“We had a thing,” Victoria shrugged.
“Whaaaat?” Taylor exclaimed. “You and Donna?”
“Keep your voice down,” Victoria blurted in a hushed tone. “Yes. We were together for a few months.”
Taylor was stunned. She knew that Victoria went both ways, but she’d had no idea that Donatella was into women too.
“What happened? And what does that have to do with you and Bella?” Taylor asked.
“Well, long story short, I told Donna from the very beginning that I wasn’t looking for anything serious, but she got in her feelings. When she started getting possessive, I broke it off.”
Taylor frowned. “You broke her heart,” she whispered.
It was Victoria’s turn to frown. “Tay, she knew from the get-go that women were only athingfor me and that if I were to settle down, it would be with a man. Sheknewthat. And besides, she ain’t gay either. She’s bisexual too. And she told me she wanted the same thing. But, then, she changed the game on me. So, I told her that we couldn’t see each other anymore. From what I heard, Bella blames me, saying that I’m the reason that Donna transferred to narcotics and why she stays away for so long.”
“So, Bella hates you because you broke her sister’s heart? But why do you hate Bella?”
“She tried to come at me in the bathroom at work.”
Taylor recoiled in shock. She couldn’t believe what Victoria was telling her. “At work?” Taylor gasped.
“Yep.”
Taylor shook her head. This shit was unreal. Neither one of them ever so much as mentioned anything about a fist fight.
“Damn. With the two of you being black belts, I’ll bet that would have been one hell of a fight,” Taylor mused.
“It ended before it started. Lieutenant Barnes came in.”
“Oh, my God, Vic. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I go around telling folks that? Besides, Donatella and I were so long ago. Why did she wait so long to say something?”
Victoria started to walk on, but Taylor grabbed her by the wrist. “Vic, you’ve moved on. Donna has moved on. She’s been with her man for four years now. So, why can’t you and Bella move on?”
Victoria’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe what just came out of Taylor’s mouth.
“Because she came at me atmy job!” Victoria spat. “She’s lucky she was able to walk out of that bathroom on her own. Look, Tay, Donatella is a grown-ass woman, and she made a grown-ass decision to get involved with me. Bella didn’t have shit to do with what went on between her sister and me. Besides, Donna had been trying to get into narcotics long before she started fucking with me.”
“That’s exactly why you don’t shit where you eat,” Taylor reprimanded.
“I know that now, Taylor,” Victoria huffed.
Taylor sighed and released Victoria’s wrist. It was clear that there wasn’t going to be a resolution to the dissonance between Victoria and Bella. And, as long as they weren’t throwing blows, Taylor wasn’t gonna get involved. But, Bella was her friend, and Victoria was her friend too. So, they would have to learn to coexist. Taylor definitely wasn’t looking forward to telling either of them that they were both bridesmaids in her wedding.
That is as soon as Victor divorced his legally dead wife.
Taylor would hold on to that little piece of disastrous information for as long as she could. Victoria continued on to her table and Taylor followed.
“She’s coming to the spa day,” Taylor muttered at Victoria’s back.
“Whatever,” Victoria grumbled without looking back. “Come on here, girl. We got plans to make.”
As instructed, Taylor followed Victoria to the table. Most of the ladies had already assembled. All, except Bella. She’d called Taylor earlier and told her that she would be arriving late. Bella was up to her eyeballs in murders. So, Taylor would be happy if she were able to make it at all.
“Hey, birthday girl! Great party!” Nicole shouted.
Taylor smiled at her big sister. She was clearly drunk. And Taylor wasn’t mad because Nicole was the worst of control freaks. Everything with her was about decorum, and Taylor was happy to see her finally let down her hair.
