Page 26 of Love Set Me Free

“Didn’t we already talk about this?”

She cocked her head to the side. “You never answered my questions, so no, we didn’t talk about it. Not really.”

“Why were you there anyway?” he asked, completely ignoring what she said as he spread peanut butter on a few slices of bread.

Alarm bells rang as her brows pulled in. She desperately wanted to change the subject altogether, but her anxious mind wouldn’t allow her to. While her thoughts raced, she absentmindedly said, “I was there with my boss.”

“Steven?”

She nodded slowly.

“But like, what did you guys talk about?” She stumbled over her words.

Where there were once butterflies in her stomach, there were now nerves. She hated that Janelle had the power to cause so much chaos within her, but it had been that way for a long time. It definitely didn’t help that her love for Kydrick had just been solidified in the most beautiful way. When she met Kydrick’s eyes, she noticed his brows pulled together as well.

“Why were you at that fancy ass place with Steven? Y’all got something going on?”

Communication had officially flown out the window. It felt like they were simply talking at each other at this point instead of having a solid conversation.

“What? No. I mean, he…” She bit her lip and avoided his eye contact.

After placing the knife on a paper towel, he grabbed her chin and asked, “He what?”

She blew out a breath. Somehow, she knew Kydrick would not be okay with what she was about to say, even though it was all for him.

“In order to take on your case, he made me promise to go on a date with him once you were released. He’s been waiting a long time, and since you got out, he’s been bugging me about it. I finally let him take me to lunch, but that was ruined when I saw you and Janelle.”

“Wait. We aren’t just going to skip over the fact that you promised that man a date if he could get me out of prison.”

“Oh, yes we are. We can table that for later. You need to answer some of my questions, Kyd. Why don’t you want me to know about Janelle?”

He sported a scowl that matched her own. “What do you want to know, Paisley?”

She reared back at his tone, but curiosity got the better of her, so instead of commenting on his attitude, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “I didn’t know I had to tell you my every move.”

This time, she jumped off the counter and retreated to the far wall of the kitchen out of fear that she would put her hands on him. That comment was completely uncalled for, and she could tell by the way his face fell he knew it too.

“Paisley—”

She held her hands up. “No. You’re right. You don’t have to tell me shit, but since you were usingmycar, I think the courteous thing to do would have been to tell me you were going on a date with your ex.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, nor was she even hungry anymore. Angry tears fell from her eyes as she turned and slipped out of the kitchen. Her chest felt like it caved in, and as she made her way to her room, she wondered how she managed to go from having the best night of her life to one of the worst.

Tiana’s jaw hung wide open as she looked at her sister with large eyes. Paisley sat there, playing with the sleeve of her hoodie while she avoided her sister’s eyes.

“Now, why in the hell did you go and do that?”

Paisley’s eyes snapped to Tiana’s, and her face scrunched up. Pointing a manicured nail at her chest, she asked, “Me? What about him?”

Tiana sighed and shook her head as if she was disappointed in Paisley, which caused heat to flush her features. She’d spent all night and then all day feeling bad for herself. She’d called in to work and spent most of the morning sulking in her room, wanting to go to Kydrick and make things right but believing that he should have been the one to put in that effort. She felt completely conflicted but ultimately allowed the day to go by without speaking to him. She’d heard him leave that morning for work and watched from her bedroom window as he got into an Uber.

It was now dinnertime, and she’d found her way to her parents’ house since her siblings told her their mom was making her famous red beans and rice in their group chat. When she got there, Tiana took one look at her and whisked her up to their old room so they could talk.

“Paisley, I’m going to hold your hand when I say this…” And she did. She grabbed Paisley by both her hands and squeezed them. “What that man and Janelle talk about has nothing to do with you. You understand that, right?”

Paisley blinked slowly at her for several seconds before she tried to snatch her hands away. Tiana wouldn’t allow it, though. She held Paisley’s hands tighter, causing the eldest sister to sigh heavily.

---