Match Made In Heaven 2: Jug & Tressa's Love Story

By Shameka Jones

Happily ever after seems nearly impossible when it comes to Jug and Tressa. They are constantly at odds when it comes to who wears the pants in their relationship. They can’t seem to agree on the tiniest of things, and it has put a strain on their relationship.

After being shot, Jug is on the verge of making a comeback and finally stepping away from the game. He is ready to turn the reigns over to Special, but Tressa is not feeling Special’s constant appearances. Jug tries to quell the storm that is brewing between the two, but will he do it at the expense of his marriage?

Tressa is just as headstrong as ever. She feels like Jug is constantly choosing his “friend” over her. Even though she should be taking it easy during her pregnancy, Tressa continuously butts heads with her husband and Special. Her final act of retaliation may cause a rift that will end her marriage.

Can Tressa and Jug hold their marriage together, or will Tressa’s stubbornness be the final nail in the coffin?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royalty Publishing House
• Release date: Feb 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781648404375

Book preview

One

Julian

J ug! I heard Saint calling out again. Where the fuck you at, man?

As soon as I heard my boy calling me, I felt a sense of relief. It wasn’t a guarantee that I would live, but at least I didn’t have to lie here, bleeding for hours. I tried my best to answer him, but no sound would escape my mouth when I opened it. I could hear his footsteps getting closer to the bedroom. Since I was behind the shoe rack, I stuck my arm out, hoping that would help him find me quickly.

Oh shit, bro! What the fuck happened? Fuck! Who did this to you? Jug?

Saint was throwing out a million questions, and I couldn’t fix my mouth to answer any of them. As soon as I tried to talk, I began to cough up blood. I heard Saint start to talk to the 9-1-1 operator, then I passed out again.

Stay with me, man, Saint said as he pulled me from the back of the closet. I looked up at him, and tears started to slide down my cheeks. The ambulance is on their way, dog. Just stay with me, bro.

As soon as my eyes began to close again, Saint slapped me on my face to wake me back up. I was fighting to keep them open, but I was losing the battle. If I could just close my eyes for a second, maybe I’d be able to keep them open longer.

I was floating in and out of consciousness the entire ride to the hospital. Saint’s voice was the first and last thing that I heard every time as I drifted back and forth. He kept whispering in my ear that I bet not die, or that mystery dude was going to fuck my wife. If I weren’t half dead my damn self, I would have killed his ass for saying some shit like that to me. He knew that I didn’t take shit lightly, especially when it came to someone disrespecting me.

Come on, man. You got a child to live for now, Saint continued. Stay with me, bruh.

I was trying to stay with him, but I felt extra drowsy. The more I tried to keep my eyes open, the harder it was becoming. It damned near felt like someone was standing on my eyelids.

The sirens stopped blaring, so I thought for sure that I had died. The doors to the ambulance flew open, and I was pulled out quickly. The night air hit me, and instantly, I felt cold. As the doctors and nurses ran alongside the gurney, I heard them calling out what needed to be done to me. I attempted to open my eyes again, but it felt like they had ankle weights on them. The last thing I heard was them saying that I may need a transfusion.

¥

When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room. My mouth was dry as the desert, and my throat was sore. I looked down and saw all these different wires attached to me. That shit almost made me freak out because I couldn’t remember what happened or why I was here. As soon as I saw Saint, it all began to come back to me. Special was sitting in a chair next to my bed, asleep. I stretched my arm out to touch her hand. Special opened her eyes to look at me, and the look of surprise was in her eyes.

Jug! she called out. How are you feeling?

Thirsty, I said in a raspy tone.

I’m gonna go get the doctor. She jumped out of the chair and flew out of the door.

Saint rushed over to my bedside. You good my nigga?

I think so.

You look fuckin’ terrible.

Thanks, man.

He had a funny look on his face that told me that something was wrong. I took my eyes off him to scan the room. I didn’t see Tressa’s or Heaven’s faces, which wasn’t a good feeling. Even though Tressa and I were going through some things, I expected her to be here for me. I was just about to ask Saint about her when Special, the doctor, and the nurses came walking through the door. Special walked over to the side of the bed then put the straw to my lips for me to drink some water. Again, I began to wonder where the hell Tressa was.

After answering a series of medical questions from the doctor, two detectives entered the room. The detectives were the last people that I wanted to see right now. I already knew what they were going to ask, and I wasn’t willing to answer a damn thing. I’d rather deal with whoever shot me on my own. Shit, truth be told, I didn’t really know shit that would help the police catch them anyway. Neither one of those nigga’s voices were familiar to me.

My name is Detective Marshall, and this is Detective Morrow. How are you feeling today, Mr. St. James?

Terrible.

They both smiled and shook their heads like it was a good thing. Fuckin’ idiots. Well, we are investigating your attempted murder, so I need to ask you some questions.

Alright.

Can you tell me what happened last night?

Um, when I got home, they were waiting for me in my house. They asked me for money. I gave them what I had, but they wanted more. I had an empty safe in my closet that they demanded me to open. When I did, that’s when the shots started.

You said they, so it was two of them?

All I saw was two.

Do you know the perpetrators who shot you?

No, I didn’t see their faces nor did I recognize their voices.

Did you notice any distinguishing marks or tattoos on them.

No, they were fully covered up in all black, and the lights were off.

Do you know of anyone that would want to rob or hurt you?

I wanted to tell him hell yeah. Any nigga in Dallas that wasn’t getting money probably wanted to rob and hurt me. I don’t.

Well, don’t worry about it. We will investigate this, capture whomever it was, and bring them to justice. Here is a card; call either one of us if you happen to remember anything relevant to this case.

Okay.

As soon as the detectives turned to walk out of the door, Rock, Monster, and Luke walked in one after another. They were looking at the detectives all funny and shit. Monster was trying his best to keep his face covered. I laughed on the inside because there was no way that he could disguise his big ass face. They all walked over, one by one, giving me some dap.

You good, my nigga? Rock asked.

Shit, I think so.

Nigga, I told yo’ ass to let us walk you in! Monster growled. I had a feeling we should have went in anyway.

Well, what’s done is done. Now all I got to do is find them niggas.

Do you know who it was? Luke asked.

I don’t. I ain’t never heard their voices before. It had to be them niggas that was scoping the house, though.

Monster had a frustrated look on his face. I knew that he was mad that I hadn’t informed him about them earlier, but I didn’t really think that they would be a problem. For all I knew, they could have been watching someone else.

My bad, Monster, I continued. I know I should have told you about that shit earlier. My head was just elsewhere, so I wasn’t thinking straight.

You already know to say something about anything. What’s the use of having an army if you don’t use yo’ soldiers?

I said my fuck up, man, damn. What the fuck else do you expect me to say? Shit, I’m the one that got shot the fuck up.

How many times did you get shot?

Hell, I don’t know, but it felt like a million times.

You got shot seven times, Saint announced.

Damn, Rock and Monster sang in unison.

It felt like it was way more than that.

Just be glad that they didn’t. If Saint hadn’t gotten there when he did, you wouldn’t have made it, Special admitted. That’s what they told us last night.

You’re always saving my life, bro. I smiled.

I know I am. You need to slow down, Jug, for real. You got a family to worry about now.

Family, huh? I chuckled. Well, where the hell is my family when I need them? Tell me that shit. All the family I have and will ever need is in this room right now.

Jug. Saint sighed.

Fuck that, man. Where the fuck is my wife! Huh? Where the fuck is her selfish ass when I need her? Probably out having lunch with that nigga.

Bro, she was in an accident.

My heart immediately fell into my ass and cracked. I hoped them niggas hadn’t followed me home and robbed her.

W-what do you mean, she was in an accident? What kind of accident?

On her way here, she was in a bad car wreck.

What! Is she okay?

I’m waiting to hear back from Heaven now. They said that it was a pretty bad wreck, though.

I got to get out of here. What hospital is she in?

She’s at Baylor.

I tried to sit up, but the pain in my abdomen brought me back to reality. I was fucked all the way up. I couldn’t even sit up, less known get out of the bed. Helpless was the way I felt. I couldn’t help myself, so I damned sure couldn’t help Tressa.

Ahh! I moaned.

Are you crazy? Lay down! Special snapped. You are barely alive yourself; you can’t go running out of this place right now.

I got to get to her. I can’t lay here, not knowing what is going on.

What the fuck are you gon’ do? Heaven is already over there giving us updates. You, death row walking, over there, isn’t gonna make anything happen. They’ll fuck around and put yo’ raggedy ass in a room.

Well, y’all need to figure something out because I need to see her.

They all stood there, looking at me like I was crazy. I looked back at their asses with a serious face. I wasn’t playing about what I said. They needed to figure out a way to get me out of here or her here with me. There was no way that I was going this entire day without seeing her.

Two

LaTressa

Ifelt like I had been hit by a truck. In fact, I had been hit by a truck. My lack of paying attention to the road resulted in my being laid up in the emergency room at Baylor. My head was pounding. It felt as if Grambling State’s drumline was playing a cadence inside of my head. My forehead was bleeding as a result of the concussion I had suffered. Heaven was sitting in the corner of my triage room. She was there when I came to. I felt a tug in my gut as I remembered that my husband was clinging on to life halfway across town.

Jug is going to kill you if something happens to his baby. Heaven smirked from the corner.

That’s all you have to say? I groaned. How is my husband?

Saint said that he is out of surgery. He was hit seven times. He is awake, though.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Although Jug and I had not been speaking to each other, I still cared about his well-being. I loved Jug. The idea of him being taken from me made me realize that all of the petty shit we had been arguing about lately didn’t matter. Yeah, it was fucked up how he got me pregnant. It was some real snake shit to do, but I knew he wanted a baby. My mother was right; I needed to stop putting my career ahead of my husband.

Mrs. St. James, you gave us quite a scare, a short, Asian doctor said, interrupting my thoughts. How are we feeling?

I’m feeling well, but I really need to get out of here. My husband needs me, I said, trying to get out of the bed. The doctor quickly stepped forward.

I’m afraid that we can’t do that until we have you checked fully, he said as he tried to make me relax. We ran some tests. Mrs. St. James, do you realize that you’re pregnant? We need to take an ultrasound and find out how far along you are.

I was aware that I was pregnant, I replied. I wasn’t surprised. I knew I was pregnant, but I just didn’t know how far along. Jug had been switching my pills out for a while, so it was no telling how far along I was. If Jug made it through his gunshot wounds, he was going to wear an ass whooping from me. I knew I had a scowl on my face as I crossed my arms under my breasts.

The doctor studied my face before he buzzed the nurse. He instructed her to bring in the portable ultrasound machine. We all sat in silence as we waited for the nurse to come with the items needed. Heaven held my hand, trying to get me to calm down. All I wanted to do was get Jug on the phone and curse his ass out. I watched as the nurse wheeled the large machine into the room and plugged it up. The machine almost instantly came to life. I watched as the nurse typed in her password and removed the transmitting gel from its holder.

This is going to be a little cool, she said in a southern accent. She pulled my top up and exposed my stomach. The gel was cold, and it caused me to suck in air sharply.

The room was silent as she stepped to the side to allow the doctor to take over. He pulled the rolling stool that was located against the wall in my room to my bedside. The doctor cleared his throat as he grabbed the ultrasound transducer and placed it on my lower stomach. Almost immediately, the sound of a heartbeat filled the room. A sense of relief washed