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Langston’s guffaw was a deep sarcastic chuckle. “Healthy? For whom, Destiny?” he spat.
“For you. I’ve tried to reach out, but you continue to ignore me.”
“Please, get over yourself.”
Silence moved between them, then Destiny spoke again. “I’m not saying you need to talk to me. I’m saying—”
“Nothing at all, Destiny. You’re saying nothing. Pretending as if you care about the nature of my health after you lied to me in the worst possible way is laughable but not funny.”
“You’re right, but I do care about you. I made a mistake and—”
The crowd erupted in cheers when the song ended, and Langston dropped Destiny’s hands and turned his back to leave.
“Please, Langston, wait!” She grabbed his arm, and he turned quickly and held up a finger.
“Don’t.” He shook his head, his jaw locked and body vibrating as he held on to the anger that built in his chest.
“Please, please, please, don’t walk away. Just let me talk to you for a second.”
“This is not the place to talk.”
“Okay, then—when and where?”
“I don’t know—never and nowhere.”
He turned again, and she shouted, “I still love you!”
Curious eyes turned their way, and her words froze him in place.
Langston took in a breath and begged his feet to move, get away from her, leave the area, but he couldn’t. Instead, he faced her.
“You have no idea what love is. Love is kindness, reassurance, selflessness, honesty, loyalty, and integrity. You have none of that in you. I don’t want you to ever speak to me again.”
“Am I not a human being, Langston?” Tears welled in her eyes. “Do I not get to make mistakes?”
“You’re a grown woman, Destiny. Making mistakes is cutting a car off in traffic when they were in your blind spot, miscalculating bill money and being short for the month, or making your bath water too hot instead of just right—not falling on another man’s dick!”
Gasps sounded all around them, but Langston was too far gone to care who’d heard or was watching them. He pointed at her.
“You betrayed me! You fucked him because you wanted to. You weren’t thinking about me when he had you bent over on the back porch! When you were screaming his name! The only person you care about is you!”
A mist of tears filled Langston’s eyes, and his gut constricted as pain surged through him.
A few feet away, Lisa’s hand was clutched to her chest, her heart breaking more every second their confrontation escalated.
Tears fell down Cynthia Clark’s face, and she silently sobbed as Malik hugged her to his side with anger sprawled across his features. Tristan and Derek’s eyes were wide, stunned by their brother’s revelation.
Langston’s gaze flipped up to see the man Destiny betrayed him with standing a short distance away. The surprise hit him in his gut, and he shook his head.
“Because of you, I have been a shell of the man I am. I’ve wallowed in my grief as if someone I loved died a horrific death. I turned into stone, ripped my fuckin’ heart out of my chest, and you are to blame.” He let that settle before continuing. “For the longest time, I questioned God. Why did I seem to be cursed in love—always the one to be broken right when I thought I’d found my forever?”
He paused as everyone waited for his next words.
“And if you know anything about God, He answers when you’re on the edge of giving up hope, when you can’t take it anymore, and you’re ready to be put out of your misery. And He let me know the women before you didn’t deserve my love, nor do you. But He sent someone whose filled my heart with love and even as I search for doubt, it’s not there. She’s beautiful in every sense of the word—graceful, filled with integrity, and more grit than you could imagine. You couldn’t walk in her shoes if she took the heels off her feet and gave them to you.” He glared at her. “Stay away from me.”
He turned and walked away, and Destiny surged forward, determined to change his mind.
Next to Lisa, Tina grabbed her hand and shoved her keycard in her palm. “Me and the mister got a room, but it’s yours. We’ll get another one. Go get him, Lisa.”
