“Remember that, Irish,” he repeated. “We in this shit for life, baby. Nobody is going to come between us.”
Tears welled in her eyes as her throat ached profusely. She wanted to scream out in agony because his reminder was one that haunted her. They’d been through so much and those times weren’t always pretty. There were moments they had gotten dirty, and the stains were still present. No amount of years would erase their bond, trauma, and tragedy.
The door slamming caused Irish’s body to jolt. Ivory dropped the knife on the ground and rushed over to her.
“Did you really cheat on Jovanis?”
Irish turned to her, eyes glossy from the tears that refused to fall. “We have an open marriage.”
That was the best Irish could come up with. Ivory was her baby sister, who she had practically raised. Still, she couldn’t out Jovanis no matter what.
Gasping, Ivory quickly covered her mouth in utter shock. “Open marriage. How come I didn’t know any of this?”
“It was supposed to be between me and Van.”
“So, why is he mad?”
“Because of the person I chose.”
“Who is it?”
Irish sighed, not in the mood to be interrogated. “Right now, Ivory, I can’t talk. Just give me a minute.”
Irish stepped over the mess Jovanis had created and went to her bedroom. As soon as she shut the door, she fell to the ground and sobbed uncontrollably. It was the kind that made her body quiver and her breath hiccup. She was hurt; in a pain that Tylenol couldn’t soothe because she knew she had to let go of what she desperately wanted.
Two
Cali was warned but she didn’t listen. She thought she had it all figured out, but who knew she’d end up in a position like this? The cold steel pressed against the back of her head incited enough panic to make her heart burst. Slow, labored breaths pushed from her nose.
“Turn yo’ ass around.”
Slowly, Cali did a 180-degree turn, coming face to face with the man that was her biggest regret. Braye was once her lover, who she’d promised to leave her husband for. That was the plan until her husband got into a terrible accident and she had to be present for him. It was then that she decided she couldn’t leave Rio. He was the love of her life. Although she had made promises to be with Braye, she couldn’t bear to leave her husband, especially after finding out he was the reason behind Rio’s accident.
“So what?” She snorted. “You gonna kill me because I didn’t choose you?”
Braye smirked at her with the gun pointed in her face. “Get on your knees.”
“What?” she fumed, peering at him as if he had sprouted two heads.
“Get on your fucking knees and beg for my forgiveness.”
Cali mumbled under her breath then peered around the park at the people who were near the slide. They were oblivious to the fact that she had a gun pointed at her head.
“You're real sick, you know that?”
“No, bitch, you're a lousy hoe that think you can fuck over people when you feel like it. You came here to do what? Try that reverse psychology on me? Yeah, that’s not gon’ work because I know who you are, Calia. You're a terrible person. You don't love nobody because you too selfish to do it. Now get on your fucking knees and beg me not to kill you.”
Cali gulped, wishing she had listened to her sisters. They warned her not to meet up with him, but she swore she could handle Braye. Sadly, she was mistaken. This man was too far gone. He clearly needed a psych ward to regulate his system because letting her go was something he refused to do.
“Do it, now!” he commanded.
“Okay.” Her hands were up as she gradually descended. Her knees were bent but before she let them touch the gravel, Cali yelled out, “Fire! Fire!”
Frantically, Braye looked around, gun still pointed at Cali. She used the distraction to her advantage and hit his arm. The gun immediately fell to the ground.
“Bitch!”
Cali ran toward the crowd of people who were hurrying toward her. “Help me! That man has a gun. He’s trying to rob me!”
