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“You have to speak about that with your family. I won’t say it again.”
The tears slipped down my face. I nodded my head and walked over to Derek.
He had a grin on his face. “I’m sorry, Quinci, but you needed to know what kind of man you were—”
I slapped him across his face as hard as I could. “That’s for using my family’s business as a gotcha instead of coming to me as a friend. You can’t still be in love with me and hurting me, trying to hurt someone else.”
Both Justice and Fiona looked taken aback while I stomped toward my clothes.
“Derek, step back, man. You don’t wanna get knocked out in front of your girl.”
Seconds later, I heard a smack so hard that it seemed like a bone cracked. I didn’t turn around to see who cracked who first, but judging by the warning, it was Dymon that hit Derek first. I picked up a slight jog, so I couldn’t hear them trading licks, sounding like a slap boxing contest. Once I was away from the beach, a fresh set of warm tears slipped down my face. I couldn’t believe what Derek just revealed, and basically in front of the whole town. Fifteen minutes into the twenty-five-minute walk, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Quinci! Wait up.”
I walked even faster.
“Wait. Please.”
He ran around me, jumped in front of me, and started walking backwards. There was blood all over the front of his shirt. His lip was busted and swollen, and there was a small cut under his eye that was probably going to swell later. If he still looked that decent after a fight, I could only imagine what Derek looked like. I was sure I’d see it later on video.
“Stop. Please. Just stop.”
“Mr. Dymon, I gave you a chance to be honest with me and—”
“I was honest with you. Your father is not selling the land to me. He told me that in confidence, and I didn’t feel like it was my place to tell you. I’m sorry. Just please don’t be mad at me.”
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Did Denim know?”
He nodded his head, making me sigh.
“So, you been knowing? You felt sorry for me. Is that the reason why you gave into my demands about the raise and the new phone?”
“No, baby. I swear.”
When I tried to walk around him, he blocked me.
“Okay, look. I believe you. I just need some time and a little space. I need to think. Just…just get your stuff and go to the hotel.”
“Okay. Okay. I’ll do whatever. Just please say this won’t be the end of us.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Just give me some time to think, and…I just need to talk to my family to see what’s going on. Can you tell me that? Or, he told you that in confidence too?”
When he didn’t answer, I brushed by him and continued to walk to my house. He walked a few feet behind me quietly. I thought I would’ve been calm by the time I made it to my house, but as soon as I stepped in the yard, both my parents came barreling out of the door.
My dad approached me, grabbing my face. “Quinci, are you okay? Tell me what happened.”
I snatched out of his grip. “You tell me what happened? Derek said that you were selling the land to Mr. Dymon, and I need to know if that’s true.”
I tried to hold back the sobs.
He looked past me at Dymon, who’d just walked up behind me.
“Look, we just kind of got behind on our taxes, and we didn’t want to worry you about that, sweetheart. You know how you get when you try to fix things, and I didn’t want you losing yourself trying to fix this.”
“But, Dad...” I sobbed. “How could you and Mom keep such a big secret from me when you two would lose your mind if I kept a secret from y’all? Like yesterday! You were threatening to kill Mr. Dymon!” My sobs were turning into anger. “You all knew this when you shipped me to New York!”
