A look of hurt flashed over his face before he took a step back. His hands went into the pockets of his sweats, and his head hung.
“You got that, L. I’ll let you be. I ain’t tryna fuck ya life up. I do love you, even if I don’t show it the way you want me to. I know you shouldn’t have to tell me how to love you, but when you’re ready, I wanna learn. I’ll give you space until then.”
My chest was heaving, my breaths were short, and I felt like I was about to have a panic attack. Turning, I walked toward the mailbox and sat on the grass. Rocking, I pulled my phone out of my purse and prepared to order an Uber. Instead, I called Falcon.
“Smiley?”
My mouth opened, but no words would come out. Instead, I just cried harder. My father really didn’t love me. That shit broke my fucking heart. He was the first man that was supposed to show me true, healthy love.
“Bae . . .” He cursed under his breath and grumbled about killing whoever had made me cry. “Where you at?”
“S-Senior’s h-house,” I managed to choke out through my cries.
“I’m on my way.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Falcon
It tooka hell of a lot of work to get Eli calmed down enough to sleep, so I was pissed as hell when someone started banging on my door. Sleep and the ocean recharged Eli. If she woke up, whoever was at the door was going to feel my wrath. I didn’t even bother looking at the camera as I charged out of my room toward the door. Swinging it open, I was surprised to see Isaac behind it. From what Eli told me, I didn’t think I’d be hearing from him until our next game.
“I saw you pick up my sister on Senior’s camera,” he said, trying to come in, but I held my hand up and stopped him. “She needs to come home with me. Or I’ll take her somewhere else, but where she’s not going to be is here with you.”
“I’m tryna figure out why you think you have a say in this.”
“I should have a say because that’s my sister, and you’re my best friend. Or at least you were. Now I’m starting to feel like I don’t know where you stand.”
“I done told you before. I’m standing beside her, and I’m loyal to what’s right. And after what she told me happened earlier, that’s certainly not you.”
Isaac chuckled and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Just be honest and tell me what it really is, nigga. You want my sister, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do, but this goes beyond that. Emotionally and mentally, she’s not safe with either of you niggas. Regardless of what happens between us romantically, I’ma make sure she’s good. If that means staying away from you, so be it.”
“Isaac?”
At the sound of Eli’s voice, we both turned and looked in her direction. She looked sweet and innocent in my shirt, which was entirely too big for her.
“Don’t tell me you fucking this nigga,” Isaac said with a grimace. “You probably have been this whole time, huh? This shit was never a game for y’all. Y’all was together for real. You tried to make me feel bad, yet you’ve been lying to me for months.”
“I do love Falcon,” she said, taking a small step toward us. “I’m in love with him. I enjoyed every moment of the time we spent together. When it was over, what we had was over. We’ve kept our distance from each other except at your party that night and today.”
“But why were you with him at all, Eli? That’s what I’m not understanding.”
“I was with him because I’ve lived my life in your shadow and never really felt loved and cared for since our mother died,” she confessed, and even though there were tears in her eyes, her voice was strong, and she didn’t let them fall. “Falcon is the first person in my life that chose me. The first person that accepted and loved me unconditionally.
“He makes me feel safe, Isaac. For once in my life, I feel seen. I feel cherished. In the short amount of time we were together, he made me feel like I mattered beyond my music and money. Beyond being your little sister. You’ve gotten everything you wanted and needed in this life, including a relationship with our father and the career you love. Fame and fortune included. Now, originally, I was going to let you rob me of Falcon, but not anymore.
“This is my life, and I’m going to live it the way I want to. Whether he’s my friend or my man, I’m not letting him go. You’re just going to have to deal with that, and if you can’t, oh well. Talk to a therapist or some shit.”
Her parroting his words from earlier made his eye twitch as his jaw clenched.
His eyes shifted toward me.
“You gon’ regret this, nigga. You taking my sister from me and fucking up the team. I hope this shit is worth it.”
“I ain’t fucking up shit. You know I’m a solid dude. I ain’t tryna do nothing but love, support, care for, and protect your sister. If you can’t accept that, that’s on you. You can blame me if you want to, but what you won’t do is hurt or disrespect her.”
