The thing about Savio was he knew how to roll with life’s punches, even the ones that seemed fatal. Even the ones thatwerefatal. Cashmere didn’t seem to have that same gumption within her, at least not with this situation. Savio had decided that would change today. He’d already lost too much. He’d be damned if he lost the woman he’d fallen in love with too.
After knocking on Cashmere’s door and waiting for several seconds, Savio pushed his way inside her room. Things had been strained between them for far too long, and though he came into her room to check on her every single day, he hadn’t hung out in here. It was depressing, with the curtains drawn and no light to illuminate Cashmere’s pretty face, or anything, for that matter.
“Precious? You up?” Savio asked as he entered the room.
Silence greeted him, and he sighed. He moved over to the large window and touched the keypad on the wall to wake thescreen up so he could draw the curtains. As soon as sunlight spilled into the room, Cashmere groaned.
Savio ignored her and went into her bathroom and started the shower. Only then did he look toward the bed. His poor baby was hurt, and it showed. She had no physical scars, but those internal ones were a mothafucka.
After gently sitting on the bed, Savio tugged the covers from the death grip in her hands before he hovered over her. “You stink.”
“Then go away,” she said in a dead voice.
Savio’s face screwed up, not because she smelled, but because he didn’t like her response.
“Get up, Cashmere.”
Her puffy red eyes grew wide. He never called her by her first name, so he knew she understood he was serious. But she wouldn’t be her if she wasn’t difficult.
“No.” She tried to roll over, but Savio trapped her in his arms so she couldn’t. “Move, Sav. I’m not in the mood.”
“And I’m not in the mood to spend another day doing this shit.” He gestured around the room. The only reason it was even clean was because housekeeping kept showing up to do their jobs every day, despite Cashmere’s depression. “I’m tryin’ real hard to handle you with kid gloves right now, but my patience is thin. I need you to meet me halfway.”
Cashmere scoffed. “Your patience is thin? Fuck your patience. I’m goin’ through something, and if that makes you impatient with me, then maybe we don’t need to be together.”
She moved to roll over again, and this time, he let her. He stood up and glared at her, his emotions building until he exploded.
“You ain’t the only one who lost someone!” Savio bellowed, and he immediately dropped his head. He never wanted to yell at her, but while she funked up her room with depression, hefought demons all by himself when he didn’t want to. He wanted her. He lowered his tone when he spoke again. “You ain’t the only one goin’ through somethin’.”
He didn’t say shit else as he turned and walked out of the room. His first thought was to get out of the house, but where would he go? His mind immediately pictured Twizz’s face, and he swiped his nose in frustration as he made his way toward his room. Once inside, he slammed the door, but that wasn’t enough. His fist flew toward the wall before he could properly think about his actions. Pain erupted in his hand, but he ignored it as he stalked over to his bed and dropped down on it. With his head in his hands, he thought about Twizz once again.
The moment his lil homie took his last breath would forever be etched in his brain. Flashes of Twizz as a kid, all skin and bones, filled his mind as tears clouded his vision. He shook his head, desperately wanting to think of happier times. Cashmere filled his mind, and he almost smiled, until he remembered what she had turned into. Then he remembered that it had been her sister that killed the only person who ever meant something to him . . . until he met Cashmere, of course.
Shit was complicated indeed. The thing was, Savio wanted to work through the mess with Cashmere. Her ass didn’t seem to care about what he needed anymore. It was crazy how just a couple of minutes could literally change everything.
Savio eventually lay down in bed and stared up at the ceiling. He contemplated going to see Marcellus. The issue was that he wanted to talk to Twizz. He wanted to see his lil homie. Marcellus was cool, but he wasn’t Twizz.
The fact that he could never talk to his lil homie again had been eating him alive. His feelings went back and forth between sadness, frustration, and anger. Living in this house didn’t help at all. Twizz took his last breath just one floor below him. Savio didn’t even know why he was still there. Marcellus hadn’tassigned him to a new job yet, knowing Savio needed time to grieve. He could go home. He had a home, . . . but his mind always shifted back to Cashmere.
Her hardheaded ass needs me.
And so, the cycle began again.
His door opening stopped his rampant thoughts, and he quickly sat up. Surprise filled him when he saw Cashmere standing in his doorway, avoiding his eyes. She looked like she was freshly showered, which was progress to him.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
Savio frowned. “Say that again.”
He heard her just fine. He just wasn’t about to let her off so easily.
Cashmere sighed and moved further into the room. She sat on the bed next to him and looked down at her chipped toenails. That was how they both knew she was down bad. It had been weeks since she had one of her maintenance days. The sew-in she had in had seen better days, and her eyebrows looked less than perfect. Still, to Savio, she was the most beautiful woman.
“I’m sorry, Sav. I’ve been selfish.”
“Go on,” he urged. He wasn’t even trying to be an ass. He just wanted her to talk.
They had attended both funerals together, and Cashmere didn’t speak to a soul through either. She silently cried and then took her ass home and locked herself in her room. She had refused to talk to him whenever he went to check on her, so whatever conversation she had for him, he would take it.
