Page 38 of Love At Close Range

“I-I can explain,” Kree stammered. “Lennox, it was a long time ago.”

“I’on give a fuck if it was thirty seconds ago! You had no right to make a decision about a child… my child!” I roared but quickly remembered my daughter was down the hall. “You saw the text in my phone and decided to respond like it was your decision to make.”

“Yes, I did it. I did it because I was in love with you,” she cried.

“Cut the bullshit. You couldn’t have possibly loved me by lying. Especially knowing I was with your friend,” I countered.

“She knew I liked you first and she just had to be with you,” Kree shot back. “She didn’t give a fuck about how I felt so why should I care about her feelings.”

“You sound dumb as fuck,” I snapped as I pointed at her. “Reiana didn’t take me from you because I was never your fucking man. You liking me first didn’t mean I belonged to you. Besides, I approached Reina… not the other way around.” I wanted to wring her fucking neck because she thought the shit she was saying made perfect fucking sense.

“That’s easy for you to say,” Kree countered as she wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. “You didn’t have to sit there watching your friend get everything you wanted like it was nothing,” she explained, still not making a lick of sense.

“I chose her,” I reminded her. “That’s the part your simple ass still don’t seem to understand. Reiana didn’t force me to be with her. I wanted her, and because you couldn’t handle that shit, you lied and told me she was cheating.”

“You were already questioning her anyway. I just told you what you were already thinking.” She shrugged.

“You lied about the shit, though,” I snapped as I stepped closer. “You took some nigga she was studying with and turned it into her fucking him because you wanted me pissed enough to walk away from her.”

“Don’t put every damn thing on me like I dragged you away from her. You could’ve asked Reiana if you trusted her that much, but you didn’t,” she countered.

That only pissed me off even more than I already was, because she had the nerve to stand there acting like my mistake erased what she purposely did. “Yeah, I should’ve asked her, and I’ll own that shit. But I believed you because you were supposed to be her fucking friend. I didn’t know your jealous ass was feeding me lies because you wanted her spot.”

“She always got everything anyway,” Kree laughed, but it lacked any amusement. “Everybody loved Reiana… everybody thought she was so fucking perfect, and then she got you too. So excuse me if I didn’t feel sorry for her when her perfect little world finally fell apart.”

I stared at her for a second because I couldn’t believe this shit. She was acting Reiana had personally ruined her life simply by being the woman I wanted.

“You sound dumb as fuck standing here mad at a woman because I chose her instead of you. You were that bitter that you left my son without his father, Kree! What if somebody did that shit to Lennyn. How the fuck would you feel about that? Huh?”

“She left anyway, so why the fuck does it matter?” She shrugged.

“It matters because it was her life and mine… not yours,” I shot back as I stared her down. “And because your selfish ass couldn’t stay the fuck out of it, you made me miss seven fucking years of my son’s life.”

“You keep saying that shit like I knew she would keep the baby from you or even keep it!” She yelled.

“You knew she was pregnant, though. That was enough,” I snapped before lowering my voice. “You read the fucking message, answered it pretending to be me, and deleted it. What the fuck did you think was going to happen?”

“I thought she would leave you alone,” Kree replied as she glared at me. “That’s what I wanted. I wanted her gone, and she left. I didn’t sit around thinking about what she was doing afterward,” she confessed.

I stared at her with pure disgust because that answer was worse than any apology she could’ve given me. “Your selfish ass didn’t think beyond getting what you wanted. You didn’t give a fuck that there was a baby involved because all you cared about was Reiana being out the way.”

“And now what? You found her and suddenly she’s the love of your fucking life again? You came running back here ready to blame everything on me because precious Reiana told you her side?”

“This ain’t about choosing sides Kree and you know it,” I replied as I shook my head. “I saw my son with my own eyes. That little boy looks just like me and Lenny, and then Reiana tells me she tried to tell me about him, only for me to find out different.”

“So what, you’re just going to play happy family with her now?” Kree asked with an attitude.

“That ain’t none of your fucking business,” I told her as my voice went cold. “What I do with Reiana, or my son has absolutely nothing to do with you.”

“It does when we have a daughter together,” Kree argued as she pointed toward the hallway. “You’re not about to act like Reiana popping back up doesn’t affect Lennyn.”

“Don’t use my daughter to cover up your bullshit,” I warned as I stepped closer. “Lenny ain’t got shit to do with what you did, and neither does Rhyse.”

“I’on want Reiana around my daughter,” she stated, crossing her arms.

I laughed because she had officially lost whatever sense she had left. “You’on get to dictate how I see my kids. If Rhyse is my son then he’s Lennyn’s brother, and I’m not keeping my kids separate because you wanna be in your feelings over some bullshit you created.”

“That bitch doesn’t like me so why would I want her around my daughter?” Kree shot back.