16. Schizo
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SCHIZO
“ W here are you taking her for the honeymoon?” Ma questioned me. She had been down my back ’bout this honeymoon shit ever since I told her that I proposed, as if I was taking her ass with me.
“We going to Bali, Ma. She always wanted to go there.”
“That should be nice.” Ma took a sip of her wine and her eyes danced ’round at all our guests. I was that woman’s twin. Maybe that was how come I was a mama’s boy. Scar claimed I looked like Pops, but I didn’t see it. She stood ’bout five ten. Both of our parents were tall, which was why we came out as giants. Her curly brown hair stopped at the nape of her neck. She used to have extremely long hair ’til she decided she wanted to chop all of it off one day out the blue. Pops wasn’t a fan of the new haircut ’cause he always loved her long hair. It was one of the things that drew him to her in the first place. Her complexion was a couple shades lighter than mine.
“I still remember my honeymoon just like it was yesterday. Your father—” The rest of her sentence tuned out when Kaylan found her way at my side. A frown rested on her face.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked her, and she cut her eyes at me.
From her facial expression alone, I could tell she was mad ’bout some shit I had done. I didn’t remember doing anything to piss her off. We hadn’t even been back in Ocean Reef that long for me to make her angry ’bout some.
“We’ll discuss this later,” she said, mumbling. My blood boiled. I wanted to know what the fuck was going on. If she didn’t want to talk to me now ’bout it, she should have fixed her fucking face before she came over here by me.
I grabbed her forearm and pulled her away from Ma. “Liam, you better take yo’ hands off that girl, this instance,” Ma said, and I released her. She didn’t play no games when it came to shit like that.
“I just told you that we’ll talk ’bout it later.”
“You shouldn’t have said shit ’bout it at all if you ain’t wanna talk ’bout it now. Go.” I gently shoved her and she got to trotting out further on the beach. We didn’t stop ’til we were close by the ocean, away from everyone else.
I stepped at her side and gazed out at the water. “You kissed Stoney?”
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. With everything that had been going on, I forgot all ’bout that shit.
“She kissed me,” I corrected her. I ain’t want her to think I was out here purposely cheating on her or some shit.
“How come you didn’t tell me?”
“I was gon’ tell you. It just kinda slipped my mind with everything that was going on.”
“How!” Her voice raised, and she faced me with her arms folded over her chest. “Something like that doesn’t just slip your mind, Schizo.”
“But it did. I was too focused on tryna handle business back home then all that shit that happened on the yacht.”
“Are you talking ’bout the fight?”
I damn sure wasn’t ’bout to tell her ’bout us murdering three people, so I replied, “Yeah.”
“I can’t believe you kept this from me.” Moisture filled the brims of her eyes.
“You’re acting like I really cheated.”
“Kissing someone else other than me is cheating!” she screamed, and people began to look in our direction. If she was gon’ be this loud, there was no point in us leaving the crowd.
“Kaylan…” I reached for her and she stumbled away from me. “Are you really ’bout to do this right now?”
“I need time to think.”
“Think ’bout what?” I clenched my teeth. I was tryna understand where she was coming from, but at the same time, she was pissing me the fuck off. I didn’t do anything wrong. I planned on telling her ’bout Stoney, the shit just slipped my mind.
“Everything,” she said and ran away from me.
I thought ’bout running behind her but decided to just give her space.
Brushing the loose strands of hair back out my face, I sighed and took a walk down the beach to clear my mind. Pulling the pre-rolled blunt from behind my ear, I tucked it between my lips and lit the tip. I had been walking for so long, the sun was beginning to set.
I stopped in front of the ocean. The waves crashed against my feet. I took a long drag from my blunt and allowed the smoke to cloud my lungs before releasing it.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Stoney questioned as she stepped to my side. I had the slightest clue as to where the fuck she came from.
“How did Kaylan find out ’bout us kissing?” My head tilted in her direction and I looked down at the top of her head.
“I was telling Doll and she overheard me.” Our eyes synced. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for her to find out like that.”
“It’s cool.” I took another toke from my blunt and handed it to her. She pulled from it and handled it much better than she did the last time she was smoking with me. “See someone has been practicing.”
“Not really.” She coughed for a bit and took another pull. “Are you two good? I came out here to find you once I didn’t see either of you return to the wine tasting. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t fuck anything up.”
“She’ll be fine after she cools off.”
“You sure? I can go and try to talk to her if you want. I’ll tell her it was all my fault.”
“Was it though?”
Stoney batted her eyelashes. “You don’t think so?”
I had been wanting to kiss Stoney for what seemed like forever but had been fighting the urge. My lips yearned to touch hers and when she did it that night, it caught me by surprise. Had that helicopter not come along, there was no telling what the fuck would have happened. The shit was eating me up inside ’cause I was supposed to be in love with Kaylan. We were building this life together and I had been fantasizing ’bout another woman. It wasn’t fair to her.
“I like you, Stoney, but I’m getting married to Kaylan in a few days. Let’s just agree to keep things cordial between us. What happened on the yacht can’t happen again,” I told her and treaded off.