Page 15 of Steel

“Can we just go?”

“Nah. You think I’m just gonna let that shit slide? Point him the fuck out.”

Her eyes darted around the room until they landed on a nigga stumbling down the stairs.

“That him?” I asked, setting my drink down.

“Kerrion, please!” she pleaded, grabbing my arm.

I snatched away and stormed into the crowd of partygoers. I didn’t care that I was practically knocking people over trying to get to this nigga. When I reached him, I didn’t do any talking. Before he could grasp what was happening, my fist met his face. I felt his bones crack with that first lick. The grip I had on his shirt didn’t allow him to get away as I pounded his face. The angrier I got, the harder my licks became.

I didn’t stop as he was screaming.

I didn’t stop as my niggas tried to pull me off his ass.

My fist was covered in his blood, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until I could hear Neha screaming at me, did I finally drop him. When I came back to myself, I realized the music was still blasting, but everyone around me had fallen silent. The looks on their faces were ones of shock, while the look on my baby’s was full of fear.

“Neha . . .”

She shook her head as she backed away from me, bumping into several people as she tried to get away.

“Neha, wait.”

My pleas fell on deaf ears as she sprinted from the party just as campus security walked through the door. When they saw the bloody nigga on the floor, moaning and groaning, they looked from him to me.

“Party’s over,” the big burly one said. “Everybody that isn’t a resident, get out. You—” He pointed to me. “You stay right there.”

I sighed as people started moving all around me. Taking a seat on the stairs, I waited to learn my fate for this shit.

Present Day

I sat at my desk, staring off into space as the memory flooded my mind.

Neha Malone.

The love of my life.

The woman that stole and broke my heart, . . . broke me. I never thought I’d see her again, so stepping out of my car to find that she was the person who almost backed into me threw me for a loop. I was dropping Jaiden off to school since he spent the night with Jaeda and Quaid. Being that I had to come into town for work and she was watching KJ for me again, it just made sense.

I hadn’t been able to focus since leaving the school parking lot three days ago. My assistant had taken over classes for me, but I needed to get my head right before my kids came in today. Part of me wanted to cancel the class, but I couldn’t keep doing that to them. They’d been working hard, and I couldn’t fail them just because I was in my feelings.

Still, this shit was heavy on my heart.

I thought back to the time after the fight. My parents had to come up to the school because I’d been arrested. Pops was ready to shit a brick because to keep me out of jail, he made a hefty donation to the school to let me stay and the nigga’s family to not press charges, even though he deserved that shit.

Neha walked around like she was the person I hit. She wouldn’t speak to me. I couldn’t walk her to class. She wouldn’t let me even hold her hand. I apologized profusely for blacking out like that, but it was no good. Her best friend at the time told me she was terrified, and it confused me because I would never put my hand on her or any other woman for that matter.

Any fighting she’d seen me do was at her defense. I didn’t go around just hitting niggas for the fuck of it. It was always principle behind that shit—principal being don’t put your fucking hands on my lady.

A knock at the door broke my thoughts. I looked up to see Donna’s mom standing there with a bag in her hands.

“Hey, Ms. Anita,” I said, sighing.

“Hey, Kerrion.”

I stood and walked around the desk to hug her and kiss her cheek before offering her a seat and reclaiming mine.

“Everything okay?” I asked. “Are you okay?”