Page 108 of The Wright Man

"Calm down! It wasn't anything scandalous. No I love yous. No titty pics. It was PG. Just... chaotic."

I showed them the screenshots. Groans and gasps echoed around me.

"You really thought you were hitting that note, huh?" Tina said, mouth wide in disbelief.

"Why was I singing Gospel?" Bella wheezed.

"I didn't even know I knew the words to that song," she added, rubbing her forehead.

"Apparently, you don't." I laughed.

A new text came in while we were laughing.

Maleek : What's the addy?

My heart did a thing. I blinked. Was he planning to pop up? Did I say something wild last night?

I tilted the screen away from my nosy-ass sisters.

Me: Why? You planning on crashing the hangover party?

Maleek : No, smart ass. I'm sending you drunks some breakfast. Now drop the lo.

I melted. Just a little.

I dropped the location, then turned to the girls. "Maleek's sending breakfast."

Tina stretched like a cat. "Thank God for little brothers. You hoes have never sent me hangover food in your life."

"That's because we're usually passed out with you," Bella deadpanned.

"Or you're in a different time zone," I added.

Tina rolled her eyes. "Y'all could at least Cash App me, selfish bitches."

We settled into a blissful kind of silence. Tina wandered out to the deck to call Rico and lay down the law about titty pics not being love letters. Bella opened her phone and gasped, eyes wide.

"Bitch... I went live last night while cussing Boyd out. I gained nine hundred followers."

I cackled.

As I reclined on the couch, the warm light spilling in through the windows, my phone buzzed with a screenshot of a McDonald's order confirmation from Maleek.

I clutched my phone to my chest for a second before texting him:

Me: Thank you.

The words were simple. But the emotion behind them wasn't.

I thought about him more than I should have these days. Not just because of how good he made me feel. But because he knew me. Knew how to show up. Knew what I needed without asking. Knew how to love me in ways I didn't even know I wanted.

And I almost lost him once.

Because of one night I was too young to understand.

One fight.

The first time I ever saw him break.