Subtitle: Loud and Wrong
Grams was concerned. It was well into the night and Jai had yet to come inside from the garage. Her heart dropped as her lips twisted. Her mother was spending time with friends from work and wasn't due until the next night.
Grams grabbed her cane and a thick shawl to shield her from the cold. Jai had avoided her long enough.
"Jai!" the wind howled against Grams' voice. "Come out from this shop!"
Sniffles caught her off guard. Her heart dropped further. "Just a minute, Grams. I just need a minute." Her voice cracked as the door slammed close.
"What happened?" the shop was shockingly warm. Almost suffocating. Grams takes a seat next to Jai on the old couch. She rubs her granddaughter's hair.
"Greyson and I are over." That's all she said. Her voice croaked. Her hands shook. The scene kept playing in her mind like a record. And each time she thought about what she could've said differently. A different reaction here and there.
"Why?"
"I lied." Speaking on it made it feel even worse. More real. "Well, I didn't lie...well, maybe I did."
"You didn't tell him about NASCAR." Grams pulls the younger woman in her bosom tightly. "I told you, you needed to tell him."
"And I was going to, but everything was happening so fast. No time felt like the best time."
"Jai, that's no excuse, my child." Grams interrupts her. "At the end of it, he found out the truth instead of you telling him the truth. Does that make sense?"
"It does but he wasn't going to listen to me anyway when I found the courage to tell him. It was clear that I wasn't what he was looking for...like those before him."
"What was the real reason you decided to not tell Grey about NASCAR? Your car career as a whole."
"No man wants a woman to do something like that. Gramps always told me that. I thought, maybe if we were in love enough it wouldn't matter..." Jai sniffles again. "He was so angry with me...I'd never seen that side of him before."
"Wouldn't you be upset if he kept something like his wealthy status from you? Something like...his family? Would that be a deal breaker?"
Jai stays quiet for a moment. "Grams, I don't know how to answer that. I just know that I was falling in love. I don't know how to explain it, I just didn't want my passion to be a deal breaker."
Your occupation isn't the issue, Grams thought. She pats the younger woman's hand and guide her back to the home.
Meanwhile, a few weeks later, Jai started the process of moving to California like she'd planned. She found the perfect cabin with ready to plant land just inside city limits of Sunset Valley, California. In the hills and cliffs.
True to Greyson's word, she deleted everything she had of them. Selfies, messages, numbers, everything was gone. Her hand shook for days after doing so but each breath was a little easier to take. Most days. A month later, Jai Lawson was gone.
Two months later, Royce had had enough of Greyson's snappy attitude and quick to answer speech. No longer was he thoughtful in his words. And before Royce and Stone fucked him up, Everest suggested that a special person in Grey's life paid a quick visit.
Everest spent some time telling them what the situation was and before the end of the month...
Gianna Minnelli breezed into the Minnelli Brothers Corporation, annoyed. Her twin was acting like a damn fool. Armed with her research, she barged in her brother's office.
A mirror image of him by the eyes only, Gianna Minnelli was her mother through and through. But she had to resurrect Mekhi energy for this situation.
"Greyson! What the fuck bruh!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Trying to figure out what the fuck you got going! You find your Bond and you cut her off because...as Everest puts it, she lied!" Gianna pulls him by his tie, her green eyes blazing. "Fuck nigga!"
"You wouldn't understand, G!"
"Like fuck! You cut her off because she lied about her occupation! And you mad because you didn't do thorough research! You took that information at face value. And then again when that Harry person emailed you. You are not this way!" Gianna throws the files she'd accumulated at her twin.
"I've read those papers a million times by now."
"Read again then smart ass. Jai is the first female of any race to be a NASCAR Superstar. Like the pinnacle of the mechanic field. Are you stupid?" Gianna's files contained articles about Jai as well.
NASCAR has lost their minds making a woman Superstar
Black woman has no place in NASCAR
Elusive NASCAR mechanic woman seen out with another woman
Jai Lawson won't last in NASCAR; 5 reasons why
Greyson looks up at his sister with his mouth hanging open. "I-I didn't know."
"Do you get it now? All she wanted was one person to appreciate her talent, but she resorts to keeping this shit a secret! And here you are, just like all the other men..."
"It wasn't the fact of the NASCAR. She lied to me. She kept it from me. I do cars too, Gi! That shit don't intimidate me. Just be honest with me. I was honest with her from day one."
"Does she know about the podcast? That it was you on the podcast?"
Greyson kept quiet. "Exactly. Fix this shit." Gianna stands up to leave. "Mekhi and Emmy didn't raise you like this."
"Hold my basket please." Jai hands Greyson the basket. She grabs the bottom of her dress quickly and goes up the stairs.
"I thought we were better than this, Jai." Greyson refused to believe that they'd fallen that hard. "Why didn't you tell me you are pregnant?"
A faint smile graced her face for a moment. "I found out when I moved here. I was getting a regular physical and she found I was pregnant. I didn't tell you because...you don't associate with liars. Isn't that what you said? So, I decided to let you keep that energy. I don't want to mend this because I'm pregnant."
"Jai, how stubborn can you be?"
"You were singing a different tune about four, five months ago." A tear unexpectedly dropped. Her baby started kicking. Her heart rate was going up.
"I'm not leaving you alone with my child..."
"Why are you here?" she switches the subject unexpectedly. She puts the blueberries away for later. "We broke up. And?" Saying and hearing the words further broke her heart.
"I was wrong, Jai. I was wrong and you were right. You had every reason to keep that from me. I was just upset that you'd keep something so important from me. Like your pregnancy. You just won't let me all the way in and I let you in."
"Greyson, you just don't get it. I didn't ask you to let me in. I didn't require you to show that part of yourself. You forced your way into my life."
"That's a lie and you know it. Everything happened naturally from our first kiss to our first time." He stood over her and caressed her cheek. Jai slapped his hand away. "You were in love with me from our first date. I know I was in love with you." He pulls her into him, only being blocked by her belly.
"You don't know how I was feeling."
Greyson rolls his eyes. "You didn't cut me off. We kept going..." he holds her tighter. "I'm sorry, Jai. I was wrong, princess."
"Don't call me that." She whispered. The Bond settled her stomach, pulling her heart.
"It's you I want. I need you." He admitted openly. Jai's lip trembled. His green eyes shimmered. "Only you." Grey lifts her in his lap.
"I wish I could believe you." Jai admitted. The warmth of his lap was a familiar place. Jai was falling in love with this man again, even harder. She watched his face change to disapproval. "I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"I'm not sure if I want you in my life, baby or no baby." She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "You wanted to walk out of my life without an explanation and now you want a second chance."
"Then let me work for it." The Bond tightened around them almost unbearably.
"Is it really that simple?" She whispered as she started to cry. Her tears burned his skin.
"Stop crying...don't cry." He rubbed her tenderly, wiping her tears. "I love you, Jai. I'm here."
"Prove it."