Page 14 of Steel

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

He smiled as he extended his hand to me. “Kerrion Dillinger.”

I returned the smile as I slipped my palm into his hand. “Neha Malone.”

That was the start of it all. For a whole year, he was mine. That day was the birth of a love I never knew existed. He walked me to the café where we had lunch together. We exploredcampus and hung out in the quad, watching our peers. By the time I made it back to my dorm, I was smitten. He walked me to and from class when our schedules permitted. We attended campus events together, . . . everything.

When he asked me to be his, I never considered saying no. We were young, and college was a new experience, but I knew I loved him. I knew he loved me because he showed it in every way. Then came his anger. I saw a side of him that I didn’t know was possible. The sweet, loving, and caring guy I’d gotten to know had a dark side to him. While it was never directed at me, it terrified me.

I’d seen him get into fights with people in the club for looking at me wrong. If someone touched me inappropriately, he flew completely off the handle. I’d never seen someone do so much damage with their hands alone. He told me his nickname was “Steel” like fists of steel or stealing off on someone who upset you.

I took it as he was a fighter, but it wasn’t until I saw him in action that I fully understood. The last fight I saw him in shook me to my core. There was so much blood, . . . so much disarray and destruction around. My eyes were wide with horror watching him beat a guy to a pulp. He knocked out seven of his teeth, dislocated his jaw, and fractured the left side of his face.

In my mind, all I could think about was what he would do to me if I really pissed him off. For weeks, I tried to avoid him, but I couldn’t. We ran in the same circles around campus. He was still waiting to walk me to and from class. There was no escaping him, . . . that was until I transferred to a school back home without so much as a goodbye.

Staring at him now reminded me of the anger I knew dwelled inside of him. He had so many reasons to be angry with me, . . . so many reasons.

“Neha?” he said, barely above a whisper.

Upon hearing my name, I jumped back into my car and locked the doors. Putting the car in reverse, I backed out and sped around him. I half expected him to follow me, but he just stood there, looking after my car. Panic filled me.

I knew I would run into him eventually. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.

THE PAST

“This shit is lit,”I said as we stepped into the frat party.

It was a Friday night, and I decided to stay on campus with my people for the weekend. Since the campus next to ours was throwing a party, we hopped the fence and headed over to see what was up. Neha was on my arm looking fine as a muthafucka. I was low-key obsessed with this girl. She just did it for me in every way. I wanted so bad to take her home to meet my family, but knowing her background, I knew it might scare her off to learn mine.

It was hard enough to keep my anger at bay when I felt like someone was disrespecting me, but it all went out the window when someone disrespected her. It scared her, and I was trying my hardest to keep that shit under wraps. I was raised to serveand protect. When my protective instincts kicked in, I became someone else. After years of having to fight to protect myself and my siblings, I had to be. Everybody didn’t deserve the fun, happy-go-lucky version of me.

“It’s wall to wall in here,” Neha commented, holding on to my arm.

I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Just stick with me.”

We migrated into the party, heading straight for the drinks. While we had no business drinking like this at our young age, it was a party, and we were trying to have a good time. Liquor in our system, we decided to hit the dance floor after mingling for a bit.

“Baby!” Neha whined as I kissed on her neck while we vibed to “Knocking The Boots” by H-Town.

“You know you like it.”

She giggled as I wrapped my arms around her. We were in our own little world, just vibing and enjoying each other’s company. The drinks had gotten to Neha, and she had to go to the bathroom. I offered to go with her, but she declined, stating that knowing me, I would have her bent over the sink. I laughed it off because it was true. We’d been going at it like crazy the last couple of months. After patiently waiting eight months, we’d finally consummated our relationship; it’d been up from there.

While Neha went upstairs to use the bathroom, I went to grab us another drink and catch up with a few of the niggas I was cool with. Everything was fine until she came rushing into the kitchen with a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“This guy just grabbed me.”

“The fuck you mean he grabbed you?”

“I was coming out of the bathroom, and I accidentally ran into him. He was trying to talk to me, and I told him I hada boyfriend. When I tried to get past him, he grabbed me. He started touching on me and pulling on my clothes before he tried to pull me into a room, but I fought him off.”

I could feel my blood boiling. “Point him out.”

“Baby, he was drunk. I’m fine?—”

“I don’t give a fuck, Neha.”