Page 55 of Love At Peace

She shook her head, not pausing in her biking.

“He’s bad news, Nevaeh.”

“Oh. And you think I’m gonna take your word on that? I know him. I know who he is.”

“Right, so you’re cool with him stalking women. Lying to them. Controlling them. Kidnapping even.”

She growled, pedaling faster as if she could outrun me and escape the truth I said.

“I told you I don’t want to hear a single bad word about him.”

“Too bad,” I yelled back. “Your lover isn’t a good guy and—”

“According to who? You? Because your little girlfriend is spiteful and talking crap about him? Heather is the problem. Not David.”

“She’s not—”

“She is!” She whipped her head over to glower at me. “She’s nothing but a greedy, whiny, ungrateful bitch who took his money!”

I shook my head, knowing the truth. She’d mentioned that too, about how he’d taken over her finances. There was no point arguing. It was like talking to a wall.

“Heather messed David up. She really played with his heart and didn’t even care.”

“Oh, cry me a fucking river, Nevaeh. He’s lying to you. How can you be this gullible? You don’t listen to anyone, but everything he tells you is suddenly the truth?”

“Heather is the one who needs to be avoided. She’s the problem. I don’t trust her, and you shouldn’t either.”

I sighed, hating how defeated I felt with her. This was a lost cause.

“You’re just thinking with your dick, and she’s tricking you into believing she’s some sweetheart.” She snarled, shaking her head. “You shouldn’t trust a single thing she says, Uncle.”

I watched her bike, sad and disappointed in myself that I couldn’t help her see the truth. But I would correct her on this.

“I do trust her, Neaveh. I love her, and I will not let you or your boyfriend ruin her life.”

It felt like such a heavy comment to make. Choosing Heather over Nevaeh. I was aligning with the gorgeous woman who represented my future.

I chose love over duty to my last family member, and I wouldn’t feel an ounce of guilt to follow my heart in doing so.

Chapter 21

Heather

Working the day after Thanksgiving should’ve felt weird, but it didn’t. Burton didn’t have that heavy of a shopping center. Main Street offered a few boutique places, but even they didn’t appeal for the biggest shopping day of the year. Most people in town drove to the closest city or hit up the nearest suburbs for the supposedly hot deals and sales at Wal-Mart and Target.

I was so busy during the morning that I lacked a chance to even sit down and think. Not only was I helping Janelle with some end-of-the-month paperwork, but I was also keeping up with the texts on my phone.

Hearing Ashley claim that she had a video that would damn David for slipping a mickey in a woman’s drink was the gift I’d been waiting for. Given how rocky my interactions had always been with her, though, I doubted she’d come through.

“If he didn’t try to go after my friend, I wouldn’t have cared,” she told me at the food mart. “I mean, it happens to all of us. Shit happens. It’s part of being a woman, having to worry about a drug in our drinks.”

I shook my head. “No. It shouldn’t be that way.”

She scoffed. “I’m too smart for that shit. And that’s how I caught him. No one’s going to be that quick with me.”

Now that sounded like her. Smug and untouchable.

“I lost count of how many idiots tried to slip a date rape drug in my drink in college.”