Forever ✔️

Chapter Twenty Two

Eva:

My mind was going crazy as I drove to the police station. It'd taken me the whole weekend to find bail money for Shawn that wouldn't create a hole in the hotel and club's finances. His friends also helped me get some money for Shawn too.

I must've called Beyoncé over fifty times while trying to get bail money and that was on Saturday alone. Shawn told me that he'd given her the bail money weeks ago and she knew where she kept it. It stabbed me in the heart that he trusted her more than me but it was a bad decision because she proved to not care about Shawn.

My focus was just getting him out of there because I couldn't stand the thought of my fiancé sitting in custody. The club had been closed down and the hotel and house were being searched. I wanted to see if Shaquille was okay but I clearly couldn't get through to Beyoncé. He was right there when they took Shawn away and he was meant to be spending the whole weekend with us.

I parked near the station and basically ran inside so I could get my man out. I met a woman at the desk who looked about mid-40s and tired of life.

"Excuse me ma'am,"I got her attention. She looked up from her packet of nuts with a frown.

"Yes?"

"Uh-"I looked around the dull, lifeless station with barely more than five people. "I'm here with bail for Mr Shawn Carter. Is he on bail?"

"Yes,"she crunched her nuts and the salty smell put me off. "$500k,"she revealed and I widened my eyes.

I didn't understand why they'd set his bail so ridiculously high but I had a million here so I handed her half. I filled out some paperwork and waited for Shawn to appear. When he did, his eyes lit up and I ran to him and threw my arms around him.

Jay:

Eva drove us home as I was finally released on bail. I was going crazy out of my mind. Why did it take so long to get bail? How was Shaquille? Where was Bey?

"Thank you, Eva. Thank you so much,"I rubbed her thigh and squeezed it.

"Well you know I'm mad at you but I can't let you stay in prison,"she kept her eyes on the road.

"You seen Shaq? Bey? Did she send you?"

She scoffed and laughed spitefully shaking her head. "I haven't seen Shaquille but your 'Bey' is one hell of a friend of yours. And to think you stepped out on me for her,"she mumbled the last part and I frowned.

She quickly looked at me before turning back to the road. "Shawn, why do you think bail took so long? Because your baby mama refused to give us your bail money. Shawn why would you even give it to her when I'm your fiancée? I hope you take a look at things now, because you're looking a bit too hard at the wrong woman. You think she cares about you so much? Where is she now? Hm? The fact that that was the first thing that came to your mind, that she sent me is a slap in the face and a stab in the heart because she didn't even pick up to your own mother until the fifth call. Why are you obsessed with this woman?"she asked me and I rubbed my temples. She had a point but I needed to hear it from Bey why she didn't give my bail money to Eva.

"Listen, I didn't know about the drug trafficking. That was all Deano, I'm telling you-"

"How did he even get into the club with that much drugs on him? Was security not there? Were they not tight enough?"she questioned.

"Elijah handled everything, remember? He knew that we weren't going to be at the club. He's the fucking manager for crying out loud,"I breathed deeply.

"Don't put this on my brother! Deano's your cousin. You should've known him and his boys would try and shift their gear near you,"she rolled her eyes. "So you say you didn't know? They're still going to look into you. I've been getting questioned all weekend about y'all and they asked me questions on things I had no idea about you!"she sniffed before tears started falling.

"I'm sorry, E.  I'm sorry I had to put you through that,"I wiped her tears and held her hand.

"I just want everything to go back to normal. They've shut down the club, they've been raiding through the hotel, the house."

"Damn,"I muttered.

We got home after about ten more minutes and I soon as I got into the house I bolted up the stairs to take a long needed bath. I took about twenty minutes in there, then when I got out I lotioned and got dressed. I walked downstairs and Eva was sitting on the couch on the phone.

"Elijah why would you let security off? You need to tell me everything you did on Friday because my fiancé is facing jail..again,"I heard her. She turned around and looked at me fully dressed. "Where are you going?"she mouthed.

"I've got to go to Bey's house. I need to check up on Shaquille and talk to Bey,"her face dropped when I told her and she turned her body.

"Aight,"she mumbled.

"Eva. Shaquille's my son and he watched me be put in handcuffs. That kinda stuff will scare a kid and I need to make sure Bey knows what happened. I'll see you later,"I kissed her cheek and she nodded.

I got into my Range Rover and drove to Bey's. I called her number a few times but she didn't pick up, and I called Shaq but he didn't answer as well.

I had a lot of questions to ask and even more questions to answer. I needed to understand how Shaq felt. That was my first child, my only child, my only son. I remember when I saw my father be arrested in front of me when I was nine years old, and I was never able to forgive him after that. Shaq and I were meant to be spending time together the whole weekend but we only got a few hours together.

Bey was on my mind because I couldn't come to a conclusion of why she would hold my bail money and not give it to Eva to get me out. I loved her with all my heart, but her loyalty to me as a friend was in question. If it was the other way round, I would've given my entire life savings to get her out if it was needed. We were fine just a couple of days ago and now she wanted to keep me in jail? I mean, I was jealous when she went out on a date but I knew she'd eventually go on one because I've still got Eva. My question was—

Do you even care?