Chapter 25
Between her shifts at the hospital and Brantley’s shifts on the streets, they’d been like passing ships.
It allowed her time to think, time to really consider whether or not this was the life she wanted.
When she moved to Majestic Heights from Maverick Falls, she wasn’t expected to be wrapped up in a thing like Brantley.
From patient to charmer to her wanting to fit him into a mold he wasn’t designed for.
He'd never met her family and wouldn’t until he was presentable to her father.
There was no way she could deliver Brantley to her father, the head of surgery.
And if Cyn didn’t do something soon, her fate would be back home in Maverick Falls, with James St. Paul.
He was the nerdy version of her father to the naked eye, but an asshole in disguise.
Her love for B overruled her logic. Her love for B had her blind to the fact that she indeed loved him more.
Her love for B had her pacing the floor, trying to figure out how she was going to tell B that she did the one thing he told her not to do.
After all, had he never let Angel off the leash to run rabid, none of them would be in this mess.
The front door opened, and her eyes erratically bounced from the carpet to the door.
B, smelling like weed, liquor, and cheap perfume, roamed into the house.
Any other night, she would have been at the hospital doing what she loved to do.
But after the inconsistencies of her badge swipes and Detective Russell showing up repeatedly, she had a few days to sit down and think about what was next.
Brantley caught her as she halted her pacing and quirked a brow. “Why you home?”
No ‘hello, hi baby, I missed you’. Just an unsettling, irritated look. Cold and distant. He’d been that way since the shot to his ego. She attempted to talk to Money about it, but when his mind was made up on something, there was no reasoning with him. At least not while his mind was sober.
“Why are you home?” B asked, moving from the front door to the kitchen for a bottle of liquor. As though whatever he’d been drinking wasn’t enough. “You took the night off?”
Cyn grimaced. “Something like that.”
She moved into his space, clearly nervous to bring up the pressing issue.
“It’s either like that or it ain’t, Cyn. Fuck is wrong with you?” B snipped.
He’d been short before, but since being demoted, he was outright dismissive and rude towards her as if she were the one who stripped him of his title.
“I’m suspended. Missing meds and supplies. I’ve talked to my dad, and there’s a job waiting for me in Maverick Falls.”
Brantley poured his shot and took it. Wincing, he questioned, “What you trying to tell me? You leaving or something?”
“I-I wanted us to leave,” Cyn spoke. “I’ve even been talking to the ADA.”
“You’ve been talking to who?” he questioned. Clearly, he didn’t hear what he thought he heard. “Who the fuck you’ve been talking to?”
“Detective Russell. You know the one the mayor appointed when he was starting this whole campaign. I told you I wanted out, and you told me to wait. I can’t wait anymore.”
“Keep fuckin’ waiting. What is wrong with you, huh?” B barked. “Why the fuck would you talk to the bitch? Do you get what kind of position I’m in?”
Cyn scoffed. “You didn’t give a damn about that position when we were kicking it with G. When you and G were plotting on taking out Money. You didn’t care then!”
“Street shit is different from fed shit. Fuck Money, you put a fuckin’ target on me!” B barked. “What you tell this bitch? Huh?”
“Nothing, yet. I don’t have shit to tell her yet. Every time I go around Nia, Reign is always around or she’s handling legit business. Money has gone through those pills. I know he has, and he ain’t hit me for any.”
“Gahdamn it, Cyn!” B growled, grasping the air instead of her neck. “Who the fuck put you up to this? Huh?”
“N-no-”
“Don’t fuckin’ lie to me!”
“Her and my mother are in the same sorority. She approached me. She said she knew I wanted a better life and a family, and I couldn’t have it here while you’re serving curbs.”
B scoffed and rubbed his temples, his temper threatening to get the best of him. “Do you realize that on top of the heat we already got on us, you put more on us? Are you fuckin’ stupid?”
“No, B, I-”
“You what, Cyn, what? Huh? What?”
“I want out. And I don’t want to lose you in the process.”
“I guess if I get picked up and got to take a bid, you won’t have a fuckin’ choice now would you?”
She didn’t reply, just looked at him with a tearful expression. He studied how her tears fell. It softened him. Reminded him of the promises he made; of all the ones he’d broken.
“Now you crying. Fuck.” He leaned on the counter and drew in a steadying breath. “Aight, listen. Let me figure out a way to handle this ‘cause I can’t be fucking with no feds.”
“What do you want me to tell her if she calls?” Cyn asked.
B grabbed his keys, roughly kissed her forehead, and started back toward the front door. “Don’t answer. Let me figure this shit out.”
There was a glimmer of hope in Cyn’s eyes.
No matter how badly she wanted out of the life she knew her man was actively a part of, nothing would save her from the fall or the destruction this would cause the family that welcomed her in with open arms. For years, she’d been a disappointment to her own family.
Her disparity put her at their mercy. Her disparity was going to kill her.