“I sent you the address. You have twenty minutes to get your ass down here, and you know I don’t like waiting.” He disconnected the call while I sat there frozen. The voice couldn’t be mistaken, but I was confused about what he had gotten himself into.
Since I was on a time constraint, I hurriedly slid on my Crocs and raced out of the house. I was too afraid to say anything to Keynauri or anyone else, so I turned off my location and put my phone on DND while I drove. The GPS said the location was seventeen minutes away, and I wanted to make sure I got there on time.
I pressed my foot on the gas and hauled ass down the road in complete silence. My heart raced as I tried to put the pieces together in my head. I expected East to put up a fight for our relationship, and when he didn’t, it made me sad. He was the one who fucked up, yet he hadn’t made one effort to try to make things right. It had me questioning if he even wanted to be with me in the first place, and if I were honest, a part of me was afraid of the answer.
The robotic voice of the GPS let me know I was two hundred feet from my destination. I wasn’t sure whether I should call him or not, but before I could even finish my thought, the unknown number called again.
“H-hello?”
“Park in the back and turn your phone off.”
He disconnected without a response from me.
I took a deep breath, then did what I was told. When I got out of the car, I glanced over my shoulder. Paranoia set in, and I wondered if there were cameras in the area. I didn’t want to get caught up in a situation I couldn’t get out of.
When I got to the back door, a big, buff man opened the door for me. He scared the shit out of me, but I put on a brave face. He escorted me down the corridor until we reached a back room in the abandoned building. It smelled more like bleach, metal, and mildew the deeper we walked inside. When I stepped into the room they were in, my eyes ballooned with fear.
Logic and East were leaning against a wall, passing a blunt back and forth to each other. Both of them had their shiestymasks resting above their faces with guns in their free hands. While I was aware they were in the streets, I never saw them in action.
“It’s nice of you to join us, sis.” Logic smirked. My eyes bounced between them and Valor.
“W-what is this? W-why do you have her tied up like this?”
They both ignored me and continued to smoke. I started to grow impatient, but I wasn’t in a place to voice my frustrations. Eventually, once they were finished, East pushed off the wall, swaggering over to me. He stood close enough for me to breathe in his cologne. My heart beat wildly as I stared into his dark eyes. Whenever I looked into his eyes, I always saw love in them, but they were void. It scared me and hurt my feelings at the same time.
“Go greet your friend,” East instructed, nodding his head in her direction. I swallowed hard before making my way over to where Valor was. When she glanced up at me, I thought she would have remorse in her eyes, but she glared at me as if I had done something to her.
“I told you to be careful of the company you kept, but you never wanted to listen to me. I let you do your thing because I figured you would have to learn your lesson the hard way. The problem came when your hardheadedness started to affect our family.”
My stomach twisted while he spoke, and I had a feeling something wasn’t right. East leaned over and ripped the duct tape from Valor’s mouth, causing her to scream out in pain. I jumped when East lifted his gun, pressing it to her temple.
“Tell her,” he commanded. She must not have been moving fast enough because he gripped her neck with his free hand, making her look at me.
“Okay! Okay! East didn’t know it was me. I-I came to the house and pretended to grab a bathing suit. I unlocked yourbedroom window so I could come back later when I knew you would be on your way home. He had no idea he was having sex with me,” Valor admitted. I didn’t want to believe her, because then I would have to face the reality of what I had done.
“W-why the fuck would you do something so evil! We’ve been friends for years, and I would never do no shit like this!”
“Oh, give me a break. You’ve been pulling this innocent act for years, and I’m tired of it. Everybody thinks you’re so pretty and perfect, but you’re a regular bitch like the rest of us. You aren’t special,” Valor spat.
Her words left me stunned, and I wondered how I missed all of the signs. Sure, there had been times when she made shady comments or tried to embarrass me in front of people, but it was never bad enough for me to think she hated me. She was tied to a chair with a gun to her head, but she didn’t flinch when she spoke her truth. The reality hit home more than I cared to admit.
“I saw the way Mendeecees looked at you when we were at the studio. I offered to give him head and everything, but all he cared about was finding out more about you. After all these years, it’s the same thing every time. I’m prettier, freakier, and my ass is fatter than yours, but none of it matters. I’m the number one pick until you step into a room, and then they forget all about me. I guess a part of me wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine.”
“You sound stupid! The difference between you and me is that I never slept with any man you’ve ever dated or even expressed interest in. You broke into my home, fucked my man, and ruined my fucking life, and you think we’re even? Are you crazy?”
“There’s more,” East interjected. My brows furrowed as I focused my attention on him. The angry expression on his face only enhanced his sex appeal, but I tried not to stare too hard because I missed him like crazy.
“More?”
“Yeah. My tech guy hit me up recently because he found out some information about the incident that happened a few years back with that football nigga and his crew.”
My stomach twisted as I recalled the night he was referring to. I put it in the back of my mind a long time ago because it was another memory I wanted to forget.
“I-I don’t understand. What does Valor have to do with what happened to me?” Call me blonde, but I didn’t understand the correlation.
“Jett pulled their phone records. At the time, it wasn’t a focal point for me because those niggas were gonna die anyway. However, when I had him hack into her phone to see if she mentioned her plans to anyone, he got a hit on the old files on ol’ boy.”
East pulled out his phone, scrolled for a moment, and then handed it to me. My palms were sweaty as I took the phone from him.
