He wasn’t talking about food, and we both knew it.
He dapped up a few more people while we made our way out, and the minute the night air hit him, he wrapped his arm around my neck like he was hanging onto the only stable thing in the world. He was drunk, happy, and crazy in the same breath.
When we got to the car, I opened the door for him because otherwise he’d stand there looking at it like it needed to open itself. He slid in with that lazy smirk of his, his eyes half-lidded, and his chains shining under the streetlights.
I got in on the driver’s side, and started the engine, but before I could put my seatbelt on, Pressure’s hand slid up my thigh.
And not politely.
“Baby,” he said, his voice low and slow like he had been waiting all night to touch me like this. “You know what time it is.”
I side-eyed him. “Pressure, I’m driving.”
He didn’t care. He never cared when he wanted me.
He kissed my thigh, his lips dragging warm and slow along my skin while he pushed my dress up.
“Pressure,” I muttered, keeping one hand on the wheel and the other on top of his head because if I didn’t touch him, he’d think I was upset with him. His waves brushed my palm as I guided his face gently, even though he didn’t need guidance. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“You taste good right here,” he whispered against my thigh, kissing me again like the world wasn’t moving around us.
He was so unbothered, so wrapped up in touching me and getting drunk off my skin, that he didn’t see the storm moving in my head.
Because all I could think about was Kay’Lo.
Toni had been hurting for three weeks. From silent crying, shaking hands, hiding tears and pretending she was fine before whispering everything she never wanted him to know. She loved that man, and she didn’t want to let go, and she didn’t want him to see how broken she felt.
And tonight, he left with someone who wasn’t her.
Pressure sucked another kiss into my thigh. “You with me, baby?”
“Yes,” I whispered, because physically I was. Emotionally, I was dividing myself between my man and my loyalty to my sister.
Pressure reached higher, sliding his hand between my legs, and I let out a light gasp but not it a turned off way. More like: Lord, let me focus enough to get us home alive.
“You stressed about somethin’?”
“I’m fine.”
“You lyin’,” he murmured, kissing the inside of my knee now. “But I’ll fix it.”
He meant it. Pressure always thought the solution to every problem was either violence or sex, and since I wasn’t letting him fight anybody tonight, he picked the other option.
I shook my head, kept driving and rubbed the top of his head gently while he kissed along my inner thighs.
But my mind kept going back to Toni.
She was going to ask about tonight, and I was going to tell her. Because hiding it would feel like betrayal. Kay’Lo was wrong for this. I didn’t care how hurt he was or how drunk he planned to get.
And honestly? He was a fool if he thought I wasn’t telling Toni exactly how he left the club.
Ol’ girl’s glitter perfume, her hair touching his sleeve and her smile like she won something she didn’t even understand.
Toni deserved the truth.
I pressed a little more on the gas, wanting to get home, and wanting to process all of this with a clear mind later.
Pressure lifted his head and grinned at me with the type of smile that made me forget every concern for at least one second. “I love you, baby,” he said.
