“You sure that’s all?”
“Yeah. See you soon.” My stomach sinks as if it’s full of bricks.
I shove my phone down into the couch to keep myself from staring at the picture again. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t stop overthinking. I’ve got to tackle my life one problem at a time. In therapy, I learned not to stress about things that are out of my control, but right now I’m screaming for my life on the inside.
I want to cry, but I’m all out of tears.
Lunatic lets himself in when he arrives. He sets a bag of takeout on the kitchen counter, then leans over the back of the couch to greet me with a kiss. “Mind if I shower real quick?”
“Go for it.” I need time to grow some tits to ask him about Layla and to come clean with him about everything. I can’t carry all of this on my own. It’s too big. Too much.
I walk out on the small balcony and hope some fresh air will help me find my nerve to start this conversation.
A few minutes later, my man, if I can still call him that, joins me. He takes up the other chair and balances his dinner on his knee.
“You’re quiet.”
“I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Yes and no. I don’t know. Yes.”
He grins at me, and my heart skips a beat. I don’t know if I can do this. How do I question him about another woman, then tell him one of his friends raped me, and that also my kid may be alive? That’s a lot to drop on anyone.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“I’m listening.”
“I should have told you last night when it happened, but I didn’t want to ruin what was left of our night.”
“Is this about Layla?”
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“She came to see me at work.”
The muscles in his neck tense up, and he closes his food up and puts it to the side. “Did she tell you she’s pregnant?”
“Is it true?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you hit her?”
“What the fuck?”
“She told me you hit her last night in the bathroom.”
“That crazy bitch walked in on me while I was taking a piss and grabbed my dick. I elbowed her in the titty to make her get the fuck off me. Then the psycho cunt ripped her dress and punched herself in the face. If Kidd hadn’t walked in, who knows what else she’d have done or said. I swear to you, beyond that, I’ve never laid a hand on any woman.”
“I believe you.”
“Good. Was that what you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah,” I lie, losing my nerve to bring up Tyrant and Hector. I don’t know what he’d do. Last night he looked ready to kill when Tyrant was talking shit to me. “No wait. Last night when Layla cornered you in the bathroom, Tyrant pushed himself up on me. I didn’t say anything before because I wasn’t sure who I could trust, but Big Daddy told me there’s a mole in the club. I think. No, I know it’s him.”
“How did you draw that conclusion from last night?”
