Chapter 2
The sun was setting, and the winds were high.
Minx snuggled up to her pillow in her bedroom.
She’d been there almost all day after making sure Mille was good.
He was holding up a hell of a lot better than she was.
Mila had gone and taken Finn and Rose with her.
So Minx lay there staring off emptily. Someone tapped on her door, and Luna poked her head inside.
Her soft doe eyes dripped with sympathy as she entered and joined Minx in bed.
She wrapped her arms around her and spooned her friend from behind with her chin resting on her shoulder.
“I brought food. You want to try to eat something?” Luna encouraged.
“I’m good,” Minx whispered, eyes lost ahead.
“Minx, this is me you’re talking to. We’ve been best friends since we were nine years old,” Luna urged her. “You can talk to me, you can cry, you can yell, whatever you need to do. I’m here for you.”
The softness in her tone brought tears to Minx’s eyes.
She sniveled and shook her head. She didn’t want to stumble, because she didn’t know if she would ever piece herself together again.
Max was the root of their family, the fucking foundation.
How were they supposed to press forward without him to lead them?
Mila was emotional, but Minx knew she would only hold up so long.
There was no way that she would be able to keep it together in the midst of everything.
All she knew was that she had to be there when Mila did crumble because she and Mille would need her.
“I don’t want to fall apart,” Minx muttered, shaking her head.
“It’s okay to. You know that, right?” Luna questioned her.
“Luna, I really appreciate you being here. I just want to try and take a nap, okay? I’m still so tired from everything.”
“Okay, I get it,” Luna said, sighing. “I’ll go check on Mille. I’m not going anywhere though.” She sat up and got out of Minx’s bed.
She felt so helpless. She hated seeing Minx like this.
The thought of her digging herself into a deep, dark hole bothered her.
Luna came along into Minx’s life after she lost her sister.
They grew close because kids seemed to pick on Luna, but she didn’t dish that shit out.
She kept to herself, did her work, and that was it.
Minx was pretty much the same, except she didn’t talk at all.
The other kids would tease and taunt her, and she wouldn’t care.
Luna admired that because she was tired of ignoring folks and was ready to haul off the next time a motherfucker said something to her.
Minx ended up drifting off and dreaming of a simpler time in her life when her father and sister were both alive.
Nadia paced inside her office in the Westbrook Gym, gripping her cell phone so tight in her hands they were almost losing color.
Distraught and pissed off that Rose blew her off the last three days.
She knew it was all because of that bitch Minx too.
She’d heard that her father was killed, so naturally, Rose was like fucking glue to her side.
Growing frustrated with her situation, she shook away her thoughts of the the two of them together as she thought of what to do.
She hated to be ignored, and although it was valid this time, he still made her feel like once again she didn’t matter.
She was pregnant, and Rose was acting like he didn’t know what was up.
Yes, he’d only been back a week, but he must’ve let it slip his mind that she visited him in Miami about two months ago because she needed him to fill out some paperwork for the gym.
They slipped up and had sex then too, and now, she was six weeks pregnant.
The doctor only informed her a few days ago and she really needed to talk to him about it.
When she learned that Minx was in the hospital, she almost went up there because she was sure that she would find Rose there.
After careful thought to the situation, her pride kept her from chasing after him.
Nadia was the prize. She didn’t do that thirsty shit.
A nigga should be so lucky to be blessed with her presence in his life.
Rose knew what was up and where he could go when he needed something.
He’ll be back, that’s what Nadia kept telling herself.
He wouldn’t leave her pregnant and stuck.
That wasn’t Rose. Three taps at the ajar door startled her.
When Nadia peered up, Forrest Hill stood in the doorway. His eyes twinkled watching her pace.
“Something on your mind?” He asked, noticing how pensive she was, hands clasped around her phone against her chest.
“What are you doing?” Panic ignited in her oval-shaped eyes.
“Checking on you. I haven’t heard from you in days. The fuck is going on, Nadia?” He got in her face, demanding shit she didn’t have time for.
“Nothing,” she lied, dropping her eyes to the ground.
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Forrest barked. “You been on some other shit since that nigga Rose stepped back in town.” He inched closer, piercing eyes stabbing her with each step.
Pausing at her side, Forrest looked down his nose at her.
He considered Nadia his. He put in a lot of work to reel her in, so he didn’t like that she was suddenly trying to switch up on him for the next nigga.
For years, Forrest watched and played the background while Nadia chased after that dude.
She gave him chance after chance, but after they officially broke it off out of high school, Rose never handled her the same way again.
Even when they were fucking, he was usually giving her back shots or she was sucking his dick.
He didn’t do intimacy; he wouldn’t even kiss her.
Sometimes it left her feeling like a prostitute.
He pacified her by letting her keep his business floating and didn’t compensate in any other way.
Forrest was everything to Nadia that Rose wasn’t.
He was attentive, loving even. When he touched her, she didn’t feel like trash.
Yet in the back of her mind, she still carried a torch for Rose that stayed lit.
Every time he came back, he only added fuel to the fire.
Right now, she was still pissed off at him, but because he asked her to find him a place to stay when he first got there, she received a hit on a location she wanted to share with him. Yet Rose was off tending to Minx, as per usual.
“I’m trying to get shit together, Forrest. You think all this easy? Especially with him back in town now? Just… lay the fuck off me right now. I’m dealing with enough.” She rolled her eyes and blew out a sharp breath before dropping into the chair behind the desk.
“All you have to do is let me take the lead, baby,” Forrest said, kneeling at her side.
“I told you this. It will be the last thing he sees coming. It’s so easy.
Shit is like taking candy from a fucking baby.
You already laid all the ground work, so you might as well follow through.
” Forrest’s urged, probing her to turn on the one man that she knew she would forever love.
He didn’t get it. He could never understand what she felt for Ambrose Westbrook.
It was messy, it was complicated, and it was one-sided.
She knew that Rose would never be able to give all of himself to her.
He wasn’t that kind of man. Unfortunately, Minx would always be first. He could hate that girl and still drop any and everything to make sure she was okay.
Nadia wanted that type of loyalty and dedication, but from Rose only.
“He’s never going to give you what you want, Nadi. You see that shit, right? Who’s been here with you, making sure things around here are taken care of? I put you on with the new location and the dude that’s working to get this shit franchised. Rose ain’t been around for this shit.”
“This was still his place first, Forrest. You wouldn’t understand. I didn’t have shit when he entrusted me to run this place so that he could do other shit. It’s his money that started it and his money that has kept it going.”
“So you saying he don’t owe you shit?” Forrest asked, brows dipping just above his slanted eyes.
“I’m saying, I don’t like turning on the people that have helped me,” Nadia argued, taking her eyes away from him.
He rose abruptly and sneered down at her. She still wanted Rose. That was what the shit was and always would be. Fed up, nostrils flaring, Forrest veered his attention to the side, gathering what he wanted to say to her.
“So you being his little peon is respectable to you?” Forrest said, mutinous.
Nadia’s face wrinkled in contempt before she brought her eyes to his like two knives. Forrest saw the flicker of rage there as well, and took a step back.
“Why don’t you keep that same energy toward Rose, instead of turning that shit on me like I’m your fucking enemy?
” He aimed a finger at himself. “This nigga gets to come and go from your life as he pleases. Fucking you when he wants, and you taking care of his shit while he’s out catering to a bitch he claims is just a friend.
So tell me what the fuck that is, Nadia, hmm? ”
The truth hurt, and the large reflection that Forrest held up to her paralyzed her.
Everything that he said was the truth. She should actually be more upset with Rose, but she didn’t want to risk him completely cutting her off.
He held all the power, and she needed to find a way around that.
Forrest was right about one thing: she didn’t want to keep being his little go-to girl.
Since he wanted to be so dedicated to a bitch he was only emotionally fucking, why the fuck did she have to remain loyal to him?