The caps had been tossed, the degrees had been presented and Justice could finally close the book on his college years. It was time to party. His aunt and uncle were throwing his an informal graduation party in the garden of the home of Melody Montgomery, the only place spacious to accommodate their friends and family. His cousin Kenji, whom everyone referred to as “Grip”, had flown in from at Atlanta with his mother Aunt Grace and his some Benji, short for Benjamin. There were countless numbers of family, including in-laws, that he didn’t know, but apparently his aunt had called everyone out of the woodwork for the celebration. The music was lively, the food was soulful and the atmosphere was thick with pride and family love.
Justice was the man of the hour and everybody wanted to talk to him. He listened as the elders retold stories of him as a child and of how proud his parents would have been. He hadn’t seen his uncle smiled as hard since Justine had been born. Justice finally felt like he had proven that his uncle had done a good job of raising his bother’s son. His Aunt Grace, who was his father’s sister, had been crying off and on all day, whenever she tried to vocalize the comparison between he and his deceased father. Justice made sure to thank Mr. Montgomery for allowing his family to have their celebration at their lovely home, who in turn, asked him for a resume.
As he made the rounds meeting family and greeting guest, he caught the sight of an unexpected guest from the corner of his eye. Nikki. She was standing out like pepper in a sugar bowl, as even in her plain Capri shorts and peach top she stood out from everyone surrounding her. As soon as, they made eye contact she looked away as if she didn’t want him to see her. She appeared in deep conversation with Robin and Monique, as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. She seemed oblivious to all the attention she was receiving from all of the men around her, but she seemed to have a harder time ignoring his stare. She said something to Robin before she turned and started making her way towards the house. Justice followed.
Nikki quickly disappeared inside a side door on the property, giving the area a quick glance over before she went inside. Justice followed, giving the same inspecting glance before he too went inside. The door opened to what looked like a game room complete with private bar. Justice couldn’t help but marvel at how much money the Montgomerys must have spent to build their magnificent home. He’d be able to afford a house like this, one day he mused. He closed the door quietly behind him, making sure to lock it before he ventured further inside to find Nikki.
Nikki screamed as she re-entered the room after exiting a door off to the side. Startled she said, “You scared me! What are you doing down here? No one is supposed to be in here you know.”
“You’re in here.” Justice replied as he stared at her. Elated to see her up close for the first time in more than a month. She had never looked so beautiful to him.
“Well,” Nikki said as she brushed an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear. She continued unable to look him face, “they’re my godparents. I don’t have to stick to the rules. Besides, you should-“
“You look great.” Justice said the desire to grab and kiss her giving him the confidence to say whatever came to his mind.
“Thanks, I’ve lost weight since the last time I saw you,” she said, tickled inside that she was actually talking to him again. She hadn’t spent one minute trying to get over him because she had been praying for this day.
“That’s okay. I can help you get that back on,” Justice said, which made Nikki smile as she remembered his philosophy on love and women’s weight. Justice had the notion that when women were truly in love they gained weight because they were no longer looking for a man. He continued, “I’ve missed you.”
His reply was unexpected. Robin wanted to scream, “I MISS YOU, TOO” but instead she acted as if she hadn’t heard his last comment and said, “I see you’re wearing your watch. Do you like it?”
“Yes,” he said. He glanced at the watch before he continued, “So, I’m ready.” Justice wanted Nikki to be still waiting like the watch said she said she would. He walked over to her; the familiar scent of his cologne sent little electric sparks to her fuse box. He stopped just inside of her personal space, giving her little room to think straight.
Nikki quickly found herself flustered. Justice had only been this forward when it was time to make love; surely he was not thinking of taking her right in her godparents’ game room. She still didn’t want to look in him in the eye afraid of the spell his natural charm had on her. She hadn’t plan to just let him coming walking back into her life. She had some ground rules that she wanted to lay before she gave it another go with him. She looked up at him but was sure to find a safe place between his nose and lips to focus on as she stammered, “Re…ready for what?”
She tried to stand firm and maintain some kind of control of the situation, but Justice strategically slid his arms around her waist and his tongue inside her mouth. Part of her wanted to resist but a bigger part of her didn’t, as she gave in to the tender sweetness of his lips. She moaned as the pleasure rose within her. She rested her hands on his shoulders before she wrapped them around his neck. She missed his kiss, the warmth of his embrace and the flaming sensation the tips of his fingers trickled down her back.
She wanted this feeling to last longer, but she had to let him know how she felt. She reluctantly pushed away from their lip lock. “I can’t do this,” she said. She pushed away from his embrace and made her way to the pool table, where she rested her palms. She took a deep inhale to clear her mind of his delicious kiss. She continued, “You just can’t walk in here smelling and looking on good kissing on me with your smooth tender lips trying to make me all weak, and expect things to go back like they were.”
“You said you’d be waiting when I was ready,” Justice whispered in her ear as he came up behind her. He continued, “I’m ready.” He brushed her hair over to one side with his hand to expose his favorite spot on her neck. He gently kiss the sensual places on her neck, making her moan with pleasure.
“Stop Just, wait,” she said as she turned to face him. This time she looked him in the eye as she said, “I’m glad you’re ready. I’m glad that you want to give us another try but there are some ground rules that I need to set before we make another go of it. First, I want you to know that I already knew about the possibility of your being the father of Robin’s little girl. I was in the other room when you told Velle back in college. I also know that Jay doesn’t know about it and I want you to know that I would never tell him. That being said if we are going to try to have a relationship, I don’t want any more secrets and I don’t want to hide what we have from other people. I’m divorce now and free to date whomever I want…and I want that person to be you. Right now, I want you to go out here and enjoy the rest of your party. We can talk about this later tonight…in bed.”
Nikki placed her arms around Justice’s neck and kissed him deeply, unaware that Ricardo had slipped inside the house upstairs and tipped down the side stairs to find out just what the two of them were up to. Ricardo was a very vindictive person filled with a great deal of pride. He saw nothing wrong with public humiliating his wife through an extramarital affair that resulted in the birth of a child that was potentially his, but he’d be damn if he’d sit back while his ex-wife dated one of his supposed to be boys. He really only tolerated Justice because he was related to Jay, but he never really trusted him and now he saw that he was right not to. He had hardly been divorced from Nikki and here was Justice sniffing around his bullpen. Well, he had a trick for him. He’d simply slipped back out to the party and let Jay in on his little secret. If Ricardo had learned nothing else from Nikki, he’d learned how to get revenge and he intended to cause Justice as much pain and embarrassment as he possibly could.
Justice and Nikki emerged from the game room to the sound of raised voices and near yelling. The entire party was focus around an argument between Robin and Jay. Jay’s voice was loud enough for Justice to hear what he was saying before he had even reached the garden where they were standing. “Did you fuck him or no!” Jay yelled.
“Get out of my face, Jay.” Robin said as she tried to walk away. She was mortified. Still she had to deny that anything sexual had happened between she and Justice. She continued, “You’re making a scene.”
“Justice already told me that he fucked you; you lying bitch,” Jay lied, “He also told me that Justine ain’t my daughter.”
“Jay, what the hell is going on? I didn’t tell you no shit like that.” Justice interrupted just as he reached the two of them to hear his cousin lying on him.
Jay turned spun around turning his anger towards Justice. He completely ignored that he’d been caught lying on Justice to project his raft on his unsuspecting cousin. He snapped, “Motherfucker did you fuck my wife?”
“Jay, calm down! Lower you’re voice,” Justice replied trying to get his cousin to lower his voice and stop causing a scene at what was supposed to be a festive occasion.
“You calm down! I want to know if that is your daughter or my mine!” Jay exclaimed as he pointed his finger to Justine who was resting on his mother’s hip.
“Man, don’t be crazy, of course, she’s your daughter!” Justice said. This was the moment he had tried to avoid ever since his night of booze and bedding Robin. Jay had reacted just as he thought that he would and in front of friends and family; just like in all of his nightmares. The only thing he could think to do was to keep denying it and trying to get Jay calmed down.
“Fuck you and this lying bitch. I know you two fucked and I know that’s your fucking kid. How the fuck you gonna let me marry this whore, after you fucked her and got her pregnant? I could have saved my last name for a girl worthy of my last name! You supposed to be my damn family…my brother and you do me like this!” Jay yelled, tired of being lied to.
“Fuck you, you sorry bastard!” Robin yelled. She had been called all the names that she had planned to take from a man of Jay’s caliber. If he was going to call her a bitch then she intended on acting like one. She continued, “Yes, I fucked him! I fucked him hard and I fucked him long right in your bed you sorry motherfucker! What?! You thought I was going to keep sitting him crying while you were out getting pussy from any bitch willing to bust it open for you. I called your phone when you were in Pasedena and guess what! Some whore answered the phone and said you were washing your balls in her hotel sink, so yes! Yes! Yes, I got Justice drunk as hell and I fucked him very well! You got some kind of nerve to be standing here in front of all of these people calling me a fucking whore. Where’s your bastard with that bitch you were not only fucking but engaged too the entire time we were married? Huh? It was your trick ass that cause all of this fucked up shit to happen in the first place. If you keep your dick to yourself and not in everyone else, then none of this would have happened! So fuck you Jason! Fuck you and your last name. I wish you would have given it to someone else because it ain’t like having it comes with any perks unless you like being lied to and cheated on!” Robin didn’t wait for the response she knew was coming. She swiftly walked over and snatched her daughter away from Jay’s mother and exited the party before the tears could be seen by anyone other than Monique, who drove her home.
There was a dead silence in the party, as someone thought it a brilliant idea to turn the music off while all of this had been going on. Mrs. Montgomery, ever the hostess, got the music going again so that attention would be divertied from what had just taken place. As the music started so did Justice, “Jay…I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It just happened.”
“Go to Hell Justice!” Jay snapped as the embarrassment of what had just happened started to sink in. He too began his exit from the party.
“Shit happens Just,” Grip said, as he patted his cousin on the back. He continued, “Don’t worry about it. Jay’s a hothead. He’ll be over this tomorrow. In fact, I’ll go talk to him. You stay here and enjoy your party.”
Just faked a smile, as he watched Grip quickly follow Jay out of the yard. Justice was more humiliated than he felt any one person should be. He couldn’t even look at his aunt and uncle before he too decided to leave his own party. Nikki was following closely behind him but he didn’t want her to go and he was just about to tell her so when they bumped into Ricardo as they reached the back gate.
“That’s what your snake ass get for sneaking around with somebody else’s woman.” Ricardo said smiling, as the bug that he had put in Jay’s ear had festered and caused Jay to explode.
“Get out my face Rico. I’m not in the mood for any shit from you right now,” Jay replied.
“I just thought that you might want to know who told your little secret,” Ricardo grinned. He turned his next inquiry to Nikki grabbing her by her arm before saying, “Where do you think you’re going? I don’t know what you have going on with this clown, but it’s over.”
“Get your hands off her!” Justice demanded as soon as he saw Ricardo’s hand touch Nikki’s hand. He pushed Ricardo hard in his chest. Justice was in the mood to fight and Ricardo would have been like getting to open a present on Christmas Eve.
Nikki quickly put herself between Ricardo and Justice. She didn’t want Justice any more upset than he already was. She knew Ricardo was just trying to get a rise out of Justice and she wasn’t about to let that happen. She said, “Rico don’t come over here trying to start trouble. Why don’t you just leave?”
“I’m leaving,” Ricardo, said deciding to take one last shot at Justice before he left. He got within breathing distance of Justice’s face and said, “I’m glad I told Jay you was fucking his wife and got her pregnant. Now, he don’t have to take care of that little bastard you gave his bitch.”
That was it. Justice pushed Nikki to the side, pulled back his right fist and punched Ricardo right in the eye. The first punch had Ricardo out cold but rational thought was out the window for Justice. He knelt down over him and repeatedly punched Ricardo in the face until his hand went numb from the pain. He could hear Nikki’s voices begging for him to stop but it sounded far away like whispers in a dream. She disappeared for a moment and was back with family members to help pull him off of his victim, but it was too late. He gathered himself from the ground and made his way to his car and left his own party.
