45. 🍸 Zombie

**KEKE**

Since getting the news from the doctor, I haven’t eaten, barely slept, and haven’t moved much from my bed.
On the third day after I arrived, Trey managed to get me an appointment with a doctor at a strip mall. At the time, I was grateful to be seen by anyone as the waiting lists within a thirty-mile radius were as long as forevah.
Without an examination, I told the doctor, a bushy-haired middle-aged man, about my history and my ectopic pregnancy.
“Given your weight, your age, and with only six menstrual cycles a year, you’ll have a better chance at winning the Powerball lottery than getting pregnant.”
I took his words to heart, falling into a dark depression I hadn’t known since the first days after I was shot. When Justice called me this morning, I was at my lowest point. All I could think about was how he happy he seemed playing with the twins at Pippa’s party and asking me how many kids I wanted.
I didn’t want to hold him back. I thought he deserved better.
And he does.
He deserves a better me. One that is strong, self-assured, and confident.
For a minute, I had reverted to the version of myself I hated. I had turned into that scared girl who couldn’t stop looking at her scar and asking, what if. I thought I had moved past her, but somehow, she snuck back in when I wasn’t looking.
This time, I’m going to get rid of her once and for all... but first, I need to take a shower.
I’m about to get up to do just that when I hear the doorbell ring. I can make out my brother’s deep voice but not who he’s talking to.
He ordered pizza for dinner, maybe it’s the delivery man?
The front door closes and I hear footsteps approach my room. As my door swings open a voice says, “Kiara Cynthia Jones! You get out of that bed this instant.”
_________________________
My parents have gotten older.
Dad is grayer around his temples and Mom has a couple of lines at the corner of her eyes.
They are still fit and healthy.
I just wish our conversation could be the same.
“How was your flight?” Dad asks. He sits up straight, his back as stiff as a board.
“It was fine,” I say to the top button of his collar.
Mom sits a bit more relaxed, her hands folded in her lap and her legs crossed at the ankles. “Did you have a long layover?”
“No, I had a direct flight.”
Dad lifts a brow. “How was New York?”
“It was fine.”
At this, Trey throws up his hands in exasperation. “You three need to stop beating around the bush and hash this out. I’m not going to sit here and listen to stupid-ass—” At a glare from Dad he changes his language, “I mean, stupid small talk for another minute longer.”
My parents and I are taken aback for a moment, then we all begin to speak.
“We’re sorry,” my mom says at the same time I say, “I missed you guys.”
Dad sits stiffly for a few moments, then tears spring into his eyes. “Keke, Trey told us what happened to you in Dubai. Why didn’t you tell us? We could have lost you over there. Don’t shut us out like that ever again. We love you, baby girl, and we’ll stand by you from now on. Just don’t shut us out.” His voice breaks on the last word and when he takes his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his eyes, my own tears fall in a river down my face.
I get up and my parents stand at the same time. Cheesy as it sounds, we meet in the middle and hug each other. Laughing, crying, and talking at once.
It is at that moment that the doorbell rings again.
With a roll of his eyes, Trey gets up from his recliner and answers the door. This time there is no mistaking who is on the other side. My heart leaps in my throat and I pat my tangled hair nervously, wishing I had taken that shower after all.
I tighten my maroon terry cloth bathrobe around my middle and shuffle my feet back into my slippers, noting that the skin on my ankles and legs is as ashy as hell.
Justice comes into the room. His eyes on me. He doesn’t look left or right or hesitate. He pulls me to him, plants his hands on my face, and kisses me like he will never get to do it again.
And by the way my father is looking at him, that may be a sure bet.
“Kiara,” my father says stiffly.
Justice kisses my lips once more before dropping his hands from my face. Wrapping an arm around my middle, he stretches out a hand toward my father. “Mr. Jones, I’m Justice Stone.”
They shake, my father eyeing Justice from head to toe. The scowl that settled on his lips hasn’t moved. Mom is a different story. When Justice introduces himself to her, she is all smiles and giggles. My father’s frown, however, etches deeper into his face.


**JUSTICE**
Keke gets her caring side from her mother. Joyce Jones envelops me in a tight hug, a smile on her face.
Keke’s father, reminds me of my own.
At least how I remember him.
Same size. Same look when sizing someone up. Same firm grip when shaking hands.
I see where Keke gets her fierceness from. Raymond Jones hasn’t stop frowning at me from his seat next to his wife...or stopped staring. Since he’s sitting on the couch facing us, it’s a bit disconcerting.
Especially since he has yet to blink.
I gathered from her brother when I told him why I was here and who I came to see that I “couldn’t have picked a worse time”.
That didn’t stop me, didn’t even slow me down. Seeing Keke was my only focus. And now that I have her hand in mine, seeing her beautiful smile, I can finally breathe again.
“Justice would you like something to drink? Trey asks, serving his parents and Keke the water they’d requested before I arrived.
“I’ll have some water also, please.” Trey nods and leaves, coming back a minute later with a water for me and one for himself.
Keke giggles and leans in to whisper, “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say, ‘please’.”
I whisper back, feeling like I’m Cam’s age, “You’ll hear it a lot more. Starting with tonight.”
Her giggle is cutoff by her father saying, “If you two are done over there, I would like to know how this,” he points a finger at us and wags it back and forth, “got started.”
“Daddy...” Keke warns, her face gathering in a storm cloud.
Trey gets out of the line of fire by going to sit on the arm of the couch by his parents. He’s tall and lanky so his feet have no problem touching the floor.
I pat Keke on the knee. “It’s all right, K. I got this.”
“K?” Keke and her father ask at the same time their identical brows lift in surprise.
When I talked to Xaver during Thanksgiving, he’d asked me if Keke and I were the real deal. I told him I was pretty sure we were. He’d clapped me on the back and said, “When you give her a nickname, something all your own, you’ll know for sure.”
I understood then why he calls Pip, Pi.
His nickname for her is his stamp. The moniker itself is something so intimate, no other man had better utter it unless he expects to get beatdown.
At least that is my interpretation.
On the plane ride and in the rental car on the drive from the airport, I thought about what Xaver said. In my quest for something suitable, I crossed off several names. For instance, “Ki” was too much like “Pi” and “Kia” is like the car. I finally decided on “K”. It is solid, strong, and makes a statement by its simplicity.
I like it and I hope she does too because she will hear it. *A lot.*
“Why are you calling me ‘K’? she asks, her voice brushed with concern.
I turn so her father can’t see the burning desire in my eyes. “I’ll tell you later, K. Okay?”
Her mouth parts before she clamps it shut, her stifled moan coming out in a puff of heated air through her nostrils.
Normally, I’m a man of control. When I’m out in public, my body reacts at my command.
Not this time.
Her muffled want of me has my cock twitching and rising from its nearly ten-day slumber. I feel its heavy weight on my thigh before I can halt its progress.
Thankfully, I had the sense to put on some baggy sweats and a hoodie. If I had worn jeans, I’m sure her father would be at my throat right about now.
I take a moment to get my dick under control, then turn to face her still frowning father. In addition to thinking of a name for my woman, I also thought about her parents. As I sat on the plane, I cobbled together a speech for when (not if) I met them.
Unfortunately, I can’t use it seeing as I messed up their reconciliation, so I begin with an apology and wing it from there.
“Mr. Jones, I’m sorry to interrupt your family...uh, gathering. I know Keke has been estranged from you and your wife for a while, and I sincerely apologize for butting in.” Her mother nods her thanks and gives me a warm smile while her father crosses his arms over his chest. All I can do is keep talking, praying he’ll give me a chance. “Keke and I have also been apart these last few days due to a misunderstanding.” I grab her hand, and although I keep my eyes on her father, my words or for her. “I wanted to come and tell your daughter she’ll never have to worry that I’ll want something she may or may not be able to provide. All I want is the strength she gives me, her belief in me, and the utter joy she makes me feel.”
“Oh, Justice,” Keke says, her eyes filling with tears. I let go of her hand, to rope my arm around her shoulders, hugging her to me. She fits so perfectly in my side, in my life, and with the kids. No one will ever come close. I’d be a fool to let her go.
And judging by the way my heart is pounding, she agrees.
“That may be all well and good,” her father gruffly states. “But what exactly are your intentions towards my daughter? She’s been through the wringer before with a man like you, and I won’t stand for it happening again.”
Being compared to that bastard that hurt her so badly makes my blood boil. Had any other man lumped me in the same league as that waste of space, I would have torn their head off and fed them their balls, but this is Keke’s father and I need him on my side.
And the only way to do that is to be honest with how I feel.
Go big or go home, Justice. Any other way is for cowards, as my dad used to say.
I decide to go big so I can take Keke home.
“Sir,” I say my eyes on the man whose heart I need win as much as his daughter’s. “I came to Stockton from New York on the first available flight I could find to make things right. You see, I love your daughter, Mr. Jones, and I want to ask your permission to marry her.”
I expected her father and perhaps Trey to bluster… maybe for her mom to giggle or Keke to let out a shout. I didn’t expect the room to go as silent as a tomb, the only noise of a dog barking a couple of times outside before it to, went still.