Author's Note:

Imnotgonnausethis: You are funny as hell! Lmfao. Glad you're enjoying it so far!

Juey: Not you in agreement that they should fornicate!

Enjoy!

Chapter Five

My stomach was at capacity.

"You're gassy." Jazmine chuckled as we walked, her eyes shining beneath all the Christmas lights, taking it all in.

"I blame the brownies." I shrugged, looking her over. "They were good, but…not the best for walking downtown right after. Probably should have thought this outing through."

Jazmine snorted, pinching her nose shut.

"I'll say."

I ignored her and kept walking, my eyes on the sleigh-themed carriage up ahead.

"So you're mad?" She walked behind me with a smirk. "Not my fault you're struggling to stay regular."

"Aye." I pointed. "I am regular, woman!"

Jazmine grinned, laughing harder.

"Sure you are." She doubled over. "With the help of some milk of magnesia. A little prune juice, too. And jussttt a spoonful of castor oil."

"Nobody on Earth is that irregular." I folded my arms. "I don't need that to take a godblessed excrement."

Jazmine stopped in her tracks, staring at me. "Why do you talk like that?"

"Like what?" I raised a brow.

"Like I used to when I was twelve." She kept her eyes on me, almost in disbelief. "You don't cuss, Huey?"

"Nah." I shook my head. "Not really. Cuss words sound weird when they come outta my mouth."

That definitely wasn't a lie.

"I doubt that." She snorted, moving closer to watch me. "Say bullshit."

"Lies." I smirked, finding it easy to do the opposite of what she was asking.

I'd spent ages riling her up, and it was still pretty easy, especially right now.

"Say it, Huey!" She squinched her face up, poking my chest hard. "Say bullshit."

"Bullspit."

"Bullspit?!" She screamed, hollering and laughing all at once. "Okay, then. Let's try something else…say damn."

"Bless."

We both blinked at how I said it.

The godblessed angel was clearly still up there, controlling my every sentence, my every circumstance.

And that bullspit was starting to get on my nerves.

"How about fuck?"

"What?!" My head snapped up, my heart racing out of my chest.

"The cuss word, Huey." She shot me a look. "Can you say it?"

For once I was relieved I couldn't.

"I can't…." I shook my head. "The only thing I can say is love."

Her eyes softened. "That's kinda sweet, actually."

"Hardly." I glanced up, watching the snow fall softly from the sky. "Does it ever stop snowing, here?"

"In Chicago?" She snorted. "Nope. Not till May, maybe April if we're lucky. Climate change, y'know? Still doing a number on us."

I nodded, agreeing completely. "You ain't lying."

We let the quiet hang between us and kept walking, watching as the carriage driver walked out to greet us.

I fumbled through my pockets, searching for my wallet.

"Hello." The woman smiled, barely visible beneath her cap. "Carriage ride for two?"

"Why yes." Jazmine nodded, staring at her. You're stunning." She breathed, tugging at my coat. "Seriously, you look like an angel. Doesn't she, Huey?"

I nodded, barely paying attention to the woman until I got my wallet in my hand.

"Yeah, sure." I said, easing beside the horses. "Let's just-"

I blinked, staring at the godblessed face of my tormentor.

The angel from up above.

"You must be Huey." The angel smiled, dressed in a carriage driver's uniform, watching me with daggers in her eyes. "Refreshing to hear such colorful language from young people. I've never heard a young man avoid cussin' like you just did."

Jazmine blushed, embarrased. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. I should've been more respectful."

"Nonsense." The angel shook her head, smiling as Jazmine scooted to the opposite end of the carriage. "Coffee?"

"No thank you." Jazmine smiled, turning to watch the snow fall into the river. "It's beautiful."

The angel nodded, watching me watch Jazmine.

"It is."

"Remember what I said, dearest angel. Jazmine is not yours to have."

And then, without a trace, she was gone, another woman in her place, like she'd never once existed.

Ping!

I got the message quickly..

Behave, or else.

As if knowing the angel was gone, Jazmine scooted a little closer, smiling at me.

"Cold?" I leaned as well, ignoring a barrage of other pings before handing her my coat. "Here. Take this."

"Put that back on, Huey." She shoved it back towards me, pressing it back against my hand. "You'll get cold. Too many viruses out here for you to risk that."

I chuckled, nodding towards the heater in front of us.

"Bet I won't." I smirked, looking at her hand, still pressed against my large one. "Here." I pushed a little more. "You're putting it on, so quit arguing and do it."

"You're bossy." She blushed hard, wrapping it around her shoulders.

I just smirked, staring back at her. "You like it though."

"I do." She said after a moment, looking at the woman up front. "How long can we ride, ma'am?"

"As long as you want." She smiled. "You're the last two of the night. And I like to ride this time of year. Feels magical with all the lights up."

Jazmine glanced out, back towards the river, clearly loving the sound of that.

"I forgot how much I loved it out here." She said, turning back to me. "I used to come here all the time when I was a kid, about thirteen, fourteen years old. Everything was so different back then. So new."

"It always is." I nodded, thinking back to when I'd kissed her in ninth grade, during a field trip back in high school. "Stuff happens, Jazmine. You grow up, things change, and suddenly, you don't have time for the little things, the big things become more important."

Jazmine teared up instantly, her eyes welling.

"They really do." She swiped at her eyes. "That's what's wrong with my marriage, I think." She said. "It's not Cairo, not completely." She sighed, her gaze lingering on me more than it should. "It's me. I'm the one sad that something is missing."

I scooted even closer, staring into her eyes, watching her lips purse slightly as she met my gaze, my hand wiping away a tear and then lingering on the side of her face, forcing her to look at me.

"What's missing, Jazmine?" I leaned forward, drawn to the lights in her eyes. "What do you need?"

"I don't know." She looked down, fighting the feeling that both of us were struggling to fight. "I love Cairo, but I need something….I just….Huey, please. I-"

"I know." I leaned closer, just a breath away from her lips. "I know what you need." I murmured, needing it just as bad as she did, wanting it just as much as she did. "You need this, you need to feel alive."

Jazmine nodded, her hand sliding towards my chin.

"Yeah." She breathed, pulling herself closer. "That." Her breath hit my lips, her eyes squeezed shut, and we leaned forward, desperate for contact. "Just for a minute, okay?"

I nodded, pressing my lips against the corner of her mouth first, just the way she liked.

"Okay."

Ping.

I heard the ping, but I couldn't fight it.

PING!

And to be real, I didn't want to anymore.

PING! PING! PING!

Jazmine was too soft and warm, too beautiful to resist. Here, with the snow and the lights around us, the carriage drawn by four horses, quietly pressing forward despite the wind, and me being me, I didn't try to stop it.

I refused to.

Instead I savored the moment, teasing her by slowly tilting towards her lips, watching her breath hitch, her chest rise and fall.

The first kiss was hesitant, slow. But it didn't stay that way long.

We fell into each other, pulling ourselves closer, lips smacking, legs shaking, leaning forward so we could be closer.

My hands pressed into her back and hers flew to my fro, tugging me against her lips until she leaned forward, scooting closer until our thighs were touching.

I leaned down with a chuckle, landing kisses down her neck until she straddled me, reaching down to fumble with her coat.

And then….

PING!

Pi-pin-ping-Ping-PING!"

What was I doing?

Jazmine seemed to be thinking the same thing.

She leaned back, running her hands through her hair.

"I can't do this." She said quietly. "We can't do this."

I nodded, leaning forward to push her off me. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Jazmine nodded, falling forward when the horses stopped abruptly.

Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I pulled her closer, kissing her again, my hands roving lower as she gasped into my mouth, her hips grinding, my hands wandering until….

"Okay stop." I placed her on the other side of me, frowning at her. "I can't do this to your husband." I averted my gaze. "And deep down, you know you can't either. No matter how bad you think you want to right now."

She broke out into a sob, her face pressed against her hands..

"I know." She shook her head. "I know we can't." She gasped. "I'm…I'm a horrible wife, Huey. I don't deserve Cairo. I don't deserve any sympathy."

I stayed quiet, waiting for her to finish, and when I realized that was all she had to say, I stepped in, nodding at her.

"You're not horrible." I shook my head. "You're vulnerable." I stressed the word, silencing her with my halo. "I shouldn't have done that, Jaz. It's not all on you."

Jazmine shuddered, looking up at me, her eyes on my hands, staring at them.

"It is." She confessed. "I wanted this to happen, Huey." She admitted. "I was hoping you'd make a move, that things would go further, a lot further than they should."

"Jazmine…." I cautioned, not trusting myself to hear anymore.

"Let me finish." She held up her hand. "It's just… I feel like me again when I'm with you. I've been missing that person for a long time, and when you showed up, I felt good again. I feel whole when I'm with you." She shook her head. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. You make me feel alive again."

"You're not crazy." I said, watching the driver eavesdrop, her eyes softening as she listened. "And you're still you. Even if it doesn't feel like it right now."

"No, I'm not." She said quietly, shaking her head. "The day Huey died, the night he left…" She took a deep breath. "Everything stopped for me." She admitted, looking back to stare at the ground. "The night he died, I lost something I'll never get back. No matter how hard I try, I'll never have that feeling again. Never."

"That's not true." I shrugged. "Look what you did back there at the center, today. You've touched people, Jazmine. Changed a lot of lives."

"That's just me using what he taught me." She snorted. "It's not special."

"He taught you to cook and be nice to people." I deadpanned, raising my brow at her. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe." I chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd believe you'd done all that on your own."

"Well…maybe he didn't teach me all that." She grabbed a tissue from the front of the carriage, dabbing at her face. "But he still showed me everything I know about implementing effective change." She smiled sadly. "You may not get it, but you make me feel the same way. You make me feel alive, free. Bold again."

"No, I don't." I said, regretting taking advantage of her. "You'll go home, you'll talk to Cairo, and you'll forget this ever happened."

"No I won't." Jazmine scooted closer, slowly taking her hand in mine. "And I don't want to."

I sighed, releasing it.

"Jazmine." I said calmly, letting the power lead the way. "You'll go home, you'll talk to Cairo, and you'll forget this ever happened."

PING!

Her eyes glazed over, and she immediately scooted to the other side, , repeating exactly what I said.

"I'll go home, I'll talk to Cairo, and I'll forget this ever happened."

"Good." I nodded, watching her breathing steady. "Now turn to me and ask what I was saying again."

She blinked, turning back to look at the river to stare again. After a moment, she turned back to look at me, shaking the memories out of her head.

"I'm sorry." She touched the side of her face, dazed as heaven. "I zoned out on you for a sec. What were you saying?"

I stared calmly, nodding.

"We need to head back." I said. "Reverend Jackson is probably back by now. We should get going."

"Yeah." She nodded, climbing out. "Let's go."

I looked after her and turned to pay the driver.

After all she'd seen, she deserved a tip.

But to my surprise, she was gone.

"Well done, dearest angel." I heard her say. "There's hope for you after all."

I just sighed staring behind Jazmine, not so sure that there was.

Cairo wasn't thrilled we'd come back late.

I could hear their quiet argument through the walls, muffled shouting, quiet and loud, growing angrier by the minute.

"So you take my guest and go off galivanting with him?" He hissed. "You wanna marry him now or something?"

"Cairo, stop." Jazmine hissed. "I told you that nothing happened. You sent him with me, remember?!"

I could hear some shuffling up the steps and then silence, a pause.

"You know, Jazmine…" He trailed off, probably shaking his head. "For some reason, I don't believe you. Maybe I should get Huey, ask him what's going on. He seems to get you more than I do, anyway."

"You're being ridiculous!" Jazmine hissed a little louder. "What are you gonna ask him, hm? Why you don't love me anymore? Why you act like you can care less? You barely even touch me these days!"

I could practically see the way he spun around, incredulous to hear her say how she was feeling.

"Don't turn this around on me, Jazmine." Cairo lowered his voice as I pressed my ear to the wall. "How would it look if someone saw my wife out with some other man? I'm the reverend of a prominent church, Jazmine. It's not exactly a good look!"

"We wanna talk about good looks now?" Jazmine spat back. "That's really where you wanna take this."

"Would you rather keep talking about you bad ones?" Cairo sounded fed up, shuffling some more against the wall.

"Well since you wanna go there…" Jazmine's voice rose. "I'd venture to say it's the same way it looks when you're not at the center with me!" Jazmine hissed back. "The same way it looks when I ask you to make time for me, and you never do!"

"Because I'm busy!" Cairo snapped. "What do you want me to do?!"

"Be my husband, Cairo!" Jazmine said, slapping her hand against the wall. "I want you to make us happy again. Put me first, for once!" Her voice rose, and then fell again. "Why can't you do that, Cairo? Why keep doing something that makes us unhappy?"

"Making us happy isn't a one-person job, Jazmine." Cairo said, his voice softer. "Not if you can't tell me the truth."

"I'm not lying to you." She said quietly, not saying anything more than that.

"Then tell me what happened before I came along." Cairo's feet shuffled across the floor. "Tell me who hurt you so bad you can't love me."

"Nobody hurt me, Cairo." I could hear Jazmine pull out a chair and sit down. "You're the one who's hurting me, you're the one who refuses to believe that I love you."

"No, I'm not." Cairo shook his head. "You're the one that's hurting you, by lying about this ghost in our marriage."

Jazmine fell silent, not sure what to say.

"I'm asking you to let me in, Jazmine." Cairo said quietly. "But I've had about all I can take." He said. "If you can't let me in, then I have to stop. I can't keep doing this, can't keep worrying about our marriage another year."

"So what are you saying?" Jazmine asked him. "You're not seriously thinking-"

"I am." Cairo nodded. "If you can't be happy with yourself, then we'll never be happy together. And I'm tired, Jazmine. I'm tired of all the back and forth. Either you want this, or you don't. Either you want me, or you don't."

"So that's it." Jazmine sounded numb. "You don't want to fight for us anymore."

"I don't." Cairo answered instantly. "Not if you'd rather be with someone else."

Jazmine stayed quiet.

"You can keep the townhouse, the car, all of it." Cairo moved further, walking back towards what sounded like the dining room and then the kitchen. "Have your dad draft the divorce papers if this doesn't get better." Cairo opened the fridge, grabbing a drink. "You've gotta show me something, Jazmine. Because I don't even think you expect this to get better."

Something crashed downstairs, the something else, and something else.

He could hear Cairo scramble to the floor, right before something else crashed right beside him.

"Woman, stop!" Cairo barked. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Jazmine threw something else in his direction, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"You wanna leave me?!" She hollered, pushing past him to open the fridge, snatching something out of it. "I cooked this goddamn dinner alone with some stranger tonight for you, Cairo! Went to see Christmas lights with him because you were busy!"

"I was working!"

"So was I!" She screamed, throwing something else that wasn't shatterproof until it thumped against the ceiling. "You keep saying I'm not trying, but I am! You just don't care! You only want me to be what you want! You don't care about me and what I need to be good!"

"Jazmine, stop!" Cairo dodged something else. "Woman, I ain't-"

"Woman, you ain't what?!" She screamed louder. "You ain't leavin' me?! You ain't divorcin' me then telling the congregation it's all my fault?!"

"Jazmine, that's not-"

"Well, fuck you! Divorce me then! I don't care!"

"Jazmine, wait!" I could hear Cairo running, hear Jazmine grab her coat. "Where are you going? It's late!"

"Out."

She slammed the door behind her.

And then, after a moment, Cairo dropped to his knees.

And for the first time in years, the man began to cry, breaking down.

"God, please." He cried out, the walls bending so I could see him, kneeling down to pray. "You know I didn't mean it. I want my marriage, I want Jazmine." He said. "Please send her back to me. Please help us work this out, help me give her what she needs."

I looked away, sadder than ever, the emotion too great to bare.

"I can't do this without her, Lord." Cairo continued, tears streaming down his face.

"Please. Help us make this work."

My halo pinged, the words quietly emitting from my mouth.

"All will be we well again, Cairo. Go to sleep."

I watched, staring as Cairo lifted, heading to the room to sleep.

I did the same, sighing loudly.

Praying Jazmine would be okay.