Page 97 of Tangled Hearts
He looked at her, like really looked at her. He didn’t try to joke his way out of the truth. His throat burned with words he didn’t know how to say. He wanted to tell her he was tired. He wanted to tell her he was scared. He wanted to tell her that he wanted to believe her.
Instead, he whispered, “I don’t know if I can forgive them.”
She leaned closer, her deep brown skin looking freshly moisturized. Shakeisha had soft eyes… the ones fit for a good mother. “You don’t have to forgive them today. But one day, if you want peace, you’re gonna have to. Not for them—for you. For her.”
“What if I want this… want you?” He held his head down.
Shakeisha dipped her head to catch his eyes. “You gotta stand on business ‘bout me… all that old shit, I ain’t going for it. If you really wantthis, you gotta man the fuck up and letthatgo.”
CHAPTER 24
Noir steppedout of the bedroom in a short silk dress that stopped at the middle of her light brown thighs. Her heels clicked softly against the polished floor as she turned around in a slow circle. “What do you think about this?” she asked, pausing so Cash could take her in.
Cash leaned back into the sofa, one arm stretched along the back, the other already settled on her ass once she was close enough for him to touch. His eyes traveled over her deliberately, no rush in his gaze.
“It’s fire,” he approved. “You’re gonna have every nigga in the club staring.” He kissed her leg through the satin fabric.
Her mouth curled into a smirk as she slid her fingers through the length of his hair, twisting a section. “Everything I try on, you say it looks good.”
“Because it does,” he said, kissing her thigh before leaning back again. “My stylist doesn’t miss.”
She kissed her teeth moving back to the rack of clothes.
On the table nearby, her phone buzzed for the third time in a row. The name lighting up the screen made her exhale sharply. Christian. She glanced at it, then flipped it face down.
“You’re not gonna answer him?” Cash voice seemed unbothered, though his eyes didn’t leave her.
“I’m not about to argue before I go out tonight,” Noir replied, settling against him. “He’ll be fine.”
Cash shook his head, his thumb sliding across his own phone. “You can’t run to me every time you get into it with him.”
“Cash…” Her warning held no bite. “I can go.”
“That ain’t what I said, pretty girl.”
“That’s what I’m hearing.” Noir started slipping out of the dress.
“Of course it is,” Cash scoffed. “You hear what you wanna hear ‘cause it’s easier than facing what’s real.”
Her hands paused. “And what’s real?” Her face bunched.
“That you want me.” His voice dropped, cockily. “Always have. But you don’t know what to do with that ‘cause you still stuck on him.”
Noir’s heart hammered against her chest. He wasn’t wrong, and that made her bristle. “You act like it’s that simple.”
“It is that simple,” he countered, eyes never leaving hers. “You love him, cool. I ain’t mad at it. But you feel me too, and we both know it. You just too scared to admit it ‘cause you don’t wanna look disloyal.”
Her jaw tightened as she slipped the straps of her shoes off with each opposite foot. She did it more so to break eye contact more than anything else. Inside, she hated how seen she felt. She wanted to snap back, but the truth in his tone sat heavily. “You think you know me better than I know myself,” she muttered.
Cash leaned closer, brushing his lips against the side of her face before whispering, “I do. Been knowing you since you was running around the block with your little camera, swearing you was gon’ be famous one day. I knew it then, and I know it now—you feel me the same way I feel you. You just don’t wanna choose it.”
Noir let out a shaky laugh, fingers twisting her skin. His words cracked something in her, but she masked it with bravado. “You talk too much shit, Cash.”
“And you run too much,” he shot back. “But I’m right here every time you circle back. Remember that.”
“I just got out of something,” Noir admitted. “Kinda still in it if I’m being honest. I joke about getting over one man under the next man, but I don’t really think that’s what I want.”
Cash shifted, pulling her closer. His mustache grazed the side of her face as he spoke into her ear.
