“Nah, me and my shorty finna be out. Where y’all park at, Junie?” Zion asked, lifting from the car.
“Not too far. We’re by the gas station on the corner.”
“Meeko gon’ take y’all to your whip.” He nodded to Meeko, his other best friend.
“A’ight, see you, Sis. I love you,” Jessie said, hugging me.
“Love y’all too.” We all hugged each other, with promises to get together soon. Aniya and Lauren got into Lauren’s car, which was parked only a few cars down, while my sisters got in with Meeko.
Zion escorted me to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for me. Before I could get inside, he pulled me back and pinned me against the car, staring down at me.
“I missed you,” he said, kissing my earlobe. I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my head while puckering my lips. He gave me a soft peck and smiled.
“I missed you, too.”
“I love you; you know that, right?”
I nodded. “Of course, and I love you, too.”
“I know you hate what I do, but I have a plan that’s going to secure our future. I won’t be doing this shit forever. I want you to be my wife and have my baby. Can’t do that by doing this dangerous shit, but nothing is going to stop me from making you Mrs. Sullivan. You wit’ me?”
I smiled at him. “You know I’m with you, baby. The way you love me and take care of me, I’ll give you anything you want fromme. Yeah, I don’t like what you do, but I understand. As long as you’re trying to quit this shit, then I’ma be here, always.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” I assured.
He grinned then bit his lip.“So whatcha say, boo? If I asked, would you say, I do?” He sang the Jon B. lyrics to me. I giggled because that was the first song we heard on our first date, and it became our theme song.
“I love you so much, Zion Montell Sullivan.”
“I love you more, Jordin Janae Sullivan.” He nuzzled his nose against mine, then pecked my lips again. It was moments like that one that made me fall more in love with him. Although we were only twenty-two and twenty-three, the almost six years we’d been together were nothing short of amazing.
Of course, there were chicks trying to break us up. They hated that I had the finest, richest nigga in the hood, and he was falling at my feet. There was even a time when we broke up. Well, a time when I thought I broke up with him because, even when I told him it was over, he was still coming to my parents' house, acting like we weren’t at odds. But through all of that, we were solid.
I loved him, and I prayed for him daily. For him to be making moves to get away from the streets meant a lot to me, and I couldn’t wait to start our happily ever after.
“Yo, Zi!” someone called out to him. We both looked over to see who I was sure was one of his customers by the way Zion’s face turned from adoring me to serious.
“Get in the car, baby. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” I said, sliding inside. I busied myself by looking through his CDs for some music to listen to when I felt something cold against my temple. My body instantly froze, and my palms went in the air when I noticed it was a gun.
“Run me all yo’ shit. Hurry the fuck up,” he gritted through his teeth while looking around to make sure no one was coming. My eyes went to Zion, but he was too preoccupied with serving some niggas.
“P-please?—”
“Bitch! Give me this shit!” He snatched the chain from my neck, and I screamed, feeling his nails dig into my skin.
“Aye! What the fuck?” Zion yelled after hearing me scream. He rushed toward the car just as he heard two shots ring out. I ducked and cried, praying to God and calling out to Zion.
“Ziooon!” I screamed.
“Fuck you think this is, homie!” I could hear Zion yell, then the car rocked as if it had hydraulics. I lifted my head and looked toward the back, seeing Zion, Killa, and Trouble pistol-whipping the gunman. “Bitch-ass nigga tryin’ to rob my girl! Do you know who the fuck I am!” He gritted his teeth.
I had never seen him so irate, and it scared me as he continued his assault on the gunman. I could hear the guy’s screams and hurried out of the car to stop Zion and his friends before they killed him. The remaining concert attendees lingered around, watching shamelessly as the gunman’s face became almost unrecognizable.
“Zion! Baby, stop! Please!” I yelled. “Trouble, stop!”