I Promise

Chapter 13

Rose

The car stopped as Zion approached the house. Jewel quickly got out the car as we saw Justin hunched over on the sidewalk. Celine was leaning against him and my heart dropped in relief.

I got out the car and Brandon ran ahead of me to her. Celine got to her feet as Brandon wrapped his arms around her. I approached them and saw she was bruised on her neck and forehead.

"What happened?!" I cried as I joined the hug.

Jewel was holding Justin tightly as Zion began making phone calls. He walked off a little and I sighed at him.

"It was Andrew. He was inside the house. He got physical and the other guy was fighting Justin outside," Celine sighed.

"He did that to you?" I spat and she nodded sadly.

Another car pulled up and Nick got out angrily. Edwin, Austin and Elom followed him and they approached us. Nick kneeled in front of Celine and hugged her.

"We're all crashing at a hotel tonight. The whole group," Nick said and looked up at me.

I nodded at him and Zion came next to me. He wrapped an arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder. 

"You need to talk to Celine. She must be hella scared right now and if anyone is gonna understand her it's you," he mumbled.

"I know. Just haven't gone there in such a long time. Talk to your son," I replied and he looked down. "Don't Zion. Stop running from your problems. Fix your damn family."

He bit his lip and nodded tying his now mid-back length dreads in a ponytail. I walked to Celine and we all got up. We got into separate cars and drove off.

-

"We should get two rooms. One for girls and one for the guys," Brandon said.

"Oh nah I haven't slept without my babe in years the fuck-"

"Nick we're not doing this right now," Edwin laughed.

"Suck my-"

"NICHOLAS!" Zion spat.

"Shut up you been sleeping without your girl hop off me," Nick groaned.

"Nick take the stick out your ass," Austin sighed as everyone began laughing.

"Baby it's ok," I smirked kissing Nick's cheek.

Celine

I crossed my arms standing by Tiana as all of the parents discussed room arrangements. I looked over at Justin and he sighed at me. He walked over to me and cupped my face with one hand. I shuttered at his touch and he frowned. He brought his other hand to my face and lifted my face to look at him.

"It's ok. Everything is going to be alright. I promise," he whispered and I hugged him tightly.

"I'm glad you're alright," I spat.

"You're not in love with me or anything right Arreaga?" He teased playing with my hair.

I rolled my eyes and punched his stomach, "No. Deflate your head."

"Alright girls in one room and boys in another. Three queen beds and a full sized sofa bed," Edwin announced.

Aunt Jewel came to us and gave me a key. "Take the girls. Me and your mom will be there in a few. Justin stick with your dad."

Justin nodded and I took the key. Justin looked down at me and kissed my forehead hard and smiled at me.

"Text me ok?" He said.

"Duh."

-

We all sat in our pajamas on the beds but I sat on the floor against the sofa. Aunt Sunny and Fiffany were on their phones reaching out to some people. Tiana and Chloe sat on the bed watching tv while Charolette looked out the window on edge. The door opened and mom and Aunt Jewel walked in followed by Nick.

"We'll be staying here until we get a better security system in the house," Mom said.

"No one answer the door to anyone. Try to keep voices to a minimum. Text us if anything. Good night y'all," Nick said and we nodded.

He kissed mom goodnight and walked out the door. Aunt Jewel locked the door behind him and sat on the empty couch with mom. Mom looked down at me and played with my hair.

"Guys. I know this is scary. But if I'm being honest this isn't nothing to what he's capable of. I know we never went in full debt in what happened but that's about to change right now. So prepare yourselves," Aunt Jewel announced and we all stared at her scared.

"He's hit us with cars, kidnapped, raped, and he's literally destroyed relationships. Family and romantic," Mom said and I stared at her. The room was completely silent and me and the girls looked sick. Shit I felt sick. "So please no matter what I need us to stay united. Understood?"

Justin

"Understood?" Nick said as he finished explaining what has happened.

We all nodded and Dad got to his feet. "About the text message. Justin it isn't what it seemed like. Your mother had a baby before you. And yes I wanted to abort it. She had cancer and I was scared losing the both of them. But YOU came afterwards. And I was happy as shit."

I looked down and sighed. "I don't know. It's sad to think about what if I was the baby that you aborted."

"We didn't abort at all. We had hope but it ... she passed," dad replied.

"It was a girl?" I asked and he nodded sadly. "I'm sorry. I should've known better to hear you out instead of getting mad."

"Listen we all been there. Andrew has a way with words." Dad laughed.

"That's a damn fact and listen it's gonna happen again. Reckless shit will come out his mouth but we need to stick together," Uncle Brandon spat.

All of our phones vibrated or rang and Uncle Ed laughed saying, "Speak of the devil."

We all looked at our phones and my mouth dropped.

It was a picture of Uncle Edwin making out with a girl in a club. I looked at Junior and he crunched his eyebrows at the picture. I looked at Uncle Edwin as his mouth dropped at the photo.

Then there was a loud bang on the door.

"Oh shit"