End of the Road • D. Swing

Chapter 21 | Can't Be

I stayed up pretty late that night. DeVanté never came out of the studio and his loud music kept me awake.

Maybe if I hadn't went to Tionne's house and cleaned up like I was told, he wouldn't have gotten so angry with me. Plus, he was high and had been drinking, so it's not like he hit me for no reason. Right? Wrong! But me being in denial, I made myself believe such a thing...

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Morgan

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of barking, loud talking, and obnoxious laughter. I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked over at the alarm clock on the nightstand, the time read 11:29 a.m. I got up from the bed and stretched as I walked into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and analyzed myself. Like every morning, my hair was a mess and I had sleep in my eyes. What got me was the slightly purple mark on the side of my face.

I instantly found myself frowning as my mind traced back to the events that had taken place the night before. DeVanté slapped me and I didn't even get an apology for it. I couldn't believe he had gotten so mad that he felt the need to hit me, everything seemed to be going so well between us.

After brushing my teeth and cleansing my face, I started walking down the stairs. I heard DeVanté and someone else's voice, so I stopped in the middle of the staircase to listen to who the other voice belonged to.

"Nigga, get yo' fuckin' dog!" I heard. Whoever the country voice belonged to, he sounded a little familiar.

I heard DeVanté laugh and a dog bark. DeVanté made kissy noises, like he was trying to get the dog to come to him. Me being afraid of both the dog and DeVanté, and not wanting to be around whoever the other person was, I didn't want to go downstairs.

Just as I was about to turn around and walk back to the room, DeVanté walked to the staircase. Stopping dead in his tracks, he looked at me. "Well goodmornin', sleepyhead," he said with a slight smile on his face. "I was just about to come get you."

I nervously smiled back as I slowly walked down the stairs. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at my face. Knowing what he was looking at, I turned my head.

"Look at me," he said while gently grabbing my chin, forcing me to look at him. He caressed my cheek and gently rubbed his thumb against the bruise he had made. I slightly flinched at his touch. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my bruise before putting his head in the crook of my neck, giving me a tight hug as he slowly rubbed my back.

"Aye man, this dog pissin' me off. How the fuck he gone lay right on top of my shoes like I ain't gone have to put 'em back on? I'm bout to fight his ass."

DeVanté stopped hugging me. His pretty, light brown eyes stared into mine for a brief moment before averting his gaze to the guy who had spoken. I kept my eyes on him, trying to read his face. His hug confused me, it was as if he was comforting me for something. I wasn't really sure if it was his way of apologizing or not, but I took it as so.

"That's what you get for takin' your shoes off, makin' yourself at home and shit. Fight my dog if you want to, that's yo' ass gettin' bit," DeVantè joked. Any other time, I would've laughed a his statement, but I simply moved my eyes away from him and looked at the guy he was conversing with. Brown skin, young looking, familiar face. It was Static.