Strong Enough 2

Chapter 16

2 Weeks Later

"What do you think?" Chantel asks as she twirls in front of the mirror.

"Hmm....too many sparkles," I tell her. "Try this one." She grabs the dress and examines it before disappearing into the dressing room.

A few minutes later, she walks out and looks to me for a reaction.

The dress is absolutely beautiful! It's a cream color and the front falls just above her knee while the back drapes behind her, dragging across the floor. It's not as flashy as the other one. It has a couple diamonds lining the sleeveless top. The veil reaches to the middle of her back and has a mini tiara at the top. She looks like a princess.

"It's perfect!" I exclaim. She smiles and goes back into the dressing room. After she buys the dress, we head back to my place.

...

"Soo...." Tré says as I walk through the door. "What did you two do today?"

"Oh, nothing. Just some shopping," I tell him.

"Mhm," he says with a smirk.

I go up to my room and pull out the dress Chantel bought me for the wedding. She asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and I happily accepted. The dress we picked is a sky blue color. It's sleeveless just like Chantel's. The top of the dress is fitted, while the bottom flows elegantly. Everything about this wedding is beautiful.

I hear a loud knock on my door. "Come in!" I yell. The door opens and Marlon is standing there with his laptop in his arms. "Hey girl," he says cheerfully. "Hey. Why'd you bring your laptop?" I ask.

"Gabby is sick and she wanted to be here too." He opens his laptop and I see Gabby bundled under her blanket with a red nose. "Hey," I say. "How you feeling?"

"I feel like crap," she says. We all laugh.

Gabby ends up falling asleep after hours of us talking, and its just me and Marlon.

"So how's it been with Nathan?" I ask.

"Great. I think he may be the one." I roll my eyes at how dramatic he is. We talk for a while until it gets late and he has to leave.

"Mya, I'm going to Chantel's okay?" Tré says.

"You're leaving me here alone?" I whine. He chuckles and takes a step to the side. Tai walks through the door with a huge smile on his face. "You two be good. I wouldn't wanna have to beat you with my shoe," Tré says. We laugh and he leaves.

I get up and walk towards Tai, who still has that huge grin on his face. I'm really happy to see him. I've been so busy with Chantel and the wedding these past two weeks that I haven't been able to spend time with him.

"I missed you," he pouts and gives me those puppy dog eyes.

"I missed you too," I giggle. He grabs my hand and walks me over to my bed. He sits down and pulls me on top of him. He presses his lips against mine and then moves down to my neck. I feel the same fire that I've missed and needed so much. He lays me down and brings his face to mine so that our noses are touching. His dark eyes are sparkling. He kisses me again and holds me close.

"Stop!" I suddenly hear. The scream is followed by sounds of breaking glass. I get up as fast as I can and push Tai off of me. I run down the stairs quickly.

When I get to the living room, I see my mom on the floor and my dad standing over her with a broken beer bottle. My mom has a long cut across her cheek. Her eyes are filled with pain and fear.

My dad turns around slowly and looks to me with bloodshot eyes.

"Mom?" I say, ignoring his glare. I try to help her up, but he pushes me to the ground, scratching me with the bottle in the same place I was scratched before. My mom and I are both looking up at him with wide eyes. Tai comes running downstairs. "Mya what happened? Are you okay?"

"Boy, you need to get out of my house," my dad growls. Tai ignores him and helps me up. My dad throws the bottle against the wall, shattering it completely. It misses Tai's head by a couple of inches.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Tai challenges. With one swift motion, my dad goes to punch Tai, but before he can even touch him, Tai catches his fist.

I can see my dad's rage growing stronger by the second. "Mya let's go I'm getting you out of here," Tai says to me. I look over to my mom. "Please go with him Mya. Now," she says.

"But...-" I start. "Go now," she interrupts.

I let Tai grab my hand and rush me out of my house. We get outside and I feel the tears beginning to fall. Tai wipes my cheeks, picks me up, and carries me all the way to his place.