“I went to see her!”

I stopped in my tracks, glaring at her over my shoulder. “What?”

“That Davina woman you’ve been doing stuff with. I saw her yesterday. Are you really droppingmeforher? Wasting so much opportunity forthat?”

I twisted around until I was in front of her again, but Javier was right behind me, tugging on my shirt. “Deke,” he said. “Let’s just go.”

“She’s not going to talk to you again,” Giselle went on smugly. “I told her about you and how you really are. Using women for your own satisfaction, then neglecting them. Lying to them. Disowning them. She doesn’t strike me as the woman who likes to be used, Deke. Or the type who likes playing the games you play. And didn’t her husband die? Don’t you think it’ll break her even more if you make her fall for you and then disappear? Because that’s what you love to do. Hide. Disappear. Ignore the people who actually care about you. It’s a sick game with you. It’s like you get a kick out of making women love you just to discard them like trash.”

I clenched my teeth together as Javier pulled harder on my shirt, a warning for me to move now before I did something I regretted. But I couldn’t contain the anger simmering inside me, the rage coursing through my bloodstream.

“Deke,” Javier said again, but I yanked my shirt out of his grasp and got closer to Giselle’s face.

She smirked like she was winning—like she could control me with her words,ruleme. Nobody controlled me anymore. I’d worked hard at being my own damn person and making my own damn rules.

I thought about Davina and how I’d called her last night only to get no answer. I assumed she was either sleeping or busy, so I thought nothing of it and figured I’d try again the next day, but now that Giselle was saying this, I realized she was ignoring me. She was afraid of the risk, and once again, the trust she had in me was severed.

My upper lip twitched as a hotness slid down my throat. I swallowed and took a deep breath to cool my temper.

“You know what, Giselle? I used to feel sorry for you. A woman without parents, adopted into a family that ended up despising you.” At that, her cocky little smile sagged, and her mouth pushed downward. “But now I see why they hated you—why they didn’t want you. You’re a miserable, shallow person who only gives a damn about herself. Yeah, the world looks at you and sees your face, your body, but what they don’t see is how fuckinguglyyou are inside. And that’s why you’re mad I moved on and why you went behind my back to find the woman who wasactuallymaking me happy. Because she’s beautiful inside and out and you wanted to see it for yourself. You wanted to see what it was like to be her—what it was about her that makesmewant her, makesmesmile, makesmefeel like an actual person and not just a damn prop. You wanted to witness a good woman and not the woman you are now—one who is rotten to herfuckingcore.”

The parking deck was completely silent as we stared at each other.

Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes became misty as she stared right back. When she finally blinked, she took a step away from me, but only to extend her arm and slap me across the face. The slap stung, but I barely flinched.

“Fuck you, Deke,” she snarled before twisting on her heels and scampering away.

I watched until I could no longer see her, then dropped my head and stared at my shoes. A hand touched my shoulder, and I cut my eyes to Javier, who wore a mask of concern.

“Go get her back,” he finally said after some time, and for a split second I thought he was talking about Giselle. When he realized I was about to protest, he held up his free hand and said, “Davina. Go getDavinaback.”

I felt a stinging in my eyes, which I kept trying to blink away. I hated this feeling, this disappointment. For once, I just wanted shit to go right in my life and to remain on a steady path. It felt like no matter what I did or how hard I tried, it was never easy.

I had to agree with Davina. Sometimes it felt like God made my life complicated too. I don’t think it was to punish me, though, but to help me learn lessons—lessons that often left me feeling raw and gutted afterward.

“Do not let this defeat you, Deke,” Javier said. “Get Davina back, and prove to her and everyone else how wrong they are about you.”

FORTY-SEVEN

DAVINA

My phone buzzed on the kitchen counter as I dunked a tea bag into a porcelain mug. I gave it a glance, not surprised to see Deke’s name on the screen.

“Is that him again?” Tish asked from the living room. Her eyes were glued to the TV, her hand deep in a bowl of popcorn as a reality show streamed.

“Yep,” I muttered, picking up my mug and phone and carrying it with me to the living room.

“You’re gonna have to answer one day, Vina,” she said, still staring at the TV. “Oh! I knew that girl was lying! She was all over Darrell in the last season!” She pointed at the TV, and I huffed a laugh as a woman with red hair commentated.

As I settled onto the couch and sipped my tea, my phone rang once again. I sighed. It wasn’t that Ididn’twant to talk to Deke, I just wasn’t sure what to say to him or what the hell to even ask.

What’ll happen when you’re tired of me too? Will you toss me to the side like trash? Pretend I never existed?

I knew one day our fling would end, but that didn’t mean it’d be on good terms ... and that’s probably what was scaring me about this whole agreement. Deke seemed like a great man, but the way hehandled his relationships with women, sex buddies or not, seemed completely unhealthy. My heart couldn’t handle being scarred again, especially not while it was still in the process of healing.

Frankly, I was afraid that if I asked anything about it, he’d give the wrong answer and I’d have no choice but to look at him differently. I’d be disappointed in a person I thought was making my life better.

“Girl, just answer the phone,” Tish insisted, finally putting her attention on me.