A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER #3
Candy caught Zuri with a clean shot to the jaw that caused her to stumble backward. However, Zuri quickly recovered and fired one right back. Candy immediately grabbed a fistful of her hair, causing Zuri to scream as she attempted to pull free.
"Stop! Both of y'all stop!" Monty shouted as he rushed between them.
Neither women paid him any attention.
Candy had been waiting months to get her hands on Zuri.
Every disrespectful comment, every suspicious interaction, and every uneasy feeling she had tried to ignore came flooding back as she continued throwing punches.
She connected with another shot to Zuri's face and followed it with an even harder one seconds later.
Monty was desperately trying to separate them when something happened that instantly snapped him back to reality.
Candy's foot drove directly into Zuri's side.
The impact was hard enough to send Zuri crashing to the floor.
Monty's heart nearly stopped. "Oh shit."
Zuri immediately curled over while clutching her stomach, and that was when reality hit him. In the middle of all the chaos, he had completely forgotten she was pregnant.
Before he could even process what had happened, Zuri pushed herself off the floor and launched herself back into the fight. She stepped forward and punched Candy square in the face.
Candy instantly tried to lunge at her again, but this time Monty reacted fast enough to stop it. He wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her completely off the floor before she could reach Zuri.
Candy kicked, screamed, cussed, and fought against his grip with everything she had, but Monty refused to let her go.
Meanwhile, Zuri looked just as crazy as Candy did. Despite everything that had already happened, she was still attempting to get past Monty so she could continue the fight.
"Take your ass in the house!" Monty yelled once he’d gotten outside. "Have you forgotten you're pregnant?" he shouted.
The words slipped out before he had time to think about them.
The effect was immediate.
The chaos that had consumed them seconds earlier suddenly disappeared as silence settled over everything.
Candy instantly stopped fighting against Monty's hold. She stopped kicking, stopped screaming, and slowly turned her head to look at him. The tears filling her eyes somehow looked worse than all the punches she had thrown.
Then her eyes slowly drifted toward Zuri.
The broken expression that appeared on her face should have made Zuri feel guilty. Instead, it made her feel victorious.
Zuri wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and smiled before deliberately twisting the knife a little deeper.
"Bitch, you better be glad I'm pregnant—"
"Just go in the damn house!" Monty snapped.
Zuri smirked before finally turning away.
When Monty looked back at Candy, it was obvious the fight had completely left her. The anger that had fueled her only moments earlier had disappeared, leaving nothing behind except devastation. Tears continued rolling down her cheeks as she stared at him.
"How could you?" she asked.
The question hit Monty harder than anything that had happened during the fight.
He lowered his head because he didn't have an answer.
For once, there was no lie he could tell and no excuse he could make that would somehow lessen the damage he had caused.
"You ain't got nothing to say?" Candy asked as she wiped her face. Unfortunately, the tears kept coming no matter how many times she tried to stop them.
Monty cautiously stepped toward her. "I'm sorry."
Candy immediately backed away.
"I'm so sorry, baby."
"Get away from me,” she snatched back.
"I never meant to hurt you."
"Get away from me!" The pain in her voice nearly broke him.
For the first time since arriving at Zuri's house, the anger began to fade.
In its place came something much worse.
She was done.
Without another word, Candy turned around and started walking toward her car.
Monty immediately followed behind her.
"Baby, please talk to me."
Candy never broke stride.
"I ain't got nothing else to say to you." She opened the driver's side door, but before she could get inside, Monty stepped in front of it.
"Please let me explain."
"Monty, move."
He didn't.
Candy's patience finally snapped.
Smack!
She slapped him hard across the face again.
"I'm tired of your shit!" she screamed. "Go take care of your responsibilities because I don't need you in my life no more!"
The words crushed him because he knew she was right. Even so, he wasn't ready to let her walk away.
"Please give me one more chance."
Candy slowly shook her head. "You're out of chances."
Before he could stop her, she shoved him backward, got into her car, and slammed the door.
Monty stood in the middle of the street as he watched the woman he loved drive away. It felt entirely possible that he had just lost her for good.
As Candy turned around in a nearby driveway, her tires spun harder than necessary before she accelerated back down the street. Monty actually had to move out of the way because for a split second he thought she might run his ass over.
Then she was gone.
He remained standing there staring at the empty street, trying to process how everything had fallen apart so quickly.
Eventually, he turned around and walked back inside the house.
Zuri was pacing the living room when he entered, still furious about everything that had happened.
"How the fuck you gon' stand out there talking to her after she came over here actin’ a damn fool?" she snapped. "That bitch done lost her damn mind."
"A'ight," Monty interrupted sharply. "That's enough."
Zuri looked at him as though he had lost his mind. "And you still defending her?" She pointed toward the front door. "She came over here and attacked everybody. My baby better be okay because if something happened, I'm pressing charges. Then after I have this baby, I'm beating her ass again."
Monty's jaw irritably flexed.
He understood why she was upset, but the disrespect in her tone was beginning to frustrate him. "I think you need to calm down."
"Calm down?!" Zuri repeated in disbelief.
"Yeah. Calm down."
Zuri shook her head before grabbing her purse and keys.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm going to the emergency room. I need to make sure my baby okay."
Monty nodded in agreement. "I think that's a good idea."
Despite everything that had happened, he didn't want anything happening to the baby.
"Call me when you get there."
Zuri stopped moving and turned around. "You not coming with me?"
"No." The answer came quickly. "I got something I need to handle first."
Zuri let out a bitter laugh because she knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Get the fuck out my house, Monty."
He looked at her but said nothing.
"I'm serious," she continued as her eyes filled with anger. "When you figure out what the fuck your priorities are, then call me. Until then, you can kiss my ass."
Monty didn't argue. There wasn't much he could say at that point. Zuri was angry, Candy was gone, and he had nobody to blame but himself for the disaster that had unfolded.
Without another word, he turned and walked out of the house.
As he got into his Tahoe, he noticed Zuri getting into her car. She never once looked in his direction.
Within seconds, she was heading toward the hospital to make sure the baby was okay.
Monty remained parked where he was long after she disappeared. His hands tightened around the steering wheel as the reality of everything finally began to settle in.
Less than an hour ago, he had been sitting on Zuri's couch trying to avoid dealing with the mess he'd created.
"Fuck!"
The word exploded from deep down in his spirit as he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.
He still couldn't wrap his mind around how fast everything had fallen apart or how Candy had even found him in the first place.
However, one thing was certain. Sitting there feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to fix anything.
Starting the engine, Monty pulled out of Zuri's driveway and headed toward the one place he needed to be.
Candy's house.