A Rose by Any Other Name

Chapter 13

Jocelyn's POV

So I've been in Virgin Islands for a while now. Derek and I moved forward in our relationship. He was so amazing. He was like a breath of fresh air. I was glad to have him by my side.

I did think about Luck and the kids though. I wondered if Rose was doing all she could to take care of my babies. I know. I know. I wouldn't have to worry if I hadn't gave them away. But I did what was best for them. I didn't want them, but hell I did give them life. I had the right to know what was going on with them.

I called Neal one day to check on them. But what shocked me was the fact that Rose answered his phone. Why would she be answering his phone?

"Hello?" she answered.

"Rose? Why are you answering Neal's phone?"

"Neal ran upstairs. He should be coming back down soon."

"He's there with you?"

"Yeah, he lives with me and kids here in Miami. Dominic is out here too."

"Wait, what?" I was pissed off. They were being a family without me there.

"Hold on, here's Neal," she said.

There was a pause and then I heard, "What's up, Jocelyn?"

"Neal, you're living with Rose? Really?"

"Yeah, I help out with the kids. What's wrong with that?"

"Where's Taylor?" I asked.

"She's in Atlanta. She didn't wanna stay here with me."

"So you break up with her to help a hoe raise your niece and nephew?"

"Aye, she ain't a hoe, and if you felt like that, then why would yo dumb ass sign the kids over to her?"

"You fucking Rose, ain't you?"

"What? Why the fuck would you ask me some stupid shit like that? Hell nawl, I'm not fucking her. That's Seven's woman. Why would I go against my best friend like that?"

I listened as he talked. I knew when he was lying. I could tell by the tone of his phone. He always sounded like a li'l bitch whenever he was lying. This tone he has was angry. He couldn't be fucking her. Maybe I was wrong.

"Look, I called to check on the kids. How are they? Is she treating them okay?"

"They're good. She's treating them like a mother would treat her children, but you wouldn't know that though, right. She's homeschooling Zaydha and she's here with them 24/7 unless she's working on a case. And with that, I'm here with them. It's called compromising."

"How is Luck doing?" I asked ignoring what he just said.

"You know, you wouldn't have to ask these questions if you were still here. You're the one that left them."

"Luck didn't love me. Why would I have stayed with him?"

"You knew he didn't love him before you trapped him. I'm not stupid, fool. I know you had Zaydha thinking he would stay with you always. But you and I both know you didn't want them kids in the first place. You did it to piss off Rose because you knew she couldn't have children."

"Whose fucking side are you on? You're my brother, but you sure as hell take up for Rose all the time."

"That's because she hasn't done anything to you, Jocelyn! For fucks sake, she's raising your kids! She could have easily said hell nawl when I gave her them papers and put them in foster care, but what she do? She took in your kids and stopped her life for them!"

"You act like she did it for me! She did that because they were Luck's children. She did that so she could be with him."

"Jocelyn, they're not even together. Rose and Seven are not together. They're raising the kids together and co-parenting. Look you really pissing me off right now. Bye, mane."

He hung up in my face. Here I am thinking Rose and Luck were together. He's always on Instagram talking about her and the kids. One would assume they were together. I blocked her on all my social media. There was no need of us even tryna talk. I should sue her for custody of my children. All I gotta do is prove her to be unfit. Which I will. She better put the gloves on because I'm coming back for my family.