Page 101 of Tangled Hearts
Christian’s shooters were at the edge of the crowd, hands close to their waistbands, ready. Cash’s security had theirs too. The whole place balanced on a knife’s edge. Seconds away from blood being shed.
Cash shoved Christian off him, chest heaving, face tight with focus. “Nigga, you don’t scare me. I ain’t one of these lame ass industry niggas. I come from the same block you do. Nigga, youknow how I’m coming behind my respect.” Spit flew from his mouth.
Christian spit blood on the floor, grinning through it. “Nigga fuck you. Be lucky yo’ mama ain’t at home having a good day before she gets that call her baby boy dead.”
Cash pulled his jeans up ready to go at Christian again. He was talking real reckless and any nigga that talked like that had to be addressed there and then. “The fuck you just say to me nigga? Ain’t no bitch worth empty threats.”
“Ain’t nothing about what I just said empty,boy. You know who the fuck I am but Hollywood got you with amnesia or some shit. I will paint the city red behind Noir. Is her pussy worth your family losing their bread winner?”
“Now wait a minute!” Noir got in Christian’s face. “You doing too much when you need to be handling that hoe of a baby mama you got. I keep telling you, you can’t have me after that shit you did. What’s not clicking?” She mushed his head.
Christian caught her wrist. “Watch out, Noir.” He gritted his teeth, brown eyes boring into her soul.
She choked on her emotions. “Christian please… just let me go. Seeing you is hurting me. Like you ain’t even giving me time to think shit through. You’re crowding me. Forcing me to get over something that ain’t get over-able.” She wiped her face. “You can’t love me if you doing all this.”
“Noir,” Christian stepped up, his tall slim frame towering over her. “Just let me explain. Let me do better.”
“You shouldn’t have never did this. Ain’t no do better. You have a baby with a bitch you just can’t stay away from. The only thing you gon’ do better is not get her pregnant again because I know you’ll be back between her legs.”
“I’m not,” Christian pleaded. He didn’t care about the crowd or the phones recording. Didn’t care if the whole city saw him breaking down over her. His pride was gone.
His chest heaved like he couldn’t catch his breath.
His heart was bleeding in front of everyone. His air was leaving him. If it would’ve kept her there another second, he would’ve dropped to his knees.
“Do you think this easy for me?” Christian was unfiltered. “I wake up every morning reaching for you. Waking up without you feels like slowly dying. Like I can’t fuckin’ breathe… like somebody cut the oxygen off. You think I want that other shit? You think I chose that? I didn’t. I chose you, I been choosing you, but I keep fucking it up.”
Noir’s lip curled. “You ain’t choose me, Christian. You chose yourself. You chose the streets, the women, the mess. And now you wanna cry about it when I finally get tired?”
Christian dragged both hands down his face, pacing like he was unraveling right there in the middle of the floor. “I’m not crying, Noir, I’m telling you I’ll fix it. I’ll cut her off, I’ll cut everybody off. Ain’t nobody ever had me like you got me. You in my blood. You in my bones. Don’t leave me like this, Noir. Don’t leave me standing out here begging.”
His shooters shifted. They were nervous, but they didn’t move until he did. Christian’s whole body shook with the weight of his words, his pain raw enough to pierce through the noise of the club. For all his flaws. For all his selfishness—his love for Noir was undeniable. It was heavy, toxic, messy as hell, but it was carved into him like he couldn’t survive without it.
Standing there, with Cash behind her and Christian breaking in front of her, Noir felt what it meant to be caught between two men who weren’t villains. Just flawed, human, and drowning in love they didn’t know how to handle.
Noir’s throat went dry.
She could see he meant it. She could feel the love, raw and consuming. But she also felt the truth. His love came with casualties, and she was tired of being one.
“You love me Christian… I know that,” her voice dipped. “But you don’t know how to love meright. You don’t know how to stop choosing yourself first. And I can’t keep bleeding for you every time you fuck up.” Her eyes burned, but she had to stand for something or fall for anything. “This ain’t about leaving you. This about saving me. You don’t get to keep breaking me just ‘cause you hurting too.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Cash, then back at Christian. In that split second, she understood Knycole in a way she hadn’t before—how easy it was to swing back and forth when both men pulled at different parts of your soul. It wasn’t weakness. It was survival. Tangled hearts rarely beat on track.
Noir swallowed hard, then took a deep breath. “Christian, just go. Please. Not here. Not like this.”
The whole room seemed to hold its breath. Christian’s face crumpled, torn between fury and heartbreak. He stared at her like he wanted to fight the world for her, but he also knew he’d already lost the round tonight. Slowly, his shooters pulled him back, the tension loosening just enough for the crowd to exhale.
Noir stood still, chest tight, just watching him fade into the crowd, knowing this wasn’t over. Knowing his love would always come back around, no matter how much it hurt them both.
Cash pulled Noir tighter, talking low just for her to hear. “You safe with me, pretty girl. Ain’t nobody touching you while I’m here.”
Christian’s eyes burned, but under the anger was the truth. His love for Noir ran deep, and was flawed as hell. He wasn’t here to shoot it out, not really. He was here because watching her in another man’s arms gutted him.
Noir spun around to Cash. “You ready to go?”
The ride back to Cash’s condo was quiet. Noir sat facing the window, her phone face down in her lap, while his security trailed them in another car. She could still feel the weight of Christian’s eyes in the club, the danger simmering just under the surface.
Neither of them said a word, both just caught up replaying the night.
