Thou Shall Not • book two

remember my name

Roman's POV

"You never disappoint Mr.Reigns." The man with the foreign accent commented with a laugh through the phone as I walked towards the door of my house, "We will keep in touch. Call me tomorrow, say, after noon your time."

"That will do Mr.Nakamura." I said with a small laugh, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear as I fiddled with the key in the lock, "I'll speak with you soon. Have a good morning."

"And you have a good evening." He commented before we both exchanged a quick goodbye and I unlocked the door, then tiredly swung it open.

"Dad is that you?" I heard Joelle ask from somewhere in the house.

"Yeah." I answered then glanced at the watch on my arm, "What are you still doing up? It's past 10. You have school tomorrow."

She gave no response as I walked into the living room and saw her curled up on the couch, the TV illuminating the dark room.

She gestured towards the TV, "Just watching the news."

"Since when do you watch the news?" I asked as I sat on the couch next to her, "You told me you found all the information you needed on social media."

She shrugged, "Granny said if you ever wanna be sad just watch the news. There's always a sad story. I've found plenty."

I frowned slightly, "Why are you trying to be sad?"

She shrugged again, "I go back to school tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes, "Joelle stop being dramatic."

She shook her head and turned back to the direction of the TV, "This is why I don't talk to you about stuff.  Just go to sleep Dad."

I sighed, "Wait, don't write me off yet. I'm sorry, ok? You wanna talk about it?"

"You won't get it." She muttered, "I don't wanna go back."

"I let you miss a little school and you suddenly get tired of it." I mumbled then sighed as she shook her head, "Why? What's so wrong with school? You have friends don't you?"

"I have people who won't hesitate to put a knife in my back if it looks good on their half." She shot, "I have one friend. One. I don't need anymore friends. What I need is for people to get off my back, keep my name out their mouth, and mind their own business."

I sighed and placed a hand on her knee, "You're gonna be ok Joelle."

She scoffed, "Yeah I'll be just fine. Just go to sleep Dad. You have work in the morning. That's more important than school right? At least you get paid for dealing with your demons all day."

I frowned slightly as I looked at her, "Jojo, I suck at this whole advice thing. I feel for you. I understand what it's like to be held under a microscope and be criticized, but I know you. And I know your a strong girl. You're my strong girl. And I know there's nothing you can't make it through."

She was quiet for a moment, still looking at the TV before speaking, "I love you Dad."

I gave her knee a small squeeze, "I love you too Jojo. And while I suck at the whole advice thing, AJ is always here for you to talk to and so is Naomi. They could probably say something better than whatever I can come up with."

"I was gonna talk to Namie when she came in earlier but she looked upset so I dropped it." She told me and I gave her a questioning look.

"She looked upset?" I asked her while trying to think of why she would have been upset. The last time I had saw Naomi was when she left my office with Sasha right on her tail earlier today.