Jeopardy Road (Lesbian Story) (GirlxGirl)

☾ 20

My heart was pounding in my chest at how Athena would react to the news. Once everyone woke up for the day, we gathered around in my hotel room. No one knew what news was about to be announced. I wanted so badly not to go back to Chicago but I knew I had to, and I knew I just couldn't leave. I had to announce this whether I liked it or not. Everyone chatted around me joking about what I had up my sleeve. Most of them thought I was about to surprise all of them with something special, but they were totally wrong. What I was about to say could change the rest of my life. This could be the moment that Athena walked away with the kids. I swallowed hard just thinking about seeing them walk out of my life.

"Alright, f-cker. Why'd you bring all of us to your room!? You're not going to like gas us all are you," Ryker joked with his hands on his hips. I rolled my eyes at him. The last thing I needed was him joking around. I was already irritated and he was making everything worse. "Well from the eye roll, I'm assuming its bad news," he continued.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair with frustration. I had no idea how to get this out. Everyone was looking at me, awaiting my announcement and absolutely nothing would come out. My struggle to get out the whole thing was noticeable. So, thankfully, Jamal came and stood by my side. He gave me an encouraging pat on the back. I took a deep breath and looked over to my wife who seemed very curious about what I had to say. Once we made eye contact, I looked away. Things were about to go to hell as soon as I explained everything.

After I took a deep breath, I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention. Everyone became dead silent. They all got a little too silent. Even Aspen, who you usually couldn't get to stop chatting was quiet. I stared at them all for a long while without saying anything. It was like I got stage fright or something. I cursed under my breath and closed my eyes for a brief moment. You can do this, Kai. Just tell them what's going on. Everything will be alright.

"So, are you going to spit it out or what," Ryker urged with impatience. "You're making me nervous with all of this waiting."

Okay, it was now or never. "First of all, thank you all for coming. I hope you all are enjoying the trip. The last couple of days have been pretty amazing. I just want to say while I was in Chicago, I thought about every single one of you every day, especially Athena and the kids. I may be a jerk sometimes but I love all of you." I paused for a second to get my thoughts together. Saying all of the gushy stuff was easy but now it was the hard part. "Last night, I got a call from Franco back in Chicago. As all of you know, I resigned as the ring leader/drug lord of my crew. A guy named Giovanni took my spot. What most of you don't know, however, is that last night Giovanni was shot and killed. There's a new crew in Chicago and they're after everything I hold dear. I know the leader of it and she's right here in Maui as I speak. She threatened me with a whole out of bullsh-t that I don't even want to repeat."

"With all of that said, it pains me to say that I have to go back to Chicago. I have to make things right and I have make sure that Gertrude, the woman that's after me doesn't complete her threats. Trust me. I don't want to go but it's my job to keep you guys safe. For all of your safety, I think it's best that you go back to Florida until things clear up. Jett, Phoenix, Charlie and I will go back to Chicago and settle things, hopefully once and for all."

"So, you're leaving again," a small voice asked amongst the crowd. I didn't even look up from the ground like a f-cking coward. The last thing I wanted to see right now was Athena's and the kids' faces.

"It's not what I want to do, Maddox, but I have to. It's for the sake of all of you. I promise." I took a deep breath and finally looked towards my family. Everyone seemed either solemn or pissed. But when I looked at Athena, I saw an array of emotions. Her face was red and she looked like she could kill me at the moment but at the same time it looked like she wanted to break down and cry.