Page 56 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

“I’ve always known you were a hater, but I guess now you’re too jealous to hide it anymore.

You hated the fact that Darion wanted me when we were kids.

That’s why you went behind my back and lied on me.

Oh, yeah, he told me about what really happened that day.

You’ve spent all this money on your body, and it still isn’t enough for you to get a man to take you seriously.

I might be thick, but there’s nothing sloppy about me and you can’t stand the fact that niggas love me.

I bet it eats you up at night that you’ve fucked almost every man that ever liked me, and you still don’t have what it takes to hold their attention.

” Her eyes turned into slits, and I knew things were about to go left.

“Oh, yeah? Well, I seem to be doing a good job at holding Tone’s attention.” She smirked with her arms folded. I tried to hold my laughter in because it was clear that she thought she had really done something.

“Is that what you think?” I reached back to grab my phone off the table and went right to my messages. I haven’t replied to any of his messages, but they were still in my phone, including the pictures and videos.

“For you to be holding his attention the way you claim, he still managed to find the time to message since I left his ass alone. I guess that pussy isn’t as addictive as you thought because he was begging to eat mine three days ago.”

“You’re so desperate for a man that you’re making shit up.

You should be ashamed of yourself. My man doesn’t want shit to do with you.

” I thought about texting Tone or walking up to him, but I refused to entertain this conversation any longer.

I had a man, and I wasn’t about to disrespect him in public.

“I’m gonna spare you because you’re not even worth the time. Go back over there with my leftovers and enjoy the rest of your night. I’m here with my future in-laws and I don’t want them to see me beat a bitch’s ass tonight.”

“Bitch, you can’t do shit with me!” Kamesha swung, and it all went downhill after that.

We both knew who the fighter in the family was, but she wanted to try me like I was some kind of weak ass bitch.

Within seconds, patrons were surrounding us as I beat the bundles off her ass.

It had been a while since I’d gotten into a fight, so I let all of my frustrations out on her.

“Get off me, fat bitch!”

“Aye, what the hell is going on?” I recognized Tone’s voice before a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. Kamesha started wilding out and trying to hit me since I was being held back. Weak ass hoe.

“You’re tryna be hard, but you need to be worried about locking your front door next time.

I bought myself a nice bag with that money you left in that little shoe box in your closet.

” Kamesha smirked with blood dripping from her mouth.

Her confession set me off and all I saw was red.

I hadn’t done enough damage, and I needed that bitch to feel me.

I kicked Tone in the balls, causing him to loosen his hold.

The moment I reached for Kamesha’s wig, it was over.

I punched her in every part of her body I could get to before Tone scooped me up again.

This time he cradled me so I couldn’t get free.

“Let me go!” I screamed as I was carried outside of the lounge. Patience, Lovely, and Adore followed behind us with their purses in their hands. Guilt plagued me because I wanted to make a good impression with them, and this wasn’t exactly my finest moment.

As soon as we made it outside, I was placed on my feet. When I turned around, I came face to face with Tone. His expression was unreadable, but I honestly couldn’t care less about how he felt.

“What the hell was all of that back there?” he asked with frustration in his voice. The audacity of this fool.

“I always knew you possessed some fuck boy tendencies, but fucking my cousin is low even for you.”

“I fucked up with that, but you left me without even giving me a chance to make things right. She pushed up on me, and I can admit that I was thinking with the wrong head. It doesn’t change the fact that I care about you.

” I laughed involuntarily because he really thought I cared about his admission.

“It doesn’t matter. You and I were never anything besides fuck buddies so you can do what you want. If I hadn’t made it clear before, please don’t ever contact me again. You are dead to me.” I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my arm.

“Let me go!”

“No! You at least have to hear me out! It’s not like?—”

“You have two seconds to let my bitch go before I splatter your brain all on this parking lot.” The coldness of his voice made me freeze in place. This wasn’t the tone I was used to hearing and it scared me.

“Aww, come on, Grim. This ain’t even got anything to do with you. I’m not even trying to be disrespectful, but I knew her long before you. I?—”

Pow !

“Ahh! Shit!”

“What the fuck!” I watched in horror as Soul shot him in the arm. While I was aware of who my man was, I had never seen him put his hands on anyone.

“We gotta get out of here, now!” Patience shrieked. Everybody filed into her car except for Soul. He headed over to his Maybach without even waiting for me. I followed after him, but he stopped me in my tracks.

“Ride with my sisters.” His voice was cold and void of any emotions.

“W-what do you mean?”

“They’ll take you home.” His answer was short and offered no explanation for what he meant.

“Why can’t I ride with you? Are you not going home?”

“Either you can ride with them or find your own ride home. The choice is yours.” I was taken aback by his harshness.

“Come on, Soul. You’re being unreasonable. We need to talk, so let me come with you.” I damn near begged, but his face remained expressionless.

“I won’t be home.”

“Well, where are you going?”

“Neeya, I just shot a nigga in public behind you. Do you really think this is the time for us to talk? Go with my sisters.”

Instead of arguing with him, I tucked my tail and headed to Patience’s car.

The ride home was fairly quiet, although they made sure to check on me to make sure I was okay.

I couldn’t give a solid answer because I wasn’t sure.

Soul and I rarely argued, so it felt uncomfortable for me to be on this side of his anger.

My thoughts consumed me so much that I hadn’t even realized when we made it to Soul’s house.

I thought for sure he would have them take me to my old apartment.

I said my goodbyes then turned toward the door.

“Hey!” Patience called out to me. “Don’t stress too hard.

My brothers are very tough on the exterior, but they’re soft as cotton on the inside.

Give him some time to work through his feelings.

I promise he’ll come around. Soul isn’t used to caring about someone who isn’t family, so give him a little grace. You’ll be just fine.”

“Thank you. I had a really good time up until the other bullshit. Sorry I ruined the night.”

“Girl, please. You didn’t ruin a single thing. If anything, you made the night even better. This will be a funny ass story to tell on your wedding day,” Lovely teased while I covered my mouth in shame.

“I’m so embarrassed, y’all. I wanted to make a good impression on you guys and now y’all probably think I’m a ratchet bitch.”

“Have you met our brother? At least we know you got hands because he doesn’t need a weak bitch by his side.

He needs a woman who knows how to handle her own.

The circumstances may not have been the best, but you weren’t wrong for defending yourself.

They thought shit was sweet and I would have judged you if you allowed her to play with you like that. ” Adore chimed in.

“Patience is right. My brother loves you and he’ll get over it.

In the meantime, we’re having a sister day in a couple of weeks.

I’ll send you the details so you can come hang with us.

Leave the boxing gloves at home though.” Lovely teased me once again.

I appreciated the fact that they went out of their way to make me feel better.

I prayed they were right because I loved my man, and I wasn’t trying to lose him, especially over people who didn’t give a damn about me.

The moment I stepped into the house, my two favorite boys greeted me at the door. Apollo waited patiently for me to pet him while Rosco almost knocked me over.

The bed dipped and I jumped up from my sleep.

Peering at the alarm clock on the nightstand, the time read 3:37.

Soul often stayed out late, so I wasn’t necessarily alarmed by the late hour.

My main concern was his mental state. He’d been more irritable lately, and I was trying my best to be patient with him.

Even with all of the research I had done on his disorder, it wasn’t enough to prepare me for all of the changes.

Last week, I could tell he was slipping into a mania episode because there were twenty packages at the door.

Then a few days later, I woke up to a bed full of shopping bags.

Soul and I went shopping often, but I could tell the difference between the two.

He would hyper fixate on everything from food to DIY projects.

When I spoke to Patience, she advised me to stay on him about taking his medicine. Soul hated being babied, but I didn’t care about any of that. I wanted him to be the best version of himself, so if watching him take his pills every morning helped achieve that, then I would do it.

I got up from the bed and went to grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge in our room. I stepped over my babies who were both sprawled out on the floor. Soul usually sent them back to their room when he came home, but I loved having them in the room with me.