Page 34 of Sparks Will Fly

“What happened? Are you okay?” I forgot all about her being here for a minute. I nodded without turning away from the wall. “Romani, what is it?”

I opened my mouth to reply but became choked up. I took a few deep breaths to steady my breathing. Turning around, I slid to the floor and dropped my head in my hands.

“This situation is just very triggering for me,” I shared after a while. “I’m good though.”

“It’s okay if you’re not.”

Before I could respond, the doorbell sounded off. I knew that was only a warning because my sister had a key to the place. Sure enough, Robyn came racing around the corner and down the hall within seconds. She eyed the hole in the wall and glanced down at me.

“We’ll talk about that later. Where is she?”

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my hand to take her bags from her and followed them into the room. Lovie was basically the way we’d left her. I placed her medical bag on the bed as she took a seat beside her.

“Oh, wow. She’s even more beautiful than you described,” she stated.

I ran a hand down my face. “Focus, Rob. Now is not the time.”

“Sorry, sorry. You’re right.”

Turning to Drey, I said, “You can trust her. She has plenty of experience.”

Rob nodded. “I could practically nurse someone back from a drug overdose from thousands of miles away. Pretty girl here is going to be just fine in a few hours.”

We stood back, watching as she checked all of Lovie’s vitals.

“Oh, this is Mercy finally calling back. I’m going to let him know what’s going on. He’s probably going to want to come here.”

I nodded. “It’s cool if you give him my address.”

She nodded quickly then answered the call and rushed out of the room. I widened my stance and folded my arms over my chest.

“I can practically hear your thoughts. She’s not our mother. Don’t shut down and run.”

I ran a hand down my face. “I wasn’t the one who shut down and ran. Lovie has made it clear how she feels about me. I just want to make sure she’s good then move on with my life.”

Rob stopped hooking up her blood pressure cuff to glance at me over her shoulder. She studied me intensely, but I refused to look her way. I knew my sister would see straight through me, and I already had too much on my mind for this conversation.

“I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk,” she whispered.

I knew that was true. My sister was one of the few women in my life I could count on. She would never disregard my feelings and walk all over my heart the way Lovie had. I might’ve come to her rescue tonight, but I wouldn’t allow this woman to be the death of me. I was serious about putting this fling behind me. At least everything played out the way it was supposed to before I was too deep in to walk away with scars that would never heal.

My entire world was spinning.Any and every time I opened my eyes, they drifted right back closed. It was like I was in my body, but it didn’t belong to me. The feeling had me hunching over and vomiting all the contents in my stomach. I cried out from the pain and heat rushing through my veins.

“Shh, shh. You’re okay. Let it out.” A voice I couldn’t pinpoint coached me through convulsions.

When they finally subsided, I flopped back down. I had no clue where I was or what was happening as my eyes drifted close. But I did catch a whiff of amber that settled my nerves. I wasn’t sure how or why, but Romani was near. That was the only thing that calmed me as I drifted into another dark and cold slumber.

* * *

While everything still felt wrong, I was finally able to open my eyes. Slowly, the feeling started to return to my body. I looked down at my arm and saw an IV was hooked up and injecting me with fluids.

“The fuck…”

I rubbed my eyes to clear the remainder of the fogginess. I could easily see that I was in Romani’s bedroom, but how did I get here, and why was I hooked on a machine?

On cue, Drey walked through the door with a can of Cheerwine. It confirmed where I was even more. He was the only person I knew who drank that kind of soda.

“Oh, thank God you’re finally awake.” She rushed over to the bed and tackled me. I hissed from the discomfort it caused with the IV. “Sorry, sorry… but, bitch, you had me too stressed the other night.”

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