“Damn,” I said, cringing. Her career was the most important thing to her. “Well, like you said, maybe this will be what she needs. I wish y’all the best of luck with that.”
“You too, man,” he said, shaking my hand before I made my exit.
I had twelve days until I had to report to camp and the logical thing would be to stay my ass in L.A. to get my shit taken care of in time, but when Amaya was constantly on mymind, there was no more room for thoughts and logic, so I planned to bust my ass for twenty-four hours straight, so I could be back on a flight to her. Determination and lust had me wrapping everything up that same day, and by the time I settled down, it was damn near midnight, but I noticed Amaya had called me a few times, so I made sure to grab my tablet and hit her on video chat.
“Hello?” My tense muscles relaxed themselves the moment I saw her face and heard that voice.
“Hey… I didn’t wake you, did I?” It had only been two days, and my body seemed to be in withdrawal mode. Falling asleep without her curled up under me felt damn near impossible.
“No, I was up,” she answered quickly.
“Where are you?” I frowned. Even in the dark, I could see enough to know she wasn’t at home. I could also tell that she looked sad as hell.
“At my parent’s. Somehow Mona and I ended up having an impromptu sleepover over here… I’m in my dad’s Man Cave right now, so I don’t wake anyone up. Anyways, how’s your trip? Is um… everything okay?”
“Yeah, she’s okay… still crazy as fuck, but she’s alive.”
“Did that bitch try to fuck you?” she blurted out.
“Nah,” I chuckled. “Just tried to blame all this shit on me. Talkin’ bout how if I didn’t make her settle the case, then she never would have taken too many pills. I found out that her label let her know that she would be dropped if she didn’t at least complete one hundred-twenty days in rehab and get some sort of counseling. I pray that straightens her up, but if not, I told her ass this was the last time I was doing this. I’m done with the shit.”
“That’s good. You deserve some peace. You can’t hold yourself responsible for her actions anymore. At some point she’s gotta make the choice to be a grown woman and deal with her shit.”
“Thank you, baby.” My breathing got a little lighter as she confirmed what I already knew. For years I lived holding my breath, fearing the worst if I ever fully turned my back on Chanel.It took all the people around me saying the same thing for me to finally let go of the reigns.
“Well, I’m glad that everything worked out,” she said, looking anything but glad as I could see the sadness on her face.
“What’s wrong?” I immediately sat up, body on full alert. I knew she would try to brush me off, but I wasn’t having that.
“Nothing, I’m good.”
“Amaya…” I called softly.
“Yes?” she barely whispered.
“Am I your man?” I said with a gentle scold in my tone. I gave her a stern look with absolutely no anger behind it, because I had been on her ass about letting me be there for her, but she fought me at every turn.
“Yes,” she said again.
“Then let me be your man. Talk to me.” I heard her sigh, then go silent for a minute. When she sniffled, my body reacted again, wanting to put hands on whoever upset her to the point of tears. She rarely cried, so I knew it had to be something serious.
“Baby, what happened?”
“Malcom came to my parent's house today,” she said with a shaky voice before sniffling again.
“Are you okay? Did that nigga touch you?”
“No,” she whimpered, now obviously trying to hold back her tears. I was relieved that she let me in, but my fury grew every time she made a sound. “He just wouldn’t leave it alone… I had no choice but to tell my parents. It was a whole big thing.” I sat there, silently stewing in anger as she told me the dramatics of how she pulled up and he was there, and her dad ended up pulling a gun on him.
“Fuck—I should have been there. I can head back now, let me get a flight back.”
“No! I’m okay, baby. I promise. I know you have other things to handle while you’re home.”
“Amaya,” I sighed. “You take priority overanyof this shit, babe. I know you swear you so tough, and that’s okay, but youdon’t have to be tough right now. Let me take some of this weight off you.” No sooner than those words left my mouth, she broke, letting out a squeaking sound as the tears forced their way through, rushing down her cheeks in a never-ending downpour. I let her sit in her feelings, not pressuring her to talk again until she was ready.
“They just… they lookedsodisappointed in me,” she sobbed. I could tell she was trying to keep her volume down.
“They weren’t disappointed, baby. They love you, and it hurt them that you had to experience that. You didnothingwrong. You know that, right? And even if you did, remember what you tell meallthe time. The people who love you don’t give a fuck about that. They just want you safe and happy.” She sniffled and nodded.
