Page 12 of Breeze and Melodie

“I work out almost every morning. I’ll see you in a few hours. Let me know if you need anything before then.”

He pressed his lips against my forehead again and slid out of bed. I watched his naked back as he walked away, wishing he would come back and fuck me senseless. Since I was awake, I decided to get out of bed and straighten up the mess Sean and I had made during our tussle. As soon as I sat up to move to the edge of the bed, the soreness caused me to groan.

“Fuck!”

In all of my soon-to-be thirty-four years of life, I’d never gotten into a physical altercation with a man. Not only was I shocked by Sean’s actions, but my feelings were hurt. Our relationship wasn’t the greatest, but at one point, I thought we could have something special. For him to put his handson me out of anger blew my mind, and I hoped he knew our relationship was over.

After straightening up my apartment, I showered and prepared for the rest of my day. I dressed in jeans and a fitted graphic tee and would wear a pair of comfortable gym shoes. I looked in the mirror and noticed the golden-brown skin underneath my eye was purple. The swelling made it look worse than it felt. One side of my lip was also bruised and swollen, but it didn’t look as bad as my eye.

I applied more makeup than I normally would in an effort to conceal my blackened eye, but there wasn’t a lot I could do for my lip. Every lip color I applied made the swelling more noticeable, so I opted for a clear gloss.

On the way to the spa, I called Raine to update her about the past twelve hours. If she saw my face with no warning, she’d be ready to throw blows, so I had to give her a heads-up.

“What’s up, sis? You running late?”

“No, I’m on my way.”

“Oh, okay. Is everything good?”

“They are now, thanks to Breeze.”

“Mel, what are you talking about?”

“After we left the Black Reign last night, Breeze asked me to meet him for dinner.”

“Really? Why? Did something happen between y’all?”

“Slow down, Raine. Nothing happened.”

I proceeded to share the details of the night before, starting with the dinner I had with her brother up until he left my apartment this morning. She interrupted several times, so I was in the parking lot of Black Reign by the time I finished.

“He better hope I don’t run into him because it’s on sight. I don’t care if it’s today, tomorrow, or next year. Sean is?—”

“Calm down, Raine. You know damn well Shyne and Breeze won’t let you be out here fighting. Besides, I got in a few goodlicks, and Breeze took care of the rest. I’m on my way inside, but the point of this phone call was to warn you about my black eye and busted lip.”

“Your what? Oh hell?—”

I ended the call because I knew my friend was about to go off on another angry tangent. When I approached the building a few minutes later, I saw Raine waiting at the door.

“Before I take these shades off, I need you to take a few deep breaths.”

“Nah, that won’t help because those shades ain’t covering your lip. Let me see your eye.”

I sighed as I took off the shades. “See, it’s not that bad.”

“Melodie, please tell me Breeze beat the shit out of him.”

“Your brother did what needed to be done. I shouldn’t have any more problems with Sean. He is now a thing of the past.”

“He’d better be. I can’t believe he switched up on you like that. Did you have any idea he was one of them niggas who hit women?”

“Hell no! You know I don’t play that shit. Wait until I tell my Daddy.”

“Oh hell, Daddy Norwood gon’ fuck him up if he ever sees him again.”

“No, seriously. I’d better have bail money ready because there will be no stopping him.”

Raine made me sit at her station to examine my eye more closely. By the time the rest of the staff arrived, you could barely tell I had a black eye. However, we were a close-knit group, so I shared the whole ordeal with them.

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