Page 10 of Set My Soul Ablaze

I chuckled humorlessly. There was nothing even remotely amusing about the situation. “I’m not about to play this game with you. You being here is embarrassing, whether you like it,but that’s neither here nor there. I told you that night we were done, and I meant that shit.”

“No. You didn’t mean it.”

I tossed my hands up in frustration. “Juda, please get this through your thick-ass skull. We are done. There is no salvaging our relationship. I chose peace over the hell you put me through for the last decade. Delete my number, forget my existence, and never show up at my place of business again, or I’m going to call the cops and put a restraining order on you.”

He chuckled—the sound made the fine hair on my skin rise in alarm. I balled my hands into tight fists.

“That’s cute.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “The fuck are you talking about? What’s fuckin’ cute?”

“You. Thinking you can be done with me like you’re not mine forever.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “I’ll never be yours again, Juda.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The dark, scary gaze in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I watched with bated breath as he climbed into his truck and peeled out of the parking lot. The obnoxiously loud truck left a gray fog in its wake. Everything associated with Juda made my skin crawl. Now that I was no longer blind to his toxicity, I wanted nothing more to do with him.

As I walked over to my car, I leaned against the passenger door and put my face in my hands. I let out several deep breaths to keep from crying. The only thing I was certain of at the moment was that I couldn’t ignore Juda’s threats. I listened to too many true crime podcasts not to stay on my p’s and q’s.

I need to change my locks. I need to let Joylei know this man has lost his fuckin’ marbles, and I need to install some security cameras . . . just in case Juda actually tries something.

I didn’t feel safe—at home or at work. We had a security system installed, but I wasn’t sure cameras and alarms were enough. Juda was a bitch-ass nigga and wouldn’t dare cause a scene in front of law enforcement or other men. Now that I thought about it, that should have been an indicator he wasn’t shit to begin with.

It might have seemed like an overreaction to some people, but I had to put myself first. I couldn’t let his threats fall on deaf ears and end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

“Uncle Tez.”

“Uncle Tez.”

“Uncle Tez!”

“Uncle—oh, he’s waking up!”

My eyebrows furrowed as my eyelids slowly lifted. The sleep I had was immaculate—fan on high, blackout curtains to hide the sun, blanket pulled up to my chin, and satin pillowcases for optimal comfort. Everyone knew I took my off days seriously, so the unexpected voices confused me.

When my eyes adjusted to the light coming from the hallway, I sat up and searched for the owners of the voices. Two identical faces greeted me.

“Jadyn. Jordyn. What are y’all doing in my room?” I rubbed the last bit of sleep out of my eyes before swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I usually locked my door to avoid interruptions, but they had caught me slipping. My eyes scanned the two eager bodies as they closed the distance between us.

“We waited patiently, Uncle Tez,” Jadyn explained as he sat beside me on the bed. He looked just like his mother: peanut butter skin tone, dark brown hair, almond-shaped eyes, and no respect for my privacy.

“Like a hundred hours. Mama said when the clock said two o’clock, we could come in here and wake you up,” Jordyn added. He and Jadyn were only six minutes apart, with Jadyn being the oldest. They shared all the same features. The only varying identifier was that Jordyn had a small mole on the right side of his face that reminded me of Tia and Tamera Mowry.

“She did, huh?” I rubbed a hand down my face before I continued. “Let me freshen up and get dressed. Y’all go downstairs and wait for me, okay?”

“Okay!” they exclaimed in unison. With fast movements, they raced each other down the stairs as I stood up and headed into my bathroom to shower and do my daily routine.

The Gilliam family lived in a five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom house in the suburbs of Cade’s Cove. In the home, my mother, sister, and two nephews lived with me. Although I was the younger sibling, I took on the responsibility of being the head of the house to take care of my family. I brought in the most money, from a salary of $80,000 with the fire department and over six figures with my vintage car restoration business.

As soon as I got my footing with the fire department and got us caught up on bills and things, I opened a car restoration business where I rebuilt classic cars and sold them to the highest bidder. It was an homage to my father. One of the first memories I had with him was when I was five years old. He sat me on hislap while he rode to town in a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. I could still hear the loud hum of the engine to this day.

Everything I did, I did with my family in mind. They were all I had. I risked my life day in and day out to keep my family safe. A house fire killed my father, but I wouldn’t let it claim anyone else I loved.

After my shower, I pulled on a pair of basketball shorts, a plain T-shirt, and some socks. I made my way down the stairs to the dining room where my family congregated.

“Good morning, family.” I spoke to the room. On the way to the kitchen, which was only separated from the dining room by a marble island, I kissed Mama on the cheek.