“Yeah, I can tell you some stories about my cousin, but I’ll save that for a later date.” She took another puff. “Listen, Rave, you’ve had long enough to lick your wounds and fuck strangers. You should be good now. Call her back.”
He fell silent. During those brief moments, he listened to Zion argue with some guy over what to watch on Netflix. She wanted to watch anime and he wanted to watch a zombie show.
“Okay,” Raven finally said, pulling his helmet off. “Right after we hang up, I’ll call her.”
Could he do it? Was he ready? Making a simple phone call shouldn’t be this difficult.
“You better!” Zion harped. “Good talk, Rave. Deuces.”
He tapped the button on the side of his earpiece then huffed out a hard sigh. No more hesitating. Here we go… “Siri, call Naturi.”
“Calling Naturi Ross,” came virtual assistant’s reply.
As the ringing pulse sounded in his ear, he pondered what he should say. Only one line came to mind. I just called to say I love you. A small smile slanted his lips. Great, now that song’s in my head.
“Hey-hello?” Her voice sailed through his ear as a sweet caress. “Raven?”
He briefly closed his eyes and tried to calm the rapid knocking against his chest. For the longest, he couldn’t speak. He could only listen to her shaky breathing. She was nervous.
So am I.
“You called me by accident, didn’t you?”
“C’mon, Nat,” he finally replied. “When have I ever called you by accident?”
“I’ve gotten butt-called before, so…”
Silence fell upon them for a few seconds.
“I thought…” Her voice cracked. Every ounce of emotion she felt radiated through her tone and into his heart. “I thought I’d never hear from you again.”
His vision became misty. Folding his lips in, he shook his head. “As if it’d be that easy to get rid of me.”
Chapter 20
Everlasting Side Chick
“Remember that time you lost a game of Chess to me?” Luca asked with a grin.
Rolling her eyes, Naturi suppressed a giggle. “Never gonna let me live that one down, are you?”
“Hell no. It was the only game I ever won against you. Remember what we did after I won?”
“Like I could ever forget,” she grumbled. “You made me ride the freakin’ Slingshot.”
Deep laughter exploded out of him. “You passed out mid-ride…”
“That’s not funny.”
Beaming at her from across the table, he ran his middle finger along the rim of his glass. “Then you woke up, realized you were still on the ride, and passed out again.”
Sharing his laughter, she shook her head. “Shaddup.”
“I had to carry you back to the car.”
“And that’s good times to you?”
His smile faded just a bit. “Yeah, it was. Because when I got you back home, I gave you a bubble bath full of roses and made love to you all night.”
Now it was time for her smile to fade. Only hers completely disappeared. “Is that why you called me here, Luca? To reminisce about the good ole’ days?”
“Nah…” He settled back in the seat, spread his knees apart, and rested those grey eyes on her. “I wanna know why you left.”
“You forget my dad had a stroke, that ultimately killed him.”
“But you left without telling me anything. And that dry ass text doesn’t count.”
“There was nothing to tell you, Luca.” That was a lie. Don’t dance around it, Naturi. Just go in for the kill!
Jaw clenching, he sat upright. “Nothing to tell me?”
“Actually—”
“Bet there was plenty to tell Raven, though. Right?”
She cocked a brow. “Ohh, so that’s where you’re taking this, huh?” Should’ve known Raven’s name would pop up sooner or later.
His eyes narrowed. “That’s where I’m taking it. We were good, we were perfect until he showed up.”
“Perfect? Really?” Tilting her head, she gave him an incredulous side eye. “In what universe were we prefect, Luca?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means. We had a lotta shit going on between us before Raven crashed into me. Like right from the jump, you had an attention problem. You just couldn’t stop giving other women your attention.”
“Aw bullshit! You’re using that to justify stepping out on me with him.”
“Number one, I never stepped out on you with anyone. And number two, you’re the one who has had numerous affairs—”
“Then why was he at the funeral?”
“Don’t try to change the subject. You’re swervin’ me.”
“Answer the question! Why was he there?”
“‘Cause he’s my friend, and I wanted him there.”
“What else did you want from your friend, huh? Why was he so comfortable putting his hands on you? Why were you all hugged up with him—”
“Are you fuckin’ serious? It was my father’s funeral and I was…!” She pulled in a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut for brief moment. Focus, Naturi. Don’t let him coax you into a useless argument. “Okay, know what? We’re going nowhere with this. So, I’m gonna pump the brakes on this merry-go-round and let you know why I agreed to meet with you tonight. I was loyal to you, loyal to a fault. But see that’s on me, ‘cause you waved plenty of red flags letting me know that you weren’t worthy of my loyalty.”
“Baby, listen. I know I fucked up in the past. I was stupid and just being a guy, but c’mon ma, I thought we had moved past that. I thought we were starting anew. That’s what you said, right? We weren’t gonna let past shit come between us.”
Naturi retrieved her phone from her backpack. “Yeah, I thought that too.” She shuffled through her pics until she came across the one she was searching for. Slowly, she placed the phone on the table, face up, with evidence of his indiscretions glowing on the screen. “Then, I realized I was wrong.”
For a long quiet moment, Luca stared at the image of him cozied up with another woman at the restaurant—the same restaurant he wanted to meet at tonight. Her favorite. The Optimist.
He and the woman occupied the table that he deemed was theirs on their first date. Wonder how many women he delivered that same line to. Wonder how many women thought they were the one. Worst part about it was, none of the women he cheated with looked anything like her. They were total opposites in skin tone, hair texture and body size.
While taking care of dad, a question continuously ran across her mind. Why the hell did Luca want to be in a relationship with her when he was clearly attracted to a different kind of woman? Then it hit her. She was the one who always stayed. I was the safehouse. Somewhere he could go when he was in between women. That’s all she was to him. Sure, somewhere along the line, he may have developed feelings for her, but it wasn’t enough to keep him faithful. She was the everlasting side chick.
Suddenly, he grabbed her phone and tapped the trashcan, deleting the picture.
Didn’t matter either way. The image was imprinted in her mind.
Moments of silence drifted between them. He tapped frantically on the glass as his eyes darted everywhere, but in her direction.
She watched him quietly, waiting for the sweet lie to form and leave his lips.
He swallowed hard, then finally he locked those pretty grey on her. “Look, I don’t know who sent this to you…”
“No one sent it to me.”
“…But you know how these hoes be…”
“Please don’t waste your breath with lies.”
“…They see you happy and wanna fuck up what we have—”
“I took the picture, Luca,” she admitted on a sigh. “Me.”
His body stiffened. His eyes grew wide and his nostril flared.
Shaking her head, she chuckled. “And I haven’t been happy with you for a long time. I don’t even know why you thought you could sli
p that shit in there.”
Speechless, he continued to gawk at her.
“I also saw you kiss her, right before you took her home and went into the house with her. You stayed for hours, ‘til the next morning, actually. That’s the same day you said you were going to visit your parents.”
Guilt slid across his face, fueling her purpose.
“My gut told me you weren’t being truthful, so I followed you that night. Imagine that, wanting so badly to trust you, only for you to prove that I couldn’t. It’s a horrible feeling. It left my stomach in knots. I wanted to be wrong. I wanted to believe you when you said you were done running around. I wanted to believe you weren’t just blowing smoke up my ass when you said you loved me—”
“I do love you, Naturi!” he whispered harshly.
“Since when?”
Half groaning and half sighing, he collapsed against the back of the seat. He grabbed his glass and quaffed the milky contents within. “Why didn’t you just come to me?”
“I thought about it—I kinda wanted to, and then, shit hit the fan. Hours after I caught you fornicating with Becky with the good hair, I got the call about dad having a stroke. I bounced around in my head on how I would deal with you, then I realized I didn’t have it in me to do this with you anymore. I only had the time and emotion to deal with one cheating bastard in my life. And that was my dad. So, I had to let you go.”
A misty glaze veiled his eyes. The inner pain he felt was painted all over his face. “You could’ve called me about it. We could’ve talked this out, Nat.”
“Talk it out? Like we did all the other times?” Legs crossed, she slouched back against the seat, matching his posture. “What good did that do us? Or better yet, what good did that do me?”
“Look, I’m not asking you to forgive me after fuckin’ up yet again, but I just—I know we’ve been through some tough times—”
“Aren’t you tired of that same ole script, Luca? We argue. You lie. We argue some more. You confess and tell you me you love me. Sometimes you even add a tear to the mix for good measure. Like a lovesick idiot, I let you lure me back into your bed, and we fuck like the world’s coming an end. After that, you go outta your way to please me, to make feel like I’m the only woman in your life. Then some new pussy sashays across your radar, and this little dance of ours starts all over again. It’s exhausting. I don’t know about you, but I’m tapped out.”
He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, but said nothing. Looked like he had something to say, yet he was at a loss for words. This would be a first.
“Luca, I’m tired. I’m tired of not being enough. I’m tired of being disrespected. Took me a while to realize this, but I deserve more than that.”
More silence seized the moment. During that time, he sorrowfully gazed at her. She gazed at him as well. Unlike before, she’d stared into those dreamy grey eyes and felt nothing. She was completely numb. Wow. Considering how caught up she used to be with him, this was crazy. I think I’m finally over him. Only she didn’t realize she was until this very moment.
“I guess Raven can give you more, huh?” he said suddenly, disdain dripped from his tone.
“Oh, here you go again. Why does everything have to come back to Raven? The downfall of our relationship had nothing to do with him.”
“Yeah it did. Ever since you met him, you’ve been different.”
Maybe he had a point there. Raven definitely awakened something inside of her, something that made her realize she was worth so much more than the mediocre life she’d been living.
“Not surprised you let him come between us though.” A snarky smile slanted his lips. “You clearly got a thing for guys with extra sweetener.”
Brow cocked, she served him a side eye.
“Don’t forget what happened the last time you fell for a guy like that. What was his name? Darius, right?”
A flash of heat rushed up to her face. Then, just as quickly, it subsided. Shaking her head, she released a heavy sigh.
He was triggered, and now he was being an asshole. Typical Luca.
For a split second, she thought to stoop to his level. She could leap up from the table, get in his face, and get loud, something she’d done many times in the past. But that would be a waste of time and energy. Especially since, she didn’t care enough to be bothered.
“Well that’s my cue. I’m out.” Standing, she slipped on her jacket. “And for the record, Raven is more of a man than you will ever be.”
His malicious expression died a swift death. “Where are you going?” A hint of panic sparked in his eyes as he shot out of the booth. “Wait, Nat… Dammit! I’m sorry, ma. I didn’t mean to go there. That was a shitty thing to say.”
Quietly, she grabbed her backpack and helmet. When she reached across the table to retrieve her phone, he grabbed her wrist.
“Nat, please…”
Biting back a growl, she cut her eyes at him. “Let me go.”
Some of the guys in the bar took notice and began to approach them.
Luca clutched her tighter. “Baby, I’m sorry. Please, sit back down.”
“You done fully lost your mind, huh?”
“Let’s not leave things like this—”
“Luca, I swear to God, I will knock you upside the head with this helmet if you don’t take your goddamn hand off of me. I’m not gonna say it again.”
Nelly rushed over, his body bulked up, his eyes narrowed in on Luca. “Looks like we have a problem here.”
“Nah, fam.” She snatched her wrist from Luca’s grip, then grabbed her phone. “We’re good. Just time for me to go.” That said, she spun on her heels and boldly sashayed toward the door. “Thanks, Nelly! See ya later.” A wide smile made its way to her face as she flipped her hand over her shoulder. “Have a nice life, Luca.”
Chapter 21
Flaming Ball of Rage
Naturi wore a cheese-eating grin all the way to the gas station.
Felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Finally, it was done. She was free of Luca. At least I hope so. Never knew with him. But she did her part. She made it very clear that they were over. No doors left cracked open this time. God, this feels amazing! Should’ve done this a long time ago.
As she gassed up NightOwl, something weird occurred to her.
I haven’t received any notifications. Not even a phone call. Oh shit, what time is it?
She pulled her phone from her pocket. A blank screen stared back at her. Wait, it’s off? What the hell? Couldn’t be the battery. She’d charged it before leaving. She pressed the power button. The white Apple logo appeared on the screen. As soon as it was fully powered on, she checked the battery icon in the top right corner. It had eighty-six percent life left. So why was it off?
A series of messages popped up on the screen, making her gasp.
‘Gonna be out a little longer?’, ‘Are you OK?’, ‘Why aren’t you answering your phone?’, ‘You must be busy.’, ‘Is your phone off?’, ‘Are you on your way?’, ‘Are you even coming home tonight?’, ‘Guess not.’
Her heart dropped. Tears formed. She could almost hear the pain in Raven’s voice through his text messages. Shit! It was damn near midnight. Shit! How did it get that late and she not realize it? Shiiit!
With a shaky hand, she quickly tapped Raven’s contact and brought the phone to ear. The long pulse of the ring tone was agonizing. As she listened and hoped he would pick up, she yanked the gas pump out of her NightOwl’s tank.
Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad…
Suddenly, a familiar voice crept up behind her. “Three years? You’re just gonna throw three years away, just like that?”
The second she heard his voice, a realization struck her. That asshole turned my phone off!
“This is nothing. We’ve been through worse than this, Nat. Let’s not break up over this. It’s not worth it.”
He’d done it in the past while they were together. Anytime he saw a messa
ge from Raven, he would turn her phone off. Back then, she’d let it fly because he was her man, but now…
A robotic female voice prompted her to leave a voice mail. At the same time, a blaze of fire burst behind her eyes. She lowered the phone from her ear. Her vision blurred then something snapped in the back of her mind.
“It’s not worth it?” Clenching her teeth, she spun around. “You grimy ass bastard!” She launched toward him, cocking her hand back. Her palm made swift contact with his face, making his head jerk to the left. “That’s three years you stole from me! Three years you made me believe you loved me, that you would only be with me. I tried to be the woman you wanted, just for you to step out on me with bitches who look nothing like me. That’s right, Luca! Three fuckin’ years!”
Palming his cheek, he shuffled backwards. “Da fuck wrong with you, Nat?”
“Da fuck wrong with me? YOU, muthafucka! You are what’s wrong with me! I can’t believe you turned off my phone. The fuckin’ audacity! I let you off easy back there when I should’ve been kicking your ass. All you had to do was go on your way, but you followed me. Oh my God, you fuckin’ followed me!” Heat blazing through her body, she grabbed her helmet and stormed toward him. “Guess you didn’t get the picture. Let me make it very fuckin’ clear for you this time.”
“Aye, girl…” He thrust his hands out, continuing to skip backwards. “Yo… Nat! Chill!”
“I was chill! I was real fuckin’ chill! Then your bitch ass had to go and be petty!” She thought she could do it. She thought she could handle this without losing her cool. Apparently, she was wrong. All the fury and hurt she felt rushed through her, it’s dark influence so powerful, she couldn’t shake it. “Turning off my damn phone like you got the right…” she grumbled, her glare fixed on him.
Luca continued to scramble back until his ass hit his car.
“I hope you hear me this time.” Clutching the mouthguard of her helmet, she swung on him with all the anger brewing in her heart.
He sidestepped and ducked out of the path of her strike. The helmet sailed past him and clashed with the driver’s side door window. Dozens of cracks branched out along the surface of the glass.
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