Page 58 of Cause When You Love Someone
I gripped her hand and led her to the dancefloor.
“Come on, y’all. Clarke came downstairs to party with us. Let’s give her some space to show out!”
The partygoers took heed and gave us room to breathe. Though I bobbed my head to the music, I felt out of place.
“Stop standing there like a statue and dance with me.”
“I’m on duty,” I replied as a lady in all white twisted and bounced her ass against my leg. People nearby tried to hype me up to entertain her, but I turned my back.
“Don’t do her like that.” Clarke giggled. “You better catch it.”
“Stop playing. You would be okay with me dancing with another woman?”
She shrugged. “I don’t care about that. I know where you’re going at the end of the night.”
Drawn to her, my hand snaked around Clarke’s neck before I turned her around. Her body moved so fluidly, I wished I had singles. She didn’t rush her moves when she ground against me. Every move she made seemed intentional. I held onto the ends of her dress when I noticed it creeping up, but nothing in the world could make me stop her from enjoying the moment.
“You actin’ up,” I muttered in an intimate tone.
“And I only had a few drinks. I think I just missed being close to you. Two weeks was too long.”
Before I could respond, I detected more attention on us.
“Let’s go upstairs,” I suggested.
Clarke nodded while I motioned to Anthony that we were going to the section. Unlike the last time, I walked behind Clarke since she took off before I could tuck her into my side.
“Clarke,” I called out, right as a small man with glossy skin blocked off her path.
In a swift motion, the stranger snatched the diamonds off Clarke’s neck. He turned to run out of the exit, but he didn’t get away before I yanked him back by his hood.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“Fuck you!” the man yelled before doing the worst thing you could do to somebody. He spat on me.
In unison, the crowd groaned as the fluid landed on the collar of my shirt. Logic escaped my body as I gripped his neck and slammed his head into the floor like it wasn’t made of bones. A voice in my head urged me to stop, but my hands kept going to work.
“Ishmael, that’s enough. Please. Stop!”
Most days, I prided myself on having self-control, yet the thought of a man playing with my woman and my manhood made me lose common sense.
After what felt like forever, the club’s security was the only ones who could pull me off the bitch boy. Reality and the night breeze hit me as they drug me outside, and I saw the blood covering my clothes.
By the time I caught my breath, Anthony and a few other guards came outside with Mrs. Rose marching behind them.
“Ishmael! Boy, you?—”
“You can stop now,” I interrupted her rant. “I’m not a boy. That’s what you and the clown in the club must’ve forgotten.”
I stepped around her when Clarke and her friends rushed out of the building. A panicked expression overpowered her face as she ran to the curb, then looked from side to side.
“Clarke!”
Her tense shoulders dropped before she raced over to me.
“Are you okay?” she asked, examining my face. “We need to get out of here.”
“No.Youneed to get out of here. I can’t run. If they want to charge me, they’ll put a warrant out for my arrest. I don’t want them coming to the house looking for me.”
