A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴

✞ C E L A I   L a C R O I X ✞

Celai stares in disbelief at Joyner's words and the room goes quiet. The only thing she can hear is her heart skipping beats of anger, and it grows louder with every second that goes by. She bites her lip to stop herself from doing anything she'd regret, but a satisfying smirk spreads on Joyner's lips. That nearly unleashes a part of Celai she thought died.

"Go check on Jayelle," Julian says lowly in her ear, diffusing her boiling emotions.

She lifts her eyes from Joyner. "No, Julian, I-"

"Celai. Joyner has been antagonizing you for too long. Let me talk to him. Man to man. Maybe he'll learn this time." When Celai only stares at him, still protesting with her eyes, Julian challenges her.

She gives up with an eye roll and walks away, leaving Julian and Joyner alone. She refuses to go into Jayelle's room though; she instead stays out of sight behind a wall. She starts hearing Julian's slow steps approaching Joyner, and then she hears Joyner's voice.

"Whatcha gonna do church boy?"

Celai cringes.

"Can I pray for you?" Julian responds coolly.

Joyner starts laughing. "You gon call your sky daddy on me? Look, Celai is gonna come back to me eventually. She just has to realize you're a bit-"

"Lord, I ask that You perform a real miracle on Joyner. He's lost. In the dark. Filled to the brim with demons. But You, Jehovah, are bigger than Joyner is and will ever be. Lord, You blessed him with the muscles and the height, but he seems to have lost his head. It's not my place to say, but he's not smart. He's lost respect for women, men, and he keeps draining the little respect he has for himself. Lord, plenty of people have addictions, but he seems to be disrespecting himself. He just can't seem to understand that begging for sex is degrading to his being.

"That's why I ask, God, that You heal him. Heal him of his lustful nature, his disgusting behavior, and his disrespect towards everyone, but especially my woman. I pray specifically that he gets it through his thick skull that Celai is no longer into him and if he wants to continue to hang over her, then I pray he sees me marry her, love her, and do everything that he no longer can. Nothing is too hard for You, Lord, so please, deliver Joyner because he is in need."

Julian ends his prayer with an "Amen," and Joyner seems to have gone quiet from what Celai can hear.

She's shocked herself, but grateful because Julian handled the conversation better than she ever could. Not to mention she's extremely attracted to his level headedness. She smiles to herself and thanks the Lord in her head, knowing it was Him that blessed Julian with a calm temper.

Joyner mutters words neither Celai or Julian would repeat and Celai can hear his heavy steps going out the front door. When she hears his car engine roar to life, she walks back into the living room, failing to conceal her proud smile.

"You handled that a lot better than I ever could've, thank God," she says.

Protectiveness is sketched on Julian's face. "Do you have any more exes I have to talk to? It's not in me to be rude to people but I'll put on a front for you."

Celai places a hand on his chest, smiling at her knight-in-shining-armor. "No, Joyner was the only one."

Julian turns his face up at her words. His look is a mix of confusion, anger, and hurt. Celai raises an eyebrow at his expression but it vanishes the next second.