Page 94 of Perfect Rhythm

I dropped the bags. “Nyx, this is some bullshit. Since when do you act like this? You’ve always been loyal. One hit of some new dick and you’re willing to throw our relationship away like it ain’t nothing?”

“You’re fucking delusional, you know that? The fact that you keep trying to put this off on me, like I’m the one who messed up, is insane. New dick or not, you and I were over the moment I found out that you screwed Nimah Watts. Oh, and the deal was sealed when she showed up at Shade’s talking about all of the bullshit dreams you sold her.” Fuming, Nyx stepped toward me and stabbed a finger into my chest. “You actually told that bitch you were going to build a life with her? What kind of shit is that?”

Damn it.

“Okay...wait...”

“No, I’m not waiting for shit. Leave me the fuck alone, Eli. I mean it. If you ever show up in my space again, I promise you’re going to wish you hadn’t.”

“And what does that mean?”

She moved closer. “Trust me, you don’t want to find out.”

I stared into her eyes. There was no love there. Only hate.

This was a side of Nyx I’d never seen, and it hurt. It hurt to know that the parts of her that meant the most to me were gone.

With a lifted brow, she looked me over one last time, then turned to walk toward the elevator.

“Fuck,” I groaned.

Now what? Was I supposed to just let her go? Was I really supposed to just let another nigga have her?

“You know he’s not going to do right by you either?” I called out after her. “Shade is worse than me.”

Still walking, she lifted her middle finger and stepped onto the elevator.

As soon as she was out of my view, I nodded slowly and pulled out my phone. “Fine. Two can play that game.”

37

SHADE

“Well, last night was quite the shit show,” I muttered to Trace as I dropped into the chair at my kitchen island and pulled the breakfast plate toward me.

“Most definitely. I can’t believe you managed to get that nigga home before getting his face bashed in.”

“Yeah, me too. Thankfully, Ocean was in a decent mood, and not on some other shit like he usually is.”

I took a sip of my coffee, then took a bite from my toast. It was pretty late to be having breakfast. But seeing as that was one of my favorite meals of the day, I really didn’t care too much about it being halfway through the afternoon.

“Have you called to check on him?”

“Who? Mecca or Ocean?”

“Shit, Mecca. I know Ocean ain’t fucked up.”

“Yeah, you're right. But no, I haven’t. I’ll check in on him in a few. First, I need to get some food in me and get my mind right. I used way too much energy to get that fool in the car.” I shook my head. “This whole thing with him and Skye got him losing his damn mind.”

Trace nodded. “I know. One minute, he was crying because she wouldn’t talk to him. The next, he was talking about killing her ass if he finds out that she’s giving his pussy to another nigga.”

“Oh yeah, I heard that dumb shit.”

My phone rang.

It was Jassi.

“What’s up? You good?” I answered.