Hades snickered. “You can keep that fuckin’ pride. I’ve laid and will lay a fucka down behind the people that I love. I’m not saying you’re in love with your baby mama or nothing like that, but she is the mother of your daughter. There is a certain level of love, respect, and protection that goes with that.”
His brothers nodded and voiced their agreement. I agreed as well. No, I didn’t love Melanie, but I had love for her as Eloise’s mother.What hurts her hurts our daughter.“I got you, and I agree.”
We stood outside and aimlessly talked. When the room door opened, I removed my back from the SUV that I leaned against. Hestia’s expression was heavy as fuck. “What’s going on?” Hades asked.
I watched my baby straighten her back. She couldn’t stop the tear that fell, although she tried to smack it away before we noticed it. “Um, the ambulance is on the way. She has internal bleeding and needs to go to the hospital now.”
My face contorted. “The fuck do you mean, she has internal bleeding? What happened to her?”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer before my feet moved toward the motel room. I needed to see what the fuck was going on. I heard Hestia when she told me to wait, but fuck that. I opened the door to the room and stopped at the sight of a severely battered Melanie. I slowly moved closer to where she lay on the bed.
“Oh, fuck no! Bread, if you don’t want to lay a nigga down, tag me the hell in. I’ll willingly take the burden for you.” Anger laced Hades’s voice.
The sound of the ambulance was heard in the distance. Melanie shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, Alexander. I didn’t know who else to call.”
I didn’t give a fuck about any of that. There was only one thing that I needed and wanted to know. “Where is that nigga?”
Melanie’s tears drenched her face. It took her a moment to answer. “He’s probably at Angela’s house. That’s where he spends most of his time.”
My brows kissed, forehead creased, and head tilted. This must have been a different Angela than I knew of. “Angela, who? I hope you’re not talking about the same Angela that’s Eloise’s godmother.”
There was no way that she was talking about that Angela. To my knowledge, they had been best friends since middle school or something like that. Melanie tittered. “Yes, one and the same. I found out a while ago that they were fucking around. More recently, I found out about the baby that they have on the way.”
Hestia stepped up and stood next to me. “Is that why this happened? Did you confront him or something?”
She simply nodded. “Yes. We got into an argument about it, and this was the end result.”
The blaring of the ambulance siren let us know that it had arrived. I told Hestia to stay with her and make sure that she was alright. There was one last question that I had. “Does Angela still live in the same place?”
Not a Killer, But Don’t Push Me . . .
“How you want to handle this, Bread?” Poseidon asked from the back seat. Out of the three brothers, he was the most tamed. I attributed that to him being a lawyer.
Zeus was a calm spirit as well, but Hades? That dude was just what his name implied. He was hell. From what I heard, he calmed down a lot. That was a scary thought because if he was considered calm these days, what was he before?
I took a breath. “I just want to talk to dude. I’m not trying to kill his ass, yet.”
Hades chuckled. “Big on the yet, but I get it. We’ll follow your lead.” He turned toward the back seat and looked at Poseidon. “Any advice?”
“The more it looks like self-defense, the better. Us being here uninvited already is a strike against us,” he said flatly. “Let’s try to be as civilized as we can be until we can’t.”
I nodded before I opened the driver’s side door. I looked at him through the rearview mirror. “I can do that.”
We all climbed out of the SUV. I knew Lawrence was here because I recognized his car in the driveway. Angela never came across as a female that would fuck her best friend’s husband. Compared to Melanie, Angela was the quiet, good girl. When we were in college, she would come to parties and read damn books in a corner somewhere. When Melanie was getting her back blown out, Angela was the one in the living room holding her purse. I guess time changed things.
I knocked on the door as soon as I walked onto the porch. Less than a minute later, the door opened. “Alexander? Wha . . . what are you doing here?” Angela’s voice shook.
“How are you tonight, Angela? I’m here to see your man, your best friend’s husband,” I told her in a matter of fact tone.
Her eyes bulged. “Alexander, I can explain. I swear I can.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Are you going to invite us in?” I looked behind me. “My bad. These are my brothers-in-law. May we come in?”
She looked between us. When I turned around, I almost erupted into laughter at Hades. He stood there with a boyish smile like he wasn’t ready to fuck some shit up and leave. Zeus’s and Poseidon’s expressions were more serious. After another beat, she moved aside to let us in.
We all walked in and allowed her to close the door so she could guide us to where she wanted us to be. She escorted us to her living room before she said that she would get Lawrence. Her house was nice and orderly. From what I last remembered, Angela worked in banking.
We waited for less than a few minutes before a tired-eyed Lawrence walked into the living room. Dude really beat Melanie’s ass and was in here in basketball shorts, a tee shirt, and socks. He was way too comfortable. “Alexander, what’s up?”
