Page 13 of Heart Of A Goon II

“Why would you do that to him? You almost fucking killed him!”

He finally sat up and put his feet onto the floor. “You didn’t need to be with that nigga anyway.”

“You don’t get to determine that! I love him, Maverick, and now his family doesn’t want anything to do with me!”

His family loved me.

They always loved when I came over. His mother called me whenever she needed something, and I always came through for her. Sometimes I would sit in the house with her while she smoked her cigarettes and just talked.

His cousins and aunts always treated me like one of them, even when he wasn’t around. Me and Danny had plans for a future. We would move in together when I finished school, and he would start trade school.

Once I was established in my career, we would get married and have children. I couldn’t remember how many times we’d had that conversation. The more I thought about the future, the more excited I became.

Having a family who chose each other was the dream for me. I was finally about to have that with a man who loved me, and he ruined that. How could I be with this man when my brother nearly ripped his life away from him with his hands?

“Say thank you for once. Always being a brat. The world doesn’t revolve around you, Bean.”

He stood up, stretched, and walked by me. Bypassing me like this conversation meant nothing. It reminded me of all the times I was sent to my bedroom, bypassed, and never considered. Things just happened for us, and no one ever had to explain anything.

One day my name was Eaton and the next it was Caselli without an explanation. Maverick was like that, always making moves and never explaining a damn thing. Kora knew everything, but she never said a word, either. Always reminding me that Maverick had his reasons but never telling me what those reasons were.

“Why did you do this? I’m finally happy and you do this? Why do you hate meeeee!” I wailed, frustrated because the man I loved had tubes coming from his body and there were talks that he would have to shit in a bag for the rest of his life.

Do you know how bad you would have had to beat a man to end up like that?

“Zoya, grow the fuck up or shut the fuck up. Pick one… I don’t care which one,” he stated calmly, while grabbing a bottle of water.

“Tell me why, Maverick? I have to become a lawyer, I had to do this, do that… why?” I screamed.

“Cause I fucking said so!” he roared. “It doesn’t make sense to you now, but it will. That nigga was beneath you… you deserve fucking better. Stop settling for less like some ghetto ass bitch.”

Tears fell down my face as I stared at him. My face felt hot to the touch and everything was blurry. I felt so strong in this moment, stronger than I had ever felt in my life.

“I fucking hate you! I wish you were fucking dead!”

“You don’t mean that shit, Zoy,” Corleon added.

“I fucking do! I mean it with everything… he’s his exact fucking name…a fucking Menace. Maverick is fucking dead to me!” I spit at the floor, and walked toward the door, never looking back because although I was angry with my brother, I knew I had gone too far.

The problem with me was that when I went too far, I had to continue. I’d be damned if I apologized to him or took what I said back.

He was a Menace.

ZOYA

“Now how in the hell…” I whispered when I saw Kobe and Syn hop out the back of a black SUV.

Stevie and Dennis had already boarded the jet, and I was standing by the stairs waiting for everyone else to arrive. Blair called and told me that she wasn’t too far away. Kobe pulled both his and Syn’s suitcase from the back. He was dressed like he walked into his closet and tossed anything that he could find on. His natural curly hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and not moist like it usually was.

Kobe usually wore concealer under his eyes because he had dark circles. I could tell he didn’t have any on. Not even his lips were juicy from his overuse of lip gloss.

“Girl, we heard what happened. Havoc and Syn were over my house for brunch when Sim called him,” he said, as he tossed his arms around me, and patted my back. “I know you had to be terrified, Honey.”

The staff took both he and Syn’s luggage and went to put it on the jet. “How does brunch end up with you both having luggage?”

Kobe finished squeezing me, then kissed both my cheeks and laughed while Syn was wrapping up her conversation on the phone.

“Wow, Zoya. I’m trying to be there for you and all you can focus on is why I’m here.”