Page 134 of One Good Reason

“Aight, so what is it?”

“You can either speak to me in private or I can leave and take everything back with me?” she damn near shouted.

Swiping my thumb across my nose, I tried to keep myself from snapping out. “You gon’ lower your fucking tone when you’re speaking to me, Adele. That’s first. Secondly, if we had an issue, you could have reached out to me before coming all the way here causing an uproar. The precinct is right up the fucking street. The longer we sit here, the more at risk we are.”

“I called you.”

“When?”

“After your mother called me, threatening my life.”

“If I missed the call, it’s because I was busy Adele.”

“Too busy to reach back out?” her voice dropped.

“Aye, give me a minute to handle this. In the meantime, y’all start unloading this shit.” Grabbing Adele by the elbow, I drug her ass onto the private jet. As soon as her back hit the seat, I folded my arms across my chest and waited for her to speak.

“You told Val?”

“I did.” I nodded.

“Why?”

“She’s my mother, Adele. Why wouldn’t I? And the last time I checked, the shit wasn’t a secret.”

“She’s threatening to expose me, Harvey,” she fretted.

“Okay. I’ll handle that.”

“She accused me of rape and a bunch of other things.”

“We didn’t fuck until I was eighteen. You couldn’t have raped me if I was willing, and I explained that to her. Regardless, she’s pissed and has every right to be. You were her closest friend and we had a relationship. Give her time to process it… she will be okay eventually.”

“And what’s this I hear about you being in a relationship?”

Realization hit like a ton of bricks making me chuckle. “That’s what this is really about…”

Per usual, Adele’s true feelings only surfaced when she felt like she was being replaced. Instead of coming to terms with the fact that she ruined me when she denied me of her, she chose this. The game was two weeks ago, and she was just now bringing this shit up. Somebody in attendance must’ve mentioned Talitha to Adele.

“Who is she?”

“It matters?”

“Of course it does Harvey!” she spat.

“Why? You don’t want me, Adele.”

“I’ve nevernotwanted you, Harvey.”

“Appease me for a second, Adele. What would a relationship between us look like?”

Her eyes dropped to the ground. “I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t. You don’t want me, Adele. The days of you dangling the ‘what ifs’ in my face are over. I told you that before I got with Dah. You did that for years, and for years I allowed it. You don’t want me, love.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m ready to lose you to someone else. For six years I had to watch you be with Dah. Even if you claimed the relationship wasn’t prospering, you kept her around for six years. And for six years I had to play the role of the doting friend.”

Taking a seat across from her, I tucked my hand in the pocket of my jacket. “Why are you doing this?”

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