I extended my hand in return, giving him the one hand, one shoulder man-shake while keeping my left hand on Chanel’s back.
“This is my lady, Chanel,” I introduced. “This is Leon, co-owner of this place.”
“Pleasure to meet you, miss,” Leon’s flirting ass began, holding up her hand to his lips.
My chest tightened at the laugh that spilled from Chanel’s lips at his antics. Leon was a smooth dude. He rarely had just one piece of eye candy around him at all times. And I’ll be damned if he wasn’t trying to turn up the charm on my woman right in my damn face.
“That’s enough of that,” I interceded, pulling Chanel’s hand from his grasp.
“It’s nice meeting you, Leon. Xavier’s told me great things about you.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?” He had the nerve to step in closer, grinning that fifty-watt smile in my lady’s face.
“If you don’t take two steps back, you won’t get the opportunity to enjoy the rest of your evening,” I advised him.
Turning to me, Leon must’ve realized that even though there was a grin on my face, I was serious. He took those two steps back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chanel tilt her head to look up at me. I felt her glare but didn’t acknowledge it.
“My bad, partner. You know how I am.”
“I do.”
“Anyway,” Leon began. “Some of the athletes have arrived. Let us go make their acquaintance.” He turned, and we followed suit. We made our way through the crowd and up the staircase to the VIP section. The music was a little less overwhelming here, but still audible. The athletes, as usual, were already having the waitresses refill their glasses of champagne.
“You want a drink?” I asked Chanel. When she nodded, I stopped one of the passing waitresses and requested her favorite drink along with a scotch on the rocks for me.
“Let me introduce you to some people,” I told her. I took her hand in mine, pulling her toward s the first table surrounded by three athletes, two of which were all-stars from the previous season. We all talked and laughed once introductions were made. None of the athletes tried to get too cozy with Chanel. Of course, it could’ve been my protective hand around her waist at all times.
A few minutes later, our waitress arrived with our drinks. We made our way through the throng of athletes and their entourages that arrived over the course of the next half an hour until Leon approached me, saying he needed my attention for something.
“Go on,” Chanel shooed me away, assuring me she’d be all right for a few minutes alone.
“Hey.” I grabbed one of the security staff guarding the VIP section. “Keep an eye on her,” I pointed at Chanel, who was then engaged in conversation with one of the dates of the athletes. I eyed him until he nodded in understanding. I then went off to follow behind Leon, who needed to discuss some expansion matters at the club. We were supposed to discuss it earlier in the day, but I’d canceled our meeting in favor of spending more alone time with Chanel.
Once I was done with Leon, instead of heading back to VIP, Leon and I opted to make our rounds in the main part of the club. I glanced over in the VIP section and spotted Chanel now holding court with a group of women. She looked comfortable. We greeted and made conversation with a few businessmen who’d come out that night to celebrate the team’s accomplishments.
While speaking with a group of people, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I didn’t know what caused that reaction; we were all having a good time, and I knew security in my place was tight. Still, something had put me on high alert. At the same time, my phone started buzzing in my pants pocket.
I reached in my pocket the same time I leaned over toward Leon. “Yo, I’m getting a call. I need to step out for a sec.”
“I need to head to the back office too,” he responded.
We strolled to the back door as I pulled my phone out. The hairs on the back of my neck still standing, I happened to glance up ahead of me, and froze. I had to do a double-take to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me in the dark club. I blinked a few times, and sure enough, not ten feet from me stood Ethan fucking Miller—Chanel’s ex.
“You all right?” I heard Leon behind me.
In the back of my mind, I knew he was right behind me, but his voice sounded miles away. My brain had become consumed with too many questions and intentions to pay attention to anyone besides the clown who stood right in front of me. In my fucking club.
This could not be happening. I’d spent months looking for this fool, had just spoken with Quincy earlier in the day, and now here he was, standing next to some guy who looked semi-familiar, but I was too focused on Ethan to try and recall who anyone else was.
“Nah,” I answered Leon, “but I will be,” I stated, balling my hands into fists. “You know that motherfucker?” I threw my chin towards Ethan.
“No,” Leon responded.
I approached Ethan. “What the fuck is your bitch ass doing in my club?”
I wasn’t in the mood for niceties. I’d been waiting for this moment ever since I saw that picture of Chanel bloodied and bruised. I could feel the blood boiling as it flowed through my veins and I was sure before the end of the night, someone was going to feel my wrath. And not just anyone, but Ethan fucking Miller.
“Who—?”
“Oh, shit! X, what the fuck!?” I heard Leon shout as soon as my fist connected with Ethan’s jaw.
The crunch of that first punch wasn’t nearly satisfying enough, considering Ethan was still on his feet.
“What the fuck!” He yelled before taking a swing at me, missing my face when I pivoted out of the way.
“Who the hell are you?” He asked, holding up his arm to prevent my next swing from connecting.
“Don’t act like you don’t know me,” I yelled back, landing a blow to his abdomen. Another blow with my right hand had him stumbling back. The entire club fell by the wayside, patrons be damned. Music seemed to halt and time stood still. I only heard my breathing as the image of Chanel in the horrible photo came to mind.
“Get the fuck up!” I yelled when he stumbled against the wall. “You like putting your hands on women, so do something to me!” I grunted when he swung, hitting my stomach, but I was too enraged to feel any pain. I did my best to take his head off.
At first, Ethan was just trying to figure out what was going on, but now I felt him start to fight back. That spurred me on.
I swung again, but missed when he ducked. I could hear and feel people on my arms trying to pull me back, but adrenaline had me amped and I didn’t see anyone but him. By that time, we’d backed up so far towards the back exit of the club, there were very few patrons around to witness what was happening. I still didn’t give a shit who was watching. My sole focus was to make Ethan as bruised and bloodied as I’d envisioned since I first learned what type of man he was.
I felt my blood boil when another swing of mine landed against Ethan’s forearm as he blocked it. I countered that last swing with another blow to his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. Instead of waiting for him to stand upright again, I landed a hook to his chin. That was the blow that sent him back. I began pummeling him with blow after blow, anywhere I could land on his body. I lost count and track of how many times I hit him. I felt wetness hit my face, only to recognize it was the splash of blood that shot from his nose. That didn’t stop me.
“X, yo, that’s enough, man!” I vaguely heard Leon and a few others trying to calm me down.
“Fuck him!” I shouted at the same time I kept trying to hit him. I wasn’t in the mood to be talked down. Not until I heard her voice.
“Xavier!” It wasn’t the shrill tone in her voice that got me. It wasn’t the fact that she was there in the first place that stopped me. It was the fear that penetrated her tone. I hated to hear anything akin to fear coming from her.
I caught myself right before I gave Ethan another punch and stood up, looking at Chanel. Her eyes were wide. She seemed confused..
.that is, until those big brown eyes strayed down to look at the man on the floor. Confusion was replaced by shock when recognition appeared on her face.
“Ethan?”
****
Chanel
“I cannot believe you!” I shouted as we walked in our hotel room.
I was just getting over my shock at seeing my boyfriend pummeling my ex in his nightclub. “I can’t even imagine what you were thinking,” I began as I paced back and forth in the hotel suite’s living room space. “When I’d heard on one of the security guard’s walkie-talkies that one of the owners of the club was in a fight, I thought surely, they were talking about Leon, because there was no way Xavier Grant—my Xavier—would behave in such a way. But nooo, I come down the hallway to see my date for the evening beating the hell out of someone. And then, to see who it was…” I broke off, shaking my head.
I still was processing it. Leon had tried to hold me back as security tried to break it up. I managed to break free of Leon and get closer to Xavier. When I realized my eyes weren’t deceiving me and that I was indeed watching Xavier beat someone’s ass, I began screaming his name until he stopped. He looked like he was coming out of a trance as he looked up at me.
“Are you going to say anything?!” I squealed, my anger growing at his silence and seeming nonchalance.
We’d been silent all the way back to our hotel. Leon had called for our driver to pull up out back as soon as I came down the hallway and saw what was happening. Within seconds of me realizing it was Ethan sprawled out on the floor underneath Xavier, I was ushered down the hall to the exit, flanked by security who’d also managed to get Xavier to follow suit.
“What do you want me to say?” He looked at me with serious eyes. His expression was stony. Thankfully, someone had given him their handkerchief to wipe Ethan’s blood off his face, but spots of it now stained his white shirt. That made my stomach turn. The sight of blood. I had to look away.
Xavier must’ve noted my reaction because he began unbuttoning and removing his shirt as he headed toward the bedroom.
“So you’re not going to say anything?”
“What do you want me to say?” He spun around as if I was the one covered in another person’s blood. “I need to explain to you why the sight of that motherfucker made my fingers itch? Do I need to explain to you that, for months, I’ve been plotting what I’d do when I finally caught up with his ass? I need to explain to you that the sight of my woman bruised by that nigga has haunted me for months?” he shouted.
His words caught me by surprise. I don’t know why, but I never thought of Xavier as the plotting type. I knew he hated Ethan, but it never crossed my mind that he’d be actively looking for Ethan.
“You were in your club, on business, for goodness’ sake!” The Xavier I knew was a businessman, through and through. Why would he sacrifice his standing as a professional, and for Ethan?
“I don’t give a fuck! If he had the damn nerve to show his face in my club, then he had the opportunity to get his ass whooped in that same club!”
“What about Leon? What about your guests and all the patrons there?”
“I don’t give a damn about all of that.” He waved his hand dismissively.
I took a step in front of him when he tried to get around me. “Why would you compromise yourself for Ethan, of all people?”
“Don’t say his fucking name! And I know you’re not defending him?”
“What?” I asked, truly bewildered that he could even think that’s what I was doing. “This has nothing to do with defending him. I don’t care about him. This is about you! The Xavier I know is rational and doesn’t go off on people half-cocked, especially without provocation.”
“Without prov—? He beat the hell out of you!” he shouted. “You had to move to the opposite side of the country to get away from him! You killed your baby because of him!”
That last statement knocked the wind out of me. It was like a splash of cold water and a slap across the face all in one. I stared into Xavier’s usually coffee-brown eyes that were now almost black, filled with hostility. I stumbled back a few steps, grabbing my stomach. Killed your baby echoed in my head.
“Th-that’s how you feel? That I killed a baby over him?” I looked up through watery eyes. His silence spoke volumes. Pain shot through my chest.
“Why would you want to live with a baby killer?” I asked him spitefully. “Just this morning, you were talking about moving in together, and tonight you’re calling me a baby killer?” My indignation rose.
“I didn’t mean it like th—”
“Don’t!” I yelled when he took a step forward, reaching his arm out to me. “That’s what you think of women who’ve had an abortion? We’re baby killers?”
“Shit. I didn’t say all that,” he huffed.
“Yes you did!” A realization came over me. I recalled every sexual encounter we’d had since getting back together. A sick feeling gripped me as I remembered that every encounter we’d had since I first told him about my abortion, he’d insisted on using a condom. Although taken aback at first, I didn’t think much of it. We weren’t married and had never spoken about having children, so it only made sense that we’d protect ourselves.
But thinking about it then, it was different than before our breakup. Back then, Xavier had paid little mind to the fact that we’d engaged in sex without protection. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my hand over my chest, bracing myself.
“D-did you think I’d kill your baby too?”
His eyes widened before he lowered his gaze and stared off at something behind me.
“You did, right? Which is why, all of a sudden, you insisted we use protection? You thought I’d have another abortion without telling you?” I heard the hurt in my voice. I swallowed the lump that began to form in my throat and refused to let the tears in my eyes spill over.
“It wasn’t like that.” He took another step toward me.
I held my hand up for him not to come any closer, but he ignored my silent plea, crowding my space until my back was against the bedroom wall.
“Then what was it like?” I attempted to shove him away, but he barely budged. “You thought that I’d have an abortion if I got pregnant by you?”
“Look, I didn’t know. Shit, we never talked about kids. And when you tell me something like that…I didn’t mean... I didn’t know what to think.”
“Not that I’d abort our baby!” I yelled, pushing his chest. This time he did move back, thankfully. I needed some space from him. In the span of the last thirty minutes I’d gone from scared for Xavier’ safety, to confused, shocked, hurt and finally, pissed the hell off.
“A’ight, I fucked up with—”
“No. One, don’t touch me,” I shouted, swatting his hand away again. “Second, I did not kill a baby. I was a few weeks pregnant. I aborted an embryo, and if you or anyone else thinks I’m going to feel sorry about that, you can kiss my ass. I did what I needed to do to rid myself of a monster who I knew if I’d stayed with him would kill me one day.”
“One who you met up with five years later?!”
“I already told you why I did that.”
“Right. For him to apologize.”
“No, for closure. He apologized, and it was done.”
“Fuck that! Why did he feel the need to apologize in person any damn way? Why the fuck was he back around you, period?”
“I don’t know! I don’t care either and I’m sick of fucking talking about him.”
“Trust me, baby girl, not as sick as I am.”
By then we were both raising our voices, our chests rising and falling. I felt so out of sorts. We were having a great vacation, save for the hiccup of him asking me to move in with him, and now we were yelling at the top of our lungs at one another.
It felt like he slapped me when he accused me of killing a baby. I hated how my past with Ethan intruded on my life, on this relationship I thought was going well. But I could see in Xavier’s
eyes there was something deeper. A fear he wasn’t ready to admit, or hell, maybe he didn’t even know. All I knew was that, if we continued this conversation, we were at risk of saying even more we’d both regret.
I sidestepped Xavier, putting my back to him.
“Chanel…”
“You need to go shower. You still have blood on you,” I cut him off.
I finally heard him moving around and then going into the adjoining bathroom. I didn’t move until I heard the door close. Once it did, I sunk onto the bed, refusing to let any tears drop. I squeezed and rubbed my eyes until the sensation of needing to cry left me. I breathed a little easier when I heard the shower turn on.
So much for Miami.
Chapter Sixteen
Chanel
“All right, I’ll be in my office. Let me know if you need anything,” Jason offered.
It’d been a week since our return from Miami, and it was my first day at my father’s office. I’d worked long hours the previous week at my old firm to make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved. I’d opted to take the previous Friday off to regroup before starting at my new position on Monday.
Now that I was standing in the middle of my new office with boxes that needed to be unpacked and walls that needed decorating, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. My brother and father had taken time to show me around, introduce me to the administrative staff and other attorneys that I hadn’t met previously, and to take care of all the first day administrative details that were necessary.
“All right. Thanks, Jay. It’s almost one, so Gabby should be here soon. She insisted on bringing me lunch to my first day.”
“I’ll check on you later.”
I frowned. “I don’t need you to check on me. I’m not a six-year-old.”
Jason raised his eyebrows. I immediately felt contrite for snapping at him. I’d been on edge for more than a week. The long hours of transitioning from one job to another, coupled with the anxiety of working for and with my father, plus everything still going on in my personal life… Yeah, Xavier and I were still going through it after our trip to Miami.
Safe Space II: The Finale Page 19
