You Were Always Mine

44: Bittersweet Endings

Jasmine

The school has been shut down due to the explosion yesterday that left over a dozen people, including Carter and I injured. I found out today when my girls came over to help me put together some things for Carter that my friend Izzy got trampled in the chaos and ended up with a broken wrist. She now wears a cast that, of course, she had me paint Jack Skellington and his lover Sally on from the Nightmare Before Christmas, which she is obsessed with. She said I owed it to her since my ex is the cause of her injury. I rolled my eyes and laughed, but she wasn't entirely wrong. The firemen ruled the explosion to have been done on purpose, which we pretty much already figured since Carter saw the perpetrator leaving the school parking lot moments after the explosion.

I found out yesterday that Angel and Miss G' boyfriend Nick have a history together, which makes sense, seeing how he is a cop and all. I feel like I should have known already, though, but the times I visited Angel while he was locked up, I was with his mother and making sure she was okay. She hated seeing him in that place.

"It is this next house on the left. The yellow one." My father's driver nods his head at my words. When my dad told me he had "temporary" security, he failed to mention that I would be being guarded like I am the president of the United States damn daughter. My mom had to tell him to ease up a bit that I didn't need a five man team on me. She got him to settle for a bodyguard and chauffeur after I told them I wanted to go out. They both were skeptical to let me go because they thought I wanted to go see Carter, which I know they would have preferred as opposed to where I am now. If they knew I was coming here, they would never have allowed it.

As we park in front of the house, I hurry out of the car and tell the two men I won't be long before rushing to the front door. The doorbell still doesn't work, and I smile at the memory of Angel trying to fix it while I watched him get shocked by it instead. He had chased me around the yard for laughing at him, and when he caught me, he tickled me until I couldn't breathe. The front door swings open as I am about to knock.

"It's Jasmine!" Angel's younger sister squeals as she throws her arms around me. "I told you it was her. I saw her from the window!"

"Hola Nevaeh." I hug the little ten year old back. "You've gotten so tall."

"I grew three more inches!" She says excitedly. I beam at her.

"You're going to be taller than your brothers soon!"

"That's what my mom says too, but I don't think I'll ever be taller than Marco because he's a giant!"

I laugh lightly. Marco is her and Angel's older brother, but he took on the role of being more of a father figure, especially to Nevaeh after their dad died when she was only a couple of months old.

"Jasmine?" Angel's mothers voice greets me as she steps into the room. "Mija, it has been so long!" She hurries over to me, wrapping me in one of her amazing hugs.

"Come in, come in!" She ushers me inside as Nevaeh takes hold of my hand, leading me into their kitchen.

"We were making cookies. Mom says they're almost done!"

"It smells amazing!"

"We also made tresleches for my primos birthday party tonight!" Nevaeh says excitedly.

"Ugh, I love tresleches. It's been so long since I've had any of your cooking." I smile at Angel's mom, who returns the gesture. It has been so long since I spent time over here. I used to love going to Angel's family parties even though most of the time he wasn't even present. His relatives always were so kind and welcoming, and they knew better than anyone how to throw a party. There was never I time I was bored at one of their gatherings.