Page 21 of Bully

11

Bully

Thursday

“She ain’t even acknowledgingthe phone. It must be in the house, or she don’t care about feeling it vibrate,” Merc said.

I didn’t bother responding. It didn’t matter to me whether she answered his call to warn her or not. I’d specifically told her to wait for me to go back to her house, but she insisted on going by herself. We were supposed to be meeting with Mr. Rogers to get access to his camera footage. I wanted to see if we could spot the license plate for the car Jo was in.

Since Asylum had installed cameras at her house and spa, I was able to pull up the live feed when I saw her friendly ass neighbor walk over. Now, Asylum was trying to convince me not to crash out, and Merc was trying to call Innvy and have her get him away. My speed accelerated as I turned onto the main street of her neighborhood.

“I’m just saying, Innvy. Things in your life and the neighborhood were peaceful until he came around. Is that really the kind of man you want to be with?” Moore asked.

“I appreciate you letting us see the camera footage, but my personal life isn’t any of your business, Moore,” she said in a calm tone. I could tell she was trying not to anger him for whatever reason.

“You’re right, and I’m not trying to disrespect what you have going on. I just want you to know there are better options.”

Innvy smiled and rubbed her palms together with a shake of her head as I swerved into the cove.

“And what better option is that, Moore? You?”

He may have thought she was entertaining the idea, but I knew my girl. The flaring nostrils, straight spine, syrupy smile—all were indications that her anger was brewing.

“I mean… yeah.” Moore took her hands into his and kissed them.

“Fuck,” Asylum groaned, taking off his seat belt.

“Shit,” Merc muttered, tossing his phone into the cupholder.

“I can treat you and Innah so much better if you’ll let me.”

“Let me make this clear—” Innvy started, yanking her hands from his.

But she didn’t have to make shit clear. I was about to be her glass cleaner in this bitch. Not even bothering to cut the car off, I put it in park and grabbed my Revolver. I loved an old school Revolver for unexpected issues instead of my Glock because I didn’t have to worry about shell casings. Merc grabbed the Glock from the glove compartment as I hopped out of the car. I appreciated the backup, but it wouldn’t be needed.

“B-bae,” Innvy whispered with wide eyes, stepping in front of Moore and trying to push him into the house for safety.

“Move,” I commanded, tugging her toward Asylum with one hand and using the other to slam the butt of the revolver into Moore’s mouth. “Didn’t. I. Tell. You. To. Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. My. Wife?” I gritted, enunciating each word with a hit to his face and mouth. His teeth were flying every which way, but I didn’t give a fuck.

“Bully, stop!” Innvy yelled, clawing at Asylum’s hands as she tried to get out of his grasp.

“He sleep,” Merc announced as I cocked the gun and put it on his temple. “That’s enough, brother.” His hand wrapped around my wrist, lowering it slowly as I stared at an unconscious Moore.

As he removed the gun from my grasp, I turned to face Innvy. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”

“I didn’t want to hold him up! He’s been working a lot of night shifts.”

Chuckling, I ran my fingers down the corners of my mouth as Asylum released her. “So you care more about him than what I told you to do?”

Her eyes rolled as she released a hard breath. “I was just trying to be considerate since he was helping us out with the footage, Gabriel. Please don’t turn this into something it’s not.”

“You wanna be with this nigga?” I confirmed, pointing at his still body.

“No!” she yelled, pushing me. “I don’t even know why in the fuck I want to be withyou! Look at the shit you do.”

“I’m not going to let you make me feel bad about handling a man who chooses to disrespect me by going after what’s mine. I warned him.”

“I don’tcareabout that!” Her tears finally started to fall. “If he decides to press charges on you, you’re going to leave us again. You promised me you wouldn’t abandon us again! If you go to jail over this…” When she started to shake and hyperventilate, the weight of the moment finally hit me. She wasn’t mad at me for beating his ass—she didn’t want me to risk my freedom over it.

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