Page 25 of On You 2

I still nodded and spoke to the hospital security guard sitting at the front counter before making my way down the hallway toward intensive care.

“Hey, Miss Jasmine,” one of the nurses greeted softly as she walked past.

“Hey,” I replied quietly.

I’d been up there so much over the past month that I knew almost everybody on this floor now. Most of the nurses were sweet and comforting whenever they saw me, always trying to encourage me to eat or get some sleep. Then there were the others, the ones who looked irritated every time family members asked questions or cried too loud in the halls that I hated to see coming. I’d even got one nurse, assigned away from my son’s room. I don’t want anyone caring for my child who acts like it’s an inconvenience.

By the time I made it to RJ’s room, I stopped outside the door for a second and took a deep breath like I always did before walking in.

Every single time I saw him lying there hooked up to those machines, it felt like somebody was squeezing my heart.

I pushed the door open slowly, but the second I stepped inside, I stopped in my tracks.

Sitting in the chair beside RJ’s bed with his elbows resting on his knees was, Hov.

He was dressed down in gym shorts and a white T-shirt, and the only thing on him expensive was the chain around his neck.

“Where have you been? I've been up here for hours,” he asked quietly.

“I was with Crew. He took me to get something to eat. I didn’t know you were here.”

“Yeah. I've been here about an hour.”

His eyes drifted back toward Rj afterward, and silence filled the room between us.

I walked over to RJ’s bedside and gently placed my hand over his before leaning down to kiss his forehead carefully.

“Hey, baby,” I whispered. No matter that Hov was here, I was still stuck staring at my baby. Hoping that his eyes would pop open just from my touch or even the love I had radiating from my body.

“Jas.”

Hov’s voice pulled my attention back toward him.

“We need to talk.”

I turned over my shoulder.

“Okay, talk.”

“You know what you did was wrong.”

The calmness in his voice somehow made the words hit even harder.

“I've been trying to think of ways to handle you because you mean a lot to my boy, and I knew what I was doing by fucking with you. So, I’m not about to sit here and act innocent in none of this, but had I known I had a child.”

“Hov, I know,” I cut in quickly while shaking my head.

“I know you would’ve taken care of him.”

He stared at me without saying anything.

“I just didn’t think, at the time, that you were the family man you are, now. I didn’t know you could even be this person, and I highly doubt you would’ve ever been that person for me.”

His jaw tightened slightly.

“And what made you think he was mine if you were fucking with other niggas?”

“When Rj was born, he didn’t favor you to me, but then over the years he started doing little things that reminded me of you.”