The Black Woman #Wattys2016

The middle.

24 hours before the beginning.
Jason
Alani barely slept last night. She tossed and turned the entire night, which kept me up. I knew that she was nervous and I was too deep down. Nervous for her and for the baby. As long as Declan knew Alani was still with me, it angered him more and more. I'm sure of it. I knew how I felt when he took her from me so I can only imagine what he feels. Maybe even worse because he has a child with her. But I don't fucking care.

Lani wrapped her arm around my waist and slung her leg over mine. I reached down and secured her belly with my hand to keep it safe. "You awake?" I asked. She nodded and ran her hand over my chest. "I can't sleep...I keep thinking about Declan and what's going to happen with me and the baby and-" I cut her off and held her close to me. "You're safe with me, baby girl. I won't let him hurt you or our baby." She looked at me. "Our baby?"

"It's my baby too, Alani. I'm your boyfriend and I plan on being around for awhile, you know?" Her eyes lit up for the second time today. "Thank you." I only nodded. "I just don't understand why he would put us all through this when he knew how I felt about him."

"Sometimes people hurt the people that they love regardless of how they feel about them, Lani. How you choose to deal with the hurt, that's what truly matters."

Her eyes grew heavy and she looked up at me again. Although she didn't say anything, I knew that she was in deep thought. Her eyes fluttered closed and she held on to me tighter. "I love you." I whispered in her ear and kissed it.
__________________________________________
Sarah gathered the rest of her things from the old house and handed me my keys back. I held the door open for her and looked everywhere but her. "Jason," She caressed my cheek with a frown. I grabbed her wrist and pulled it down from my face. She nodded and awkwardly took her hand back. "I'll have the divorce papers mailed to you."

"Signed?" I asked. She nodded and pointed to her suitcase. "My lawyers are going to read over it but I'm sure it's fine." I sucked my teeth and tapped on the door with my fingers. "It fucking should be since you stole millions from me already. I just hope that whatever money amount my lawyers offer you, you be smart and take it like you should." She dropped her suitcase and crossed her arms. "And what's that supposed to mean? The money I took is the money you owe me for all of those years I had to clean my own blood off of the floors dealing with your sorry ass. For all of the times you cheated on me, in our bed, and never even said sorry. I took what belongs to me, just like you do."

I clenched the door in my hand and stared at her with a straight face. "Fuck you." He hand raised in the air and she slapped me across the face. "Fuck me?! Fuck you, Jason! You give some bitch everything of you but what did you give me? Bruises and fucking broken bones! What does she have that I don't? Huh?! Fuck me? No, fuck you!" She shoved me back, grabbed her suitcase, and slammed the door shut, making the glass come shattering down. I stepped back quickly and nodded.

Za and Alfredo came running from downstairs with worried looks on heir faces. "What the fuck? Who broke the glass door?" I leaned down and started picking up the big pieces of glass. "Sarah's crazy ass slammed the door shut and it all came shattering down." Za shook his head. "Glad you got rid of that thing." He leaned down and helped me pick up the rest of the glass. That's when my phone started ringing. Alfredo picked it up. "Yo?"

His whole facial expression changed. "Jason, it's for you, fam." He tossed me my phone. "Who is it?" I asked and he motioned for me to talk. "Hello?" I asked. The person was breathing hard and then cursed. I smiled. "Hey, Lani."

"Jason, I just had to run up two sets of stairs cause the stupid alarm wanted to go off for no apparent reason! I looked around the entire house and everything and nothing was wrong!" She started breathing hard again and sounded like she was trying to catch her breath. "Why haven't you changed the stupid batteries in this thing?!" There was rumbling and then a slamming noise. "Lani?" I asked. She sucked her teeth. "You fucking-"

"Lani, just leave it, baby girl. I'll get it when I get home."

She huffed. "Fine..I'll leave it alone for now. It's really annoying though and you know Blake can't fix anything that doesn't involve food." Blake said something in the background but it was muffled. "Have you told him?" I asked. She sighed. "No...I don't know how to. I was hoping Flynn would or Dayja or..speaking of Dayja, where is she?"

I looked up at Za and mouthed her name. He grinned. "Oh she's with Jules." I nodded. "She's fine, she's with your brother." Lani paused. "Julian? As in my brother?" I nodded as if she could see me. "Yeah, that's what I said, right?" Lani started laughing out of nowhere. "No way! Julian is a total fuckboy."

Then, she got quiet. "Jason, I have to call you back." The line went dead and I looked down at my phone confused. "The fuck?"

"What's up?" Khalil asked, standing back up from the glass. "She said she had to call me back and hung up the phone." Za nodded. "Maybe that's code word for something. Question is, what is it?"

[lowkey trying to update slowly so the book doesn't have to end. Two chapters left after this]