Part 14 – I Told You
The walk back to her hotel room felt like a dream. She moved through the streets on legs so shaky she was certain onlookers must've thought she was drunk. A few might have even tried to help her—or help themselves. Either way, it escaped her notice as she stumbled through the colorless streets.
"Herbivore." She kept muttering to herself.
His words kept replaying in her head.
"I'll spend the rest of my life loving you."
He'd said it so openly, so tenderly, that her heart raced from the fresh memory.
"Then fucking do it!" she spat, drawing looks from passersby. She didn't care. For the first time in a long time, she didn't care what people thought of her. The only person she wanted to notice her was Deon.
Why was he so stupid? Why couldn't he see what she saw—that they were magic? Si and D. Why did he have to ruin the fantasy? And that girl... why settle for an imitation when you can have the real thing?
But she'd seen them together. It wasn't an act. It wasn't settling. He didn't see her as a replacement. It would've been easier if he did—and even that would still be hard.
This was her loss. Deon was out of reach.
"Nothing changes about Changes, huh? Liar."
When she walked into her hotel room, Keyon was sitting on the bed, waiting.
"Back sooner than expected," he said, his usual upbeat tone nonexistent.
"I suppose I am."
"And?"
"There was... interference."
"Don't give me that bullshit."
"He said no, didn't he?"
"No! He didn't—he..." She choked on her words as emotion overwhelmed her and tears began to fall. She collapsed to the floor. "He said he loved me. That he always would."
Keyon sighed heavily. "Sounds like a rejection to me."
She knew full well he was right, but she couldn't accept it.
"It wasn't! He never said no."
"You never asked, did you?"
She froze.
"Of course not." He knelt beside her, wiping away the tear from her left eye. "I told you," he whispered in her ear.
The words sent a shiver down her spine.
"The two of you just aren't on the same wavelength," he said, running a finger through her hair. "You're like parallel lines. You can run alongside one another, but you'll never intersect."
"Keyon, he's so close to breaking. Just one more push and—"
He pressed a hand to her lips. "That wasn't the deal. Five days. That's what we agreed to."
She stiffened at having her own words thrown back at her.
"You insisted on this trip. On inviting him. You were certain you could bring him into this with that smile of yours. I guess that tight ass isn't enough bait to reel him in anymore, huh?"
She dropped her gaze to the floor, her tone defiant despite the gesture. "He likes the ass just fine. If not for some complications, I'm sure—"
He shook his head. "I agreed to this whole thing because I thought it would make you happy. It's been five years since I've seen the woman I proposed to. I finally got to see flashes of her when he arrived at the airport. I can see he does something for you that I don't. Maybe even something I won't. So I'm cool if he's your side piece. I'm cool if you want us to do some thruple shit. But you can't pull it off. He's just not that into you."
"He is!"
"Then why the fuck are you here with me? Huh? Why!?"
She couldn't respond.
He softened his tone. "Si, let go of the illusion."
She felt repulsed when he used the nickname—the name only Deon used.
He pulled back, noticing her recoil. "So it's like that?"
"No," she said quietly. "You just know how I feel about that nickname."
"I'm your husband, Si."
She shot him a glare.
"Sierra," he corrected. "You have to learn to put me first, like I do you."
She scoffed.
"What? I may step outside our marriage now and then, but that's just sex. I don't even know their names. But you—what you do is worse."
"I don't cheat."
"Not physically. Not that I know of."
Her mind drifted to that night in Deon's room.
"But emotionally," he continued, "you've been with another man from the jump. My boy, of all people."
"How ironic."
"What?"
"He said something similar when he told me we couldn't be together. How weird of him to honor the code with you of all people."
Keyon walked to the counter and grabbed a bottle of top-shelf whiskey. He turned over his shoulder, holding the bottle up. "You know, I prepared this for the three of us. I planned to toast to our new arrangement, because despite it all, I believed in you." He poured himself a glass. "In him."
She didn't let her eyes follow him, but she was hanging on every word.
"One more push?" he said, raising the glass toward her.
She scrambled to her feet, excitement and surprise overtaking her.
"Keyon? Yes. One more push. I can do it. I can—"
"Not here," he said. "The moment's passed. Try again on your home turf. Use all your strengths. But this time, let me help."
She hesitated, her voice tight with apprehension. "How?"
The smirk he wore when he was up to no good flashed across his face, and she caught a glimpse of the Keyon she'd always loved—the boy who'd planted just enough doubt in her heart to cause this whole mess.