Passion of the Streets

by A'zayler

“What you mean, Gee?”

  “Are you going to go back to Miami and keep ignoring me?”

  Jamil kissed the side of her face. “No. I’m going to go back to Miami and talk to you every day until you find a trainer closer to me so we can be together.”

  Gia smiled to herself because he sounded like he had it all thought out. “I love you.”

  “Love you too. Now, go to sleep so you can beat Stacy Dunlap’s ass tomorrow.”

  Her eyes closed but her smile remained. She was finally back in Jamil’s arms. Right where she belonged.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Even when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse, it did. I stay awake so many nights trying to figure out what I’ve done to deserve what I go through, and I have yet to find an answer. Hopefully one day it’ll all make sense, but until then, I’m left to put the pieces together on my own.”

  —Oni

  The crowd went wild as Gia passed Stacy Dunlap on the last turn and ran straight across the finish line. Everyone who had been in their seats were now on their feet as the announcer screamed Gia’s name. It was crazy how the crowd reacted to Gia finishing first.

  It was like everyone at the stadium was rooting for her. Sure, there were people there for Stacy as well, but it looked to Oni like Gia had won the crowd over. People from all over the place were rooting and yelling for her as she took her spot on the winner’s podium.

  Oni watched with a large smile as cameras flashed all around Gia as she received her medals and certificates. The race had been a tough yet amazing one, and Gia had won. Everything she’d been working for and waiting for had finally paid off.

  Oni jumped up and down screaming as she watched the news cameras and reporters swarm Gia. Oni was so loud she couldn’t tell who was worse, her or her aunt and uncle. Gia’s parents were out of their seats and on their way to her the moment she crossed the finish line. Oni was so wrapped up in Gia’s success that she had forgotten about her own problems.

  This was the most peace she’d had since the night she found out about Isaac. Little did she know that it was all about to come to an end.

  “I didn’t know your cousin was that fast.” Isaac’s voice came from behind her.

  Oni almost jumped out of her skin when she saw him. “Oh my God. What are you doing here?”

  He smiled at her and grabbed her hand. “You told me last night you were coming here, and since you act like you can’t talk to me at home, I figured I could surprise you.” He looked so handsome and sweet she almost forgave him right there on the spot. “I thought maybe you and I could use this weekend to get our relationship back on track.”

  Oni wanted to be mad at him. She wanted to ignore everything he stood for, but she loved him. So when he pulled her to him for a hug, she obliged.

  “Please stop ignoring me, Oni.”

  “Okay.” Nothing more was said as her head rested against his chest.

  Maybe being in Washington with him would give her time to get everything together. She didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing them or causing problems. It would just be them. They could actually go on a real date and figure their world out, because as of right then, it was upside down. He had a lot of explaining to do, and she couldn’t wait to hear it.

  “I can’t believe you’re here.” Oni looked at him again once she’d pulled out of his embrace.

  He wiped his hand over his head and shrugged. “I honestly can’t either.”

  “Well, I have to go congratulate Gia. I’ll meet back up with you later?”

  “Yeah, we can do that. Just call me as soon as you leave your family.”

  Oni smiled. “I will.”

  He hugged her once more before walking away. Oni stood in her same spot, a little dazed by the fact that he had come all the way to Washington just to be with her. Even though he had flaws and the two of them had a lot to figure out, he’d come.

  He loved her enough to come. No man she had been with had ever put forth that much effort, and for that she would hear him out. Initially she had planned to just break things off with him, warn Gia, and never look back, but now she didn’t know anymore.

  Maybe after they talked he could help her figure out what to do. Something that would benefit her and Gia. When the crowd began to roar again, Oni looked for Gia. She was in the middle of the field with her parents on both sides of her smiling.

  With a new burst of energy, Oni took off toward her. She pushed through people the best she could without being rude until she was in the middle of the field as well. Though she could see Gia, she was still relatively far from her. By the time she got to where they were standing, they were walking off again.

  “Gia!” Oni yelled.

  Gia turned around and gave Oni a large smile before moving in her direction. As soon as she got to Oni, they embraced.

  “You did it! I’m so proud of you,” Oni screamed in Gia’s ear.

  “I know. I’m ready to go now, though. My stomach is so upset.”

  Oni gave her a sympathetic look before nodding. “Let’s go, then.”

  Gia looked around in exhaustion at all of the people surrounding her and the other runners. “I wish it were that easy.” Gia gave her an exhausted smile before grabbing her hand and pulling her through all of the flashing cameras and celebrating fans.

  * * *

  Jamil stood in the middle of the parking lot with a large bouquet of balloons and flowers. He’d made sure to grab them before coming to the race that morning. Gia had left pretty early, leaving him plenty of time to get her goodies without her seeing.

  Now he was in the middle of the parking lot waiting for her to come out. The stadium had been crazy, so he sure as hell wasn’t about to drag all of the balloons and flowers through a crowd. The moment he’d watched Gee cross the finish line, his heart surged through his chest.

  One would have thought he won the race by the way he jumped and screamed. Soon after, he rushed to the car and grabbed her stuff. It had been almost thirty minutes, and people were now pouring from the stadium. Because of all of the publicity she was getting at the moment, he knew he would be able to spot her the moment she emerged.

  “Yeah.” Jamil answered his ringing phone.

  “When you coming back?” Alira’s voice sounded urgent.

  “In a few days. Why? What’s up?”

  “I have to go out of town tonight to do some work with one of my distributors. I was just checking in to see what you had planned.”

  “Well, you good. I’ll just hit you when I get back. Everything is pretty much set until Thursday, and I’ll definitely be back by then.” Jamil noticed the flashing cameras exiting the gates, so he figured Gia was on her way.

  “Okay. Hit me up if you need to. I’ll check in later.”

  “Bet.” Jamil hung up his phone and stuffed it into his pocket.

  As more and more people began to disperse, he caught a glimpse of Gia. She was smiling and waving, but she looked a little weird. Her face didn’t look right or something. Almost like she was on the verge of throwing up.

  He wanted to rush to her and pull her away from everyone, but this was the moment she had been waiting for, and he didn’t want to be the one to interrupt her shine. However, watching her look so miserable was making it hard for him not to move.

  He shifted from one foot to the other, trying to make himself stay put, but it was getting harder and harder by the second. It was baffling him that even with all of the people around her, no one noticed that she didn’t look well. When she covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes for a second, that was it.

  Jamil set the bouquet down on his rental car and took off running toward her. “Gee!” he yelled as he neared her.

  As soon as she saw Jamil, she took off running in his direction. Everyone’s attention turned to him as she made her way over to him. She was only a few feet away when he grabbed her in one of his arms and pulled her to him. Her smaller body was wrapped up in his immediately.

&n
bsp; “You not feeling well, Gee?”

  “No. I need to throw up.” She barely got the words out of her mouth before she pulled away.

  As soon as she bent down beside him, he grabbed her ponytail and held it. People stood around watching her empty the contents of her stomach as if she was some sort of freak show, which only angered Jamil.

  “Can y’all give her some privacy?” he yelled.

  For a moment people stood around unsure of what to do next, but when he yelled it a second time, they began to move away. The only remaining people were her parents and Oni. He nodded at Oni, but she didn’t look so well either. She almost looked like she was on the verge of passing out. What the hell was wrong with her and Gia?

  “You feeling better?” he asked Gia when she stood, feet wiping her mouth.

  Versus saying anything, she simply nodded.

  “And who are you?” A tall burly man looked Jamil up and down.

  He could tell by the man’s eyes and skin color that he was Gia’s father. She looked exactly like him.

  Jamil stuck his hand out for a shake. “Jamil Rock. Gia’s boyfriend.”

  “Boyfriend?” the lady beside him asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “This is Milli, Colonel,” Gia said weakly as she leaned against Jamil. “The one from Georgia.”

  Her father looked him up and down with a hard stare while her mother simply smiled. Jamil, not one to be easily intimidated, stared him right back down. The two of them participated in a full-out staring match until her father cracked a smile.

  “Nice to meet you, young man.”

  Jamil nodded. “Likewise, sir.” He then looked down at Gia. “You did awesome, Gee. Like I knew you would.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Gia was smiling from ear to ear. Even with her tired posture and sad face, she looked beautiful. “Thank you. I was looking for you.”

  “I wanted to give you your moment. Plus I had some stuff for you.” Jamil turned her toward the car where all her balloons and flowers were.

  Gia smiled and took off running toward it with everyone else in tow. After smelling the flowers and grabbing the large silver balloon that was shaped like the number one, she ran back to Jamil.

  “I’m so happy you’re here.”

  He wrapped one arm around her neck and kissed her ear. “I told you I wouldn’t miss it.” He kissed her again before whispering into her ear, “We need to go check on my baby. Can you get away?”

  Gia shook her head. “No, we don’t. I always get sick after I run. The doctor said it’s normal,” she whispered before turning back toward her parents. “I’m starving.”

  Everyone agreed to go eat except Oni. She told them she wasn’t feeling well and needed to go lie down. Jamil wasn’t too sure about that, but Oni wasn’t his girl. She was probably going to trick off and didn’t need them following her.

  Once they decided where to go, they all got in their cars and left, Gia riding with Jamil. The two of them were so in love, and it was so obvious. Jamil was most definitely glad that he’d shown up. Seeing Gia as happy as she was right then was all he wanted out of life. Her, him, and their baby.

  After a long lunch, Gia’s parents told her they would see her later and to enjoy her friend while she was in town. Jamil was more than happy to hear that. They were cool people and treated him nicely, but he was ready to be alone with Gia.

  “So where are we going?” Gia asked Jamil as they walked hand in hand down the street.

  “To get dessert and to go to the park. You okay with walking or are your legs tired?”

  Gia shook her head. “I’m fine. As long as I’m with you I’m good.”

  Jamil nodded and kissed the back of her hand. He wasn’t too sure about where they were going either, he just knew there was a small ice cream shop up ahead. He’d spotted it the night before on his way to the hotel. After grabbing their ice cream, they headed to the park.

  “What made you want to come to the park?” Gia asked as they took a seat on one of the park benches.

  “It’s calming and I figured we needed time to talk.”

  There were people all around them. Some were running, some walking, others playing with their kids or having small picnics. The spot was relaxing—the perfect place for them to hash things out.

  “I want you to move to Georgia with me, Gianna.”

  Gia lay her head against his shoulder and sighed. “I don’t know, Jamil. That’s such a big step.”

  “I want to be with you, Gee. I want to see you every day. I want to help you raise our kid. I can’t do that with you being all the way in fucking Hawaii.” He sounded a lot more irritated than he’d wanted to, but it was the truth. He had been thinking about having a family with Gia since she’d left, and he wasn’t about to let it pass him by without a fight.

  “I know, Milli, and I want to do all that too, but I have the Olympics coming up. I don’t want to lose focus.”

  “I promise I got you. You won’t lose focus. I’ll take care of the baby while you’re working out and shit. Then we can help each other when you get there.”

  “That sounds easy, but what will we do about money and stuff? I don’t want to be with you if you’re going to be selling drugs all night and day. That’s not safe for the baby.”

  “I’ll stop,” he said before he knew it. He was desperate.

  Gia sat up and looked at him. “Will you for real?”

  Jamil nodded. “I mean, not immediately, like tomorrow or anything. But give me at least until the baby comes to get some stuff in order, then I’ll stop.”

  “You’ll get a regular job?”

  Jamil’s face frowned and he shook his head. “Gee, do you know how much money I have?” He chuckled. “I don’t need a job right now, baby. Neither do you.” He chuckled again.

  Like Shock had said, Jamil might have been illiterate, but he was a self-made millionaire. He’d been slanging dope and getting paid for years, each deal making more money than the last. He and Gia would be straight forever if he did right by his funds, which he knew he could.

  “That’s drug money, though. How long do you think it’ll last?”

  Jamil sat in deep thought because he knew for a fact it would last for years to come, but he was sure she needed something more concrete.

  “As long as you make it last. You’re smart, Gee. You can take all my money and do whatever you want to do with it to make it grow. I’m not the smartest nigga, as we both know, but as long as you help me, we can make it.”

  Gia laid her head back against his and closed her eyes. Her hands rested across her flat abdomen as she breathed quietly. Her silence was unnerving, but he didn’t want to crowd her thoughts.

  “I still don’t know about that, Jamil. That’s a lot to ask with nothing solid to stand on.”

  “Nothing solid? What else do you need me to do?”

  Gia shrugged and looked away.

  “I always thought I would be married before I started having kids and living with a man. Not like this.”

  “I’ll marry you, Gee. We can get married tomorrow before we leave,” he rushed to say.

  This made Gia sit up out of her seat. She frowned and raised one eyebrow. “You’re serious?”

  “As hell.”

  “Okay.” She giggled. “I don’t know why you haven’t said that. I would have moved back. I have an offer to train at UGA. I could work out there.”

  Jamil felt so good, he wanted to fly. He smiled so hard it could have lit up the park. There was nothing anybody could do to bring him down from this high. Or so he thought.

  They sat at the park for another hour or two, ironing out specifics, before heading back to her hotel room. It had gotten dark outside and they were in an unfamiliar place, it was time to go.

  “Let’s stop and see Oni real fast so I can tell her the good news. Her room is downstairs from mine.”

  Jamil nodded and followed her lead. They were in the parking lot when he rem
embered he had a surprise for Gia in the car.

  “You go ahead. I’m coming. I need to grab something out of the car.”

  “I’ll wait for you on the sidewalk.”

  Jamil nodded and darted to his car. He looked up as he dug into his armrest and noticed Gia was talking to someone. Though he couldn’t see who it was because of the wall of the hotel, he was sure it was Oni. Perfect timing, he thought.

  Jamil stuck his gift behind his back and locked the doors to his car before heading toward her. She was smiling at him when she saw him coming but turned back around to talk. As he got closer, he recognized the girl’s voice to be Oni’s. However, there was a male voice too. Jamil shook his head. Just like he’d thought, Oni had skipped dinner to trick off.

  “Hurry up, babe.” Gia waved him over.

  “You’re not alone?” The sound of Oni’s voice didn’t sit right with him, but he couldn’t figure out why. “You should have told me.”

  “What’s the big deal? It’s only Jamil,” Gia said.

  There was a brief silence as he approached before he heard the male voice.

  “Jamil as in Milli Rock?”

  Milli Rock?

  That alerted Jamil, so he immediately stuck Gia’s gift into his pocket and snatched his gun from his waistband. There weren’t any niggas in DC that should know him by Milli Rock.

  “Yeah, why? You know him?” Gia asked skeptically.

  The man chuckled. “Yeah, we go way back.”

  That was the last thing he said before Jamil rounded the corner. When his eyes landed on the man, he knew he recognized him, he just couldn’t remember from where.

  “You think you know me?” Jamil asked with his gun by his side. He didn’t trust niggas and he didn’t take chances.

  The man smiled deviously before nodding. “Hell, yeah. Me and you go way back, Milli Rock.” His tone was taunting.

  “What’s going on?” Gia looked afraid.

  “Isaac, let’s go back inside,” Oni told him.

  “I don’t have time for guessing games, nigga. Who are you?” Jamil raised his gun.

  Gia and Oni both shrieked.

  “Milli, no.” Gia touched his side. “Put your gun away. That’s just Isaac. He and Oni have been dating.”