CHAPTER SEVEN #3
"Not yet," he repeated, his smile never faltering. "But I will. That's a promise, beautiful."
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't stop the smile that tugged at my lips. "Whatever. Have a good evening sir."
“I'ma see you again real soon."
I flipped him off over my shoulder without looking back, but I could feel his eyes on me the whole way down the stairs. My face was hot, my heart was racing, and every nerve ending in my body was alive in a way they hadn't been in a long time.
When I got back to my car, I sat in the driver's seat for a minute, just breathing.
What the fuck was that? I'd dealt with cocky niggas before; the streets were full of them.
But something about Sosa was different. He talked shit, but it wasn't empty.
Every word felt like he meant it, like he saw something in me that even I didn't see in myself.
I started my car, shaking my head and peeled out the parking lot, with my tires squealing probably more than necessary. Fuck him and his smirk and his nose ring and those eyes that saw too damn much. but even as I drove away, I couldn't stop smiling.
I swear he was the kind of man that made you forget about everything, your plans, your nigga at home, and your common fucking sense.
* * *
Three Days Later
I stared at my phone screen, watching Rylo's name light up as the call went to voicemail. Again. That made six times in the past hour.
"Come on, pick up," I muttered, hitting redial. The phone rang once, twice, three times, then it went to voicemail.
"Yo, it's Lo. You know what to do."
I hung up and tossed my phone on the bed, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom. It was two in the morning, and something in my gut was screaming at me that something wasn't right. Rylo always answered my calls. Always. Even when he was in the middle of some shit, he'd at least text me back.
But tonight shit was crickets. No call back no text messages no nothing.
I had been feeling weird about him for weeks now, the way he'd been acting distant, dismissive, like I was an inconvenience instead of his girl. The secretive phone calls, the late nights he couldn't explain.
My mind kept trying to put the pieces together, but I didn't want to believe what they were telling me, and it was that Morgan was telling the truth about this bitch Akina that he was messing with. I was sick and tired of his cheating ass, I swear.
I sat up in bed, grabbed my phone again, and called one more time. Straight to voicemail this time, this nigga turned his phone off.
"Fuck this," I said out loud.
I threw on a pair of black joggers and a hoodie, slipped my feet into my slides, and grabbed my keys. If Rylo wasn't gon’ answer his phone, then I was pulling up. I didn't usually do pop-ups, that wasn't my style, but my gut was telling me I needed to see what the fuck was going on.
The drive to Rylo's apartment took about twenty minutes.
The streets were empty, with just a few scattered cars.
My hands gripped the steering wheel tight, while my heart pounded in my chest. Part of me hoped I was wrong, that I would get there and he would have some reasonable explanation for why he wasn't answering but another part of me already knew what I was gonna find.
I pulled up to his building, parking in my usual spot. I had a key to his crib, that he had given to me when we first got serious. I only used it a handful of times, usually when I was surprising him with food or something.
I let myself into the building, took the elevator up to the third floor, and walked down the hallway to his door. My heart was in my throat now, and my hands were shaking as I slid the key into the lock.
When I opened the door and stepped inside, I knew immediately I wasn't wrong for the way I had been feeling.
The living room was a mess, it was clothes scattered everywhere, two glasses on the coffee table, a bra draped over the back of the couch. A fucking bra.
My stomach dropped.
I walked further into the apartment, my slides silent on the hardwood floor, following the trail of clothes down the hallway to his bedroom. The door was cracked open, and I could hear breathing, two people breathing.
I pushed the door open slowly, and what I saw fucked my head up. for a second, I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I just stood there staring while my brain was trying to process what my eyes were seeing.
My man and my best friend, we’re asleep, and naked as the day they were born.
The reality of the betrayal hit me like a freight train so fast that I couldn't even feel it at first, but then I shook that shit and rage overcame me.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" I screamed, and both of them jolted awake.
Morgan's eyes went wide when she saw me, and she scrambled to cover herself with the sheet. "Yah, I—" I didn't let her finish. I lunged at her, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking her out of the bed. She hit the floor hard, screaming, and I was on her before she could even try to get up.
"YOU WEAK ASS BITCH!" I drove my fist into her face once, twice, three times. Blood exploded from her nose, and she was crying, trying to cover her face with her hands.
"BITCH YOU SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND! MY FUCKING FRIEND!"
"Yasani, stop!" Morgan sobbed, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. All the rage, all the hurt, all the betrayal was pouring out of me in every punch.
"Yo, Yah, chill!" Rylo's voice cut through the haze, and suddenly his hands were on me, pulling me off Morgan.
I spun around and swung on him too, my fist connecting with his nose. I felt the cartilage crunch under my knuckles, and blood started pouring down his face.
"Fuck!" He stumbled back, holding his nose. "Is you crazy or somethin’ bitch!"
"CRAZY?" I was screaming now, tears streaming down my face. "YO BUM ASS IN HERE FUCKING MY BEST FRIEND AND I'M CRAZY?"
"It wasn't—" Rylo started, but I cut him off by swinging on his ass again, and I caught him in the eye. His head jerked back and he looked at me surprised.
"FUCK YOU!" I tried to swing once more, but this time he caught my wrist, then he launched back and stole me in the face.
After that everything went black.
* * *
I woke up to the sound of beeping. Steady, rhythmic beeping that made my head throb. My whole face hurt, no, everything hurt. My jaw, my cheek, my head. I tried to open my eyes, but the light was too bright, so I squeezed them shut again.
"She's waking up." It was Mya's voice,
"Yah-Yah?” Yatta called out. My brother sounded scared, which was rare, because Yatta didn't get scared.
I forced my eyes open, blinking against the fluorescent lights. I was in a hospital room, with an IV in my arm, monitors hooked up to me. Mya was on one side of my bed, her face tight with worry, and Yatta was on the other, his jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth might crack.
And in the corner, standing against the wall with her face all fucked up and tears streaming down her cheeks, was Morgan.
The memories came flooding back. With me finding them in bed together, beating Morgan's ass, Rylo's fist connecting with my face, and then… nothing.