Chapter 34

Tife folded his arms. The moment Victor stepped back inside, Tife made his way to look for me and when he had the chance, he stood by my side. He had me cornered, wearing a pissed off look on his damn handsome face.  "What did you and Victor talk about?"

"What are you so curious about?"

He gritted his teeth. "I don't like him. You know that."

"So you're jealous?" I was just as pissed as he was, to sugarcoat anything.

Tire raised his eyebrow and looked at me like I said the most absurd thing. "No, I'm worried about you. Considering the things he has done, I can't trust him.  I could see you two talking. I couldn't hear a thing, but the look on your face after he left, had fear all over it. And when he put his filthy hand on you, it took everything in me not to run over and punch his face. I stayed away because I believed you could handle it. I respected your privacy."

I looked away. The more he said words like this, the more I felt my heart tug. What the hell was wrong with me? One sweet sentence and I was already melting on the inside? No way, was I letting that happen.  "It's fine. He needed my help on something. I didn't know how to help. He got pissed and left. That's all."

Tife didn't look reassured. "That's all?"

God, I hated this. I didn't want to lie to him. "I just want this damn weekend to be over. I can't take any of this."

Tife cupped my face. My eyes slowly dragged on his. A small smile tore across his lips. "It's going to be okay. We're in this together, right?"

"Tife, you need a break. From all this drama. You're still healing from your son's death and—"

He frowned. "A break? I'm not backing out. This is my distraction from—"

"Do not use this to hide from your issues. You need to face this head on. I don't know how it feels to lose a child. I've never had one. But I know that holding on to grief and regrets won't solve anything."

"You think I don't know that? I still need to deal with this too. I can handle it. I'm not some heartbroken lilly livered tool."

"But that's exactly what you've been acting like. You've barely been yourself. Drowning in your guilt. Why would I want to add to that?"

Tife pressed his lips tightly. "It's not your call to make."

It wasn't my call to make. Just like it wasn't my call to hide the truth from my best friend. Maybe I was protecting her and myself from the mess, but it wasn't my decision to take. Not anymore. It was time to say the truth. "You're right. Victor met with me, because he knows that I know. And he doesn't want to leave her. He's an ass and he's taking advantage of my fear of telling her. He knows everything, Tife."

Rage seeped through his words. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

My eyes widened. "Tife, don't do—"

He looked at me. His face softened. He pressed his lips against mine. It was a light kiss and it made both of us calm.

He spoke. His words were gentle and calm, but his eyes said something else entirely. "Maybe it's time YOU stay out of this. Don't get in my way, please."

"That's not your call to make either."

Tife frowned. "You're right. But this has gone too far and you know it."

"Tife, no." But he wasn't listening, he was a man fueled with anger. He took long furious strides, into the beach house while I followed him as quickly as I could.

Victor mustn't have noticed the deadly look in Tife's eyes, when he stepped inside the living room with a grin on his damn face "Hey, man. We need a rematch on that swimming race. I could—"

Tife's right fist collided roughly against Victor's face, pushing him straight to the ground. Imade screamed. Panic soared within her. "Tife. What the hell?" She jumped into Victor's embrace, as he tried to soothen the pain on his cheek.

Tife spat. "That's for sleeping with my sister when you're actually married."

Tife kicked the back of his legs. Victor whimpered in pain. "That's for being an ass about it and not feeling guilty for it."

Imade pulled away from him. "What are you guys saying?"

I still had my own untapped rage, and I wanted to pour it all out. Putting pressure on my feet, it connected with his balls. That seemed to make him roll. Good, he needed to suffer for looking down on me. "That's for being a gigolo. And sleeping with other married women, and hiding it from my best friend."

Tife gawked. "Wait, he's a what? You didn't tell me that."

Imade's nose flared. "Screw that. What the hell are any of you talking about?"

Victor sputtered. "Don't listen to them."

Imade glared. "Shut up, Vic." Then turned her gaze back to me. She was furious and it seemed that I would endure the rage of the Johnson Siblings tonight. "Tell me, Nara."

"There are a lot of things you need to know about Victor and the things I did to try to separate you two, when I found out."

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The secret's finally out, people. I've been anticipating this moment for weeks and I almost couldn't decide how I wanted it to be revealed. I almost wanted to go with the most cliché route of letting Imade overhear their conversations but I decided to go against that. I wanted Nara to tell Tife the truth herself. I wanted her guilt to eat her alive. 😈😈😈😈.

I wonder how Imade's going to take  the truth. Anyway, "Pulling your heartstrings" is almost over and it breaks my heart to say it. Many twists are still coming up, so keep your fingers crossed on the unexpected.
Xoxo
Jasmine