Tw! Mentions of rape,
JAX
One thing I've learned about Imaani, she doesn't joke about her sleep, especially in the morning. And I'm learning that the hard way because I have to meet up with Micheal in a few minutes. I'm trying my best not to make a single noise to wake her up.
Like she said the last two times if she wakes up a third time, she won't be warning me.
When I'm done dressing I search around for a pen and paper so I could leave her a note.
"Babe?" She yawns and rubs her eyes slowly
"Hey... Did I wake you? Go back to bed, love"
She opens her eyes and moves her head back when she sees that I'm fully dressed "You're leaving already?"
"Yeah. I've got to meet up with Micheal in" I check my wrist watch "Thirty minutes"
"You were going to leave without saying goodbye?" She sits up halfway
What?
I'm trying hard not to laugh right now so I just smile and seat next to her "Baby you said not to wake you. But I was going to leave you a note, for when you wake up later"
She shrugs and pouts "It's not the same but okay"
"Do you want me to stay?"
She looks at me with a smile as if she wants to say yes " Nah, go see your friend both of you have a lot to work out"
"You sure? I can postpone" I kiss her cheek, then her neck and her lips lastly
She inhales deeply and exhales "We're only going to stay in bed all day watching movies and having sex, go meet your friend. Besides, if I can't see you tonight then it's going to have to be tomorrow after work"
"You've got work?" Sometimes I forget she works "Do you have to go? I'm your boss and I want to give you a free day"
"Technically you're not my boss, Micheal is. And you need to go see him"
"If I take the company back will you accept the day off?"
"No. Now get out you've wasted enough time already and I need to go back to bed"
"Sometimes I feel like I compete with sleep" I frown and watch as she disappears under the covers
"Because you are." She smiles before bringing her upper body out halfway and waving "Bye baby" She blows me a kiss before lying back
I kiss her forehead and make my way out of the house. I text Micheal to let him know I'm on my way. He has his key to my place so he might as well just be waiting comfortably after raiding my bourbon cabinet.
When I arrive home, I don't see Micheal's car anywhere. I make my way upstairs and I'm surprised to see him seating in my leaving room, and he's already gone halfway through a bottle of bourbon.
Shit!
I remove my phone from my pocket to check today's date.
Shit! It's the anniversary of Vanessa's death.
"Hey buddy" I call out as I make my way to seat beside him on the couch "How are you doing?"
He chuckled dryly "What do you think, the only woman I ever loved was killed today... by your ex might I add" he scoffs "God she was amazing, you know. She could brighten up my day with just her smile" he exhales deeply and rubs his face
"I'm sorry man, I..." I had no idea what to say
"It's Okay, you barely knew her anyway. Besides she's just your half-sister" he muttered bitterly
I know he's hurting and I can't stand seeing him this way at all.
"All that doesn't matter, she's important to you and you're important to me. Whether I knew her very much or not doesn't matter" I move the almost empty bottle of bourbon away from him unnoticed "I hate seeing you like this man"
"Life has a way of working you know. I want to be angry at you, I do. Hell you found out about her a few days before she died" He picks up his glass to drink the rest of his bourbon and groans in annoyance when he sees it's empty "Wh-where's the bott- fuck it" he sighs in defeat and covers his face with his hands.
I move closer to him and wrap my arm around his shoulders "Hey it's okay, you're okay I've got you"
"God I'm such a mess!" He sniffs and chuckles sadly cleaning his eyes "I hate her, so fucking much I just wish she'd die" He didn't have to say her name for me to know he was referring to Veronica
"I've got You, you know that right? I'm here always man" I reassured him.
Micheal was my brother, he was there with me through my shit with my father- Christopher. He was there even after Veronica. I owe him a lot, to be honest.
"I'm good. Yeah I- I'm good" He sounded like he was trying to assure himself more than me "Crazy thing is I'm so over my head, I thought I saw her last week" He paused for a second and then laughs "I must be losing my mind if I thought I saw my dead ex"
"I wish it was me instead of her" he murmured before letting his head fall back on the couch and dosing off seconds later.
I go to my room to grab a blanket for him and I place the bin on the floor close to his head.
I make my way to my room and bring out the small box from under my bed.
I used to think locking all these things away locked part of my past too, and I won't have to worry about it bothering me in the future.
Well, it didn't work. I still have repeated nightmares of my horrible childhood almost every night.
I still hear his voice whenever I decide to let myself be happy without anything hindering me, telling me that I don't deserve it.
Hell, every night it feels like I'm reliving the moment his grimy hands touched my body.
I pick out a picture from the box, this one is one with my mum and me. I look young here.
To any other person, she may look happy with her broad wide smile. But I know I've seen that smile so many times before.
I know how many times she covered the bruises and used that smile to deceive people around her.
I guess that's what happens when you marry a monster.