“You all can say what you want, but Rome was far from innocent; we all know that. Maybe if you got off your high horses and opened your damn eyes you’d see that he never deserved her. We can go.” Creed grabbed my hand and started for the door.
“Nakyra, if you leave with him, don’t come crawling back to me when he leaves you!” Rome shouted behind us.
I paused. “I was banned from the room because of that woman, right?” The realization was a gut punch but it’s the only thing that made sense.
When no one replied, I got my answer. I looked up at Creed and nodded.
Once we were out of the room and down the hall Creed stopped and looked down at me. “I know you wanted to do that alone, but once I saw that woman leave I couldn’t stand on the sideline. Are you okay?”
With a small smile on my face, I reached up and caressed his cheek. “I’m better than okay. Let’s go,” I told him truthfully.
It might have been a shit show in the room, but breaking things off and revealing the truth about me and Creed had me feeling lighter than I had in a long time.
Chapter 29
Creed
Nakyra sat in front of me, silently staring down at her hands. When we got to the house I sat her down and revealed to her what I’d learned about the accident. Since she learned about the girl he was dealing with, I felt it was time for her to learn everything.
“Why tell me now?” she finally answered, lifting her eyes to my face. Her brow scrunched and a tremor touched her full lips.
“I didn’t want that news to sway anything when it came to us. I found out about everything around the time I realized I was developing feelings for you. My intentions were never to come to town and shake your life up either. It was selfish of me to keep it from you, I know that, but I felt like you should make the decision to leave Rome on your own and not based on what I told you.”
Her lips pressed together and she swallowed hard. For a long moment she stared at me, blinking slowly.
“I knew he was cheating, or rather, that he cheated,” Nakyra confessed, surprising me. This was the first time she had brought up anything involving infidelity in her relationship. Her head lifted and she stared at the ceiling before pushing out an exasperated breath. “A couple months before his accident Icaught him attached to his phone more than normal. He would take calls randomly then leave the room and start whispering to whoever was on the other end of the phone. I didn’t know the passcode to his phone, so I was unable to go through it, but one day I got smart and asked to use his laptop, making up an excuse as to why I couldn’t use mine. I don’t think Rome realized his phone and laptop were synced, so his messages, calls, and all that could be seen from either device.” Her gaze fell back on me, her eyes void of any emotion.
“I didn’t know who he was texting but it was clear it was a woman and he had been seeing her. When I confronted Rome, he flipped it on me at first, upset that I’d invaded his privacy and complaining that I didn’t trust him. I’m not ashamed to say Rome gaslit me a lot and I accepted too much from him, but this time I didn’t. When he realized I wasn’t letting up, he became apologetic and told me it happened one time and the woman was trying to blackmail him.” A low chuckle fell from her mouth. “Truthfully, I don’t know if I believed him, but I accepted it because I didn’t want to believe my fiancé would cheat on me months away from our wedding. One day I was having brunch with your mom and I mentioned the cheating, needing someone to talk to. If I told Summer, she would make the situation ten times worse because she hated your brother.” She paused and got lost in thought for a second. “Anyway, I mentioned it to your mom and do you know what she told me?’ Nakyra didn’t wait for me to answer. “She told me that’s something men did from time to time, especially a man of Rome’s stature. That it’s better he got it out the way now rather than after the wedding.”
Nakyra choked out a laugh. Her lips thinned and her eyes sharpened. “Can you believe that? She basically told me to suck it up and accept it. Told me not to be so sensitive or my marriage would never survive.” Her hands went through her braids before they balled into fists. “I was so stupid. I don’t know why thatwasn’t my final straw. Seeing that woman today and finding out the two of them have been having an affair and your parents knew didn’t surprise me, but I can’t lie and say it didn’t sting too.”
“Damn,” I expressed. It didn’t shock me that my mom brushed off Rome’s cheating. She never held my brother accountable for anything he did, neither of my parents did. I felt for Nakyra. All she wanted was for someone to love her. She held onto something she never should have just for the sake of having someone. “Do you regret being with him?”
Nakyra opened her mouth but closed it immediately after. “I don’t know.” Her brows furrowed as she squinted. “Not everything with Rome was bad. I think more than anything I regret not having the strength to leave and staying for as long as I did.”
Blinking slowly, her eyes grew guarded. “I’m scared. Every time something good happens in my life I feel like something happens to snatch it away from me. I don’t even know if I can trust how I feel anymore. At the hospital you admitted you loved me. Did you mean it?”
Reaching out, I grabbed both of her hands. “You should know by now I don’t say shit I don’t mean. I’m not in the field of breaking hearts, leading anyone on, and telling meaningless lies. I love that you have every reason in the world to be jaded but you never let your situation or circumstances harden you and turn you into someone you’re not.”
Slowly, the corners of her mouth grew into a shaky smile. “I meant it too. I love you, Creed. Also thank you.”
“For what?”
“Defending me today. For going above and beyond for me these past couple months. For just being you.”
It was easy to fall for Nakyra and the sad thing was I didn’t even think she realized it. Her light had been reduced her wholelife and it was time for it to finally shine bright. I wanted to never give her a reason to doubt my intentions with her and trust all I wanted to do was build with her and love her correctly.
Nakyra pulled her hands out of my grasp. She stood and walked over to me, climbing on top of my lap, facing me. Energy rippled between us. Her lips turned up into a graceful smile. My stomach exploded with passionate heat seeing the twinkle forming in her eyes. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she pressed her body into mine.
“You are an amazing man, Creed. It’s hard to believe you turned out like you did considering how you grew up, but I’m lucky you did and happy you came into my life when you did. Even if things with us don’t work out, I’ll always remember what it feels like tofinallybe put first.”
Nakyra moved in, placing her lips on mine. The kiss was like soldering heat that joins metal, unrushed and sweet. Blood shot down to my dick as my mouth opened and our tongues intertwined. My heart thundered in my ears.
It didn’t matter to me how we got here and who didn’t agree with us being together. As long as the two of us were on the same page, everyone else could go fuck themselves.
____
A week had passed since everything happened at the hospital. I learned my brother had been transferred to a private rehabilitation facility and would be here for the next six weeks from what I understood.
