Page 20 of Typa
“I’m good and so is Mythic. He woke up.”
I looked at her, feeling a sense of relief flood my being. I wanted him to be okay. Mythic dying would kill me. When I released a sigh, she gave me a slight smile. “Thank you for loving him. I could see the changes he was making. He was supposed to start school for the fall semester. I just hate all this bullshit he was involved in. I wanted to be angry, but Mythic brought this shit on himself. I just think he thought no one would ever find out. He loves you so much. Thank you for believing in him when no one did, not even us.”
I couldn’t stop the cry that left my lips. Her words were taking me lower than I already was. I pulled myself together, and asked, “Does he remember what happened?”
“Yeah, but your name was still the first thing he said. My lil brother got it bad for you, but he fucked that shit up. I just hope that one day he’ll be able to make it right, whether y’all get back together or not. None of the family has any animosity toward you or your family. I’m grateful for that, because Karima is my girl and so are you. I love y’all.”
Trying to lighten the mood, I said, “I love you too. Since you love me so much, I could sure use a banana pudding cupcake.”
She laughed. “You ain’t said nothing but a thing. There’s a baker’s dozen downstairs.”
“Treasure, don’t play with me.”
She laughed loudly as Ashanni stood and practically ran out of the room. “Heifer! You better not take but one!” I yelled.
Treasure laughed even more, then stared at me with a smile on her face. I hadn’t gotten as close to Cachet as I had gotten to her. Whenever Mythic dropped me off to his parents’ house, Treasure was usually there, baking sweets and whatnot. She was just as amazing at it as Mrs. Harper and was an excellent cook as well. I’d eaten her food on several occasions.
We sat here quietly for a moment. I broke the silence by saying, “I hate this. I feel like I was forced to choose sides. I literally had no choice but to be with my brother on this. Mythic didn’t give me a choice after the way he targeted Seven. That’s my brother. I don’t like him at times, but still . . .”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me Maui. I totally get it. Mythic makes it hard to like him, but you somehow penetrated his defenses. You will always have my respect. I was shocked as hell when I found out y’all were together. I’m sure everyone felt that way. But because Mythic is my brother, I hoped you would change him . . . make him want to be a betterman. You didn’t disappoint. He went and met his son before everything went down. Vanessa told me he left twenty thousand for him in case something happened and told her to contact us so we could meet him. That is not the Mythic I know. I have you to thank for that.”
I swallowed hard as Ashanni made her way back into the room with cupcakes. I frowned when I noticed she had four on a plate. “Fix yo’ face, heifer,” she said as she extended one to Treasure.
“I don’t want one, Shani.”
“Good. Two for me and two for Maui.”
I rolled my eyes. “You were only supposed to have one, Shani.”
“You better be glad I brought two for you. Uncle Mayor done grabbed two, Seven is down there and had two or three. I’m sure Aunt Aspen is gonna want one and Remy is gonna kill what’s left when he gets off that damn game.”
“Ugh! Treasure, you gon’ have to bring me my own personal stash.”
She laughed. “You got it, sis.”
I lowered my head when she called me sis. She would always say that she knew I would be her sister-in-law one day. She could see how happy I made Mythic. This shit was so fucking hard! I was the only one in my family that cared how Mythic was doing. I was still angry, because his actions tore us apart, no matter how long ago he did it.
“I wish I could stop my heart from bleeding,” I blurted out, then took a huge bite of the cupcake.
Neither of them said a word. They just watched me scarf down the cupcake. I wanted to stuff my mouth so I couldn’t cry. I was tired of crying. My life was upside down, and it was my fault for falling in love with a toxic ass nigga . . . one that gave me everything I ever wanted in a man. I looked at thediamond bracelet on my arm that he’d bought me and smiled slightly. He was so damn tender with me and that was the part of him I couldn’t seem to shake. Sex was amazing, but it wasn’t everything, even with that diamond-chip dick that made me cum for the first time during sex. He gave me an unfathomable love, and I hated to have to give it back to him.
EIGHT
MYTHIC
“You comfortable?”Carter Legend asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
He stared at me as he fluffed another pillow. Despite his irritation with me, he was still helping out when he was needed. I had just gotten home yesterday, but I was staying at my parents’ house. My mama and Treasure had a few deliveries to make. Epic and Dad were at a small rodeo that Carter didn’t participate in. He was too big for the small-town shit. Epic would be too big for it too, eventually.
“You and Bali good?” I asked.
He side-eyed me but didn’t respond. Treasure had told me that Bali had pulled away from him some because of me. My family didn’t have shit to do with what I did, so I didn’t understand why that mean ass girl was taking that out on him. I tried to lift my arm, but they had that shit in a hard cast that was connected to my hip. This was the most uncomfortable shit I had ever endured. I was in a coma for two days.
Ignoring his irritation, I asked, “How is Maui, man?”
He still said nothing. “You know, if you don’t wanna be here, why are you?” I asked.
