Page 79 of Believe in Me

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I knew they were home, but they were probably either having sex or filming a video or both, and I was interrupting them by beating on their door. But I didn’t care. After what I’d just seen, all I cared about was getting inside their place and burying my head in their toilet.

“Damn…who is it?! Shit!” Ryan yelled through the door.

“Renee!”

The door swung open almost instantly to reveal my sister’s husband in basketball shorts and no shirt. “My bad. You were beating on the door like a grown man. Come in. Let me get Angie.”

As I followed him inside, he yelled, “Hey, baby! It’s your sister!”

“Nicky?!” Angie shouted in response.

“No! Renee!” Ryan answered her.

“Okay! Be right out!”

Ryan lowered his voice, turning to me. “Hey, let me go put on a shirt real quick. Have a seat. Want something to drink?”

I shook my head as I clutched my stomach. “No…can I use the bathroom?”

He nodded. “Yeah. You know where it is.”

I followed him down the hall, dashing into the bathroom and falling to the floor in front of the toilet. A few seconds later, Angie had rushed through the door I’d left open and was by my side.

“Renee, are you okay?!”

I shook my head as I gripped the toilet bowl and heaved so hard my head began to pound.

“What is it?! Why’re you sick?!”

“Mama…” I managed to say, as I coughed into the toilet.

“Mama? What’s wrong with Mama?! Ryan! Something’s wrong with my mother!”

Now Ryan was in the bathroom. “What’s wrong with your mother, baby? We need to go over there?!”

“I don’t know!” Angie wailed.

Positive that my stomach was empty, I collapsed onto my butt on the floor and shook my head. “No…she’s-there’s nothing wrong with her. Can I get a wet towel?”

Angie nodded. “Yeah. Baby, can you get her some water? Renee, can you stand? Let’s go in the living room.”

My hand trembled as I attempted to take a sip of the water. Angie was sitting next to me as Ryan sat across from us in an accent chair. They wore twin worried expressions as they waited for me to speak.

I glanced up at Ryan, and said, “Uh…I know this is your house, too, Ryan…but can you—”

He hopped up, stepped over to Angie and kissed her cheek, then said, “No problem. I’ll be back in the bedroom if y’all need me.”

Angie smiled up at him and nodded. “Okay. Thanks, baby.”

I took another sip of water and sighed. “I’m sorry if I interrupted something, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”

“Where is Lorenzo?”

I shrugged. “At home, I guess.”

Angie stared at me for a moment. “Didn’t you just call me yesterday telling me you were engaged? What the hell happened?”

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