Page 184 of The Wright Man

My eyes snapped to him. "You told Tina too?"

He held his hands up. "I told her you were MIA. She sent Bella for a wellness check."

Bella, sipping her coffee again, gave me a pointed look. "Don't blame him. You know your sisters are both insane. You go off the grid, that's basically a 911 call."

I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'm sorry. For disappearing. For worrying you."

Bella sat down on the couch, fluffing her pillow. "Good. Now take your man and go to bed. Quietly."

I blushed and laughed as Maleek reached for my hand.

He glanced back. "No promises."

Bella pulled the blanket over her lap and rolled her eyes. "Disgusting," she muttered. "Absolutely vile."

But she was smiling when she said it.

Chapter Thirty

Angelica

"If I ever see that weak-neck, pussy-ass, knockoff Bow Wow-lookin' bastard again, I'm going full Mortal Kombat. Testicles gone. Head rollin'. Finish him."

Maleek didn't even glance up from the stove. "Facts."

I snorted into my coffee mug, curled up on his couch in nothing but one of his soft gray tees.

The scent of fresh eggs, chicken sausage, and boiling rage filled the air, and I was pretty sure that particular combination was the closest thing to a love language Tina Reed would ever understand.

She was pacing like a caged tiger across my phone screen, backlit by floor-to-ceiling hotel windows and dragging her acrylics through her curls like she was resisting the urge to fly home and commit homicide. "Like, who cheats while their wife is mourning their child? With the secretary? That's not just evil, that's biblical plague behavior. He deserves boils. Locusts. Erectile dysfunction and a yeast infection in his ear."

"Preach!" Bella called from across the kitchen table, her bonnet slightly askew as she stirred honey into her tea with unnecessary aggression.

It was Sunday morning. I'd just told Tina the full story of Gavin's betrayal while Maleek made breakfast and Bella took up space. My chest still hummed with the quiet thrum of certainty I hadn't felt in years.

And for once, I didn't feel broken. I felt... clear. Maybe it was the sleep. The first real, uninterrupted, dreamless sleep I'd had since before Maleeka. Or maybe it was the three orgasms Maleek gifted me before Bella came banging on the door like the police.

After we talked to her—after the weight of truth and grief and new beginnings cracked open between us—Maleek and I hadn't wanted to let go. We'd stayed wrapped up in each other all night. Kissing slow. Touching softer. Laughing sometimes, just because we could now. I fell asleep wrapped in his scent, his warmth, his arms. Safe.

Which was probably why I could retell the Gavin saga now with a little more spine, a little more sass, and a little less raw devastation. It still hurt. Still made me feel like a fool. But it no longer owned me.

"I know, Tee," I said, sipping again as I watched her stalk back and forth like she was planning a murder on the hotel balcony.

"I don't think you do," she shot back, pausing mid-pace to jab one bejeweled nail at the screen. "Because if you did, you wouldn't be sitting there all cozy while that human piss stain of a man is still breathing. He's lucky I'm in another country. I'd be at his front door with a baseball bat and a camera crew and livestream the whole thing."

I snorted again.

"And don't even get me started on the secretary," she added, eyes narrowing. "Did you tell her your sister will fight a pregnant bitch?"

"I did."

"GOOD. Because I fuckin' will."

Maleek walked over then, two plates in hand, and pressed a kiss to the top of my head like it was second nature. "I'm with Tina," he said, sliding a plate in front of me and then Bella. "I was ready to confront—or kill—his ass last night, but Angel wants to handle it her way, and I'm trying to respect that."

Tina burst out laughing. "Oh, kissing up now? Nah, playboy. You're still on my shit list for making us think we needed to file a missing person report, just for you to have her wrapped up in your bed, in your clothes, eating breakfast like a damn fairy tale ending."

"Fast asses," she added, smirking at the both of us.