“Xoey, what did you do?” I asked slowly. My focus went to the bathroom door, but before I could move, Citrine had already crossed the room. He pulled open the bathroom door, and I saw his shoulders drop. “Xoey, what did you do?”
“It wasn’t me!” she yelled. Her eyes were wild, and the knife hit her palm faster. “It wasn’t me! I came in to talk to her! She was in the bathroom with him! He was screaming! He was screaming for help!” Xoey dropped the knife and lowered her head. Her hands went into her hair, and she started rocking back and forth. “I heard him! I tried to help, but I didn’t move fast enough! I tried!”
I approached Xoey, picked up the knife she dropped, and handed it to Pyrite. I grabbed her shoulders to try to steady her. “Xoey, calm down,” I said, holding on to her. “Xoey!”
“I tried to stop her!” she cried as she rocked and pulled at her hair. “I tried, I heard him scream, and I tried!”
“I know,” I said as I pulled her to me. I looked over her shoulder at Pyrite. “Call Xia.”
“She said Xayne sent her,” he said as he took his phone from his pocket. “Shouldn’t we call him?”
“Nah,” I said as I held Xoey tighter. She was slipping, and the only person who could pull her out was her mama. “Call Xia, Pyrite. Trust me on this.”
He nodded, then stepped out of the room to call Xia. Pyrite may have met Xoey first, but she and I had a solid ass friendship, and I knew shit that my brother didn’t.
“Xoey, I need you to listen to me, sis,” I said softly into her ear. “I got you, I’m not going to let you go until Xia gets here.” Xoey let go of her hair and grabbed my shirt. “That’s right, sis, hold on to me. I got you.”
“I tried to stop her,” she mumbled. I could feel her tears hit my shirt. “I swear I tried.”
“I know, sis,” I said, because I knew if nobody else did. She was going to try and protect a child no matter what the cost, and if she couldn’t get to him before something happened, then it was going to fuck with her mental.
“Amethyst,” Citrine called my name from the bathroom. “Am!”
“Give me a minute,” I replied. I wasn’t going to move until Xia got here and got Xoey. I looked over at Ta’lon, who was watching me. “What the fuck did you do?”
Ta’lon was a beautiful woman with her dark brown skin, even darker eyes, full lips, and round face. I understood Citrine’s attraction to her in the past, but right now, she looked like a shell of the person we once knew. Her eyes held nothing but emptiness and sparks of hatred.
“What I should’ve done six years ago and aborted him,” she answered with an evil laugh.
“Xia should be here any minute,” Pyrite said, walking back into the room. He looked at Ta’lon then at me. I knew he had a million questions, but right now I could only focus on Xoey. Once she was gone, we would deal with everything else.
“Go check on Citrine,” I said, nodding towards the bathroom.
Pyrite gave Ta’lon one final look and then went to the bathroom.
I sat with Xoey in my arms for what felt like forever. She continued to cry and say how she tried to save him. Seeing my friend like this was fucking with me heavily. I tried to protect her from shit like this while damn near everybody else wanted to use her like a fucking weapon her daddy created.
“What the fuck happened, Amethyst?” Xia St. Thomas said as soon as she saw her daughter. Xoey was damn near the spitting image of her mama. Both were beautiful, with big expressive eyes, bright smiles, skin the color of roasted almonds, wild curly hair that they most times never attempted to tame, and curvy bodies. “Xoey?”
“Mommy?” Xoey lifted her head to see her mama, and more tears fell. “Mommy, I tried to stop her.” In an instant, she was a little girl looking up to her mother for help. Xoey climbed out of my lap and went straight to Xia. “I tried to stop her.”
“I know, baby,” Xia said, hugging Xoey. She wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.
“I heard him scream,” Xoey sobbed. “He asked for help.”
“It’s okay, Xoey,” Xia reassured her. She looked over her daughter’s shoulder at me. “Amethyst did the right thing and had Pyrite call me. You did good, baby.”
“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to Xia, and she nodded.
“It’s okay,” she mouthed back. Xia pulled back from Xoey and gave her a weak smile. “You are okay, Xoey, you did good. I need you to do one more thing for me, okay? Go with your brother.” Xoey’s older brother, Xion, walked into the room and put his hand out for Xoey to take. His eyes went to Ta’lon, and a spark of recognition flashed in them before he turned his attention to his sister. Xoey looked at her brother’s hand, then back to her mother. “It’s okay, Xoey. He’s got you.”
“Come on, Xoey,” Xion encouraged her. “I got you, baby sis.” Xoey hesitated for a moment but then nodded and took Xion’shand. He gave me a look before leading his sister out of the room.
“Xia--”
“Who sent my daughter here?” Xia said, cutting me off. Her demeanor spoke volumes. She wanted the head and, probably, the heart of whoever was responsible.
“She was here when we got here,” I answered her, and Xia gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me. I put my hands up in surrender. “Swear, Xia, she was here. On the bed, already had Ta’lon tied up and was waiting.”
