"Cortez, please leave me alone. Nothing was going to stop us from being together."
"Say that shit louder for the dead nigga you used to love so he can hear you all the way in the ocean, where I left his bitch ass." Crown let out a hearty chuckle, but River didn't find it funny at all.
"You dumped his bones in the fucking ocean?"
"Fuck you care where I dumped him? That nigga ain't for you. He's never been for you. Be happy it'smewho dumped him and not the other way around… since you wanna be whipping cars, for that nigga to shoot up blocks," Crown scoffed.
"It wasn't even like that." She pouted. "Had I known the target was my future baby daddy, my soon-to-be husband… I would've lined Sincere up myself."
"I fucking love you, yo'," Crown gushed like River had recited a beautiful soliloquy.
Shaking my head, I went back to eating my snack while they shared a moment. I was happy the two of them could joke about their connection to Sincere because, while in the thick of it, neither found it funny.
"I love you too, Crown. Now leave so I can finish talking to Navy." Lovingly, River swiped her thumb across Crown's mouth, wiping away whatever transferred from her lips to his.
"Cool, but when you're done, come downstairs. I gotta surprise for you."
"Oouu!" she squealed, getting excited. "What kind of surprise? I hope flowers because the ones from last week are dying." She pouted, and like the man he was, Crown turned that frown upside down.
"Stop fucking with me, Four. Flowers will never be a surprise. That's bare minimum shit. I got some else for you, but to answer your question, yes, I got you a fresh bouquet."
They shared another kiss before Crown left the room. Blushing River cooed, "I love that man real muthafuckin' bad."
River was fully in hermy man, my man, my manera, and I loved that for her. I felt the same about Chosyn and Wolfe, only they'vebeenabout each other from the moment they met. Everyone around me seemed to be getting their fairy tale ending. In my heart, I believed I'd be getting mine soon. We had been through too much for it not to happen.
"Are you okay?" River asked, pulling my attention to her.
"Yeah, just in my head."
"Free some of those thoughts. Is that not that what friends are for?"
"Okay," I hummed. "This is probably gonna sound crazy, but what if Honor's cheating on me?"
"You think he's cheating because he wasn't home when you got there?"
"No… I mean, yeah, but not in that way. Just hear me out," I stammered desperately needing to talk out my thoughts. "For as long as I've known Honor, he's always kept his word. When we were younger, I had a craving for a Payday candy bar right…This man went all the way to Crimson Falls just to get it, and you know how far that is."
"It's west bubble fuck," she joked.
"Exactly. Mad out the way, but he went because no stores out here or in Ember Hills had them. That's how committed Honor is about keeping his word."
"Okay, but maybe something came up. You know the things our men are into. Anything could've?—"
"Then why is Crown at home with you and Wolfe with Chosyn?"
River nodded her head in agreeance. "You have a point. Crown and Honor aren't speaking, but if Wolfe called and said Honor needed him, he'd be out the door."
"Exactly. I just—” I let my words trail off to not seem like I was jumping the gun with how I felt. "My brother texted the day we were all together at Chosyn's house. He wanted me to call him because he had something to tell me about Honor."
"What did he say?" River asked.
"Nothing. We ended up going back and forth about something that happened when we were younger."
"Okay, so you think whatever he had to say might have something to do with Honor cheating?"
"I don't know, but I have this feeling because what’s there for Talon to tell me about Honor unless it has something to do with Cho—" Choking on her name, I took a deep breath, muttering it as I exhaled. "Choyce."
"What is this really about, Navy? Honor not being home, or the tension between you and Choyce? Because if we're being honest, Talon was messy as fuck for texting you that bullshit. As far as Honor and Choyce, it's not crazy for Talon to know something about them since he is Lucian's son, and Honor works with Lucian and Choyce."
