CHAPTER 30.

226 18 7
                                    

SERENITY PAYTON

"Jordan! Stop!" Lala called out.

"Dad what are you doing?!" Harmonie exclaimed, pulling on his arm, trying to get him to let go of Bronny.

"You think you're slick?" Jordan shouted as Bronny clawed at his hands. "You think you can just sweet talk my daughter into giving you whatever you want? Is that what the fuck you think?"

Quickly Angel ran to his side and grabbed grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't budge. Not one bit. I've only seen Jordan like this once, and that was when he and Jaren get in that fight at Landon's first birthday party, but still, even then, I still saw a hint of sympathy and a hint of himself, right now, I saw none of that. It was like nice, laidback, fun Jordan was out the window and this other version took his place.

It was kind of scary...

"Jordan, stop!" Angel says firmly. "Not here."

"Dad, put him down!" Harmonie shouted.

"Are you recording this?" Landon asks, turning to his sister who was discreetly holding up her phone.

London nodded. "Oh you know I am."

Bronny finally realized what it was that Jordan was speaking of and smirked smugly. "What? Realized that she's not Daddy's Little Girl anymore?"

LeBron paused and looked at his son in disbelief, then looked over at Jordan. "Whatever this is, you and I can talk about this like adults. Let go of my son, JP."

"Or what?" Jordan hissed, turning to LeBron.

Each and every one of us were silent. We didn't know what to do or how to react; all we knew was that whatever LeBron would say next would determine Jordan's response and reaction to either Bronny or his father.

I was scared for the both of them, because nobody knew where Jordan's headspace was in this moment; nor did we know what triggered Jordan to snap on Bronny. All we could tell was that it had everything to do with something that happened between Bronny and Harmonie, and it probably wasn't our placed to know anyways.

As much as I was curious about this particular situation, I knew that I had to be there for Juan. He was in such distress that he hadn't even glanced at the vending machine across the hall. He was just sitting down with his knees up to his chest and his head down.

Every now and then he would shake his head like he's trying to come to terms with something or, as if he is trying to convince himself otherwise about whatever was going on in his head.

He wasn't speaking to anyone. He wouldn't look at anyone. When he did occasionally lift up his head, he didn't look or glance at anyone else—he looked right down the hall where Asia's hospital room was.

It was safe to say that Asia was his lifeline. I remember the exact day and moment that Audi left Juan. He was heartbroken. It was as if someone had literally drained the life from out of him; but then, when he met Asia, his whole life changed. He went from having no life in him, to having all the life and happiness he needed and then some.

So, I walked over to him, and sat right down next to him. When he didn't look up, I poked his side and gave him a small smile. "Hi."

Juan didn't smile, he just looked at me. At first, I thought that he wasn't going to say anything. That was until, he swallowed and blinked really fast as if he were blinking away tears and mumbled the words, "Hey, Rin."

Okay, he's talking. That's a good sign.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

Juan shrugged. "Empty. Scared. Sick. Nervous. Anxious. What about you?"

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐃. 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎 | Where stories live. Discover now