SUGAR - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

"Damn, JoJo, I knew you had money but I didn't know you were this loaded," CJ said as we got into the blacked out truck waiting for us at the airport.
"Oh this is light, wait until you see her crib," Drew chuckled, placing his hand on my thigh.
"I see why you won't let her go, bro."
"Drew didn't know I came from money until after we were already together," I said rolling my eyes, throwing my mini water bottle at him.
"Alright Jo Burrow, my bad," he laughed. "What do your parents do anyway?"
"My dad is the assistant district attorney."
"And Ms. Kim was THE Miss North Carolina. A true baddie and the queen of Charlotte," Bria chimed in.
"Goddamn, girl. What you doing in Texas? I would never wanna leave if I had this much power," CJ said looking out of the window as we headed towards Eastover.
"Its a lot of pressure. It's hard to know who's genuine and who just wants to be seen with you. I can't go anywhere without being recognized and everything makes its way back to my father. Nobody knows me in Houston so I can move around as I please. I expect it to stay that way," I said glaring at him, hoping he'll keep my secret.
"I got you, don't worry," he assured me. We arrived in front of my house and got out of the truck where we were greeted by the butler, Robert.
"Welcome home, Miss Powell. It's good to see you," he said before going to retrieve the bags.
"Hey, Y!" I turned to see Michael Jordan taking a jog down the street.
"Hey, A!" I shouted back as he came over. We playfully called each other A and Y because of the one letter off in our names.
"No way, bruh, you live by Michael Jordan?" CJ asked, starstruck as he walked up to greet us.
"Yeah, he stays down the street," I replied as I went to hug him.
"Bria, long time no see," he hugged her.
"You ready to get whooped at Horse again?" she laughed.
"I let you win last time. Drew, good to see you again." MJ said, shaking Drew's hand.
"Same here, Goat," Drew responded. "This is my homeboy CJ."
"Man I'm such a huge fan," CJ said grabbing his hand.
"Appreciate that. Y'all here for the summer?"
"Yes sir," I replied. "We'll come by for that pong rematch we agreed on at my graduation party."
"I'm a little rusty so go easy on me," he laughed, heading back down the driveway. "It was good seeing y'all again and nice meeting you CJ."
"Man you never told me you met Jordan!" CJ hit Drew on the arm.
"JoJo asked me not to tell anybody, blame her," he laughed.
"My baby is home!" my mom yelled coming through the front door, running in her heels to hug me.
"Mama, be careful in them So Kates," I scolded her, noticing what shoes she was wearing.
"Girl, I gave birth to you in a pair of Manolo Blahniks. I know what I'm doing," she laughed as she hugged Bria and Drew.
"Hey, Miss Kim, this is Carlos," Bria said, grabbing CJ's arm.
"This your boyfriend, Bri Bri?" she said with her hand on her hip.
"Something like that," Bria blushed.
"We'll get to that later but for now, welcome Carlos," she said giving him a warm, motherly hug.
"Where's Daddy?" I asked.
"He went to go play tennis with your uncle. He should be back soon. Leah's in the backyard by the pool."
"Oh my God, Leah?!" Bria and I said running in the house to the backyard. Leah was my favorite cousin on my mom's side. We were the closest in age and she was like a sister to me and Bria.
"Leah!" I yelled as I ran through the huge glass doors that led to the backyard.
"JoJo!" she yelled back, barely getting out of her chair before I tackled her in a hug. "Damn, girl, you got strong as hell!"
"I missed you so much. How's Vanderbilt?" I asked as she hugged Bria.
"Awful! I should've came to Texas with you guys," she pouted.
"Now you know Uncle Eric was not going to let you ruin his Vanderbilt legacy," I laughed.
"With JoJo going into law and me going into marketing, we needed somebody to be a doctor," Bria laughed.
"I'm so glad y'all are staying for the summer," she said, grabbing our hand. "We have to go out tonight!"
"I don't think so. I would like to have dinner and catch up with my babies before y'all hit the Charlotte streets," my mom said entering the backyard with the boys.
"Is that Drew?" Leah said, walking over to hug him.
"Hey, Leah, good to see you again. This is my boy CJ."
"Nice to meet you," she said shaking CJ's hand. "This is perfect. I'll call Tim and we can all go to Trio tonight."
"After dinner," my mom added, walking back towards the house. "Make yourselves at home, food should be ready at 7."
We sat by the pool, laughing and catching up until I saw my dad come through the back door.
"Daddy!" I yelled, almost breaking my neck to hug him.
"Baby girl," he said, scooping me up in a big hug lifting my feet off the ground. "Damn, JoJo, you been hitting the gym kinda hard."
I laughed as he placed me back down on the ground.
"Hey, Uncle Eric," I said hugging him.
"What's up, Mayweather?" he laughed.
"Oh my God, has everyone seen the video?"
"John showed me earlier."
"Daddy," I whined, embarrassed.
"I couldn't help myself. You did good, even better than the last one I saw," he chuckled, kissing me on the forehead before greeting everyone else.
"Uncle John, is it okay if Tim and I crash here for the summer so I can be closer to JoJo and Bri?" Leah begged with puppy dog eyes.
"Tim?" Uncle Eric raised his eyebrow at her.
"It's fine, E. You know I'll have everybody in separate rooms," he winked, letting us know he was lying.
"Alright, well let me get out of here before the wife starts calling," he said hugging Leah goodbye.
"I'm gonna run and take a shower and I'll see y'all at dinner," my dad said, hugging me before going back inside.
"This is gonna be the best summer ever!" Leah squealed, running and jumping in the deep end of the pool.
Later at dinner ...
"So, Drew, how's school going?" my dad asked as he cut into his steak.
"Busy, but good. On track to graduate a semester early. After that I'll try to get on a rig."
"Petroleum engineering is good money. You'll need it to take care of Jordyn," he laughed looking at me.
"Very funny, Daddy, but I'll have my own money when I go into entertainment law," I said sticking my tongue out at him.
"Good, maybe I can retire early with all the money I'll save," he said as everyone laughed.
"Carlos, how's school going for you?" my mom asked taking a sip of wine.
"It's going good. Once I finish my degree in kinesiology I'm hoping to work for the Dallas Cowboys."
"Oh, really," my dad said. CJ looked up nervously as if he offended my dad by his choice in sports team.
"My dad is a Cowboys fan," I rolled my eyes. We laughed and made more small talk around the table as we finished dinner and dessert.
"Well, I'm glad you all made it safely. It's so nice to have people in the house again," my mom smiled. "Be careful tonight and if anything happens, call John."
We all laughed as she excused herself from the table and disappeared towards their bedroom.
"Alright, now that she's gone it's time to have a serious conversation," my dad said as he looked at each of us. "I know everyone is accustomed to doing whatever in Texas and I get it, you're all adults. I don't mind you guys sharing rooms, however, I'm trusting each of you to make good decisions. You all are getting ready to go into very serious careers and I don't want anything to ruin that. If there's trouble, I'll do as much as I can within the confines of the law to help you. My drivers are available around the clock and I've let key players know that my daughter is home. You will all be treated as an extension of her. Don't do anything to make me regret this, is that understood?"
We all nodded.
"Y'all be safe tonight," he said as he got up from the table. "JoJo and Leah?"
"Yes?" we both replied.
"No fucking fighting," he warned as he left to head to the bedroom.
Later that night ...
"I'm so glad we're back together. I couldn't imagine having to break up with your parents too," Drew said wrapping his arms around my waist as I curled my hair in the bathroom mirror. "I love you."
"I love you too," I replied, smiling at him in the mirror. He kissed me on the cheek as he watched me finish before starting the shower.
I went back into the bedroom to do my makeup and looked at my phone to see what time it was. I had an hour to get ready before it was time to leave. I turned a playlist on as I started when a call came through, interrupting the music. I looked at the screen and saw an unsaved 281 number. I took a deep breath and answered, leaving the room to talk.
"Hello?" I asked in a low voice.
"Did I do you something?" Slim asked. The background was silent so I assumed he was at home.
"Nope. That's kinda the issue actually but I'm over it."
"What you mean you over it?"
"Exactly what I said. I'm good on you."
"Anyways, when you pulling up on me? I miss you."
"I'm not. I'm not even in town right now."
"Will I see you when you get back?"
"Nope."
"Come on, Jordyn. You know I can easily find you."
"Good luck with that, Slim," I said, hanging up the phone. I went to Bria's room to vent before I finished getting ready.
"Girl, you'll never believe who ju- OH MY GOD!" I yelled as I walked in on Bria and CJ in the middle of sex.
"JoJo! Five minutes?" she looked at me with her legs on CJ's shoulders. I quickly shut the door when I heard the doorbell ring.
"I got it! It better be Tim," Leah said coming out of her room, skipping downstairs to answer the door. She came back upstairs, pulling Tim by his arm.
"Tim, JoJo, y'all remember each other," she said, quickly walking past me back to her room.
I went to finish getting ready as Drew got out of the shower.
"You good, baby?" he asked as he dried his body before coming into the bedroom. Damn he looked good.
"Yeah," I said walking over to him, gently pushing him down on the bed as I straddled his lap. He took my robe off of me and rubbed his hands along my back as we started kissing. He positioned himself at my opening, gasping as he made his way inside my walls. I sensually rode him as we kissed until there was a knock at the door.
"Shit. One second!" I yelled as I grabbed my robe to put it back on. I opened the door to see Bria.
"Okay, what were you about to tell me?" she asked still trying to catch her breath.
"Baby, I'll be right back," I said to Drew as I closed the door behind me. Bria followed me down to the kitchen so no one could hear as I poured us a glass of wine to talk.
"This must be serious you bringing the wine out," she said, sitting at the counter and taking a sip.
"Slim just called me."
"Excuse me? What did he say?"
"He's been trying to reach me since the last night we saw him and I haven't been replying since Drew and I are back together."
"So what's wrong?"
"I told him I wasn't even in Houston and he said he could find where I was."
"Girl, you're worried about nothing. He's just trying to scare you into telling him where you are, that's all."
"Well its working. He knows my first name and that I'm from Charlotte. I'm a big deal here, it wouldn't take him much effort to find me."
"Calm down, Jo. I don't think he's going to do all that. Let's just go get ready and get out of here to take your mind off of everything."
"Okay," I replied as we finished our glasses and headed back upstairs. "Sorry about not knocking. I didn't know y'all were on that type of timing."
"We're thinking about getting back together," she blushed.
"Not me and Drew rubbing off on y'all," I laughed as Leah came out of her room.
"Why are y'all not ready yet? We have places to go and people to see. Chop chop!" Leah said fanning us towards our rooms. "We leave in 10!"
I walked back into the room as Drew was putting his shirt on.
"Hey, babe, Leah said we're leaving in 10," I said closing the door behind me.
"Cool, I just gotta put my shoes on and I'm ready."
I applied my lip gloss in the mirror and went to my closet to grab a glitter bodycon dress as my phone made a text sound from across the room.
"Is that Leah, babe?" I asked, coming out of the closet putting my earrings on. He picked it up to look at the screen.
"Nah, it's a 281 number," he said as he put it back down and walked into the bathroom.