Sage

Chapter Forty Eight

Junior walked into a classy restaurant and was instantly hit by cold air, cooling him down from the scorching sun he walked under for a minute.

He approached a counter where a young woman fixed her tight shirt. Her breasts jiggled as she flashed him a smile.

She cleared her throat, "May I have your names, Sir," she spoke in a sultry voice.

Junior looked around the place, taking in the dark decor with brown shiny floors. The jazz that played from the ceilings gave off a masculine feel, "I'm here for Johnson," he said plainly.

"Marquise Johnson?" The lady asked from the tablet laying on the counter.

Junior nodded his head just as she raised hers.

"Alright, please follow me," she requested and walked in front of Junior.

The short black skirt she wore looked far too tight as she swerved her hips left to right, she imitated a model on a runway.

Junior was hypnotized for a second by the movement of the round bum but lifted his head to focus on something else.

He spotted his father occupying a two-seat table. He was dressed in a white golf shirt with dark jeans and clean white sneakers. His face looked fresh with no hair in sight, and his hairline was edged to perfection.

"There you go Sir," she bent slightly as she placed his menu on the table then stood up to walk in the direction they came from.

Junior stood there and watched the man stand up to embrace him in a manly hug. He didn't respond.

"Hello son," his father chuffed before sitting back down.

Junior joined him and looked at him, "I'm listening," he said.

His father laughed heartily, "How are you doing?"

"As you can see, I'm alive," Junior answered. He was not interested in small talk.

"Okay," his father shifted a bit on his chair then placed his elbows on the table.

A waiter approached them with a small open pad, "May I get you anything to drink Sir?" he asked Junior.

"Do y'all have a Vieux Carré?" Junior asked the slim young waiter.

"Yes sir," he answered promptly.

"That," Junior said as he drummed his fingers on the table.

"Anything else for you sir?" He turned to his father.

"Just another one," he raised his empty short glass, the ice clinked at the bottom.

The waiter bowed and left them.

"I had to disappear, for your safety," his father started and Junior gave him a blank look, "That fire was staged, to make it look like I was dead to rid people who were out for my head," he continued.

Junior sat back in his chair, "Okay?"

"I couldn't contact you in case I was traced, little did I know I was getting into an agreement with a devil. Sean, whom you've met made all the arrangements for me but then I owed him and that's what I've been doing for the past few years," he said.

"I don't understand," Junior said.

"I am a lawyer by profession but a drug lord in actuality, I work under Sean, and it's a contract I can't get out of, well not until now-" he stopped when he saw the waiter walking to them with a small black round tray.

He placed their drinks before them, "Are y'all ready to order?" he asked placing the tray under his arm.

"No, that's all for now," his father said.

The waiter left and Junior took a sip of his drink, "What's changed?" he asked as he lowered his glass.

"You."

...

"You're pregnant?" Ashley asked Sage again as she took a seat on the edge of her bed.

It was Saturday afternoon and she decided to check up on her since Aiden seemed busy.

"Yep," Sage popped the p.

Ashley concealed her envy and went and hugged her friend, "Congrats," she muttered behind her.

"Thanks, I guess. It hasn't sunk in yet," Sage admitted.

"Whose the father?" Ashley asked.

Sage laughed and looked at her sideways, "Junior," she said with an obvious tone.

Ashley raised her hands in surrender, "Just checking, does he know?"

Sage nodded her head, "He was at the hospital when I was told," she said.

"He was at the hospital?" Ashley asked, remembering his absence at her cousin's funeral.

"Yeah, anyway, who is the new man?" Sage asked.

Ashley rolled her eyes, "Some fine chocolate man," she boasted.

"The one you were with at the club?" Sage asked.

"Yeah, him. Sage, he is such a good guy, different from these hood ass niggas I been with," she smiled.

"That's good, so he is a keeper?"

"Mos def," Ashley said the the girls laughed.

Silence lingered as Sage focused on her fingers, "Ashley, did you know about Trina and Junior?"

Ashley widened her eyes then regained composure, "No, not until I saw them together that night at the club," she shrugged.

"Oh okay," Sage believed her.

"Anyway, I have to go," Ashley stood up, "When will you return to school?"

"This Monday," Sage informed her getting out of bed.

"Well that's good, see you then," they hugged briefly and Ashley rushed out. She exited the house then pulled out her phone to dial Aiden's number.

It went to voicemail and she grew irritated. She stomped to her house, trying to come up with a plan to access Aiden.

She entered her room and plopped on her bed. She caught sight of the pills in an almost transparent container and grew irritated. She grabbed them and threw them against her wall.

She didn't need these pills, she needed Aiden.

That's when it hit her that she could go to his house, she just needed to remember where it was cause she was too drunk to focus on detail the night she slept over.

...

"You're here with the same bullshit Sean told me?" Junior asked, downing his third glass.

"Son, our family is indebted to him, and for reasons known to him, he wants you now," his father said.

"You," he pointed at him, "Are indebted to him, not me," Junior sneered, "I got nothing to do with whatever deal you made with him."

"You do understand that that man is ruthless, he'd kill me if I don't return with what he wants to hear," Junior watched fear play in his father's eyes.

"Then so be it," Junior shrugged, "You already dead to me."

A pregnant woman came up to the table, dressed in a beige asymmetrical dress shirt paired with nude pumps, her hair was sleeked to the back with simple yet exquisite knobs sitting on her ears.

"I'm finally done," she huffed and raised her hand towards a waiter who hurried to bring her a chair. She sat down and coddled her belly.

Junior recognized her from the footage Sean had shown him.

"Oh hello," she smiled sweetly at Junior after ordering water with lemon and ice.

"Son, this is my wife, Nicole," his father gestured at the woman whose smile faded, "This is my son, Junior," he said to her.