Skye's life is turned upside down when her boyfriend breaks up with her out of the blue. Struggling with heartbreak, uncertainty at work and the raging pandemic, she finds solace in the form of her ex's cousin, Jey. This sets off a chain of events t...
The usually short walk to the front porch of the property feels like an eternity this time around. Letting out a ragged breath, she knocks on the door, wishing her hand wasn't shaking so much. A shiver rakes over her frame despite the evening heat. When the door opens and her eyes land on the familiar face, it takes everything in her power to not collapse into his arms and break down completely.
"Skye."
"I'm sorry, Uce. I didn't know where else to go." Her voice is a tired, watery whisper, her famously vibrant eyes bloodshot from crying.
Jey waves away her apology and grabs her suitcase, letting her inside the house. On cue, Jimmy materializes in front of her, ushering her into the kitchen and finding her a cold beer. He sits beside her by the counter and rubs her forearm in a comforting gesture. "Twin said you were coming, so I hung back," he explains his presence in his brother's home. "You okay?"
Against her will, the tears reappear as she shakes her head no. Jey joins them in the kitchen, his thick arms crossed, his face unreadable as he watches her.
"Tell us what happened."
She tells them everything. Each sentence she utters rips another piece of her heart out of her chest, as the reality of what happened only a few hours ago sinks in. Sniffling, she looks between the brothers, her expression almost accusing. "Why the hell would he do that to me? What is going on with him? Y'all gotta know something, right?"
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Jey shakes his head. "Wish we did. He don't tell us nothing anymore. We didn't know things were this bad between y'all."
"Neither did I." She drags her fingers through the thick curls of her hair and forces herself to breathe. Her left leg bounces rapidly. She's running low on sleep; the multiple hour drive from Pensacola has done nothing to quell her nerves.
The twins step away for a minute. They're out of the kitchen, but she can still see them through a mirror in the open layout of the living room. Jey rolls his eyes at something Jimmy is saying, and Jimmy keeps gesturing towards the kitchen; she's known them long enough to know that they're talking about her. When they return, Jimmy gives her another big hug. "Gotta go, sis. I'll have a discussion with our bonehead cousin. You take care, okay?"
"What the fuck do I do now?" she asks Jey when Jimmy is gone.
"Stay here and cool off. Talk to Roman in a couple of days and see what happens."
"I don't wanna be an inconvenience to you, if that's what Jimmy's thinking."
It would be easier for Jey if that was the case. "You know that ain't true. You can stay here for as long as you need. Focus on you right now, alright?"
She turns down Jey's gentlemanly offer to take his own bedroom while he moves to the guest room downstairs. Besides, this is only temporary; she desperately wants to believe that Roman will come to his senses, hopes he cools off too, so that they can talk and work things out. They always do. But a day goes by, and another, and another, and not one word from him. Not one text replied, not one call answered. Then, on the seventh day, she gets an email from him, forwarding to her the location of the storage unit where he put her things, and then, driving the final nail in the coffin, he ends the email with "Good luck".
