As I approach, Jermaine’s car rolls up and I slow my pace. My body thrums with violent desire to pull out my gun and ram it down her throat. There’s no excuse for turning on your friend, someone you used to claim was your best friend. Once your mouth opens, there’s no going back. There’s no chance of redeeming yourself. It becomes who you are and there’s only one way to deal with people who run their mouths and don’t deserve the air we breathe.
She jumps out of the car, and for a few moments I see she hasn’t got a care in the world, she isn’t worried or concerned. When she sets eyes on me, her entire demeanour changes. She starts stepping back, she fucking knows I know. She manages five steps before Jermaine comes up behind her and she bumps into him with a yelp.
“Where’re you going, Clare?” I ask.
Tariq climbs out of the car and looks between her and me and recognition hits him like a sucker punch to the jaw.
He knows there’s only one way this ends.
“Take her inside,” I instruct Jermaine and ignore Tariq as he jogs over and walks beside me into the house.
“You know I can’t let you hurt her, Dar.”
“And you know, there’s not a fucking thing you can do to stop me.”
He’s tripping if he thinks he gets a say. He knows the rules, unspoken and the ones that are spoken the loudest.
Slamming the door open, Jermaine has already thrown Clare down on the couch. He stands blocking the kitchen doorway and I remain by the end of the couch blocking her way to the front door.
Tariq drops down beside her, throwing his arm around her and she’s all too happy to shrink in beside him as if he can protect her.
At this point, I’d happily rip his head off just to get to her.
“I want the truth,” I say calmly, “What happened?”
Tariq squeezes her deeper into him, letting her know he’s here for her and it irritates me to no end.
“Talk,” I bark out.
“Me and Tar had a fight, when he stopped at the stop light, I got out and left. I wasn’t thinking and kept running, I didn’t realise I was still holding the bag until I got to Dolly’s Diner and that’s when I called Amelia.”
“You haven’t bothered with her in months. With what you were holding, you could’ve called any one of us. Why call her?”
“Because she wasn’t any one of you. I’m not stupid…”
“That’s debatable. Now get to the part where you fucking ratted on the mother of my kid.”
“The cops came up behind us, I told her to keep going but she pulled over.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. As if someone like Amelia would take the cops on a fucking car chase through the city. This girl truly is pathetic.
“The cop kept asking questions, and then he asked us to get out of the car and that’s when I panicked. Before I knew what I was saying, I was…”
She doesn’t finish but we all know the rest of the story. Her tears come thick and fast, and Tariq hugs her real close. Every tear that streams down her face is another tear that’s fake as fuck.
“In what fucking world did you think you would get away with this?” I bellow.
“Her dad is one of the wealthiest men in this city, he’ll get her out of this and make this all go away.”
“Are you actually trying to justify your actions with some bullshit about her daddy to my face!”
“She’s not from here, Dar, it’s not out of the ordinary for her to believe their daddies can fix this for them.”
I don’t even grace Tariq with a reply or even a glare. He cannot be supporting her and adding to her justifications.
“She’s been around here long enough to know the rules. That shit doesn’t wash here,” Jermaine pipes in.
I’ve never hit a woman, never thought I’d even want to, but the urge to tear Tariq away from her and smash my fist into her hallow sunken face takes over and the only reason I hold back is because my phone rings and it’s Mr. Haynes.
