What About Yout Friends

JENNA

When Jess an I left Tim Horton's, King told me that he was going to have to take a raincheck on touring Toronto. Lexie had felt really anxious about meeting her sister, so all three of her brothers had decided to stay near the hotel to be there for her.

When we walked into the lobby, I saw Talia off to the side. I had just left her at Tim Horton's a few moments ago. The second she saw me, she left and told me she hadn't been following me – which I believed. But, now she was sitting in the same hotel that we were staying in. I told King that I would be up to the room soon and he walked to the elevator with Jessie. I went over to the small sitting area where she was and sat down, crossing my legs and placing my hands on my knees. It took a few moments before Talia turned around. The second she saw me – her eyes widened.

I sat and just looked at her. I could see in her eyes her genuine surprise at seeing me sitting across from her. I could also see that she had no clue that we were staying at the hotel. That made me lower my guard. I did know that she had an aunt that lived in Toronto somewhere and she did come up to visit her often. She had been up here a few weeks ago when everything King ended things with her and she was attempting to fix things with Joel.

We spoke briefly and, in that time, I felt bad for her. She had lost quite a bit in a short amount of time. I told her that I would try to get King to sit with her and give her closure.

"I gave her that," King and I were sitting in our room talking. Jessie had gone to the connecting room to where Moreno was.

"Not really," I shook my head.

King sat back on the bed as he looked at me. "You realize that you're asking me to sit and talk to the woman I was fucking a few months ago, right? You're asking me to talk to her and give her closure on that relationship."

"She doesn't deserve that? She clearly had some feelings for you and I get that. Everything she did was out of passion."

"She's going to ask why you and not her and I don't want to hurt her. I chose her because she reminded me of you. I chose you because I always choose you. I don't want to focus on that. I want to focus on us, Jaye. I want to focus on my family and building that. For the first time in ten years, I have my family. I have my wife; I have my daughter and I am good. I'd rather focus on that and the hard times we're going to go through than that of a woman that I..." he exhaled as he looked at me. "I do feel bad that I've hurt her, but I'd rather focus on us. I'm sorry, babe. You know that I'd do damn near anything for you, but I can't do that."

I sighed.

"I'm going to check on Lex," he stood up. "You good?"

"I'm good," I nodded my head.

"I'm sorry, babe," he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead before walking out the room.

I sat on the bed for a few seconds before getting my phone and texting Talia, letting her know that King said no.

Me: I'm sorry. He said no.

I was surprised by how quickly she replied.

Talia: I figured he would. It's ok. Thank you for trying.

There was a moment of silence before she replied again.

Talia: If it makes you feel better – sitting and talking to you gave me closure. I don't need to talk to him.

I liked hearing that she had some sort of closure. Everyone deserved closure.

I went next door and knocked on Moreno's door. King answered.

"You called her or text her?" he asked.

"I text," I walked into the room. "She said she figured you'd say no and she was okay with that. Apparently, speaking to me gave her what she needed."

"See, look at you, Jaye, already fixing my issues."

Moreno was sitting on the floor playing a card game with Jessie. Diego was off by the table, talking on the phone. I looked up at King.

"Where's Lex?"

"She went to talk to Ma. I think she's overcome with emotions. We just want to be here when she gets back so that she knows that her brothers are here and have her back in whatever decision she makes."

I nodded my head. "I'm not staying. I do think it's important that the three of you are here for her and she feels that support. I am, however, about to call Joel," I raised my phone a bit as I looked up at King.

He looked at me for a few moments before saying okay. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. "Don't go getting yourself in the middle of their thing because you're feeling bad. Call and then let it go."

I nodded. "Okay, I will. What if they end up together again?"

"Are you worried I'm going to stray?" he smirked.

"No," I shook my head. "You've never cheated on me."

"So, there's no issue. If they end up together again, that's on him. That's his issue to worry about. I told him I'd stay away and I have. All contact has been limited, so we're good."

I nodded my head before standing on my toes a bit and kissing him. "I'm going to call and then just sort of be around. I'll see you tonight. Jess is staying with you?"

He nodded his head and I left the room.

I rode the elevator to the main lobby before calling Joel. He answered after the fourth ring.

"I thought I would get the voicemail," I said.

"Sorry, I was trying to understand what this girl was telling me about the order she placed," he sighed.

I laughed a little. "I can check that from here and if it's wrong I can make changes. Don't worry about that. It's all connected on the tablet through the app."

"Yeah, I know, but I wanted to at least have it right and know what the hell is going on. They trusted me to run Aquarius while they're gone and that's big. What's going on? Lexie meet her sister?"

"She did and her brothers are waiting for her to return to the room. But, that's not why I called," I stepped out into the Canada air. "I saw Talia today."

He was quiet for a moment. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah and we spoke."

"She's okay?" he asked. "Did she need anything?"

"She was okay. I saw her in Tim Horton's and at the hotel."

"Your hotel? Seriously?"

"She said that Yasmine was here and that makes a bit of sense."

"Yasmine's there? No. Jenn, I know you aren't crazy about Talia, but you need to keep her away from Yasmine. That bitch has other motives right about now. She's pissed because I won't sleep with her anymore and I don't want anything with her," he began speaking quickly. "She came here and tried to tell me that she and I were the underdogs and deserved to be happy and together. If she's up there, she's trying to befriend Talia again just to hurt her again and..."

"Joel, slow down."

He took a breath. "She's not up there for anything good. Shit."

"Okay, look," I sighed. "King knows I'm calling you. Why don't we do this. Finish getting Aquarius in order and I will call Ricky. I'll have him cover the club the next two days and you come up here. Do whatever it is that you feel you need to do up here. I'll tell King and Cris that I sent Ricky to the club. It'll all be okay."

"Yeah, that would be great," Joel agreed.

We ended our call and I called my best friend – who said that he'd be at Aquarius by 8 o'clock tonight. He was excited because he could live stream the entire night and he hadn't live streamed in a while. I called Joel back and told him. He was relieved and thanked me.