New Title 1 (27 page)

The thoughts kept him sane, kept him from acting out on his rage as the news went straight to his heart. He never had been as good to a woman as he had been to Noe, he had married her. And she had played him. It felt like somebody had died, it was just that devastating.

“
Julez, I'm so sorr-”

“
Shut... the fuck ...up!” He hissed at her venomously, pointing his finger threateningly as his cold eyes shot daggers at her. Jordin stared on in slight fear wondering if this was a good idea. He had to know, yes, but maybe she should have just told him. This was all too dramatic and it wasn't as fun seeing Noelle suffer, because Jordin was too preoccupied with Julez’s hurting. She didn't wish this type of pain on anyone, and now he was feeling what she had felt.

“
How many times?” He asked, feeling the need to know. No matter what, she was cut off, but it was for his own sanity.

Noelle thought about lying but then she looked over at Jordin and knew it was no use. If she was gonna come clean, she may as well come all the way.

“
A ...a lot,” she painfully admitted.

Those two words felt like she had taken the knife that was in Julez's heart and dug it in deeper, twisting and wrenching it.

He sighed and shut his eyes, trying his best to remain calm. He was scared of these feelings, he couldn't lie. He didn't want to just hurt Noelle, he wanted to kill her.

“
What's
a lot
?”

Jordin's ears perked, ready for the response. She wanted to know as well. Noelle wiped her wet face and took a short breath, looking up at the ceiling before replying.

“
E-everyday.”

That was it. Jordin's tough facade vanished and her mouth dropped agape as she felt her own cry coming on. Julez bit his lip and his body tensed uncontrollably. His veins surged out of his muscular arms and neck in rage. The only thing that kept him from flying off the handle was the fact that she was....Then it hit him.

“
Yo...is that...is that even...” Julez couldn't even say the words as he just shook his head at first. He looked her dead in her pathetic eyes and crinkled his brow. “Is that even my baby, Noe?”

His voice cracked with pain. He just knew she would say of course. It had to be, it just had to...

“
I … I don't know.”

That was it. He lost it.

Before another word could be spoken, Julez flew over to Noelle and grabbed her roughly by the throat, pinning her to the living room wall as she brought her hands up to claw at his grip.

“
Julez!” Jordin yelped in fright.

“
Papi,” Noelle struggled to whisper as he squeezed tight and Jordin looked on in fear. Noelle's feet dangled and her eyes pleaded as Julez just looked on unmoving, not releasing his choke hold. Her eyes told a short story of regret and now fear, but Julez was thirsty for revenge.

“
Julez no!” Jordin screamed, rushing over to them. “Let her go, Julez! Let her go...please!”

“
You fucking grimey ass bitch,” he hissed with hatred, still not letting up.

Jordin grabbed his arm and pulled hard but he was too strong. His veins pulsated through his tight arms as he wrapped his whole hand around Noelle's fragile throat.

“
Please Julez! She can't breathe, you're gonna kill her! She's pregnant!”

The statement seemed to snap Julez back into reality as his grip loosened and he released her slowly, causing her body to fall limp to the ground. Julez looked down at her as Jordin continued to hold onto his right arm in fear that he would attack her again. Instead, he only shook his head and let out a chuckle.

“
I don't even know why I let you take me out of character like that...that was my bad for wifing a slut.” He glared down at her in disgust before adding. “You got thirty minutes to get whatever you can and get the fuck out. Be gone when I come back.”

And with that he walked away after shaking his arm out of Jordin's grasp. Seconds later, he slammed the front door behind him.

Jordin looked down at Noelle for a few moments more before leaving out herself, truly not able to stomach the sight of her anymore.

As Noelle lay there alone, she knew that she was truly on her own. Her skeletons were finally out and she had no one to blame for the results of her actions but herself.

She cried the entire time she did it, but true to her character, she got her ass up and set the record for how much shit someone could pack up in a half hour.

By the time Julez returned, Noelle was gone, and so was everything valuable that she could get her hands on. Noelle was no fool, she knew there was a good chance she would never see this house again. Her fairytale was over.

***

Three days had passed as Jordin took refuge in her hotel room. The weather was warm, everyone was heading out to the beaches and barbecues but all Jordin wanted to do was hide. She knew that people picked themselves up from situations like this, even ones worse off, all the time. But she still couldn't help but wonder how that would and could happen? The answer to the beginning of how to do that came to her door that day.

“
Who is it?” She asked with more than a little attitude. There was only one person who knew her location and in no way was she looking forward to seeing him, especially after the last time he had come to her room. She headed over to the peephole preparing to see Slim.

“
It's me Jordin.” She froze. “Julez.”

Jordin remained quiet as she brought her face to the peephole again and took a look. He looked good. Jeans, crisp black shirt, fresh waves, quality jewels, nothing less than expected from the man they called Julez. Jordin took a deep breath and finger combed her hair before opening the door. The motions gave her dejavu' to the time when Julez had picked Noelle up for their first date from her house. For some reason her stomach flipped the same.

“
Hey Julez,” she greeted him warily as she pulled at her thigh length cotton dress that she was lounging In. “How are you?”

She stepped to the side inviting him in, and he walked inside respectively. He began with a blasé introductory shrug.

“
I'm alright. How you?”

Jordin closed the door and shrugged herself before answering.

“
I don't know...I'm alright, I guess.”

Julio faced her and placed his hands in his pockets, staring her in the eyes. He could see how strong she was trying to appear.

“
It's a fucked up situation,” he said as Jordin just nodded.
Tell me something I don't know.
“I know that hurt you Jordin, you didn't deserve that.”

Julez knew Jordin was a good girl, and he had seen her loyalty to Slim during his bid. Jordin swallowed hard and looked down at the hotel room carpet.

“
Neither did you.”

There was a long pause as Jordin's heart raced, wondering what would come next. Lately everything had been one big blur. It went from spending time with Julez in his recovery, to finding out about Noelle and Slim, to Julez finding out about Noelle and Slim, to now standing in a hotel room with Julez in the aftermath. It was all very intense.

“
So, I see you been writing,” Julez stated, motioning to her laptop sitting opened on the room desk.

Jordin ran her hand through her long tresses before answering.

“
Yeah. I'm trying to wrap up that piece I was telling you about, I think I finally found my angle. Just gotta make sure I cross all the T's...”

“
And dot all the I's,” he finished for her. It made her smile a little as she nodded.

Julez stared at her for a while and then figured he would stop before she became uncomfortable. He took a look around at the nice yet average hotel room.

“
How long you gonna be staying here?”

“
I guess...as long as it takes me to get on my feet. Find a place of my own.”

“
You know I'm gonna help you, right?”

She looked up at him and he was dead serious. Jordin shook her head.

“
Julez...you don't have to do that. I will be okay.”

He waved his hand at her dismissively.

“
Jordin, I wasn't asking you. I was letting you know that I'm going to help you. You didn't ask for this shit, neither did I. You shouldn't have to suffer for it.”

She sighed and then forced a smile.

“
Thank you, Julez. Thanks...for everything.” She stood up straight and then asked. “So...do you want something to drink, or something?”

Julez shrugged nonchalantly.

“
Yeah, I'll take a water...soda or whatever.”

Jordin chuckled.

“
Yeah well, if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna get something a little more...potent.” She needed to unwind. Julez read her mind and nodded.

“
Fuck it, I'm wit you.”

About an hour time and room service of a few drinks had Jordin and Julez relaxed and conversing, mostly going over how dumb they had been and how bad their choices were in partners.

“
Aw man,” Julez said, running his hand over his face.

“
What?” Jordin asked, standing up and stretching. “You thinking about our shady ass exes?” She joked.

Julez stood as well and shook his head.

“
Nah. I'm thinking...how I wasted so much time, you know? I should've...I should've just went after... what I really wanted in the beginning.”

There was so much honesty in his voice, too much. It had to be the alcohol. Jordin heard him but she pretended not to. A small part of her was frightened as to what he would say he really wanted. Her breathing quickened as she picked up the empty glasses and moved them from the table to the tray.

“
Are you hungry?” She asked pretending to be ignorant to the depth of his statement. Julez stared at her and licked his lips. He felt like ‘fuck it’, no better time to keep it real than now. With all of the time they had spent together recently, and then with all of the shit that had gone down, he felt he had nothing to lose.

“
Jordin.”

She looked over at him and took a deep breath and the expression on his face told her that he was about to say something very serious.

“
Jordin, you know what it is. You know that I've been wanting you for a long time now. With all that's been happening, I just...I just don't feel I need to ignore it anymore. You knew from the beginning, ma. It was always supposed to be you. When I saw you again after that party, I should've just gone for it...”

Jordin felt faint as her mouth went dry and her eyes danced around the room, hard to look at him. Was she hearing him right?

“
Julez you...what are you saying? You were with Noelle by then. It wasn't...it wasn't right.”

“
I had just met her. It was just fucking, nothing serious. You know that, Jordin.” He was speaking low, his voice was a deep sexy marinated in yearning as he started to move closer to her. Jordin began straightening items on the table to distract her from his closeness. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

“
But I was...I was with Slim.” Her voice was shaky. She could feel tears coming on, she was so emotional and she couldn't even look up at him.

Julez shook his head.

“
I should've just taken you from that nigga. I looked in your eyes and I saw you wasn't happy. And I knew I could give you more, but I stalled... I settled.”

He was close now, too close. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, smell his Giorgio Armani cologne. Jordin closed her eyes as her chest heaved up and down.

“
Julez,” she moaned softly, almost inaudibly as she felt him moving her hair to the side and bringing his lips to her ear. His body pressed against her own felt too right, like they fit together. He was a comfort in the middle of a horrendous storm. Jordin couldn't fight it.

“
This is too much...,” she said, preparing to move away from him, shaking her head. “Too much...has happened. Too much stuff
is
happening, Julez.”