I hurried and went to his contact and called him.
“Oh, now you know how to call a nigga back?” It was the first thing he said.
“You asshole! Take those photos down right now! Have you lost your damn mind!” I screamed.
“Nah, but clearly you lost yours! You think you gon’ have me all over these fucking blogs looking stupid while another nigga bust up our fucking wedding? Got these motherfuckas clowning me online, calling me weak. Fuck that. You embarrassed me, so I returned the favor.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I heard Zion behind me. I turned to him and wiped the tears that streamed down my face. “Who the fuck is that, Dinny?”
I could hear Akeem laugh in my ear. “He sounds big mad,Dinny. I hope that nigga leaves your nasty ass after he sees those photos. And just to remind you, I got papers on you, so don’t get too comfortable with that nigga. Ya ass belong to me.”
Zion snatched the phone from my hand since I couldn’t open my mouth to speak.
“Who is this?”
“Don’t worry about it, nigga. Just know I’m coming back for my bitch. You can let her know I’ll take the pictures down when she comes home. Tell her she better hurry. I’m sure a couple of people got that nice, juicy ass bookmarked already,” I heard him say through the phone before the line beeped, indicating that he’d hung up.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” I yelled, pacing the bathroom floor.
“What photos is he talking about, baby?”
“He-he has half-naked photos of me. He posted them on his Instagram page! Zion . . . Oh, God!” I screamed, feeling myself about to puke. My chest heaved as Zion walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“Baby, calm down.”
“Calm down! I can’t calm down! My ass is all over the internet, Zion!”
“I’ma handle it, a’ight? Just calm down for me.”
“Zi, no! I’ll handle it. I don’t want you risking going?—”
“I ain’t going back to that shithole, Jordin. I know how the fuck to move now. I’m not that reckless nigga no more, but I definitely ain’t letting this shit ride! Come here,” he said, pulling me to him and wrapping his arms around me. “This shit is going to get handled. Look at me.” He lifted my chin and wiped the tears from my face. “I’m going to always protect you, you hear me? I need you to trust me, a’ight?”
“Zi, please?” I begged.
“Do you trust me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then trust that I got you, and I’ma always come back to you.”
More tears slipped from my eyes as I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him tightly. I could hear the heavy beating of his heart against my ear, and I knew he was raging. “Please, Zi.”
He kissed my forehead, then tried to remove my arms from around him. “Get in the shower, Dinny. I’ll be right back.”
“No! Don’t leave, Zion. Please. Just let me handle this.”
“I’m not going anywhere, baby.”
“Promise me!”
“I promise I’m not leaving here tonight. I’m just going downstairs to make a couple of calls to get those pictures removed. I promise.”
I held on a little while longer before nodding and reluctantly releasing him. He kissed my lips, then hurried out of the bathroom. I flopped down on the toilet and wept as my phone kept buzzing off the hook with calls from my sisters, mom, and best friends, until I powered it off for the night.
I hated that Akeem did this to me.
Not only did I have to worry about my private parts floating across the world, but now I had to worry about Zion going to kill him and landing himself right back in jail.
God, please, help me.