Page 8 of Justice II

“Did you come in here to irritate me, or did you have something useful to say?”

He dropped into the chair across from me and leaned back, folding his hands over his abs. His expression stayed hard.

“How are you holding up?” I asked.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“That did not answer my question.”

“It answered enough of it.”

“Tequila?” I offered.

“Yeah.”

I poured us two glasses, dropped in some ice, and squeezed lime juice from the plastic fruit shaped container.

“Go ahead and say whatever you came to say,” I told him.

“I’m mad at you.”

His nerve made me laugh. “Our restaurants are closed and our name is being dragged across the internet, but you’re mad at me?”

“Yes, Kira. I’m mad at you for fucking with Justice in the first place.”

That killed my laugh. He’d been avoiding stating the obvious. This was my horny ass fault.

“You knew that man was dangerous. You knew how he felt about his family, but you kept pushing because you’ve been stuck on him since you were young. He ain’t the type of nigga to get entangled with. Plus, that was your best friend’s man.”

“She was dead! And he wanted me!” I protested.

“He just wanted to fuck you,” Kyle said. “You decided it meant he was finally going to choose you.”

His words stung because I had already heard a crueler version from Justice.

“If you came over here to embarrass me in my own house, you can leave.”

“You think I enjoy saying this? This is our livelihoods. This our legacy. Marceline… Rest our grandmother’s soul, but this would kill her all over again. I need to ask you this. And I need you to be straight up with me. Did you kill that fuckin’ horse?”

“I did not kill that horse. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a psycho!” Although this incident may turn me into one.

He eyed me closely to see if I was lying. We’d went over this already, but that was at the beginning. I told him that I knew it was Justice who sabotaged our restaurant because he came into my office and threatened me. But I didn’t kill that horse. In fact, I was happy for Dream. Monica would’ve wanted her lil spoiled ass to have such an animal.

“Look, I believe you. So you think it’s the new girl. The nurse?”

“She ain’t no damn nurse.”

“Whatever. But you think it’s that bitch?”

“I KNOW it’s that bitch. You should’ve seen the way she looked at me when I would come over. Somehow she planted my earring and…”

“I believe you,” Kyle interrupted. “You love those girls, even if you have lost every bit of common sense where their father is concerned.”

I looked toward the television again. The footage had changed to the Georgetown location. A red closure notice covered part of the front door, and yellow tape blocked the entrance. My name flashed beneath the image beside Kyle’s.

“He ruined us,” I said.

“We can bounce back.”