Page 77 of All In

“Fat Daddy!” Kormia yelled toward the stairs. “Pack a bag! We going swimming!”

“Mommy!” Max yelled back instantly, excitement all in his voice now.

“Where my swim trunks?”

“In your bottom drawer!” Jackie called back. Then she looked over at Kormia and mouthed,thank you.Kormia grinned. “Always.” Jackie let out a slow breath, looked back down at her phone, and opened the messages. Found Najee’s name. Paused. Then finally, she saidfuck it—and started typing.

Jackie:I’m sorry…The typing bubble appeared almost immediately.

Najee:For?Jackie stared at the screen for a second before exhaling.

Jackie:…everything. Another pause. Then:

Najee:Expound.Jackie frowned.

Jackie:Really, Najee???This response came faster.

Najee:Nah. I accept.Jackie blinked despite herself.

Jackie:wyd? A few seconds passed.

Najee:Auntie turned 58 today so we outside… lol.

Jackie bit the inside of her cheek. Then typed.

Jackie:Well, I would like to reschedule my session.

Najee:Yeah… when?

Jackie stared at the screen, her thumb hovering for a second before she finally typed back.

Jackie:Tonight!

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

NAJEE

Najee was bored as hell.

And that was putting itlightly.It had been a long ass week, and his aunt’s fifty-eighth birthday dinner was the last place he wanted to be. Everything about the night felt drawn out and performative. Full of politicians who talked in circles and smiled too much. On one side of him sat his father, whose calls he had been dodging since moving back to the city. On the other side satFatima.

Najee knew the seating arrangement wasn’t random. It was deliberate as hell, and he could see the play from a mile away. His aunt tried to play it off like it was an oversight, something thrown together last minute. But Najee knew strategy when he saw it. They were trying to rebuild something, maybe even reignite an interest that had been dead for years. But Najee wasn’t moved.

Once upon a time, he had been deeply in love with Fatima and wanted nothing more than to make her his wife. That had been the plan for as long as either of them could remember. Until itwasn’t.People liked to say everything fell apart because she got pregnant.But that wasn’t really the truth.

Fatima fell in love, and once that happened, it was awrap.Najee had loved Fatima enough to stay. Enough to accept whatever came with her.He would’ve raised her child like it was his own without hesitation.That part never scared him.Butlove?Real love? That wasn’t something he could compete with. Fatima hadn’t just gotten pregnant. She had chosen another man altogether. And Najee wasn’t about to fight for a future that no longer exist. So he let her go, and for a long time he carried a heavy heart. But eventually he forgave her and did what he always did. He locked back in, finished medical school and wrote his first best seller. He turned his pain into discipline and began to live his life again.

Their families though, hadn’t been as forgiving. They turned on Fatima quick. She was cut off financially, pushed out of the community entirely, and became a social pariah overnight. Adultery in their world was frowned upon publicly but tolerated privately depending on who committed it. Women almost never got grace, and Fatima was no different. Najee never wanted Fatima punished, even in all his heartbreak and anger. And despite everything, he still had love for her. Fatima had been his friend before she was anything else.Did she have to seek comfort in a wanna-be King Von ass nigga?No. But she was young, lonely, away from home for the first time, and above all else human.

Which was why seeing her here now, back in the fold and around the family, actually felt right. They had spent most of the dinner catching up. Nothing heavy. Just light conversation that stayed on the surface where it was safe. She showed him pictures of her kids. Told him she was back in the city, and that she and the rapper—Lil what-the-fuck-ever—were done. Najee listened. Nodded when it made sense. But he wasn’t interested. Not even a little bit. There was only one woman on his mind, and it wasn’t Fatima Abdul-Muhammad. It wasJackie Brown.

Their last conversation had beentense.

He kept his composure because that was the clinician in him.

Always aware of timing, setting, temperament, and boundaries. Even when his emotions got involved. But if he was being honest—he had wanted tocrash the fuck out.

Ironically, it wasn’t her actions that pissed him off, because deep down he believed her. That had never been the issue. The situation looked messy enough for him to understand exactly why she moved the way she did. What didn’t sit right with him, was the fact that she felt like she couldn’t just tell him the truth. That part bothered him more than anything else. Najee turned his phone over once in his hand. He had thought about texting her more than once throughout the day. Something light like,why you being weird to meeeee?Or something closer to the truth like—Ayo, stop fucking playing with me.Instead, he put his phone way, pushed his chair back, adjusted his jacket, and stood. He was already over the night, already counting the minutes before he’d make his Irish exit.