by Jahquel J
A Staten Island LOVE LETTER 3: THE FORGOTTEN BOROUGH
Jahquel J.
Copyright © 2019
Published by Urban Chapters Publications
www.urbanchapterspublications.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Any unauthorized reprint or use of the material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the publisher. This is an original work of fiction. Name, characters, places and incident are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Contains explicit languages and adult themes
suitable for ages 16+
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Author’s Notes:
This is the finale. No, there won’t be any part four or spin-offs. This series was so special to write about because it was about my hometown. I know when it’s time to end it, and three was where I needed to end it. Their story had been told and now it’s time for me to focus on other characters. This book took a lot out of me. I wrote, stopped, revised, and continued writing. NOTHING about this book was rushed. Every question has been answered.
The characters do the most, yes, they do. That’s alright, I like when they do the most. If you don’t like that, maybe my books aren’t for you. Thank you to everyone who supported this series. It means the world to me. Let’s end this book on the right note and jump right into my next series!
PS: Telling an author how to create their art is like telling Beyoncé how she should have wrote the Lemonade album, when you’ve never written an album. Her album was pure emotion. This book is the same. Telling me how I should have ended it, is like telling me how I should breathe. Dramatic. I know, but if you’ve read my work, you know I’m dramatic lol!
With love,
Jah!
PS, Holding his heart and his gun 2, All he wanted was a real one 2 & From The Heart 2 will never come out. They’re under an old publisher and I’m not allowed to finish those books.
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SYNOPSIS:
In the finale, everything comes to a boil. Will Zeek’s luck finally run out? Did Priest murder Zoe, or has Zoe escaped death to live another day? With everything going on, Priest hasn’t had a moment to check in with his nieces. When he finds out that his niece has a baby with the enemy, will he turn a blind eye, or will he push Kiss out there with the wolves? Kiss witnessed her uncle shooting her baby’s father and doesn’t know how to get past everything. Does Kiss decide to cut her uncle, or does she choose family over everything?
Free is left with the decision of what to do with her newfound pregnancy. Should she abort the baby or lie to Ghost about everything? With Georgia in the back of her mind, she’s ready to move back to where she once felt safe. One problem; she doesn’t know how to tell Ghost without him getting in his feelings. Does Freedom decide to move back without Ghost? Or does Ghost put his foot down and demand she stays in Staten Island?
Liberty’s secret about her son is out and she doesn’t know how to process everything. With Staten now looking at her different, she starts to back pedal with drugs. All her hard work goes down the drain once she finds solace in her newfound escape from it all. Will Liberty’s past be too much for Staten to handle?
Justice is trying to balance out life with Priest. With Marisol constantly at her neck, she doesn’t know if they’ll last. When Priest asks Justice to move in with him, she accepts the offer. With a baby mama who is out for blood, will Marisol finally get her wish and break the couple apart?
Everyone is wide awake when it comes to the forgotten borough. With rivals at each other’s necks, bitter baby mamas and relationships on the rocks, who knows if these couple’s relationships will survive? Staten Island, here’s my letter to you…
1
Justice
“How could you be so fucking reckless?” I yelled as I stared into Priest’s eyes. He had a lot going on and I knew I shouldn’t have been on his case, but he was fucking reckless for what he had done tonight.
I wasn’t blind about how he earned his money and what he probably had to do to get paid. He was a street nigga and I understood all of that. I knew that things weren’t always going to be roses and candle lit dinners. Still, he should have been smarter than what he did tonight. He pulled a loaded gun out and shot a man in front of so many witnesses. Anybody could open their mouth and point him out with the quickness. My heart was thumping so hard that I was sure he could hear it. His hat was pulled low over his eyes as he sat on the counter in the men’s bathroom. We had arrived at the hospital two hours ago and were waiting to be updated on Kiss. She was in labor and the baby was coming tonight. Me and Free had timed her contractions on the way to the hospital. She was hysterical the entire time. She was hysterical about the wrong things at that. She should have been crying because she was about to deliver her baby at eight months pregnant, but instead she sobbed about her baby daddy.
“Jus, I don’t want to hear this shit right now,” he waved me off and continued to stare down at his hands.
Invading his space, I stepped in between his legs and forced him to look into my eyes. “You told me that you were in love with me, right or wrong?
“You already know I love you,” he replied.
“Then, I have a right to speak on the reckless shit that you did. Do you think I want you behind a prison wall? Roshon, I’m serious,” I held his face with my hand, and he stared into my eyes.
“If I gotta sit behind the wall knowing that nigga is dead, I’m good.”
“That’s fucking selfish!” I raised my voice. “So, fuck me and the girls, huh?”
“Nah, Kiss grown now. She out here fucking a nigga that was clearly fucking Myla’s ass. She thinks she knows the world, she don’t need me.”
Kiss had got herself in a web that I didn’t even want to be a part of. You had Free who fucked with Zoe, Myla that fucked with him and now she completed the damn triangle. A nigga that was taking it in the booty wasn’t a nigga that could even breathe around me. Especially one that was on the down low. That was dangerous and so selfish when it came to dealing with women.
“My fucking mother raised you when your mother tossed your dick in the booty ass out on the streets!” I heard Free scream and ran out the bathroom.
When I made it back to the waiting area, she was sitting in the chair with tears running down her eyes. Ghost was holding onto her waist because she was trying to leap out of the chair toward Myla. Myla was sitting across from her nervously tapping her leg. While we were waiting for an update on Kiss, Myla had come two hours later saying she was waiting to hear something from the surgeon that was working on Zoe. I would have assumed that nigga was dead with how many bullets Priest had put in him.
“Free, I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I love him,” she cried like someone felt bad for her ass.
<
br /> “There’s no fucking excuse, Myla. You should have warned me about him, but nah you encouraged me to continue fucking around with him knowing that you were fucking him in the ass!” Spit flew from Free’s mouth.
“Ma calm down before they kick us the fuck out of here,” Ghost calmed her down. Liberty was sitting in the corner shaking and ignoring what Staten was saying to her. Right now wasn’t the time to address her son, Chance.
Out of our entire family, I was the only person that knew about Chance. I had found out by accidentally walking into her room without knocking. She was changing and I caught a glimpse of her stomach. Liberty said she wasn’t ready to be a mother and that she was going to give him up for adoption. This was before she found out that he had down syndrome. I tried not to get involved with either of my sister’s lives. They were grown and able to figure things out on their own. If they needed me, I was there for advice like always.
“Word to my mother, you’re dead to me bitch!” Free screamed one last time before she stood up and walked out of the waiting room.
I walked over to Myla and sat down beside her. Wrong or not, she was family and I wasn’t going to turn my back on her. Soon as she found out about Zoe, she should have told Free about him. This had nothing to do with her loving his ass. It had everything to do with Free catching something. If he was fucking Free, Kiss and Myla, there was no telling who else he could possibly be fucking too.
Free came rushing back over to Ghost. “Detectives just entered the hospital. You guys need to get Priest out of here,” she told him.
Ghost stood up, nodded over to Staten who followed him into the bathroom. I rushed in right behind them as they were telling him that he had to leave. “I need to make sure my niece good. I’m not fucking leaving.”
I went over and grabbed hold of his face, forcing him to stare into my eyes. “Right now isn’t the time for you to want to play brave. Love and Kiki still need you. I will stay here, make sure she’s fine, and call you. You don’t need to be here and with Myla in her feelings, there is no telling what she will say to the cops.”
“I’d leave his pink wearing ass dead in his shop,” Staten snarled.
“I’m gonna act like I didn’t hear that. Go to Ghost’s house and I’ll see you when I’m done here,” I told him and tried to walk away, but he pulled me back as he hopped off the counter.
“Give me a kiss,” he demanded.
I reached up on my toes and kissed him on the lips before heading out of the bathroom. When I came out, Free was talking to Liberty in the corner. I could tell the conversation was going nowhere. Liberty was stubborn and liked her business to be kept to herself. I didn’t see a future between she and Staten because he didn’t seem like the type that was going to put up with her secret ass lifestyle she chose to live. Once upon a time, she used to tell us everything. Soon as Free moved, it was like a part of her died and she became so closed off from everything and everyone. If I didn’t walk into her bedroom that day, I probably wouldn’t have known about Chance.
“Can I talk to you real quick?” Myla pulled me from my thoughts. I allowed her to pull me over to the vending machines.
“What’s up?”
“How are you calm during all of this? I feel like I’m going to lose my damn mind any second. I get why Free is upset, but if she walks by and says something again, I’m going to beat her ass.”
“You’re a man and she’s a woman. You can wear wigs, paint your nails and everything else, but that doesn’t make you a woman in the eye of the law. Plus, as much as I love you, I’m gonna beat the breaks off you if you touch my sister,” I let him know.
Me and Free had our differences, still she was my sister and I would try and knock someone’s head off their shoulders if they ever put their hands on either Liberty or Free. They would be the same way when it came to me. There were so many times I had to beg them to leave Todd alone. Liberty even showed up to his job one time and tried to beat the shit out of him. As much as Myla loved to be called a woman, the truth was that she wasn’t, and nobody was going to sit there and allow her to beat on Free’s small ass.
“I’m in love with Zoe, Justice. We’re planning on being a family and everything. I knew about Kiss’s baby,” she explained like this helped her case.
“Love can make you do some stupid shit, but you should have told that girl about Zoe’s ass. She’s seventeen years old and didn’t need to be involved with that. It’s one thing with Free, but she’s a damn baby,” I walked over to the vending machine in disbelief.
All for the sake of love he was willing to fuck over his family and a teenager for a man that wasn’t worth shit. I understood being stupid in love, but there had to be a limit to the shit he was doing and putting himself through. At the end of the day, the whole situation was a mess.
“I wasn’t thinking about any of that shit, Justice. I’ve always worried about everyone and for once I was happy and in love with someone who wanted to love me back. Am I so wrong for worrying about myself? Kiss is a fresh ass and she wanted to be grown and got her ass into some grown shit. As for Free, I feel bad for not telling her, but at the end of the day, I had him first.”
“Yeah, we’re done with this conversation. Either, you’re still going through something right now or you’re really this stupid.”
“The family of Kiss Mooney?” I heard someone ask and rushed from around the corner. The nurse was standing there with a clipboard in her hand.
“Yes, right here.”
“We’re rushing her to the OR for an emergency C-section. The doctor tried to position the baby, but he’s breech and he’s ready to come out. Is the father here?”
“No, I’ll be in the operation room with her,” I said, and she waved for me to follow behind her.
“She has requested that we not allow her uncle into the delivery room or anywhere near her room,” the nurse informed me, and I stopped in the middle of us walking to the back.
“Wait, what?”
“When she was brought in, she was very upset with her uncle and wouldn’t speak on why she was angry with him. We asked if we could come get him, but she said she didn’t want him in the delivery room or her room when she’s transferred to the maternity wing.”
I couldn’t believe that Kiss was doing all of this shit. She knew how much she meant to her uncle and knowing that she was going to be cut open, he would be worried about her. For her to play on his emotions by denying him access to her was childish on her part. Then again, I was dealing with a seventeen-year-old that had just witnessed her uncle shoot her baby’s father. The nurse walked into the room where Kiss had on her gown and hair cap. Her eyes were blood shot red and I could tell that she was scared. Yet, her anger she held for her uncle wouldn’t allow her to ask for him, although I knew that she wanted him there with her.
“Really, Kiss?” I sighed as I walked over and started putting the rest of her hair into the cap. “Do you know how that will make him feel? Your uncle loves the hell out of you.”
“Justice, I don’t need you to come in here and tell me how I should live my life. He did something that I could never forgive him for. Especially, with this little boy in my stomach. How can I look my son in the eyes knowing what his great uncle has done to his father?” She wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks.
“You know that he didn’t do that to hurt you. None of us knew that you and Zoe were messing around. If he would have known, don’t you think he would have been dealt with Zoe? This had nothing to do with you, Kiss.”
“Are you gonna be in the operating room or not? I don’t need to hear about my uncle. I have a savings account and I’ll get me a small apartment until I’m done with school.”
“School? You think he has to pay that tuition to your school? And an apartment? How far do you think your savings account will take you? If Priest even allows you to use it.”
“I can stay with you,” she replied like I was going to take her and a baby in. I barely had money to pay
my own rent.
“Kiss, I can’t even pay my own damn rent. Do you really think I can afford to take you and an extra mouth to feed? Right now isn’t the time to make these decisions. We’re going to have this baby, he’s going to be healthy and then we’ll deal with this when it is time… okay?”
She shook her head and I hugged her. “I’m so scared, Justice. I just want my baby to be alright.”
“He is going to be alright. I can see that he’s like his mama already…stubborn and determined to do things his way,” I smiled as the nurse entered the room again.
“We’re ready for you.” She smiled as they pushed Kiss out the room to get her prepped. She handed me scrubs, booties, and a cap for my head. I was nervous, yet I knew I had to make sure Kiss was good for Priest. He was already going to be going crazy trying to make sure she’s fine, the least I could do is see this through so I could give him the news when I spoke to him.
After a long night, I felt like a zombie as I climbed out of the truck and walked to Ghost’s front door. Free and Liberty had got into an argument and was tossed out the hospital. After Kiss’s C-section, I went to check on them while she was in recovery and learned that they had been booted the hell out. Myla wasn’t even out there anymore, and I wondered if Zoe made it. I prayed he didn’t make it. The way he had Kiss’s mind warped, she didn’t need a nigga like that around her. Life was about to hit her full force with having a baby as a teen, she didn’t need a nigga who couldn’t decide if he wanted to give dick or take it weighing her down and making it hard for her. Plus, I knew Myla wasn’t going anywhere if Zoe did make it.
Soon as I made it to the front door, Priest pulled me in and kissed me on the lips. The greeting was nice, but I was tired and couldn’t think straight. My feet were killing me and all I wanted was to lay down and get a few hours of sleep before I had to head back to the hospital with Kiss’s baby bag and some clothes for her as well.