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“Malik…”
He interrupts me, “I knew you should have stayed at my house. I could feel something bad was going to happen.”
I swallow in a futile attempt to dislodge the painful ball stuck in my throat.
“Don’t…” I beg him, feeling my eyes brim with tears.
“I went crazy not being able to see you or talk to you for so long.”
He leans into me and pressed a tender kiss on my cheek, just where a single tear has fallen.
“I thought about you, about us, every minute of every day. I couldn’t wait to come back to you.”
Another soft press of his full lips.
“I was tired, frustrated, and I messed up. My phone requested permission to perform some update, and I allowed it without really reading the messages. Just kept clicking ‘yes’ blindly. By the time it was done, I realized I lost tons of saved data.” He marks a pause. “Including your phone number.” Another beat. “I smashed the phone against a wall.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
“I was so mad, baby… so fucking mad. I really tried everything I could think of, but no one would give me your number without your permission. We contacted theBoys & Girls Club, phone services. It was the same answer everywhere. I thought about Ana and your sister, but I didn’t know their last name. My last recourse was to wait till I got home and talk any O’Malley into giving me some info, anything. I’m so very sorry, honey.”
I fight to blink away my tears, torn between believing him and forgiving him for something that didn’t seem to really be his fault after all.
“What happened that first week? Why was your phone acting up so much?”
He looks down at our joined hands.
“I was in Cape Verde, visiting remote villages, working on assessing their needs so we could come up with a plan to hopefully help.”
I’m flabbergasted.
“Do you…? Have you…? was it your first time on the island?”
He nods solemnly.
“Why did you go there?”
He raises his intense gaze to mine.
“I wanted to see my girl’s island.”
My heart melts into a gooey puddle, and I quickly wipe under my eyes.
I take a fortifying inhale before pushing through. “I know you’re been back in California for a couple of days.”
His brow bunches.
“We came back yesterday.”
Wow, so he really went directly to L.A.
“What are you getting at, Lisa?”
“I saw you on the red carpet with your—”
“My nothing. What you saw was a business arrangement, a publicity move on her part and a way to secure funds for my foundation on mine. Funds I need for my new project in Cape Verde, since the island wasn’t part of our initial mapping.”
I remain silent, scared to believe it could be this easy. That all my pain, my worry, my heartbreak could be unfounded. I turn the facts in my head. First, the remote location. That I can totally believe. We’re off the grid whenever we go to visit our family’s village back in Cape Verde. Then the phone. Sounds exactly like Malik’s spoiled, billionaire- superstar athlete’s ass to mess up his phone then destroy it in a fit. Now, the woman…
