Chapter 14
Dos
Idrove for hours, my mind racing, my blood still boiling. Ivy’s words kept repeating in my head.
"I will always love Uno… The same way I love you."
That shit cut deep. I had given her everything. Put a ring on her finger. Spent the better half of a year building a life with her. And still, I was sharing her with my brother. The anger burned in my chest like a slow, destructive fire. Before I even realized where I was headed, I pulled up to Mia’s place. She opened the door in nothing but a silk robe, her expression shifting from surprise to something darker the second she saw my face.
"Dos?" she asked, stepping aside to let me in.
I didn’t say a word. I grabbed her by the waist, crashing my lips against hers, needing to erase Ivy, to forget the way Uno had looked at me like he’d already won. Mia didn’t ask questions. She never did. She moaned into my mouth, tugging at my shirt as we stumbled toward the bedroom. I fucked her hard. Desperate. My hands gripping her hips, my teeth on her skin, my mind lost in the haze of frustration and need. She screamed my name, clawed at my back, begged for more. I gave it to her. Until there was nothing left. Finally, exhaustion took over, and for the first time all night, I let sleep take me under.
I woke up to the smell of perfume and attitude. Mia sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed, arms folded, looking at me like she had been waiting for this moment.
"You wanna tell me why the hell you and Uno were throwing hands at Mystic last night?" she asked, arching a perfectly drawn brow.
I ran a hand over my face, not in the mood for this shit. "Why do you care?"
She scoffed. "Because the whole damn club is talking about it, Dos. And I know it wasn’t over business. That was personal. Let me guess—this about that wack-ass Ivy?"
My jaw clenched. The mention of Ivy's name alone was enough to set me off. Mia caught it and smirked like she had just won a round.
"So that’s why you had me keeping tabs on Uno, huh?" she pressed. "You thought I was gonna catch him and Ivy together? How pathetic."
"Watch your fucking mouth, Mia."
"Or what?" she shot back. "You’ll fuck me into silence? That’s all I am to you, right? A distraction. A quick nut when your little Ivy stresses you out."
I sat up, my patience wearing thin. "You knew what this was."
"Nah, nigga, I knew what you were. A selfish-ass, ego-driven little boy who couldn't handle the fact that his bitch was never really his."
That shit hit, but I wasn’t about to let her see it. I swung my legs over the bed, grabbing my jeans. "And what does that make you, Mia? A bitch willing to spread her legs for a nigga that don’t even respect her."
Her eyes flared with rage. "Fuck you, Dos."
"You already did." I smirked, standing to pull on my shirt. "And that’s all you’ll ever be to me—a good fuck. Nothing more."
Mia’s expression darkened. She stormed toward the door, flung it open, and pointed. "Get the fuck out!"
I grabbed my keys off the dresser, brushing past her without a second thought. As I stepped out into the morning sun, I could still hear her cursing me out from inside. I didn’t care. I had bigger things to deal with.
The neon glow of the motel vacancy sign buzzed against the dark sky as I pulled into the lot. It wasn’t fancy, but it would do. I needed somewhere to disappear for a while—somewhere Ivy wouldn’t come looking. Before checking in, I stopped at the liquor store on the corner, grabbing a couple of bottles of dark liquor. Something strong enough to burn and drown in. The cashier barely looked at me as he bagged my shit. Probably seen plenty of niggas just like me—angry, reckless, and looking to drink their pain away.
By the time I made it to my room, my phone was damn near vibrating off the nightstand. Ivy. Call after call, text after text.
I’m sorry, baby. Please talk to me.
Dos, I love you. Don’t shut me out.
Just tell me where you are. I just want to fix this.
That bitch had a lot of nerve.
I took a long pull from the bottle, letting the burn settle in my chest as I played her messages on speaker. Her voice, so damn sweet, so full of regret—but I wasn’t buying it. She chose this. She chose him. And now she was crying because I wouldn’t just get over it?
Then came Uno. A text first.
We need to talk.
Then a call. I let it ring. He called again.
I picked up this time, but I didn’t say shit.
"You done acting like a little bitch?" Uno’s voice came through, calm as ever. "I know you’re mad, but—"
I ended the call. Fuck him, too.
And then, just when I thought I couldn’t get more pissed—Crystal.
Dos, I didn’t play you. Don’t shut me out.
I told you from the beginning what it was.
I laughed, the sound hollow. She really thought she was different. Thought I’d be cool with all this just because she told me she’d always roll with Ivy no matter what. Fuck that.
I took another swig, my head already buzzing.
Fuck Ivy.
Fuck Uno.
Fuck Crystal.
Fuck all of them. A drunken slumber soon took over.
I woke up and did it all over again. The sun was barely creeping through the cheap motel curtains, casting a dull glow over the half-empty bottles littering the nightstand. My head was pounding, my throat dry as hell, but I didn’t care. I reached for my phone, unlocking it with a slow drag of my finger, only to be met with a wall of notifications.
Forty-five missed calls.
Ivy.
This bitch was relentless. Message after message, voicemail after voicemail.
Then there was Nana. Even she had called me a few times. That hit different, but I still wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. I ignored them all. The only person I gave a damn about hearing from was Manuel, the Uber Eats driver. I placed another order—more drinks, more regret. They wouldn’t bring me the good stuff this time, just a twelve-pack of cheap beer, but that was fine with me. I wasn’t drinking for the taste. I was drinking to forget.
I cracked one open before the condensation even had a chance to settle, chugging it back in deep, desperate gulps. The bitterness settled in my gut, mixing with the anger, the pain, the fucking betrayal. I leaned back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the alcohol to hit. Waiting for the numbness to take over. Waiting for the sleep that never seemed to last long enough.
By the fourth day of staying in this hellhole, my head was ringing, my back ached from the cheap mattress, and the stale stench of sweat, booze, and bad decisions coated the room. Four days of nothing but drinking, pissing, and sleeping were finally catching up with me. My mouth felt like sandpaper, my stomach churned in protest, and my muscles ached like I’d been in a fight with something stronger than my pride.
My phone was dead.
I barely remembered the last time I looked at it, let alone cared to charge it. But some part of me, maybe the last sliver of responsibility I had left, told me to get up. I dragged myself to the lobby, squinting against the fluorescent lights like a damn vampire seeing daylight for the first time. The lady behind the desk gave me a look—half pity, half disgust—but I didn’t give a fuck. I bought a charger and two bottles of some no-name liquor from the guest self-serve cooler, then trudged my ass back to the room.
Plugged in the phone. Cracked open a bottle. Drank.
The burn hit my empty stomach like fire, but I welcomed it. I was halfway through my second bottle when I passed out again, my body giving up before my mind could. Then came the buzzing. Relentless. Loud. Pounding against my skull. I groaned, reaching blindly for my phone, expecting it to be Ivy. Or Uno. Or Crystal. Same old bullshit. Same old begging, yelling, or guilt-tripping.
I took a sip of the last warm drops of beer as I pressed play on the voicemail.
"This is St. Joseph’s Hospital. Your grandmother, Mrs. May, suffered another stroke. It’s bad. You need to get here as soon as possible."
My stomach dropped. The bottle slipped from my fingers, thudding against the carpet, spilling out the last of my escape.
“Nana.”
I shot up, my head spinning, my heart racing. I didn’t think. I didn’t pause. I just grabbed my keys and walked right the fuck out.
I got in my car and drove. The glaring lights, the blaring horns, none of it mattered. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to Nana. She was the only person who had ever truly loved me—no conditions, no games, just love.
I gripped the wheel, my knuckles white, my foot heavy on the gas. My head was pounding, my body still sluggish from days of drinking, but adrenaline kept me moving. I made a sharp turn onto the highway—
BAM!
Metal crunched. Glass shattered. My body jerked forward, then slammed back. And then— Darkness.