Page 2 of Cooly

“You weren’t dropping tears, but you had that little crack in your voice."

"Nah!! My voice don’t crack, ever."

"It wobbled then." Diamond leaned forward, her voice softening. "She told me why she had to let you go. You threatened her husband. She found out."

My jaw tightened. "First, fuck him. She didn't have to let me go. She chose to."

"Same thing."

"It's not the same."

Diamond sighed, the way you do when someone's missing the point on purpose. "You knew the deal going in. She was always gonna go back to him. That was always the ending."

"I was supposed to be the ending."

I pushed off the door, crossing to the window.

"I could've made her happy," I said quietly.

"Could you?" Diamond's voice was soft, almost gentle. "Really? You, who hides his whole life from her. You, who has a body count you'll never tell her about. She don't even know you. You're Cooly around her. She don't know Chinedu."

"I told her the truth about who I was."

“No, you didn’t. You gave her crumbs after she caught you slippin’.” Diamond stood up, closing the distance between us until her heavy perfume filled my lungs. “You’re a lot of dark things, Cooly, but you’re not stupid. You knew what you were doing. You knew if she ever saw the full picture—all the blood and the bullshit—she’d run. She ran from her crazy-ass husband, and you’re him multiplied by ten. You just hide it better.”

I kept my mouth shut.

Diamond reached up and turned my face toward hers. "I ain't saying this to hurt you. I'm saying it because I'm your friend. The only friend you got who'll tell you the truth." She paused. "You didn't love her. You loved the idea of her. The idea of taking her."

“I liked her before he was ever in the picture,” I gritted out. “When I first saw her. So you’re wrong.”

"Then what is it?"

I was quiet for a long moment. Then, in a voice so low it was barely a whisper: "She… I don't know… It’s the history we share. She knows what it's like growing up like me."

"History? What, History?” You knew her a few years.

I didn’t say anything, There were something’s Diamond didn’t know. She continue…

“History or not, none of that don't mean fucking love, Chine. What's really going on is your big ass fucking ego is broken and mistaking it for heartbreak. It's been month. Two more months and you'll be over it."

I started thinking about it. Maybe.

She pulled out her phone and texted someone.

"I got a surprise for you. Take a ride with me."

"I won't."

"You are."

"Why?"

A slow, wicked grin spread across her lips. "Because I got a little distraction that’s either gonna fix your head... or ruin you completely."

She pulled on her heels, grabbed my leather jacket from the hook by the door, and threw it at me.

"Shower, change. Twenty minutes. I'll be waiting. Black car on the curb."