Cashmere cleared her throat before she spoke again, and he heard the waver in her tone. “I don’t know how to do this.”
He nodded because he understood what she meant. He didn’t know how to navigate life without Twizz or how to navigate their relationship since it had suddenly become so complicated.
Savio let out a long breath as he ran a tattooed hand down his face. “I don’t, either, but the difference between us is that I want to figure it out together.”
His words came out bitter, but he couldn’t help it. Cashmere Taylor had turned him into an old bitter nigga because she refused to reciprocate his love when he needed it the most.
She looked at him with watery a watery gaze. “I do. I do want to figure it out together,” she whispered.
“Really? Because I can’t tell,” he said. He wasn’t trying to be so hard on her, but now his emotions were high, and he found a hard time reigning them in.
Frustration flashed in her face, and he instantly felt bad.
“I’m trying, Sav. You don’t understand. Ivoree was all I had?—”
“You really think I don’t understand? Until you came along, Twizz was the only person I’d ever loved. He was like a son to me. Maybe I wasn’t old enough to be his daddy, but I gave the nigga everything I had like I was. We ain’t ever had nobody but ourselves. He held me down during the toughest times of my life. He may not have been, blood but trust me when I say I fuckin’ understand. Ivoree was your sister. I get it. She meant everything to you. I get that too. The difference isyoureverything killedmine.”
His words hung in the air like a storm cloud. Tears streamed down Cashmere’s face, and Savio wanted to pull her into his chest, but he needed to take several deep breaths to calm himself first.
Silence sat between them like a taut cord, ready to snap them into pieces at any moment, until she finally spoke. “What I was going to say is that Ivoree was all I had until I met you. The guilt I feel behind Twizz and your pain is unbearable. My sister . . .” Her breathing faltered, and Savio pulled her to him. Her words melted all the anger and frustration within him, and he couldhear her with a clear mind now. “My sister is the cause of all this, but I enabled her. I didn’t realize how much I enabled her until we were all in the living room with her waving a gun around at us. I feel like this shit is all my fault?—”
“Don’t do that.” He cut her words off sharply. Under no circumstances would he allow her to blame herself. Had he known that was what she was doing all these weeks, he would have put an end to it much sooner.
“But—”
“Nah. Hear me when I say this shit was not your fault. Did you enable her? Yes, but you did not dictate her actions. You didn’t kill Twizz. She did.”
Silence stretched between them. Her head buried into his shoulder as they sat side by side. Finally, she whispered, “Twizz died saving us.”
Savio’s heart broke but then pieced back together again. He kissed her head and nodded. “That was the kind of nigga I raised.”
Cashmere tilted her head and looked up at him. “You’ll make a good father one day. You know how to raise good people. I clearly don’t.”
She hung her head. Frustration flared within Savio once again, but for a new reason. He wasn’t used to Cashmere talking down on herself and doubting herself. She had no idea that he still felt like she deserved nothing but diamonds at her feet. Not once in the past few weeks did he ever blame her for what happened.
“As much as I want to strip you out of them clothes and put a baby in you just so I can prove you wrong, I ain’t gonna do that because it’ll justify that bullshit that just came out of your mouth. Come on.” He stood up and held his hand out for her.
She looked up at him in confusion. He hated the way her tears left red splotches all over her face. Shit right now was way too depressing, and Savio needed away from all that.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You trust me?”
She nodded hesitantly. “Yes.”
“Then come on.”
She gently reached up and grabbed his hand. Her frown deepened. “What happened to your hand?”
He’d forgotten about punching the wall. He shook his head. “Ain’t nothing.”
She sighed like he had just sucked all the life out of her. “Look, I’ll go with you wherever, but you need to let me bandage your hand up first.”
It was his turn to frown. He looked at his hand and noticed the swelling and slight bruising. As soon as he gave it some attention, it throbbed. He clenched his jaw before he nodded curtly. Whatever it took to get her out of this house, he would do it.
When she stood, he led her out of the room and toward the closest bathroom where he knew there would be a first aid kit, since there was one in every bathroom.
He waited patiently while he tended to her, paying attention to the gentle way she handled him. He loved her ass, and she had absolutely no idea how much.
