Chapter 18
DRAHMA TOWN
“I know this bitch ain’t all over Kay’Lo,” I mumbled under my breath while watching him from across the section.
Kay’Lo sat in the middle like the entire night was built around him, which honestly it was, because when Kay’Lo celebrated, the whole city showed up for him.
The DJ kept shouting his name, women were damn near climbing over the VIP ropes just to get a look at him, and the guys in the lounge were saluting him like he was royalty.
It made sense, because he had that type of presence.
He was loved here, he was respected here, and every bit of it was earned.
And still, the one person who should’ve been on his arm was nowhere in sight.
Toni wasn’t here.
I felt that absence and it bothered me more than I wanted to admit, because I knew what today was supposed to be for him.
I’d seen how she celebrated him before, and how she put her whole heart into making him feel cherished, and the fact that she wasn’t next to him tonight told me everything I needed to know about how hurt they both were.
Kay’Lo was trying to drown it in shine, alcohol and noise, but Toni? She had been crying on my phone three separate nights, pretending she didn’t care before breaking all the way down.
And I couldn’t look at ‘Lo tonight without thinking about that.
I leaned into Pressure’s side, my hand resting against his arm, and my eyes narrowed as I watched Kay’Lo nod at some girl perched way too close to him.
She had slid in like she owned space nobody gave her, and when she leaned forward to whisper something in his ear, I rolled my damn eyes up to the ceiling.
She didn’t belong here. Point blank!
Not in this section. Not with us. Not next to him.
And she damn sure wasn’t Toni…
Pressure noticed my energy shift, because even drunk, my man felt everything I felt like it came through the airwaves. His arm was heavy across my shoulders, his chain brushing against my skin as he leaned down.
“What you whisperin’ over there for?” he asked, his voice low and thick with liquor, his lips brushing my temple like he thought he was being discreet.
“I’m not whispering,” I said calmly, even though I absolutely was. “I’m observing.”
Pressure lifted his head with that confused seriousness only he could pull off. “Observin’ what?”
“That,” I said, glaring at the girl again. “Kay’Lo letting that girl sit that close to him like it’s normal.”
Pressure frowned, looked at Kay’Lo, then shrugged. “Ain’t nobody worried ‘bout no girl. He grown.”
“Pressure, she’s sitting on his leg.”
“She got good balance then,” he muttered.
I looked at him slowly, because I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be helpful or just drunk out of his mind.
He blinked at me, and then he took another sip like that solved something.
Kay’Lo lifted his glass for another shoutout from the DJ, and the girl leaned her whole body into him like she was claiming territory.
My irritation grew, because Toni didn’t deserve this.
She might have been stubborn and quiet about her pain, but she loved that man with her entire soul, and seeing him allow some stranger to touch on him like that made my stomach tighten.
I kept watching her, because something about her energy rubbed me wrong from the moment she sauntered into our area.
She was pretty, too pretty in a way that drew eyes without her even trying.
Her skin shimmered like she bathed in glitter, her hair fell perfectly across her shoulders, and she carried herself with a confidence that didn’t seem fake.
She was the type of girl men liked to spend money on just to stand next to.
And she was all smiles around Kay’Lo.
If Toni was here, she would have folded her ass like laundry.
The night went on, and when the club started clearing out, Kay’Lo stood up with that same cool walk he always had, with his shades slipping low on his nose while the girl stood up with him like she had been chosen.
She adjusted her dress, touched her hair and walked beside him with a grin that screamed opportunist.
Pressure and Renza both dapped him up, talking to him like nothing was wrong, probably because to them nothing was. But when Kay’Lo told the girl to come on, Pluto Mensah was five seconds from having a moral crisis on the dance floor.
Kay’Lo didn’t even look our way again. He walked that girl right out the club.
My heart sank a little for Toni, because she would feel this. Even if she didn’t see it, she would feel it. This bitch didn’t mean anything to him, but the hurt would hit the same.
Pressure grabbed my hand. “Come on, baby,” he said, his voice warm but slurred. “I’m hungry for you.”
He wasn’t talking about food, and we both knew it.
He dapped up a few more people while we made our way out, and the minute the night air hit him, he wrapped his arm around my neck like he was hanging onto the only stable thing in the world. He was drunk, happy, and crazy in the same breath.
When we got to the car, I opened the door for him because otherwise he’d stand there looking at it like it needed to open itself. He slid in with that lazy smirk of his, his eyes half-lidded, and his chains shining under the streetlights.
I got in on the driver’s side, and started the engine, but before I could put my seatbelt on, Pressure’s hand slid up my thigh.
And not politely.
“Baby,” he said, his voice low and slow like he had been waiting all night to touch me like this. “You know what time it is.”
I side-eyed him. “Pressure, I’m driving.”
He didn’t care. He never cared when he wanted me.
He kissed my thigh, his lips dragging warm and slow along my skin while he pushed my dress up.
“Pressure,” I muttered, keeping one hand on the wheel and the other on top of his head because if I didn’t touch him, he’d think I was upset with him. His waves brushed my palm as I guided his face gently, even though he didn’t need guidance. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“You taste good right here,” he whispered against my thigh, kissing me again like the world wasn’t moving around us.
He was so unbothered, so wrapped up in touching me and getting drunk off my skin, that he didn’t see the storm moving in my head.
Because all I could think about was Kay’Lo.
Toni had been hurting for three weeks. From silent crying, shaking hands, hiding tears and pretending she was fine before whispering everything she never wanted him to know. She loved that man, and she didn’t want to let go, and she didn’t want him to see how broken she felt.
And tonight, he left with someone who wasn’t her.
Pressure sucked another kiss into my thigh. “You with me, baby?”
“Yes,” I whispered, because physically I was. Emotionally, I was dividing myself between my man and my loyalty to my sister.
Pressure reached higher, sliding his hand between my legs, and I let out a light gasp but not it a turned off way. More like: Lord, let me focus enough to get us home alive.
“You stressed about somethin’?”
“I’m fine.”
“You lyin’,” he murmured, kissing the inside of my knee now. “But I’ll fix it.”
He meant it. Pressure always thought the solution to every problem was either violence or sex, and since I wasn’t letting him fight anybody tonight, he picked the other option.
I shook my head, kept driving and rubbed the top of his head gently while he kissed along my inner thighs.
But my mind kept going back to Toni.
She was going to ask about tonight, and I was going to tell her. Because hiding it would feel like betrayal. Kay’Lo was wrong for this. I didn’t care how hurt he was or how drunk he planned to get.
And honestly? He was a fool if he thought I wasn’t telling Toni exactly how he left the club.
Ol’ girl’s glitter perfume, her hair touching his sleeve and her smile like she won something she didn’t even understand.
Toni deserved the truth.
I pressed a little more on the gas, wanting to get home, and wanting to process all of this with a clear mind later.
Pressure lifted his head and grinned at me with the type of smile that made me forget every concern for at least one second. “I love you, baby,” he said.
“I love you too.”
But inside, I was already preparing how I was going to break this to Toni… because tonight changed something.
And Kay’Lo was about to find out Toni wasn’t the only one he had to answer to.
TRILL-LAND, JUNGLE ESTATE
When we got home, Pressure didn’t even pretend he was about to check on the kids.
The man barely let the front door close before he scooped me up and held me against his chest. He carried me straight to the elevator and pressed the button with the same impatience he used whenever he wanted me more than he wanted to breathe.
He kept his arms tight around me while we waited and lowered his mouth to my neck, sucking on my skin like he was trying to claim every thought in my head. His breath was warm, and heavy with liquor, but even drunk he tasted sweet. He always did.
I still had Kay’Lo and Toni in the back of my mind, because that whole situation sat on my spirit like a weight. Yet the way Pressure was kissing my neck… it pulled me somewhere else. It was somewhere softer and where everything I was worried about blurred around the edges.
I closed my eyes and felt his lips travel along the side of my throat. He pulled little moans out of me without trying, and all I could do was grip his shirt and breathe through the heat spreading between my legs.
The elevator finally opened and Pressure walked us out without letting go. When we reached the bedroom, he didn’t bother turning on the lights. He just laid me across the bed and pushed my dress up, sliding my thong to the side like he had been waiting hours to get to me.