Page 36 of Only You

Brice had gotten off work hours ago, and I hadn’t seen or heard from him. Then he was sitting in front of three empty drinks and had just thrown back a fourth. Which meant he was drunk. It was evident when he and Steph stood, and Brice stumbled before they turned and headed our way.

In hour one, I looked at my phone one hundred times. In hour two, I wore a hole in the floor, pacing back and forth. I was not going to call; I shouldn’t have had to. Besides that, I was a little scarred by the fact that when I tried to call either of them before, they wouldn’t pick up. So, I wouldn’t put myself in a position to be hurt again.

Look how that worked out, Tay.

Athour three, my phone rang; it was JoJo telling me that Stephon and Brice were at the Three Bar and Lounge. She hadn’t received a call about her husband’s whereabouts either; she’d tracked him when he hadn’t come home. Maybe I should have done the same, but I was trying to trust him. She then called Stephon’s mother, Adriana, asking if she could keep the babies. I quickly put on a ‘fuck you then’ dress, packed Breezy an overnight bag and waited for Jourdan to come pick us up.

Another reason for my contention was the fact that I’d never met Stephon’s mother before and there I was asking her to keep my baby so that I could run up behind my, don’t call home ass man. I was supposed to meet her for the first time at dinner tomorrow. Now I knew that Brice handled other shit often after work, but this wasn’t that. And now he had the audacity to usher me out of Three by the elbow with his drunk ass.

“Let me go, Brice,” I said as I snatched it from his grasp. The four of us were now in the parking lot, making the air tense.

“Stephon, why in the hell did you let him drink so much?” I asked. I waited for a minute, and there was no response. It wasn’t lost on me that he hadn’t said anything to JoJo either.

“You’re not going to answer? I can’t believe this shit. Jourdan, I’ll see you tomorrow at Stephon’s mother’s house.” I said as I leaned in to hug her.

“Belt to ass, Tay, don’t give in,” she whispered into my ear.

“Your ass better not fold, and don’t say shit about what I showed you from the hospital. We’ll handle it.” I whispered sternly in return. She nodded and released me. Steph, evidently sober, walked away with Jourdan trailing behind him. I took Brice by his elbow this time, walking through the parking lot until I spotted his Tahoe.

“Give me the keys, Brice,” I said, holding out my hand.

“I don’t need you to drive. Look at me, I got it,” he said, taking his hand and grabbing my chin. That’s when I smelled it, the distinct scent of gunpowder wafted into my nose. It was unbelievable that over the scents of cigar smoke and the faint remnants of hisbody wash, I could pick up on it, but I could. I discreetly sniffed and found that it wasn’t on his hands, but his arms. I was sure he hadn’t done a scrub down to remove the evidence, which is why it was still there. I squinted my eyes at him in confusion, trying to determine when he’d discharged a weapon.

What in the hell is going on?

I no longer wanted to stand and argue with him, so I reached into his pockets and fished his keys out. He let out a slight hiss.

“Get in,” I called out as I hit the fob and rounded the truck. He fumbled around with the door until he tumbled inside. I opened the door and did the same, trying to adjust the seat.

“Seatbelt,” I told him as I strapped mine in and started the ignition. He strapped it on, lay back in his seat, and then slouched.

This guy.

Trying not to dwell on my predicament, I pulled through the spot and headed home. Nonetheless, I still got lost in thought, trying to figure out what had happened with Brice between the hospital and the lounge. And most importantly, why was he upset at me about it?

“You look so sexy in that dress right now,” Brice said, interrupting my thoughts. He was looking at me with low-lidded, hungry eyes. I wore a mini dress, made of slinky fabric with rouching down the side. The neckline was asymmetrical with twist detail straps, with one that hung off my shoulder. His eyes shifted, and I followed them to see him staring at my thighs, where my dress had risen. The temperature was rising in the car, so I rolled down thewindow.

“Why didn’t you call me when you left work?” I said, trying to diffuse the sexual tension he was purposely trying to cause.

“Why did you leave the hospital yesterday without checking Ivy’s ass?”

“I left to talk to JoJo about that; I didn’t want to cause a scene.” I huffed.

“Since when do you give a damn about causing a scene Tay? Yeah ok. I guess that talk needed to be had across the city, too, huh?” he said with a subtle attitude. It was subtle because we weren’t honestly arguing; neither of us had even raised our voice.

“Steph popped up and intruded the last time we tried to have girl time. Who’s to say you or he wouldn’t have done the same again? We were only trying to get away from y’all. Damn!” I spoke.

“Hmph, trying to get away from us at one of the front sandwich bars for the fucking Italian Mafia, Tay. The same Italian Mafia that Nina colluded with tonight to take me out. Did you know that’s where you were? And don’t lie. We just had this conversation, we’re supposed to trust each other, Tay.”

“I’ll say yes to just about anything when you’re fucking me, Brice. To answer your question, no. I didn’t know, at least not at first. I didn’t know until I overheard Costa's conversation with someone. I didn’t put eyes on him, though, just remembered his voice. That’s when JoJo and I got the hell out of there before he saw us.”

“Tay,” he spoke. He’d only said my name, but it was deep, domineering, and filled with desire.

“I want to be mad at you right now because you’re not telling me everything. But I’m kinda drunk, Baby,” he said and paused.

“That, you are, Brice!”

“I can’t think anyway. Not with my dick this hard,” He continued. Then he got quiet, too quiet. I chanced a glance from the road. I nearly swerved from what I saw.

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