Andre
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Uhhh,” Andre groaned, opening his eyes and immediately regretting it. His head was pounding and whoever was at that door was going to get punched in the fucking face.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
“Fuck!” He sat up, swinging his legs onto the ground as empty whiskey bottles clinked and rolled across the floor. Andre rubbed his eyes and got to his feet with the hangover from hell.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“We’re not leaving this time, so you better open the door, fucker, or I’ll break it down!” Bently’s voice bellowed from outside.
“I’m coming!” he snapped, immediately regretting the loud noise. He went to the door and unlocked it before it swung open, letting in a gust of cool air and two angry sets of eyes glaring at him.
“What the fuck, man?” Bently shoved past him with Mikel following behind.
“What’s your problem?” I need coffee. Andre shut the door and walked over to start a pot.
“Our problem? He wants to know what our problem is.” Mikel shook his head, joining in with his brother.
The water began to drip, sending the savory rich smell throughout the kitchen.
“Why haven’t you been answering our calls or texts?” Mikel asked, a little calmer.
“I told you I was sick.” And then shut my phone off. “I’ve been in bed.”
“For a week?” Bently seethed.
“Yeah, must be the flu or something,” Andre lied. Guess I’m a liar too now.
“Or a bender,” Mikel said, compassion shining from his eyes.
Bently’s gaze softened just a bit. “Maybe he caught it from Mia.”
Her name grated like nails on a chalkboard. How could those three little letters spark him to life and destroy his soul all at once?
Andre pulled a mug from his cupboard and poured himself a big steaming cup of black coffee, not bothering to wait until it was cool before he took a sip.
“What do you mean I caught it from her?” He couldn’t say her name.
Bently shook his head. “You haven’t read any of our messages, have you?”
“Nope.” He sipped his coffee and took a seat.
Bently and Mikel shared a concerned look.
“What?”
“If you’d answered my calls after you left a message you’d be out of work this week, you’d have known,” Mikel explained.
“Got them, but I told you I needed a week off. You’re not going to play ‘bad business partner’ on me for skipping out for a few days after you left for five fucking years, are you?”
“Mia was admitted to the hospital a week ago.” Mikel narrowed his eyes.
What? Worry sank his stomach like a stone. “Is she okay? What happened?”
Bently sighed and crossed his arms. “She passed out in that storm we had in the middle of the road. Don’t know how long she was there before she was found. Luckily, the good citizens called me.” Bently raked a hand over his face. “She was in bad shape, man. She passed out again in my arms and I rushed her to the hospital.”
He should have been there. Was she all alone? Was her fiancé there?
Crack.
The handle of the coffee mug broke off the cup, and it tumbled and smashed on the counter. He stared at the destroyed porcelain in his hands. That was the day of our fight. She’d told him that she blacked out. Why didn’t he make sure Mia made it into her house?
Because she shattered what was left of my heart.
“Is she okay?” Andre repeated.
Bently nodded. “She got out yesterday. Wouldn’t tell me anything, but begged me not to tell you she was in the hospital. You wanna tell me why?”
Andre set the pieces from the handle on the counter and hung his head. “She lied to me. She lied to all of us. She’s been engaged this whole time.”
Bently’s expression didn’t change. Only Mikel seemed shocked.
“Tell me what happened, exactly.” Bently took a seat and leaned in on his elbows.
Andre recapped the worst day of his life within a matter of minutes. Both Mikel and Bently shook their heads.
“Just doesn’t seem like her,” Mikel said.
“Are you still taking her side? I was right about her, from the beginning, and you all wanted me to play nice. I should have gone with my gut because look where my fucking heart got me,” he snapped.
“Your heart? You love her?” Mikel asked, his brows creased.
Andre sighed. “Fool me twice. She’s worse than Tiffany.”
“You didn’t give her a chance to explain? There’s no way she could have duped all of us. There’s something fishy about this,” Bently said, scratching his beard.
“Nothing hidden here, detective. The guy she’s marrying was right in front of me. The same one she’d sworn was like a brother to her. I believed her. She’s good at deceiving people. She’s a fucking witch who cast us all under her spell.”
“Her friend Mateo?” Bently asked.
“You met him?”
Bently nodded. “In the hospital. The whole family stayed for a few days before Mia sent them on their way.”
The bastard didn’t even stay with her until she was better?
Bently chuckled.
“I fail to see what’s so fucking funny here.” Andre glared at his friend.
Bently waved his hand. “Mateo Lopez. Tall guy with dark hair, Spanish accent?”
“Yes,” Andre grated.
“He’s gay. Or, at the very least, bisexual.” Bently smirked.
“What?”
“He hit on me. Then when he saw I was a no-fly zone, he got in real cozy with Doc Burton. Saw them at The Shipwreck a few times. They left together both nights,” Bently explained.
“Maybe Mateo and Mia have an open relationship?” Mikel suggested.
“Only way you can find out is to talk to Mia.” Bently picked up the broken mug and sipped Andre’s coffee.
“If I learned one thing through all the shit that went down between Remy and me, it’s that you gotta put everything out on the table. I almost lost her because I didn’t do that. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. If you love her, then hear her out. There has to be an explanation. Do you really want to live the rest of your life wondering?” Mikel asked.
Andre’s stomach churned with anxiety. It hurts too much. “People don’t change.”
Mikel winced.
Shit. “I didn’t mean it like that. You realize every one of the women I’ve seriously dated in my life has cheated on me?”
“Mia isn’t Tiffany. We all hated your ex. The only reason we were civil was because you really cared for her. We knew she was a bad egg from the beginning. But, Mia . . . she’s gotten pretty close with Remy,” Mikel said.
“And Jasmine,” Bently added.
“You know the girls have better instincts about women than we do. They love her. And your sister is devastated because Mia has been avoiding her this past week.” Mikel sighed.
His friends were right. There were more questions than answers. Nothing was adding up. I need to know. But would she give him the truth? And how could he trust her even if she did?
Mikel walked over to the couch, sighing. “What’s this?” He reached down and grasped an envelope peeking out from under the coffee table.
Andre shrugged. “Beats me.”
“It’s got your name on it.” Mikel held out the paper.
“That’s Mia’s writing.” Andre reached for it. How? Tiffany must have taken it before he shut the door in Mia’s face and then stormed to his room.
Bently stood. “Maybe the answers you seek are in there. I’m gonna leave you to it, but I’ll be checking back in on you.”
His friends said their goodbyes before they left him.
Andre took a deep breath to steady himself as he pulled the folded papers out.
Starting with the first line of the first page, he read.
Each page was harder to digest.
He learned more about Mia in these few pages than he had in the months he’d spent sleeping with her. This was the real Mia. It was no wonder she kept to herself. All the trauma. All the times he’d triggered her by mentioning her parents, or the bad juju that followed her around.
Guilt and hurt swirled inside him as he staggered back to his seat. Humbled, his eyes fell onto the last page.