Chapter 15
Cashmere was on a high. Life had never been easy for her, but lately, it felt smooth as hell.
She felt lightweight and ready to take on the world.
She daresay she was happy. After leaving the warehouse earlier, she and Savio came back home and holed up in her room.
The things that man did to her should be illegal, but she was happy as hell they weren’t because she needed him free and on the outside so he could keep doing them to her .
. . again and again. Savio was an expert at making her feel on top of the world, and she didn’t think she would be able to get enough of him in this lifetime.
She hummed as she walked toward the kitchen with a smile on her face. That smile faltered when she heard sniffling from inside the living room. With her brows pulled in, she slowed her gait and peeked into the living room.
“Vee?” Ivoree’s head popped up, and she quickly tried to wipe her tears, as if Cashmere hadn’t already seen them or heard her crying. Cashmere tugged on the white T-shirt she wore, since she didn’t have anything else on but some panties, and walked further into the room. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Cashmere sat on the couch next to her sister and pulled Ivoree into her arms. Ivoree cried harder, and Cashmere’s happiness immediately disappeared.
Guilt suddenly filled her instead. Had she been too engrossed in her happy little bubble with Savio to notice that Ivoree was clearly going through something?
“N-nothing. I’m f-fine.” Ivoree buried her head further into Cashmere’s chest, like she used to do when she was a child.
Ivoree was a grown ass woman now, but at the moment, she seemed just like a fragile child.
Cashmere’s entire life’s existence was to make sure Ivoree was good.
That had been her job since she was seven years old and Ivoree was born.
At the moment, she felt like a failure because there was no reason Ivoree should be here bawling her damn eyes out.
“It’s clear you aren’t fine. What happened?” Cashmere gently coaxed.
Ivoree pulled away from Cashmere and looked at her. She shook her head. “You’re spending time with your man—”
“I don’t got a man,” Cashmere corrected.
Savio might have claimed her, but in her head, they needed to have more of a conversation surrounding the status of their relationship.
Ivoree laughed through her tears as she tried to wipe them away. “Sav know that?”
Cashmere giggled and then immediately felt guilty. That happiness tried to creep back in, but now was not the moment. Her sister needed her. She grabbed Ivoree’s hands and shook her head.
“Never mind that. What’s going on? Is it school? You ain’t caught me up on how things are going with clinicals.”
“You haven’t really been around.”
Guilt hit Cashmere right in the chest once again. She couldn’t even argue with that. She had been so wrapped up in work and with Savio that she really hadn’t had time for Ivoree.
After a long sigh, Cashmere said, “I’m sorry, Sis. My head’s been in the clouds. I didn’t mean to neglect you.”
Ivoree shrugged. “It’s fine.”
She sniffled, and Cashmere reached out and squeezed her hand.
“Tell me what’s goin’ on. Is it school?” she asked again. She wanted to know what was wrong because if there was a way for her to fix it, she would without question. Cashmere prided herself on making Ivoree’s life as easy as possible.
Ivoree shook her head. “No.”
“Are you really ’bout to make me guess?”
Ivoree expelled a breath. “I don’t want to upset you or Sav.”
“Upset us how? What’s Sav got to do with it?” Cashmere asked as her brows pulled in.
“It’s about Twizz,” Ivoree whispered.
Cashmere went completely still. She had thought things with Twizz had gotten better. Was she wrong? Had she been that caught up in Savio that she missed something else?
“What about him?” she asked in a deadly whisper.
Ivoree looked down at the floor, and fresh tears pooled in her eyes. “He . . . he tried to . . .”
Cashmere tried being patient, but something about this situation felt off.
“He tried to what, Vee?”
Ivoree wiped her tears and cleared her throat. “He drove me home earlier after my shift at the hospital, and he . . . he tried to push up on me, even though I said no.”
A sob tore from Ivoree while Cashmere processed what her sister said. Now, she was pissed. “Ivoree, cut out all that crying for a minute and talk to me. What do you mean he tried to push up on you?”
“He tried to fuck me, Cash. I don’t know how else I’m supposed to say it,” Ivoree snapped as she finally looked at her sister.
Cashmere shook her head in disbelief. Twizz was a good-looking man, and she was sure he had a harem of women. Why would he try to force Ivoree to have sex with him?
“Are you sure that’s what happened? Did he—”
Ivoree hopped up from the couch, the robe she wore hanging open and revealing the lace bra and panties. “You really don’t believe me?”
Cashmere’s frown deepened. “Did I say that?”
“You’re insinuating it,” Ivoree argued. Her firsts were balled up, and Cashmere’s brows rose.
They never raised their voices at each other.
Not in their adult life, anyway. Cashmere wasn’t about to start now.
She looked up at Ivoree like she had lost her damn mind.
Ivoree finally huffed out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. When she finally sat down, Cashmere responded, ignoring the bouncing of her sister’s leg.
“I’m not insinuating anything. I’m trying to understand what happened.”
“I just told you what happened.”
Cashmere never realized how childish her sister could be sometimes.
It was hard to believe at this moment that Ivoree was twenty-seven years old because she sat there pouting with her lip poked out and her leg bouncing because she wasn’t currently getting her way.
That was Cashmere’s fault. Even before she got money, Cashmere spoiled Ivoree.
Ivoree ate before Cashmere, always. She always got the warmest parts of the mattress and most of the blankets and pillows.
“Vee, cut it out and tell me exactly what happened so I know how to react. My patience is running thin.”
Ivoree rolled her eyes. “Like I said, he was the one to pick me up after work. I haven’t really been with him one on one since that party, so it was kind of awkward.
When we pulled up to the house, he said he wanted to talk.
I sat there and waited to hear what he had to say, but instead of talk, he leaned over and tried to kiss me and slide his hand down my scrubs. ”
Cashmere’s brain still wasn’t computing. She didn’t necessarily like Twizz, but something seemed so off about this.
“How did you get away?”
“Huh?”
Cashmere’s brows drew in. “How did you get away? If he was trying to rape you, because let’s be clear, that’s what you’re saying, then how did you get away?”
Ivoree blinked. Tears pooled in her eyes once again, and she shrugged.
“I don’t remember. It’s a blur. I was scared, Cash.
I just got out of the car and ran inside.
I been in my room ever since. I just came down here to get a snack since I haven’t eaten, but the whole situation really just caught up with me, and I found myself in here crying. ”
Cashmere couldn’t stand to see Ivoree crying. It was why she kept telling her to cut it out. It made her heart ache. She hugged Ivoree once again and let her sister cry for just a second before she asked, “What can I do to make this better? How can I help?”
She had an idea of how she wanted to handle it, but she wanted to see what Ivoree had to say first. If Cashmere had it her way, she would confront Twizz herself and get his side of the story. She was pretty good at reading people, so she wanted to see his face when he was confronted about this.
“I don’t want him around me anymore. I don’t want any of them around me anymore. I want to go back to normal,” Ivoree said.
Cashmere shook her head. That option wasn’t on the table. She was still in the dark on what happened with Karma, and her paranoia might have eased up some, but it wasn’t gone.
“We can get Twizz removed from your detail, but you’re going to have guards, Vee. I’m sorry.”
Ivoree shook her head. “Fine, then I want Sav on my detail.”
Cashmere thought about it. She loved spending her days with Savio, but she wouldn’t trust anyone else more with her sister than him. With a sigh, she said, “Fine.
Ivoree gazed at her sister with watery eyes. “Really?”
Cashmere nodded. “I’ll call Cell and let him know about the change. We’ll start tomorrow.”
Ivoree threw her arms around Cashmere and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Of course, Vee. I’m sorry you had such a shitty night. I’ll see Twizz myself and see what the fuck he was thinking. Either way, you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Ivoree pulled back. “You don’t have to do all that. I just don’t want to see him anymore.”
Cashmere heard what her sister said, but she wasn’t listening for real. Twizz would have to see her either way, because she wanted to get to the bottom of what the fuck was going on between him and her sister.