Chapter Thirteen Kaylani
“Gworllll! You a mess. Pass me your glass so I can fill it up. I can’t believe that bitch La La though. Thinking shit was sweet, ol’ pussy ass hoe.”
“Yeah, Lani, she lucky I was done with Thomas ass. He ain’t no damn good anyway. What’s up with your little boo in the other room?”
“Peaches, shhhh.”
I shot her a knowing look because I already knew she was about to say some shit that would get us both in trouble.
“Grab yo’ shit. I’m trying to get me some dick, and you popping up is really in the way.”
“Lani, now you know this the day of the week we have our girls’ night and cackle ’bout these no good ass men out here.”
Rolling my eyes, I started pushing her toward the front door.
“I’m serious. Call me tomorrow.”
“I knew some dick was involved,” Peaches laughed.
“Bye!”
The second my hand wrapped around the doorknob and I pulled the door open, every thought in my head disappeared.
“C... c... Crown?”
What the hell was he doing here?
My heart started racing for reasons I refused to acknowledge.
For one stupid second, I actually thought he had changed his mind.
Maybe...
Maybe he came to tell me he loved me too.
Maybe he realized we'd been wasting years pretending we were just friends.
Hope filled my chest so fast it almost hurt.
“What you doing here?”
His eyes barely landed on me.
Instead, they drifted over my shoulder until they landed on Peaches.
He looked her up and down before walking inside my house like he owned it.
Truth be told...
He damn near did.
“Me and you need to talk, and this shit can't wait.”
A smile spread across my face.
My mind was already writing a whole damn love story before the conversation even started.
That's how delusional I was about this man.
Then...
Reality reminded me of the mess I'd created.
Before I could say another word, Trelin walked out of the hallway.
“Lani, what the fuck this lame doing in the house I'm paying for?”
My stomach dropped.
“Uhhh... he was fixing my computer.”
I heard how weak that shit sounded the second it left my mouth.
Crown wasn't buying it.
Hell...
I wasn't buying it.
Trelin folded his arms with that cocky-ass grin plastered across his face.
“Yeah, okay, slim. I was doing way more than fixing your computer.”
He laughed.
Wrong.
Fucking.
Time.
I watched something shift behind Crown's eyes.
His jaw flexed.
His nostrils flared.
The muscles in his neck tightened.
I'd seen that look before.
Years ago.
Right before he'd beat somebody unconscious for putting their hands on me outside a club.
“Crown...”
He never even looked my way.
Everything happened so damn fast.
One second Trelin was standing there talking shit.
The next...
Crown tackled him like a linebacker that had just been drafted into the league.
Both of their bodies slammed against my hardwood floor with a loud thud that rattled the whole damn house.
“Crown!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Neither one of them heard me.
Every punch Crown threw looked like it carried years behind it.
Years of hurt.
Years of bottled-up anger.
Years of swallowing emotions he never let anybody see.
His fist connected with Trelin's jaw.
Again.
Then again.
Trelin covered up before finally throwing one back.
The punch snapped Crown's head to the side.
Instead of slowing him down...
It only seemed to piss him off more.
He grabbed Trelin by the front of his shirt and drove him backward into the wall so hard the picture frame hanging above them shattered onto the floor.
Glass exploded everywhere.
My coffee table flipped over.
The lamp crashed into the entertainment center.
Furniture scraped across the hardwood while both grown-ass men tore through my living room.
“Stop!”
My voice cracked.
Neither one of them listened.
Trelin landed another punch.
Crown answered with three.
Blood covered both their knuckles.
Trelin's lip split open.
One of Crown's eyebrows busted.
Neither one of them seemed to care.
It wasn't even about winning anymore.
It was about who was going to outlast the other.
Then...
Everything started making sense.
This wasn't just about Trelin.
This wasn't just about me.
This was about everything Crown had been carrying around long before he ever walked through my front door.
He moved like a man who had finally run out of room to keep all that pain bottled up.
Somewhere between one punch and the next, it was like he wasn't even seeing the room anymore.
His eyes looked empty.
Detached.
Like he was fighting every person that had ever hurt him instead of just Trelin.
Furniture scraped across the floor.
Glass shattered somewhere behind me.
I screamed his name until my throat burned.
Nothing reached him.
He grabbed Trelin by his shirt and slammed him into the wall so hard another picture frame crashed to the floor.
“Crown!”
Nothing.
He swung again.
“Crown!”
Still nothing.
The anger on his face honestly scared me.
I'd never seen him lose control like this.
“Solae!” I screamed.
“Do something!”
She rushed over without hesitation.
“Crown! Stop it right fucking now! You're going to kill him!”
Like somebody flipped a switch...
Everything changed.
Crown stopped and stood there frozen.
Trelin collapsed onto the floor breathing hard.
Blood ran from his lip.
One of his eyes was already swelling shut.
Standing there with his chest rising and falling, Crown looked around my house.
The kitchen table was split clean in half.
Chairs were flipped over.
The lamp was busted.
Broken glass glittered across my floor.
Cushions were everywhere.
Then Solae reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder.
I watched his breathing regulate.
His shoulders relaxed.
The anger that had been consuming him only seconds before dissipated in the moment.
I'd never seen anything like it.
Nobody else could've gotten through to him in that moment.
Only Solae.
He looked down at his bloody knuckles.
Then at Trelin.
Then finally at me.
Disgust filled his face.
“I’m done with yo ass, Lani.”
His voice was low.
“Don't call my phone.”
He shook his head.
“Matter fact... forget my fucking number.”
The words hit like he was whooping my ass. Harder than any punch thrown in my living room.
He spat near the floor before walking straight out the front door.
I couldn't even stop him.
A few seconds later, Solae hurried after him.
Standing in the middle of my destroyed house, I looked around at everything we'd all just lost.
For the first time...
I realized Crown had never walked into my house because of me.
He walked in because of Solae.
And judging by the way he looked at her...
I had been fighting a battle I'd already lost.