Got Til' Its Gone

XXXVI.| end of the road

Jade swung the door opened and walked outside.

"Yes?"She asked with her arms crossed.

"I wanna talk to you."Darryl pleaded.

"Okay we can talk."Jade shrugged.

"What did I do wrong? I thought I was being a good man to you. Why you wanna end us?"Darry croaked.

"You were being an excellent man. You didn't do anything wrong."Jade sighed.

"What's the problem then Jade? You can't just come around and make a nigga fall in love with you then leave. It don't work like that."he badgered.

"The problem is your lifestyle Darryl. I don't feel safe. What if we get married? What if we have kids? I don't want to have worry about if you're going to make it home safely or not."She teared up.

"I know I would have to worry about that regardless, but this is different. You have people after you, people that want to hurt you. When they can't get you, they'll come for me and I don't want that."She cried.

"I told you I ain't gone let nobody hurt you."He walked up and grabbed her hand.

"I've already been hurt."She screamed.

"Quincy kidnapped me and let someone beat my ass and almost rape me, all because he didn't want to give you your drug money. That doesn't sit well with me."She shook her head.

Darryl stayed silent, he was trying to think about what he was going to say next.

"I should have told you, that he threatened your life before that. He said that if he couldn't get you back he was gone kill you. I thought I could handle it, I'm sorry."He breathed, putting his head down.

"Why didn't you kill him? Like you do everyone else." She said sarcastically.

"Man Jade, don't fucking do me like that. Don't act like I didn't try to keep you safe. The only reason them niggas came to your job is because they knew I wasn't home be there."He yelled.

"I know that."She said, lowly.

"Then what the fuck is the problem? Why you punishing me for it? I did everything I was supposed to do."He said angrily.

"I don't feel s-"Darryl cut her off.

"Don't say that shit again."He raised up his finger.

Jade turned around and started to walk back into the house.

"Jade wait. I'm not done."He pleaded, grabbing her arm.

"What Darryl?"she sighed.

"You don't feel safe, fuck it we can leave. I'll give all this shit up."he grabbed her hand.

"Wherever you want to go for college, I'll come with you. Shit I'll enroll. I want to be better for you. Fuck this block, fuck these drugs and all that. You more important."he bellowed.

"Are you serious?"She asked.

"Baby I'm very serious. I'll leave all this shit behind. Under one condition."He put his index finger out.

"What's that?"She asked.

"You gotta be my wife."He smiled.

"Your wife? Darryl we're still young. What if we change our minds?"Jade rambled.

"I don't care about none of that. If that's what it takes to show you I'm serious, we can go down to the court house and get married tonight. I ain't changing my mind, I know I wanna be with you."he half-smiled.

"Okay."She smiled.

"You for real?"He lit up.

He walked to his car and pulled out a ring box, then got down on one knee.

"Give me your hand."He laughed.

She put her hand in his and he placed the ring on her finger.

"You just knew I was gonna say yes huh?"She laughed.

"No I didn't know. That's why I had it in the car. I ain't wanna embarrass myself."He laughed.

"Come inside, I have to get cleaned up."She grabbed his hand, excitedly and pulled him into the house.

Steven and Tonya were sitting on the couch, as normal.

"Steven."Jade called so that he could look at her.

"Yeah?"He answered, still looking at the television.

"I'm getting married."She smiled.

"What?" He turned his head really fast.

"I'm getting married."She said slower, so he could hear.

"When?"He asked.

"Tonight."She smiled.

"Well, do you want us to come?"He asked nonchalantly

She looked at Darryl.

"Of course. Somebody has to come."He laughed.

They walked back to her bathroom and he sat down on the side of the tub, while she did all her hygiene.

"Ima leave, so I can get everything together. Meet me there at 7:00. Ima call you and give you the address."He got up and started to walk out.

"Oh yeah, this so you can get your hair done and all that good stuff. Buy your sister something to wear too." He handed her a block of money in a rubber band.

That was the only thing she was gonna miss about living this way, but it was for the best.

She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

"You're getting married girl."She said to herself.

She couldn't believe those words were coming out of her mouth.

Her? Of all people was about to be someone's wife.

Quincy was sitting on his porch, smoking a cigarette. He saw everything from them arguing to the proposal. He knew he had lost her forever. All he could do what shake his head at how dumb he was. He realized that he lost something good, something he could never get back.

He had come to realize that Jade wasn't leaving Darryl, because she was happy and after him and Kevin, she deserved to be happy.

He knew he should have appreciated her when he had her because now he had learned a hard lesson, you never know what you've got til' it gone.....

That's all folks.. I hope you've enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. The Epilogue will be posted soon.