“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I mean, teenage girls are the meanest species on earth. So I heard my share of fat jokes, but I’ve always been of the mind that words could never harm me. As long as none of them ever felt like jumping my way, I never had to worry about laying their asses down.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, dropping a kiss to my forehead.
“Yeah, between Cade and the self-defense classes my mother insisted on once I entered the private middle/high school we attended, I could handle myself. Mama didn’t trust any of those bougie girls any more than I did. Cade was the one who upgraded those lessons to the gun range when I was fifteen. But that was after I shot a man.”
His body immediately stiffened, and I figured I’d better just get the rest out so he could react to everything at once.
“Cade was going on a date. I knew because I’d heard him on the phone talking to one of the bird brain girls he kept on rotation. They stayed blowing up his phone, and some, the reallybold ones, would see me at school when they were picking up their siblings and ask me to deliver messages to him. I never did because fuck them. If Cade wanted them, he’d let them know.” The memory was still so fresh in mind. “That night he was going to a music festival. The headliners were all Hip-Hop artists and that really wasn’t my thing. But there were rumors that Destiny’s Child were going to make a surprise appearance and I wanted to be there! So, if Cade was going, I most certainly was, too.”
“Did you even have a ticket?” There was a hint of laughter in his tone now and I chose to hang on to that.
I shook my head. “Wasn’t even worried about that little detail. I just needed to be in the vicinity. I would sit on the roof of his SUV and listen to them from the parking lot if I had to.” I grinned because it sounded so silly and carefree.
After that night, I never felt that way again.
“Neither of us made it to the show.” I swallowed and flattened my palms on my thighs. “It was a set up. She, Tangie Simmons, that was her name. She and her brothers planned to rob Cade that night. Take his money, credit cards, the SUV, whatever they could get from the cocky Donovan that didn’t know his place in what they deemed astheirworld. The first hit came to the back of the SUV, sending me tumbling into the back of the second-row seats since I’d been hiding on the floor between the third row. Cade cursed, and the second vehicle made contact with the driver’s side door.
“It wasn’t hard enough to topple the SUV over or anything, just pushed us onto the side of the road. Cade was pissed and climbed out right after Tangie, I guess because his door was smashed in. I’d hit my head and was struggling to sit up when the back passenger door opened and Cade jumped in to get me.” His stormy gray/green eyes landed on me as he held out a hand to help me out. “He wasn’t even surprised that I was back there.”
The first tear fell, and I swiped it away.
“One guy had driven the car that smashed into the side of us, and Tangie’s two older brothers were in the van that hit us from the back. Daryl, the oldest Simmons brother, had a gun. He asked for Cade’s wallet and keys. Cade told him to fuck off. He raised the gun, and Cade walked right into it. I’d never been so afraid in my life. I tried to stop him, but he pushed my hand away. Daryl kept that gun aimed on Cade until the barrel touched Cade’s forehead.”
My hands trembled.
“I thought I was going to watch my brother die.” My voice hitched on that last word. “For a few seconds I think I got lost in that thought, in imagining a world without my brother. But the next thing I recall was Cade moving fast, taking the gun from Daryl and shooting him in the head instead. Then he shot Tangie’s other brother and the guy from the car. Tangie was screaming, kneeling on the ground next to her brother, and Cade was holding Daryl’s gun.”
Fabian’s hand was on my back now as I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. With my head down, tears dropped leaving dark stains on my robe.
“It’s okay if you were afraid, baby. You were just thirteen.” He rubbed in a circular motion, his tone soothing, his words comforting, absolving.
I stood, breaking the contact, needing to be free of everything—his touch and proximity—before I said the rest. I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned to switch off the TV. After dropping the remote, I walked away from where Fabian sat on the sectional, stopping at the TV that had just gone dark. Space and air. I needed air.
Inhaling deeply and releasing it quickly. I did that three times before turning back to face him.
“I raised the gun I’d pulled from the ban of Cade’s jeans.” Clasping my hands in front of me, I shrugged. “Don’t ask mewhen I moved to grab it from him or why I even thought to do it. All I know is, in that moment they were all on the ground. Every person that had started this night intending to harm my brother. I went to the guy who had been driving the car and shot him twice in the chest. Cade had delivered all head shots, but I went for the chest … for the heart.
“Cade called my name. He didn’t yell and he didn’t try to take the gun away from me. Somewhere in the distance I could still hear Tangie crying.” I swiped at the last two tears and told myself not another one would drop. “I walked over to Tangie’s other brother, stood right next to him, and watched the blood pooling on the ground beneath his head. I shot him twice in the chest. When I started to make my way over to Daryl, I met Cade’s gaze. He didn’t say a word.”
Fabian was staring at me now, his expression blank but still saying so much, just like Cade’s had that night.
“I shot Daryl in the chest two times.” Releasing my hands, I let them drop to my side. “I looked at Tangie. Her make-up was a mess. Blood was on her hands and clothes from trying to lift her brother into her lap. I raised the gun, but Cade had come closer. He put his hand on my arm and pushed it down slowly. He said he would take care of the rest, then walked me back to the truck and sat me on the backseat.”
“Come here,” Fabian said before I could speak again.
I wanted to finish the story, to get it all out. I’d kept it locked inside for so long. Since that night actually. I’d never told anyone the story, never told them how my actions that night made me feel, or how they eventually shaped the woman I became.
My vision was no longer blurred by tears, and for a few seconds I only stared at Fabian. He was still sitting back on the sectional like he’d been watching his favorite show. But I was standing in front of the TV now, so I guess I’d been the show forthe last few minutes, telling him a story that probably did sound like an episode ofThe Wire.
“Come here, Dakota.” He lifted a brow when I still didn’t move. “Don’t make me ask again.”
I wouldn’t. I knew in that moment I wouldn’t make him ask, I would go to him and I would handle whatever he had to say in response to my story. That night changed my life. Tonight, this moment might actually change it again.
After crossing the room, I stopped in front of him. He tapped his thighs and I straddled him. His hands immediately went to the belt of my robe, untying it again. This time he pushed the robe off my shoulders. When he palmed both my breasts, I gasped. He pushed them together, closing his mouth over one nipple, then switching to the next. Back and forth, suck, lick, bite … suck, lick, bite. My hands went to his shoulders as I closed my eyes to the intense sparks of pleasure landing in my core.
“Fabian,” I whispered. “Baby … we, were talking.”
Releasing my nipple with a loud popping sound, his gaze shot up to mine. “Fuck talking,” he basically growled. “Did you really think telling me that story would change anything between us?”
