My head whipped around so fast to look at Anthony, that I heard my neck pop. I couldn’t believe this shit, was every nigga on Titan’s side? Before I could speak Anthony put his hand up to stop me.
“Hear me out. You know how I was before I met Kayleigh.” He cleared his throat again but this time I knew it was from emotion. I grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, he rarely spoke his wife’s name because of the pain it caused him, when he squeezed my hand back he continued. “She was so pure that a piece of me felt like I didn’t deserve her because she was too good for me. The minute I saw her, I knew she was my wife, and I never felt that way before. My feelings were so strong forher that it scared the shit out of me because I knew she would have the power to break me.” He was quiet for a moment before he continued.
“What I’m trying to say is, women have so much power B, and when a man meets the right woman, we feel like Kings just like women feel like Queens when they meet the right man. They start to naturally transform into a softer version of themselves. I know you’re Ms. Independent because I raised you to be that way.” I rolled my eyes, because he really thought he was my daddy.
“But you’ve changed since being with Titan. I’ve noticed that you’ve been softer and daintier, even with the little shit. I raised you not to be afraid of bugs, then I was over your house with the girls last week and you almost gave me a heart attack because you screamed when you saw a spider.” We both laughed at the memory.
“You smile more, you don’t reach for the check first when you, me, and Tae go out to eat. We used to threaten you to let us pay. You wait for doors to be opened, shit when was the last time you threw on a wig just to go to the store because you’re self-conscious about your natural hair?” I racked my brain trying to remember and came up blank.
“Titan has brought out a softer side of you because he makes you feel safe enough to let your guard down, and I love that for you. But don’t get me wrong. I do want to beat his ass because I made it clear when I met him that whatever he does to hurt you, I do to him. I also agree with you about him needing to get his mental together about his ex-wife. But before you walked out, did you ask him why she was at his office the day he passed out? I’m sure he didn’t invite her. All I’m saying is think about you two and ask yourself would you want him to leave you if something from your past reared its ugly head?” My eyeswidened at his question because I immediately thought about the night I told him about Angel.
He was now in front of my building and after he parked he gave our joined hands a quick kiss before he got out to help me out of the car.
After Anthony helped me get settled at home he told me he would call later and left with his leftovers from earlier. I was now lying in bed thinking about what Devin and my brother said. Maybe I was a little too quick to run away when the going got tough. When I opened up about what happened to me with Angel, he was right there to comfort me, he even wanted to beat Angel’s ass and after knowing my sexual trauma he never treated me or looked at me differently. I understood why Eva got under his skin because what she did was fucking foul, but I never expected him to get so mad that he threw what had to be a fifty-pound flower arrangement like it was a football. Then punch the wall so hard that it tore the skin on his knuckles. His anger scared the fuck out of me but as soon as he saw that I was hurt he immediately snapped out of it and tried to comfort me. My head and heart were in conflict with each other.
It was too much to think about right now. Hopefully my mind will be clearer in the morning. I loved Titan but his rage tonight showed me another side of him, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be around to see it happen again.
Titan
Hours after Bailey stormed out I managed to pick myself up off the floor and stumbled toward the staircase that went down to the lower level of my home. I left the glass, roses, and blood on the floor in the foyer as a reminder of my fuck up. After I got downstairs I went across the room to my massive bar and grabbed the first bottle of brown liquor I saw and plopped down on the large sectional in front of my TV. Then I opened the bottle and drank from it until I could no longer feel the hole in my chest or until I passed out, I was good with either option.
Crunch.
I slowly felt my body become alert as my body started to wake up. Although I still felt sluggish from the liquor and the stress from Bailey walking out on me, my first thought was I needed to make sure she was ok. The look in her eyes before she left flashed across my mind like it was on a projection screen, and I felt like shit all over again. I had to make this right.
Crunch.
My eyes felt heavy but when I managed to open them, everything was blurry, but my ears were working perfectly fine. A strange noise woke me up, but maybe I was hearing shit because I was drunk.
Crunch.
Ok, I’m not that drunk. What the fuck is that noise?I slowly turned my head toward the sound. It sounded like someone was eating chips or an apple but that couldn’t be right because I was the only one here. I narrowed my eyes so I could focus my vision on the dark shadow I thought I was seeing across from me.
Although it was dark, the glow from the television offered just enough light for me to see that therewasa stranger in my house—no not a stranger—Anthony. How the fuck did he get in here? Did Bailey send him here and gave him the door code? And why the fuck was he just casually eating an apple?
“How the fuck you get in here? Do you know breaking and entering is a crime?” I said to him as I grunted while I sat up on my couch. I laid my head on the headrest and closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to stop the slight dizziness I felt from the movement.
“So is murder but if I cared about crime, I wouldn’t be here now would I? Which reminds me, I looked around and you should keep a gun down here, you never know what crazy person can break into your house and eat apples,” he said with a shrug as he stood up and walked over to the wall to hit the switch to turn the overhead lights on. When the room lit up I had to shield my eyes against the sudden brightness.
“You came here to kill me?” For some odd reason the thought didn’t scare the shit out of me. Now that the room was better lit, I saw Anthony looked like an Assassin. He was dressed in black camo pants tucked into a pair of black military boots. I saw he had two big ass guns in a shoulder holster and a big ass knife on his thigh. His black short sleeved shirt showcased his fullytattooed arms. Since he wasn’t dressed in a suit like when I first met him, Anthony was much bigger and more muscular than I expected. He was truly a G.I. Joe.
“Eh, it’s not entirely off the table,” Anthony said, throwing his apple core into the waste basket next to him. “I just left my sister’s house after taking her to the ER. I was on my way home when I decided to take a detour. I had every intention of killing you, especially after I saw the mess upstairs with my sister’s blood. And out of respect for her, I was going to make it quick. Then I came down here and smelled the liquor and looking at you now…nigga you look like death.” He stood up and came to sit in the recliner across from me.
“Is Bailey ok? You said you took her to the ER?” I leaned up, ignoring the pain in my head. I felt like shit, but I wanted to see her for myself.
“Why the fuck do you care? You the reason she was in that bitch.” Anthony’s voice was chilling, and I tracked his hand when he moved it to rest on the handle of the knife he had strapped to his thigh.
“It was a mistake; I threw a vase after getting roses from my ex-wife and her husband and I blacked out and lost my fucking temper. Bailey got hit with the shards and stepped on some glass. I feel fucking terrible.” I dropped my head in my hands, I felt like shit, and it wasn’t even from the liquor. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Bailey. “I love your sister with every piece of me and if I could take it back I would. Is she home? I need to see her.”
“You need to get your shit together and handle that shit with your ex first before you step to my sister again. What did Olivia Pope yell to Fitz onScandal? ‘EARN ME!’ That’s what you need to do with my sister, you need to earn her. I didn’t raise her to be no fool. You say you love her so handle that shit.” I nodded my head in agreement and then scoffed after it hit me thatthis big scary looking muthafucka just admitted that he watchedScandal.
When I realized he was still quiet, I looked up and saw that his face twisted up in disgust and he was looking down at the bottle of liquor.
“Didn’t you have a stroke or some shit? Should you be drinking?”
“Probably not, but I needed something to ease how I was feeling.” I sat back and exhaled. “The shit with Eva is really not that complicated but I do need to handle it. I just wasn’t expecting to see her when she showed up to my office.” I was about to explain, and he raised his hand to stop me.
“Nigga I ain’t come here to be your fuckin’ therapist because I’m not the one you have to convince; I came here to deliver on a promise I made you when we met. I came here to make you hurt,” he said standing up. “But if it makes you feel better I did speak with Bailey and offered my two cents but if she wants to work it out with you, she will.”
