Chapter 27 Et Tu Brute? #2
“I love you too,” I mutter into her inner thigh, looking right at her comic strip underwear. Her leg naturally goes over my shoulders as I continue my descent. I feel her hand in my hair and she leans in closer. Maybe I shouldn’t. We only just made up and she’s—
“Are you going to or not?”
Well. That answers that.
Pulling the fabric to the side, I continue the kisses, drawing tiny gasps from her. My tongue drags along her entrance and I’m ready to taste her clit when—
“What the fuck are you two doing?!”
Fuck.
Frankie kicks me back so fast I almost crash into the coffee table.
We both look to see Za is standing there.
Dance bag still on her shoulder. Keys still in her hand. She looks between us once. Then twice.
Then down at Frankie’s thighs before Frankie covers herself.
“Oh my God.”
Frankie gets up immediately. “Za—”
“Don’t.” Zaza commands. “Don’t you dare say my name right now.”
“Let me explain—”
“I just walked in on my best friend letting my brother eat her out on my couch,” she snaps. “The same brother I spent all night crying about! What is there to explain, Francine?!”
“It’s not what—”
“It’s not what it seems?” Za finishes for her. “Are you serious right now?”
“I am!” Francine cries out and Za moves around the room, massaging her head like she’s trying to make sense of it all. “Yes, this looks bad. Yes, it looks like I betrayed you but I didn’t know he would show up today! I never planned it! And I tried to end it, I swear!”
Fuck, Frankie.
Za blinks, finally stopping her pace to look at us. “…End what?”
Frankie’s chest rises with realization at her fuck up.
Silence.
Za’s eyes widen slowly. “No. No, no, no—How long?”
Frankie doesn’t answer.
“How. Long.”
I open my mouth—
“I asked her,” Za bites out. “I’m not talking to you.”
And that alone let me know my input was not valued in this conversation.
Frankie swallows. “… like 2 months.”
“Months?” Zaza repeats, her voice climbing. “Months?!”
“Za—”
“MONTHS?!” She throws her keys across the room and they hit the wall with a crack. “You’ve been sleeping with my brother for MONTHS?!”
“I didn’t mean for it to—”
“Oh my God, shut up Francine!” Za yells. “You didn’t mean for it?!”
“I didn’t—”
“ARE YOU FUCKING HEARING YOURSELF?!”
Frankie’s eyes fill. “I was going to tell you—”
“When?!”
“I don’t know!”
“You don’t know?!”
“I was trying to find the right time!”
“You were trying to find the right time to tell me you’ve been fucking my brother?!”
Frankie flinches. “Yes!”
“Oh, how about when I ASKED? You didn’t think it was the right time then?!”
Damn.
“I told you! I literally said ‘Frankie, Jabari is gonna try to get to you! He’s gonna find a way to get you to acknowledge him! And you said not to worry ‘cause you’re not interested! ‘You’re my girl, Za! He’s your brother, Za! It’ll be weird Za!’ What happened to that, huh?”
Frankie flinches, letting me know guilt is ripping through her, cause everything Za says is true.
“And you,” she says, rounding on me now. “You were the one telling me to talk to her! You were the one telling me she loved me! You were the one saying she’d never do anything to hurt me! You sit there and let me cry to you about her!”
I don’t even know what to say.
“You’re my brother,” she says, voice shaking. “You’re supposed to protect me. Not— not sneak around with the one person I trust more than anyone else in this world.”
“I love her,” I say before I can stop myself.
Za freezes.
Frankie’s head snaps toward me.
“What?” Za presses.
“I love her,” I repeat.
Silence detonates in the room and I stand next to Frankie.
Za’s laugh takes over. “Of course you do.”
“Za—” I try but she doesn’t even let me explain.
“No, it makes sense,” she says, nodding. “You get bored of everything else, why not ruin my life too?”
“That’s not fair—”
“Oh it’s not fair?!” she yells. “Well, what part of this is fair, Jabari?! You lying to my face for months? You sneaking into my flat for my best friend? You letting me defend you to her while you’re in her bed?!”
Frankie steps forward. “It’s not him you’re mad at Za. It’s me.”
“I can multitask!” Za screams. “The two of you can get it at this point!”
“But we can talk this out,” I try. “Let’s all just calm down and have an adult conversation.”
“Wow.” Za wipes her face roughly. “Where was this energy yesterday?”
Damn.
My lips fold automatically before she turns her attention away, addressing Frankie. My poor Jelly is trying, and failing to hold in tears.
“You really are something else, you know that?”
“I’m sorry, Zee—”
“No, I’m serious. Like, of all the guys in all of London. After all the men you went through. Jabari? Seriously? Come on, Frankie. I thought you had more self respect than that. But, then again, what else could I expect from Croydon’s mattress?”
Frankie doesn’t even hesitate. Her hand connects with Za’s face so hard her head snaps to the side.
For half a second, no one moves.
“Don’t fucking disrespect me,” Frankie states coldly.
Then Za lunges. They crash into the coffee table I took my time repairing, knocking it sideways as they grab at each other, hands in hair, nails digging into arms.
“Don’t you ever—” Frankie starts.
“You’re a fucking snake!” Za yells back, shoving her.
They stumble into the wall and I grab for them but…
“Get off me!” Za screams, elbowing me in the chest as she tries to swing again.
Frankie pushes her back.
Za comes right back at her.
“Enough!”
I finally get between them when Za’s hand catches Frankie across the cheek and Frankie shoves her so hard she stumbles into the arm of the sofa.
“Stop!” I shout, grabbing Za around the middle as she tries to launch herself back at her. “Stop it!”
“Let me go!” she screams, fighting me like I’m the enemy too. “Let me GO, Jabari!”
Frankie’s chest is heaving and her lip is split.
Za’s braid has come loose at the front.
They look at each other like strangers.
Or worst.
Like enemies.
“You’re dead to me,” Za says, voice shaking so badly she almost chokes on it. “You hear me, Francine? Dead to me!”
Frankie blinks.
“You’re a nut case! We could’ve talked this out like adults but you had to go all psycho on me!”
“Honestly, Frankie,” Za spits, tears already running down her face, “fuck you and what you have to say. All I wanna know is one thing.”
Frankie wipes at her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing blood.
Za got her good, not gonna lie.
“What, Chinaza? What?”
Za’s voice drops. Then, “Were you ever really my friend?”
The entire energy in the room changes.
Frankie’s face falls with her shoulders drop like something inside her just snapped.
“Of course I was,” she whispers. “ Of course I’m your friend, Chinaza. I love you so much.”
Za nods once, then she points at me.
“Then choose,” she says. “Him. Or me.”
I can hear all three of us breathing in the moments that past.
“Za, don’t—” Frankie starts.
“No. You don’t get to talk your way out of this,” she cuts in. “You don’t get to cry and hug me and tell me you love me after this. You don’t get to have both of us.”
Frankie looks at me. Then back at her.
“Please.”
“Choose.”
“Don’t make me.”
“Now, Francine.” Za’s face was stone cold. “Pick. Me, or him.”
I see Francine’s hands tighten as my sister and I wait for a response.
Finally, we got an answer. “I can’t.”
Za’s face crumples before she can stop it.
Then hardens.
“Get out.”
Frankie shakes her head slowly. “Chinaza—”
“Get. Out.”
“Please—”
“GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”
I grab Frankie’s arm before she can say anything else, because whatever comes next will make this worse, and she’s already shaking too hard to stand properly.
Za turns away from us and doesn’t look back as we walk out the door.
By the time we’re out in the hallway, Frankie’s breathing is ragged. By the time we’re in the lift, she’s crying. And by the time we’re in the car… well.
“Fuck, I know she’s upset but all that was unnecessary, bruv. And what she called you—”
“You said she’d understand!” Frankie chokes, turning on me immediately. “You said I wouldn’t lose her! You promised!”
Her voice breaks on the last word.
“I—”
“You said she loved me too much to walk away!”
Tears are already falling.
“I thought—”
“You thought?!” she yells, hysterical. “You thought?!”
Her hands are pounding against my arms now.
“You promised me, Bari,” she whimpers. “You promised.”
I don’t have anything to say to that. I can’t. All I do is take it.
“You promised me…”
Her face crumples.
And then she starts crying full body sobs that make her fold in on herself in the passenger seat while I sit there with my hands on the steering wheel and nowhere to put any of this guilt.
Because I did this.