"How the fuck do you know who he is?" Jazmine immediately asked Tyrone.
"What?" Tyrone said being caught off guard.
"How the FUCK do you know who James is?" Jazmine asked once again as Tyrone went completely silent.
Oh shit!
"Oh my God...it's all starting to make sense now, you knew where I was because of Tyrone!" she said putting the pieces together.
"Jazmine I can explain, but you need to calm down!" Tyrone said making Jazmine even more upset.
"Don't tell me to fucking calm down, what game are the two of you playing?" she asked upset.
"You know what, I'm tired of sugar-coding everything for you, since you want to know the truth I'll give you the truth. YES, I found you because of Tyrone, he came to the hospital one day to talk to me about my HIV pills because he supposedly has AIDS due to being a PORNSTAR. And you and everybody know me, I'm not cheap, my pills cost way too much money for anyone to afford. He was wasting my time until he noticed one of the fliers Huey posted of you when you left. Tyrone told me he worked with you and I found a way on how I was going to keep track of you. Tyrone wanted pills and I wanted information about you, I felt that was an equal trade," I exclaimed.
"So for the next couple of months, he starts watching you and reporting back to me weekly to tell me how you're doing with you and your pregnancy. And as promised I gave him the pills," I said almost making her start crying.
"You mean to tell me everything that happened between us was a lie?" Jazmine said looking at a guilty Tyrone.
"Jazmine-" Tyrone tried to say until Jazmine looked away from him in shame.
"Jazmine it's not what you think, I'll admit I was being careless at the beginning about what I was doing but it got to the point I started to care about you and the babies. I would never do anything to hurt you! I stopped telling James what was happening with you and he got all riled up about that and I suggested he just talk to you like a man instead of being a coward," Tyrone explained.
"Why would you do it in the first place? You could have been putting me and my kids in a dangerous situation. Did you even ask him what his motives were or even get to know him first before doing any of this?" Jazmine asked as Tyrone held his head down.
"You see I knew there was something fishy about you. You were too good to be true! I don't know why I even trusted you. I told you he was the reason I left Washington and you brought him back into my life and he has ruined it once again," she cried.
"But Jazmine I didn't know-" he said before Jazmine cut him off, "Exactly, you didn't know that he was like this, what kind of person he is when he snaps, and what he does to people, Tyrone. I'm disappointed in you!"
"Oh, don't act as if you're innocent in all of this and put the blame on him. Tyrone, she's a slut," I said as both Tyrone and Jazmine looked at me funny.
"Excuse me?" he questioned.
"She's a slut, and I'll tell you why she's a slut, she's been cheating on you, lying, going behind your back to see me, and she has also been using you as an excuse so Nicole and Ebony would let her leave. If I were you I wouldn't feel any type of way for her because she's been doing stuff from the very beginning. The whole reason she left Washington was because of Huey, her ex, and a little of me too, but that was because I told her to tell him about us and she refused to. She decided to be a coward and run away," I said slut shaming Jazmine.
"James you don't need to be calling her out her name," Tyrone warned.
"Why not, it's the truth and she knows it's the truth. That's why she's not saying anything," I said looking over at Jazmine who didn't peep not a word.
"Yeah but that's the possible mother of your kids, you don't need to be calling her anything disrespectful," Tyrone sternly spoke.
"Possible mother of my kids," I said laughing. "If those are my kids she has already sinned them of adultery. I don't know anything that this bitch has done behind my back while we were together, but regardless if you had AIDS or not you still would be going to Hell," I said walking towards her.
"You and I both know you're not a good person, you're just like Sarah and you fucking know it. Like mother like daughter! You can't control yourself and people like you and Tyrone are going to burn in Hell for selling yourselves to the Devil and not having a sense of dignity. You have less than a 2-year lifespan and you're already on your way to the lake of fire," I lastly spoke before I felt someone turn me around and bunch the shit out of me.
I started to hold my nose because that area hurt the most. When I looked up and saw who had done it it was Tyrone who had a bloody hand. I pulled my hands away from my nose to see it was always bloody.
Did he hit me that hard?
Having all of this blood coming from my nose was bothering me and I needed to go clean up. I looked at Jazmine for the last time to see she was crying and Tyrone to see he was pissed off. I knew I wasn't welcome here so I decided to leave before Ebony and Nicole got here.
"That explains the bloody knuckles," Huey mumbled.
"What?" James asked not catching on to what Huey mumbled.
"It's nothing important," Huey said. James decided to brush it off and not look into what Huey had said.
"Anyways, how did you get the results?" Huey asked.
"My friend William gave it to me. I was able to get both of the twin's blood samples when they did their heel prick exam after they were cleaned up," James explained.
"Heel prick, don't you have to request those?" Huey pointed out.
"Yes, you do, but it had already been requested due to Jazmine's disease. They had to check the twins just in case they carried the disease. Thankfully they were both healthy! But I still needed to take the samples to William so he could get me a DNA test. I could have done it at the hospital but then I would need Jazmine's approval. And I knew good and well she did not want me to get a DNA test on the twins due to the fact of me trying to get custody if one of them happened to be mine," James explained.
"You did all of this while still trying to take her to court without evidence prior to it?" Huey rhetorically pointed out.
"Yes!" James answered as if it was the obvious.
"I'm not for you taking her to court but if you were going to do it, why didn't you just gather all of your evidence and then take her to court? You would have been wasting everybody's time if Nicholas wasn't yours," Huey stated.
"I know that Freeman, but you have to understand I was making very impulsive decisions," James pointed out.
Soon after I was able to get blood samples from each of the twins, I provided William with the samples so the lab could verify the twins' paternity. I'm aware that I was a touch overconfident in this regard, but I had hoped that at least one of them would be mine.
They just had to be mine! They can't just be Huey's, Jazmine was having sex with both of us at the same time.
I waited a couple of days for the results to come in. William told me to come to the hospital during his break and meet him in the front. Since he had access to rooms, he wanted to talk to me privately.
I thought we could have met at the park or a coffee shop to discuss this but he wanted me to come to the hospital.
That made me a little nervous.
When I did come, William brought me to his office where he had me wait for the results. He had to go get the file from the lab since they just got it in. The longer he took to go get the file the more nervous I got.
William had a clock in the office and I couldn't help but stare at it. Time kept ticking by second and it was just taking too long for me. It had already been ten minutes and it just felt as if it was hours before he came back with the file.
"Finally!" I sighed.
William walked towards his desk opening the file as I awaited the results.
"James, before I read you the results, are you prepared to hear this?" he asked a bit doubtful.
"Yes, William, I'm prepared to hear the results. I can't keep losing sleep over this. Its been on my mind for months and I just need to know," I said as he sighed.
"Okay, there's nothing wrong with knowing the truth but do you want them to be yours or you don't? You've been giving mixed signals a lot lately, one minute you want the twins to be yours, and the next minute you don't. And with you and Jazmine breaking up I can't tell if you want the twins to be yours," William said confused.
"Look the whole situation itself is complicated, I don't even know what I want at this point," I truthfully spoke.
William sighed before saying, "In my opinion, as your friend, I don't think it would be good if one or both of the twins become yours."
I looked at William in shock after what he said because I didn't expect it to come from him. It made me upset because out of all of the people who were doubting me I thought he be the one to be on my side.
"How could you fucking say something like that?" I said snapping at him.
"Hear me out...I'm telling you as your best friend, your brother, and someone who deeply cares about you why I don't want them to be yours," William started.
"James, over the past decade or two, I have seen you put yourself through hell with stuff like this. I know you want to be loved by someone but in every case and scenario, it never ends well for you. Look at Jane, you guys had been wanting to have kids but since she never got any she went and cheated on you with multiple men behind your back and then she caught AIDS from it. When you really think about it, did you want to still settle down with her and have kids or be relieved that you got out of a bad marriage," William reminded.
"The same thing is happening with Jazmine. I know deep down you love her and she loves you but every time something happens between the two of you, one of you always gets mad and it ends terribly. It all seems as if the two of you just bring the worst out of each other and at this point, in your relationship, the two of you aren't good together. She's done some things and you've done some things," William said as I looked at him funny.
"What have I done that's so bad?" I asked offended.
"James, you had sex with her and her mother, you paid her to have sex with you, then you got upset and threaten to tell her fiance that you guys were together to break off the marriage, she left Washington because of you, then you stalked her throughout her pregnancy and got ahold of private information, you were being negative about the pregnancy at times, its almost as if you wished death upon her, you fucked her while she was caring a disease, you always try to rush her into being in a committed relationship with you, and you guys broke up because she was sleeping with other people while the two of you weren't in a committed relationship," William explained.
"William I'm not a bad person," I mumbled.
"Yeah, I will admit you're good at heart but every time something doesn't go your way with her you always try to manipulate the situation. Out of all the women you dated and fucked you never had a relationship this complicated. What's so special about Jazmine at this point? She has AIDS and probably birthed another man's kids," William asked.
"I don't know William it's hard to explain," I exclaimed. "I truly never felt this way about anybody. It started off as meaningless sex but she turned it into something more, and I wanted more from her. We talked about a future together, and what we wanted to do in life, and she just got me and I got her. The problem was she was too worried about everybody else's opinions and she wasn't trying to do what made her happy. I just wanted to take her away from all of that and have her start all over again with me. But there was Huey, her ex-fiance, who she was trying to start a life with. I got mad about that because I didn't think he deserved her, and the day she broke it off with me was the same day I injected her with the disease. She made me so mad that I started to get deja vu all over again. It felt as if I was dealing with Sarah again and I just wanted her to get a taste of her own medicine. Jazmine got upset with me and she wanted me to take it away but I told her I'll take it away if she go tell Huey what happened or she leaves him and start dating me," I confessed.
William had a shocked face after my confession and he looked as if he didn't know what to say. It took him over a minute to respond.
"James, please don't tell me you intentionally gave Jazmine a deadly disease," he said pitching the bridge of his nose.
"William it wasn't supposed to last that long," I defended.
"Last that long," he laughed, "James, Jazmine has had this disease for months while caring for twins, do you know how much that's gonna mess up her system?!" William exclaimed.
"Yes, I'm well aware of this and I was planning to give her the cure after the twins were born because I didn't want to harm them," I defended.
"Planning too, James you need to do it ASAP before it's too late," William warned.
"Calm down Will, she's been taking her medication so her immune system should be good. Even the doctors confirmed she was okay," I assured him.
"James, you and I both know the doctors aren't always right. We, ourselves, are doctors and we had those times when we were wrong about our data. Every human being's body is different. Jazmine along with a few hundred people's bodies may respond differently to certain meds," William warned.
"What makes you so sure?" I asked.
"Because you don't know what the outcome could be, James. She could end up carrying this disease forever or in a worst-case scenario: dying from it! Our jobs as doctors, are supposed to prevent stuff like that from happening if we can. And you're not doing anything about it, it's as if you want to see her die," William scold.
"That is the last thing I want William!" I sternly spoke.
"If it's the last thing you want then why don't you do something about it? Instead of giving her bullshit ass medication you buy at the store give her the fucking cure," William scold.
"It's not as easy William," I sighed.
"What's not so easy about giving her the cure? You know it works, so why not just give it to her?" William exclaimed.
"Because I'll lose her! If I give it to her like this she's going to leave and never come back. It'll just show that she was using me the whole time to get the cure. Then she's gonna try to block me out of her life and pretend as if I don't exist. She did it to Huey and she was planning to do it with the babies, what makes you think she'll just stay with me after all I put her through?" I admitted. I knew I sounded crazy admitting something like that.
That was supposed to stay in my intrusive thoughts but it came out. A lot of stuff that I've been keeping in is all of a sudden spilling out.
"Well, what do you expect James? This girl is young and trying to survive, so if kissing your ass will get her the cure, what do you think she's going to do? I understand you love her and you want a life with her, but if you love something, you have to learn to set it free! Otherwise, it's just going to be considered an obsession," William preached.
Obsession...am I really obsessed with Jazmine?
Do I love her enough to set her free?
If I were to give her the cure would she leave me and never come back?
"If I were you, I would give her the cure and just get her out of my life. That way you'll never have to deal with her. On top of that if the twins aren't yours then it'll be easier to leave," William highly suggested.
"She's not even going to be taking care of them. Jazmine is giving them up for adoption for those two dried-up lesbians," I said a little upset by the idea.
"Even better, you don't even have to stay if you don't want to," William smiled.
"But William, if one of them turns out to be mines, I actually want full custody of them," I said causing William to lose excitement.
"James, why would you do that to yourself?" William asked disappointed.
"William, I've always wanted to have kids and I was never granted that due to having a low sperm count. This may be my one and only chance at fatherhood and for my bloodline to continue," I truthfully spoke.
"But you'll be prevented from that if Jazmine has anything to do with it," William warned.
"I already have plans for that!" I mumbled.
"Look, you're my best friend and brother, all I wish is the best for you. I don't want you killing yourself over this...Just promise me that once you find the results, can you please walk away from this?" he asked as I nodded.
William started to open the file up and he pulled out two sheets of paper.
"Do you know the difference?" I slowly asked.
"Apparently yes...Jazmine had one boy and a girl, so it'll be easier to tell them apart. I'll start with the girl first," he said looking at her sheet of paper.
I could hear him mumbling to himself as he read the paper. When he got done he had sighed in relief.
"She's not yours," he smiled.
"Oh," I said a little hurt. I guess I don't have a daughter.
"And the boy?" I asked.
"Well if you're not the father of the girl then you have a lower chance of being the father of the boy," William said relived.
It made me a little upset that William was wishing upon my downfall when he was the one who put all these thoughts into my head. He made me think that I could have a possible chance of fathering one of the twins.
"Will you say it yourself, there's always a possible chance that one of them could be mines," I reminded.
"Yes, but that's very rare James! That only happens to a few women. We're just going to get these results out of the way and we can go about our lives as if nothing happened," William spoke in denial.
He started to read the boy's DNA result and he seemed to be disturbed after the first couple of words. This made me wonder what the results were because his facial and body expression changed.
"So?" I asked as he still looked bothered.
"I don't believe it...he's yours!" William said shocking me.
I can't believe it either. I have a son, finally! I wanted to break down and cry in excitement but I didn't want to show him I was excited because then that will anger him.
"William didn't want you to be the father at all," Huey said.
"He filled my head with possibilities at first but in the end, he didn't want me to be the father nor take Jazmine to court for custody," James sighed.
"Maybe because he just wanted the best for you. If he had seen the signs that you were tearing yourself apart because of this then maybe it was best to just leave the babies with Ebony and Nicole," Huey suggested.
James sighed once again and leaned over in his seat.
"Freeman you don't understand! You didn't have to know at the time that Jazmine was carrying Huelene. If you did I'm pretty sure you would have been like me and wouldn't have given her up," James pointed out.
"You can pretend all day that you think what I did was wrong, but as a parent, I have rights as well. Nicholas was the only thing left I was going to have before Jazmine passed away, and I didn't want to give that up. If the twins were yours, I would have left it alone and did as William wished, but since one of them was mine I was going to go to war for it," James exclaimed.
Huey couldn't argue with James' perspective because he would have done the same thing. Not take Jazmine to court for it but he would have battled for some type of custody. He wouldn't want to be completely erased from his child's life as if it was nothing.
Huey understood a little why James did what he did. He was practically there the entire pregnancy and he supported and helped Jazmine. He made sure she was healthy along with the babies, making sure she was taking her medication, seeing the doctors on a regular basis, and getting involved in the shopping and designs of their room.
Jazmine couldn't necessarily say James was a worthless father. He proved himself to her through his actions. Which is why she wasn't worried when he took full custody of Nicholas. She knew deep down he would be a good father to him and wouldn't hurt him.
James might have been a sadistic asshole at times but deep down he had a heart and he would never show his intrusive side to a kid.
"You can't tell me you wouldn't do the same with Huelene," James said as Huey was at a loss for words.
"Okay...you got me right there. I would do the same thing for Huelene. I even told Ebony that because if she was the last thing I was going to have with Jazmine I would want to keep her. I feel ashamed that I missed out on most of her life. I'm not going to be able to make up those 30 years where she went through most of the stuff that brought her to her upbringing. I missed out on almost everything," Huey sadly spoke.
"Why are you feeling ashamed if it's Jazmine's fault? She's the one that didn't want you to raise Huelene. It's not like you chose to not be in her life she just forced you out," James reminded.
"I know, but she did it for a good reason. She knows I would have dropped everything just to be there for her and Huelene. I would have tried to take her home if I could," Huey admitted.
"How do you think your life would have turned out if you decided to keep Huelene?" James asked.
Huey started to think of possible outcomes. There are so many things that would and wouldn't happen if he did decide to keep Huelene. For starters, he would have been fighting with Tom and Sarah for custody, his family would try to help the best they could, he doesn't know if he would have been ready to date anybody as a single dad, and his time management would have been shifty due to having to feed and clothe a baby, go to school, and work at the same time.
"I'm not gonna lie, it would be hard because I don't think I would be the man I am today. I would have grown as a person but I just feel I would have been in a different position. Giving Huelene up would have hurt me. I wouldn't want my daughter to grow up thinking I didn't want her," Huey explained.
"I feel the same about Nicholas. I would have done joint parenting, but I wouldn't be able to if it had anything to do with Ebony and Nicole, so I made sure to take full custody," James explained.
In order to take Jazmine, Ebony, and Nicole down I had to get my facts straight. The only evidence I had of Jazmine was her going to jail and a record of her disease.
I hope this would be enough to take her down but unfortunately, I knew deep down I needed to dig up more dirt on her. I scheduled a meeting to discuss all of this with my lawyer, Adam Coleman.
He's been my lawyer for years! I had him on speed dial for everything. My divorce, my clients, coworkers, and people who were always coming against me or vice versa.
At the end of the day, he was always able to get the job done and win the case. I know you're wondering why I never asked Tom to be my lawyer, but there were a few reasons, I was fucking his wife behind his back, he was too nice and acted like bitch, he was black, and I didn't trust him.
I know it's racist of me not to want him because he's black but that's a strike against him that's not going to go away. The point of the case is to win not lose!
I liked Adam because he was ruthless in all of these cases. I don't know how he did it but he was able to dig up a lot of dirt on his opponents. It was information that you couldn't get so easily in a file. You had to dig deep in order to get what you wanted.
For a second, I didn't want to use him for the case against Jazmine but I had to. I had to win this case and get full custody of Nicholas.
I only had two files on Jazmine that I sent to Adam.
He asked if we could meet at his or my house. Since I wasn't doing anything and Jazmine wasn't going to be coming over anytime soon I decided to meet him at his house.
Adam lived back in Washington so I had to drive back over there. He also lived in the same area as me in Washington, so I was familiar with his route.
I arrived at his condo at around 8 pm to discuss my case. Jazmine, Ebony, and Nicole should have gotten the alert by now. That being said we had to get right on top of everything.
I was standing at Adams's door a little tired since I just drove five hours to get here. It took longer than expected. Instead of driving back, I'll just stay at my condo. I probably need to be in the area a little more so I can be close to Adam.
I knocked on his door to be immediately answered by Adam.
"James!" he smirked.
"Adam!" I said smirking back.
"Long time no see...come in," he said stepping aside for me to enter.
He still kept his place the same as always. Nothing much has changed about him. All except a few grey hairs he thinks no one can see.
"It's been a while Adam, what have you been up to?" I asked heading to the table.
"Same old, same old," he repeated. "Just case after case after case," he simplified.
"No romantic interest?" I questioned.
"Come on James you know I don't do any of that stuff. I rather settle for romance later on in life when I'm not doing this anymore," he said as I shook my head.
Adam was just like me in a way. He always kept his head on his work and didn't show must interest in any other stuff such as romance. I was the same way until last year when I fell in love, but we all know how that ended!
"Although I have something I need to tell you that is related to your case," he informed a little excitedly.
"And what would that be?" I asked, curious. He's never this excited about a case so this had to be good.
"You know how you sent me files about Jazmine?" he asked as I nodded.
"I had to imagine how it would go and I feel at the end of it she and the two moms will still have partial custody of Nicholas," he said as I felt my heart drop.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Because if you think about it, you're not really going against Jazmine, you're also going against the two lesbians, who Jazmine is giving custody. So instead of just attacking Jazmine we also need to attack the lesbians so they don't have any type of custody," Adam informed.
I can't believe I almost forgot about Ebony and Nicole. They're the ones that Jazmine is giving custody to.
"I don't have as much information on them. You could probably dig some dirt on Ebony but I don't know about Nicole," I said as Adam smirked.
"Don't worry, I and my apprentice will get the job done," he said as I was taken back.
"Apprentice?" I questioned.
"Oh, I forgot to fill you in, I took a student who is majoring in political science from Howard University under my wing," Adam informed.
"A student from Howard University?" I repeated.
"Yeah, he's the best in his class and very resourceful," Adam proudly said.
"If you don't mind me asking, where is he from?" I asked.
"Umm, I think he told me he was born and raised in Chicago most of his life. He seems like the type that is for his people which I give a lot of respect towards," Adam said which made my heart start to rapidly beat.
Please don't tell me who I think it is.
"And why did you take him under your wing?" I asked.
"Well I must say, he caught my eye, and he also came from an low-income family so I wanted him to meet some of my clients and earn a little money off of that so he could pay for his tuition," he said as it sounded familiar.
He has to be talking about Huey!
I'm pretty sure he's taking classes at Howard University.
"Can I meet him?" I asked.
"Yeah, just let me go get him from the room," Adam said excusing himself.
It has to be Huey!
Didn't he lose the house?
I know he's originally from Chicago.
He comes from a low-income family and he's also broke.
He's into politics!
And for his people, this has to be Huey he's talking about.
How am I going to face him?
It's going to be awkward if I have to tell him everything that happened between Jazmine and I—the twins, lesbian, the case, custody, and the cheating.
This was all going to be difficult to explain and I already felt an ass-whooping coming my way.
Adam came back into the room I assumed was Huey until he said, "James meet Cairo, my apprentice!"
Okay, why the fuck does he keep making it sound like some Star Wars shit?
Cairo stood the same height as me. His styled braids were making him a bit taller. It wasn't big but they also weren't small. I had to say it looked nice but he was eventually gonna have to cut them off as soon as he got into the workforce.
"Nice to meet you sir!" he spoke with respect. He had his hand out for me to shake which I shook.
"Nice to meet you Cairo!" I said putting a little interest in my tone.
"James, Cairo is lending me a helping hand with this case with his special talent," Adam said walking towards the table.
"Talent?" I questioned.
"Yes, talent," he repeated as I sat down at the table.
"What kind of talent?" I asked curious.
"The type of talent that is going to help you win your case. Cairo here knows how to hack into security files that are implanted around the city and he also can pull up files of certain individuals," Adam informed.
"There are cameras around the city that no one knows about," Cairo said.
"Isn't that a little creepy, looking into someone's privacy?" I asked a little bothered by it.
"It is but that's where the results are," Cairo assured.
"According to the files that Adam gave to me, I was able to look into Jazmine's sex history, but it's not going to be enough to get you full custody. Are there any other parties involved?" Cairo asked.
"There are the two lesbians she's trying to give custody to," I informed.
"Their names are Ebony and Nicole Brown. Those are the two women that Jazmine is trying to give custody to," I said.
"If that's the case then we need to target the two of them. They sadly already have one strike against them which is being gay," Cairo pointed out.
"Yeah and according to Jazmine they've been struggling on trying to adopt a child from the agency," I said.
"Well they're not exactly friendly with same-sex couples, but there has to be more to the story because they're not this harsh if they tried so many times," Cairo said.
"I honestly don't know, I just thought it was because they were lesbians," I said.
"Yeah, but there has to be more to why the agency doesn't want them to have a baby. Does one of them perhaps have a criminal history we could use against them?" Cairo asked.
"I don't know, that's why you're going to look into it," Adam smirked.
Isn't he supposed to be doing my case? Why is he leaving the kid in charge of my case?
I know he wants him to learn but this is not a practice moment.
"James just give us a few days to look into it and we'll have your information regarding the lesbians," Adam assured.
I don't know at this point if I trust them. Adam has always done good on all of my cases but again, I did not feel comfortable with my case being in the hands of a college student.
But if Adam had hope in him then I had to have hope. They both seemed to be sure of what they were talking about.
"You got Cairo to do your case," Huey questioned in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know it was a little silly getting a 19-year-old to look into my case," James said.
What James didn't know was that Huey knew who Cairo was. They both were born in Chicago and had the same dreams of going to Howard University and becoming lawyers later on in life. It made sense why James was a little worried it would be him and not Cairo.
But the thing is that Cairo never knew anything about his and Jazmine's relationship. Huey never mentioned Jazmine to anybody after he put her in the back of his head. She was still on his mind from time to time but he didn't want her fully being on his mind.
It sometimes hurt him too much to think about Jazmine. He was surprised he was able to talk about her to Huelene. The one thing he noticed was that he didn't tear up as much.
Huey knew that Huelene wanted to know all the good stuff that happened to him and Jazmine and he wanted to keep it that way. That was until Cairo told him what Jazmine was doing behind his back and the reason for her death.
Now that Huey thinks about it, he wondered if Cairo had already had the information stored. It didn't take him that long to look into Jazmine's file. The shocking part is that he only asked for her background check and the cause of her death.
Cairo gave Huey the extra information as if he already knew the truth about what happened. It's as if he knew James was guilty of injecting Jazmine. But he probably didn't say anything because it was none of his business.
Or he could have known but he was under oath not to say anything.
It also made Huey wonder if Cairo was for or against Jazmine. He told him the truth but it seemed as if he was leading him to the real problem without exposing it.
"But needless to say he got the job done. I'm not sure if you heard of him but he won almost all of his cases when he officially did become a lawyer," James said a little proud.
"What happened between you and Jazmine during all of this?" Huey asked. He already had an idea of what happened but he wanted to hear it from James part.
"To get straight to the point, she lost the case! Jazmine and her lawyer were so unprepared because they didn't have the evidence as we did. She tried to say I was the one who gave her AIDS but she was the only one with the disease which made her look stupid. Jazmine was the least of my worries during the case because she already had a bad profile it was Ebony and Nicole we needed to go for. Nicole didn't have any bad records other than a few health problems, but Ebony's record was bad. The jury did not favor Ebony at all because she was a criminal, a baby killer, and she had mental issues. That's how she and Nicole ended up together because she was her patient. But regardless if Ebony got better or not, they still didn't trust her to have custody of Nicholas if Jazmine was to pass away. Hell, they didn't even want her to have custody of Huelene," James explained catching Huey off guard.
"The fuck, how did that almost happen? I thought you were trying to get Nicholas," Huey cursed.
"That was my initial plan and I succeeded, but then they were also trying to see who would take Huelene after Jazmine passed away. Jazmine wanted Ebony and Nicole to have custody, but the court didn't make them her first option. They wanted to contact the father and grandparents of Huelene before they settled with Ebony and Nicole," James explained.
"And that's where you came in at!" James sternly spoke.
"Where I came in?" Huey said taken back.
"Yes, Freeman! This is exactly where you were supposed to come back into the picture. The court was sending you letters about Huelene to see if you wanted custody and you never responded," James informed.
"Anderson I never got any mail from the court about Huelene. I didn't even know I had a child until a couple of days ago," Huey said.
"You were supposed to know 30 years ago, so don't give me that bullshit ass excuse about not knowing because you were notified a lot before they gave custody to Ebony and Nicole," James cursed at Huey.
"Jazmine and I talked about it the day before they gave me Nicholas," James said.
On the night of a Friday, I was walking around to ensure that the house was safe for a baby. I was more concerned about the nursery as I wanted Nicholas to like it. Obviously, he won't notice, but I still want him to be comfortable when he sleeps.
Of course, this was going to be a temporary nursery since I had the one in Missouri being constructed. Ever since I won the case I had been preparing for Nicholas Nursery in Missouri. It was going to be better than the temporary one he had here. But since it was going to take a while for them to construct the nursery I had to get comfortable living in West Virginia for the time being.
I could go back to Washington, but what do I have there? I don't have as many friends or family in the area. I don't even have a job to go back to.
Everything about Washington disturbs me. There are too many memories I have there that I rather forget because they're painful to think about. My job, marriage, affairs, colleagues, and even Jazmine.
Moving to a different state will give me a new beginning. I don't have to have her in my life anymore. As soon as she gives me Nicholas we will never have to speak again.
That's what I want right?
Peace or Torture?
Having Jazmine out of my life will probably be good for me. She's the whole reason why I fell off. If I can get back on my feet again and become a man that everybody respects and loves then that'll help my case out. I just need to get rid of the problem!
I heard a knock at my door and started to make my way downstairs to the door. When I opened the door, I was met with Jazmine, which was no surprise. I was starting to wonder when she was going to come around again.
When I looked at her she looked as if she was drained! Her happy-go-get-it mood was gone and she looked to be depressed which didn't sit right with me. You could tell she had been crying and losing sleep due to the tiredness in her eyes.
"Jazmine," I said.
"James," she said back as she walked past me.
Rude, I didn't invite her in.
"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be spending your last moments with Nicholas before I get him permanently?" I rhetorically asked.
"I did and he's sleeping right now," she lowly spoke.
"What about Ebony and Nicole...do they know you're over here?" I asked as she sighed.
"No, they don't know I'm over here. I snuck out after they went to sleep," Jazmine said as I shut the door.
"Why are you here?" I asked pitching the bridge of my nose.
"I came to talk to you," she said.
"About what?" I asked wanting her to get to the point.
"About Huelene's custody," she said as I looked at her confused.
"Why are you coming to talk to me about a child that is not mine?" I asked a bit bothered.
I would assume she came over to come to look to see if my place was ensured. Knowing Jazmine she always checks to make sure everything is okay, but this time she didn't.
"Because due to your court case and you wanting full custody over Nicholas, they are now sending letters to Huey to see if he wants custody over Huelene," she exclaimed as my eyes widen.
"The hell, that wasn't the plan," I denied.
The goal was to get Nicholas and Nicholas only. I didn't want to bring Huey into any of this. I'm not even sure if I wanted him in the picture again. I know I didn't want anything to do with Jazmine, but Huey coming back into the picture disturbed me.
"Well, it sure lead to it. They're not going to give custody to Ebony and Nicole if Huey or my parents decides they want custody of Huelene," she said in worry.
Tom and Sarah were even worse options because they started to show bad parenting towards the end. I don't think Huelene should be raised by either Tom or Sarah because look at how Jazmine turned out. Huelene shouldn't have to go through all of that to lose respect in the end.
Huey, on the other hand, was not ready to take care of a baby. He is always working and he's not going to have time to take care of a child. Plus taking care of a baby is stressful and knowing him when he gets stressed he either starts to smoke or drink. And he doesn't need to be around the baby if he's going to smoke 24/7. That's bad for the baby's lungs.
"James, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want her going to either one of them. I don't even want our extended families to take custody. Huey doesn't have that many relatives that are sane and healthy, and I don't want her going to my side of the family," she said tearing up.
She was actually worried about this!
Jazmine seemed scared for Huelene's future when she found that Huey or her side of the family might have to take custody for Huelene. I could understand Huey's side of the family but her side? I don't think Tom and Sarah should raise Huelene but her family members from either her mom or dad side could raise her.
"Why not your side?" I asked as she looked at me funny.
"I don't want her to go to my side, James. They'll traumatize her like they did me and I don't want that for her. She's not finned to turn out like me. She's going to be better than both me and my mom. She's going to go to school, make friends, figure out who she is as a person...she's not going to get discriminated, she's going to be raised as a respectable woman...she'll find a job, someone who will love her, start a family...and I swear by the end of it she will not be traumatized by anybody!" she preached as she broke down crying.
I couldn't help but bring her in for a hug. She poured out tears and started sniffling and crying. Jazmine's grip tightened around me and I don't think she could let go, and neither could I.
Deep down I was worried about both Jazmine and Huelene's future. I didn't like that I took it away from her so suddenly. This was all over jealously and I couldn't keep letting the past hunt me.
Huey moved on with his life.
Jazmine moved on with her life.
I was planning to move on with mines.
It was probably about time to let Jazmine go. I loved Jazmine but I couldn't see her hurt like this. I didn't think battling for the custody of Nicholas would lead to Huelene's being in question. When I really looked at it all, Ebony and Nicole weren't bad parents. They're the main reason why Nicholas and Huelene are still alive.
I know Jazmine named Nicholas after Ebony and Nicole. She gave Nicholas the masculine version of Nicole's name and she put Ebony as his middle name. I thought about changing it but it would be disrespectful. I owed Ebony and Nicole a lot for what they have done.
Taking away Huelene would be too much. I think she should be with them rather than Huey and Jazmine's family. But I messed up the chances of them getting her. The only solution would be to give Jazmine the cure. As long as she stays alive Huelene will still be in her custody.
I knew what I had to do!
I pulled away from Jazmine who looked too stunned to speak. I left towards my room where I went to go grab the cure. I had it in a safe for protection just in case Jazmine or anybody went snooping around my room.
I put in the date I met Jazmine and it unlocked. Presented in the safe was a bag that had the cure. I grabbed it and went back to the kitchen where Jazmine was wiping away her tears.
I sat the bag on the counter and started to pull how shots and liquids I had to inject into her. When she started to take notice, she didn't say anything. Just waited for my instructions.
When I had everything set up, I instructed her to come over so I could wipe the alcohol on her arm. I got the shot ready with the appropriate amount that I needed to inject into her. I directed the needle towards the area I was about to inject her in.
"Are you ready?" I lowly asked as she slowly nodded her head.
I stuck it in her arm and slowly started to push all the medicine in. Once I was done I rubbed the area of her arm to move the medicine around before I put a bandaid on her.
For some odd reason when I got done, I felt as if there was a weight that lifted off of my shoulders. Guilt that just disappeared into a mist.
For the first time in almost a year, I felt at peace!
I started to clean up after myself as I spotted Jazmine from the corner of my eye in shock.
"Do not speak of this to anybody," I sternly spoke as she slowly nodded her head in acceptance.
Jazmine turned towards the door and started to make her way over there. With each step she took I felt a piece of me breaking. It felt as if the same thing was happening all over again but in a more peaceful manner than the last time.
Before Jazmine left she said: "James, I never got to tell you how much I appreciate everything you did for me and the twins even when you didn't have to. You're going to be a great father to Nicholas, and I wish you all the best in raising him."
I didn't say anything back. I felt if I did she would hear my voice crack.
When I felt she was far away, I started to cry because she was finally gone. She was free from me and she could do whatever she wanted with her life.
I had to follow through with what William had told me. 'If you love someone, set them free; if they come back to you, it was meant to be.'
James had his head held down while Huey looked at him in shock.
"You gave Jazmine the cure," Huey said stunned.
"I did," James said with a sad tone.
This didn't make any sense. If James gave Jazmine the cure that means she would have been healthy.
"And that was the last time you had seen Jazmine before she passed away the next year?" Huey asked as James started to look uneasy.
"Not exactly...I still had seen Jazmine after I gave her the shots, but things started to happen before she died," James said with his voice cracking.
Thank you for reading!