Page 20 of A Virgo's Muse
Trell chuckled uneasily. “You finally ’bout to snap, huh?”
I looked him dead in his face. “Nah. This is me calm.”
Later that Night
I pulled up outside of Desire’s place. She opened the door before I could even knock. She was barefoot with her hair wrapped and an oversized tee hanging off one shoulder.
“Hey,” she said, eyes scanning my face. “You okay?”
I nodded, stepping inside. “Yeah. Just missed you.”
That wasn’t a lie. She was my peace. But she was also my pressure point, and Santos knew that. He didn’t snatch Sade just to make a statement. He did it to test how far I’d go when the things I loved were on the line.
I kissed her slowly and softly and let the weight of the day melt into her lips. She tasted like home.
“I’m not staying long,” I whispered. “Just wanted to see you.”
She nodded, pressing her head to my chest.
“You smell like smoke,” she said.
“Been cleaning up ashes.”
She looked up at me, curious, but didn’t ask. She was starting to understand the world I came from. I didn’t tell her about Sade. Not yet. But I would fix it before it touched her. Because if Santos wanted a war, he just fucked around and signed his own death certificate. And this time, I wasn’t showing mercy.
The TV wasthe only thing illuminating my room. The volume was low enough to drown out the silence but not enough to distract me from the pit growing in my stomach.
I had been trying to call Sade for the last hour. I had made back-to-back calls, texts, and even FaceTimes, but no answer. That wasn’t like her. She always picked up, especially when I was this hype.
I wanted to tell her everything—how Onyx came to my door last night looking like sex and secrets, how he planned this intimate date that turned into us painting each other, tasting wine off each other’s mouths, and eventually… making love right in the middle of my studio floor.
I’d had sex before. But that? That was something else. It was slow… intentional. It felt like Onyx touched every part of me that no one ever cared to find before.
And afterward, when I fell asleep on his chest, his arms were still wrapped around me like I was something to protect. He stayed with me for a while that morning. He helped me clean up the studio and kissed me like he hadn’t already spent the whole night worshiping me. Then he was gone again, swallowed up by the outside world I still didn’t know much about.
Now, I was in my bed on my sixth call to Sade, chewing on my thumbnail and trying not to let anxiety win. I set the phone down, breathing through the frustration only for it to start buzzing again.
Unknown number.
My gut flipped.
“Hello?” I answered quickly.
“Hi, is this Desire Howard?”
“This is she.”
“This is Nurse Elridge from Merrburry Skilled Care. I need you to come in as soon as possible. It’s urgent.”
My stomach dropped so hard I felt like I might throw up.
“What’s going on? What happened?” I stood up mid-panic, pacing already. “Is it my mom? My dad? What happened!”
“I’m sorry. I can’t give details over the phone. But please get here as soon as you can.”
The call ended. I froze for a second. My heart raced. I threw on some sweats and a hoodie, snatched my keys off the dresser, and started to dial Sade again. Still nothing. That was when I called the only other person I trusted. Onyx answered on the second ring.
“Hey, baby. What’s up?”
